STOCKS NEWS US-Fed stimulus withdrawal fears hit Wall Street

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1641 ET 23Sep2009-US STOCKS
Fed stimulus withdrawal fears hit Wall St

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as investors worried the Federal Reserve is closer to pulling back on extraordinary measures to inject funding to shore up the economy.

The Fed's policy-setters kept interest rates unchanged, as expected, but also said the U.S. central bank would slow purchases of mortgage debt to extend that program's life until the end of March.

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1357 ET 23Sept2009
AT&T asked to abandon Connecticut layoffs

The Connecticut state attorney general called on AT&T Inc on Wednesday to abandon plans for 2,500 new layoffs and criticized the phone company for 'deteriorating services' in the state.

AT&T, which has about 290,000 employees, has told workers that there will be 2,500 layoffs nationwide, including at least 75 workers in Connecticut, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in an statement, citing plans to lay off engineers and technicians responsible for maintaining network services.

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Shares of AT&T, a Dow component, rose 3.8 percent to $27.51.

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1328 ET 23Sept2009
US may cut stake in AIG: Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse said the trustees overseeing the U.S. government's stake in American International Group Inc may execute a large scale secondary offering to lower its common equity interest in the company.

Analyst Thomas Gallagher said the trustees may execute a secondary offering through some type of trading mechanism such as an 'at-the-market' offering or a discounted sale to a private investor.

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Shares of AIG gained 3.3 percent to $47.30.

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1314 ET 23Sept2009
YRC advances as investors eye survival efforts

Shares in YRC Worldwide Inc shot higher on Wednesday as speculation continued over the survival of the struggling freight carrier.

Some analysts said short-covering was one factor in the rally as YRC continues to defy industry chatter of impending collapse, having gained concessions from workers and covenant waivers from lenders in recent weeks.

'We think there is still pretty good probability that the company is able to survive the current downturn,' said Longbow Research analyst Lee Klaskow. 'We do believe that all the stakeholders seem to have the same goal in mind and that is keeping YRC a viable company.'

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The stock climbed 24 percent to $5.39.

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1310 ET 23Sep2009 RTRS-ANALYSIS
Valuations seen aiding Wall Street rally

Given that U.S. stocks have rallied nearly 60 percent in just six months, you'd expect valuations were getting a bit prohibitive.

But the resiliency of the latest rally shows that investors are unfazed by the market's current multiples, regarding stocks as still relatively cheap.

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1306 ET 23Sept2009
Cell Therapeutics down, withdraws EU application

Cell Therapeutics has withdrawn its European marketing application for its lung drug Opaxio, after an EU panel raised concerns over the trial design, Europe's drug regulator said on Wednesday.

The European Medicines Agency said it has received a letter from the Italian drugmaker saying that it has decided to withdraw the application after concerns were raised by European officials over how the clinical trials were designed.

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Shares fell 2.7 percent to $1.38.

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1206 ET 23Sept2009
Natural gas supplies seen up in weekly EIAs

U.S. natural gas storage levels are expected to rise by 68 billion cubic feet when weekly data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration are released early Thursday, according to a Reuters poll.

In the weekly survey of 24 industry traders and analysts, injection estimates for the week ended Sept. 18 ranged from 61 bcf to 78 bcf.

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