Closing bell: The beatings will continue; GM, FRE, FNM, SNDK drop big

Posted Aug 18th 2008 4:14PM by Douglas McIntyre
Filed under: After the Bell, Major Movement, General Motors (GM), Market Matters, Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Lowe's Cos (LOW), Lilly (Eli) (LLY), Oil, SanDisk Corp (SNDK)

Investors in shares of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) went wild on speculation today that the government would put new funds into the mortgage agencies and wipe out common shareholders. The market was dragged down over 200 points at some point on a ripple of concerns about the financial sector:

Dow: 11,479.88 -1.54%
NASDAQ 2,416.98 -1.45%
S&P 500: 1,278.71 -1.50%
52-Week Lows

Early in the day, the chance of a hurricane moving into the Gulf of Mexico pushed oil up and knocked equities down. Once the storm moved over Florida and away from deep-water rigs, oil went back down.

The trading was so bleak and depressing that most traders probably went home to watch the last few events of the Olympics. Those who stayed saw a few notable moves:

GM (NYSE: GM) said it would offer new incentives to clear out its bloated inventory. The stock promptly fell almost 8% to $10.30.

Word came out of the FDA that Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) diabetes drug Byetta had killed two more people and the stock declined 1.4%.

Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) slightly beat Wall Street expectations and was rewarded by trading up by 0.3% to $24.57.

Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) dropped 10% to $15.89 because no one is going to take over the company. Shareholders were hoping to be put out of their misery.

Otherwise, everything was fine.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Tags: FNM, FRE, GM, LLY, SNDK