Financials Ended Lower After Fed Statement (XLF, MS, JPM, MBI, C, PRI, RF, STI, AGO, AIG)

Published on Tuesday, 13 December 2011 20:29 Written by Paul Oldrini

New York, December 13^th (TradersHuddle.com) – The financial stocks fell after choppy trading, erasing all its earlier gains. The Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE:XLF) ended lower by 1.50% to $12.61, after hitting a session high of $12.94, while the S&P 500 slid 0.87%. Most of the financial stocks gapped up in the morning, but the rally was short lived, as the Federal Reserve failed to signal another round of quantitative easing, while keeping the key interest rate unchanged.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) was one of the most volatile stocks, ending with a loss of 1.37% at $15.17 after rising over 7% earlier in the session. The bank reached an a settlement with MBIA (NYSE:MBI) related to several lawsuits over credit default swaps which will lead to a $1.8B pretax charge for Morgan Stanley but also frees up capital. Shares of MBI closed 0.70% higher at $11.48, after rising over 11% earlier in the session.

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) shares slumped 2.34% to $31.29 after Bloomberg sources reported that regulators would likely probe the firm’s lending to MF Global.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) fell 1.18% to $26.90. The bank sells the last of its stake in Primerica (PRI), offering up 8M shares in a public offering. While, shares of Primerica (NYSE:PRI) slumped over 4%.

Regional banking stocks were mixed with Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) gaining 0.75% to close at $4.03, SunTrust Banks (NYSE:STI) slid 2.80% and PNC Financial Services (NYSE:PNC) fell 1.41%.

Also in the space, shares of Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) surged 5.33% to $13.43, extending its weekly gains to over 19% on increased volume. And American International Group (NYSE:AIG) lost 2% to $22.83.