Wednesday's Financial Winners & Losers

Merrill Lynch (MER Quote) and most other financial-sector stocks traded lower Wednesday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke called recent inflation numbers "uncomfortably high" despite a modest slowing of core rates in the latter half of 2006. Although Lehman Brothers began coverage on the broker with an overweight rating today, Merrill Lynch shares closed down $1.66, or 2%, at $82.28.

Citigroup (C Quote) got a small lift in mixed trading after a Banc of America analyst upgraded the stock to buy from neutral. The analyst said years of disappointing results from the banking giant could render any improvement an upward catalyst. After climbing 8 cents earlier in the day, the stock closed the session down 9 cents, or 0.2%, at $50.97.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Citigroup is also advising Britain's Barclay's in the latter's exclusive merger discussions with ABN Amro (ABN Quote), thus precluding the possibility that Citigroup might make a counteroffer. ABN did state, however, that it will consider other deals should the talks with Barclay's fall through. ABN's shares closed down 64 cents, or 1.5%, at $42.62.

New Century Financial (NEWC Quote) plummeted again Wednesday after the struggling subprime-mortgage lender said it will no longer sell mortgages to home financer Freddie Mac (FRE Quote) closed lower by $1.66, or 2.7%, at $59.30.

Among few financial-sector winners Wednesday, New York Stock Exchange (NYX Quote) closed up $2.57, or 2.8%, at $96.17, a day after announcing it had succeeded in its $14 billion bid for the Euronext exchange. Broker Friedman Billings (FBR Quote) added 13 cents, or 2.4%, to $5.50; credit card issuer Advanta (ADVNB Quote) gained 94 cents, or 2.3%, to $42.57; and IndyMac Bancorp (NDE Quote) rose $1.61, or 5.5%, to $31.14.