Closing Bell: Carnage spills to Main Street; NT, MS, AIG, SLB, all down; RAX up

Posted Sep 17th 2008 4:24PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: After the Bell, Market Matters, Schlumberger Limited (SLB), Morgan Stanley (MS), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Nortel Networks (NT)

Carnage. Mayhem. BS. Rumors. It was and remains ugly and the fears are only growing. You should see the credit spreads of the credit default swaps. Some of them have never traded at these levels -- even on the good solid companies. Trying to get new, fresh angles to cover the markets right now is becoming a challenge. It's just ugly. I didn't even feel like writing a Closing Bell post today. Gold, oil and metals rallied sharply as investors fled to save havens.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,610.80 -448.22 -4.05%
S&P 500 1,156.21 -57.38 -4.73%
NASDAQ 2,098.85 -109.05 -4.94%
10YR T-Bond 3.41% -0.081%
52-week lows
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT) needs to change its name to "NO TELL" in a hurry. This stock was down 50% at $2.64 right before the close. You know why: slowing telecom and communication equipment orders. Yep, another warning.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was the worst financial cohort today. The stock was crushed on rumors, widening credit spreads specific to it, and just overall fears that it is next on the Bataan Death March. Right before the close the stock was down 30% to $20.00, but shares hit lows of $16.08 at the worst level today.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) got the Uncle Sam bailout last night to keep the markets from crumbling. Eighty five billion dollars for what is essentially the right to an 80% stake still sent shares down 44% to $2.10 right before today's close.

Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB) was down almost 4% to $83.51 right before the close. Higher oil prices, lower inventories and all the work after Hurricane Ike isn't enough to help this one. It doesn't have credit risk, but falling stock market prices in general are taking a toll.

Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) was one of the few positives today. Its shares were up over 2.5% to $9.06 immediately before the close. Its quiet period has ended and research firms gave it mostly positive research initiations.

Tags: aig, ms, nt, rax, slb