Gainers And Losers In The Financial Sector On March 8 (MET, AIG, LNC, PUK, HIG, MS, C, BAC, WFC, GS, JPM)

The financial sector had its share of losers and gainers yesterday. Among the clear gainers was MetLife (NYSE: MET), which announced that it has signed a deal with American International Group (NYSE: AIG) to buy its foreign life insurance unit for $15.5 billion. MetLife said it expects the deal to boost its operating earnings for 2011 by $0.45-$0.55 a share, enabling it to increase its estimated 2011 yearend operating return on equity by 140-160 basis points. While MET rose 5.09%, AIG added 3.63% in yesterday’s trading.

Among other insurer stocks, Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) lost 0.15% and Prudential PLC (NYSE: PUK) fell 1.01% to $15.70, while Hartford Financial (NYSE: HIG) gained 0.26%.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) also traded higher after a report in The New York Post cited people familiar with the matter as saying that investment banking veteran Gary Shedlin from Citigroup (NYSE: C) plans to join MS as vice chairman. While MS added 0.58%, C gained 1.71% in yesterday’s trading.

The positive impact of MS and C rubbed off on some other US banking stocks, which traded higher. While Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) rose 1.59% and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) added 0.24%, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) slipped 0.51% and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) declined 0.89%.

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