Wall Street Saddled With Hefty Losses

Meanwhile, Genworth Financial (GNW Quote) applied with the Office of Thrift Supervision to become a savings and loan holding company and moved to buy a bank, moves that make it able to secure funding under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Hartford Financial Services (HIG Quote) announced on Saturday a similar move, saying it would buy Federal Trust Corp. and then seek government funds.

Genworth gave back 8.8% to $1.34. Hartford plummeted 27% to $9.26.

Uncertainty was even hitting holiday package deliveries. Shipper UPS (UPS Quote) elected not to forecast the number of packages it would deliver on its peak shipping season and declined to forecast the number of seasonal workers it would hire. Shares ticked up 0.3% to $53.28.

In the automotive sector, General Motors (GM Quote) was getting ready to sell its 3% stake in Suzuki Motor for $230 million. Shares gained 5.7% to $3.18.

U.S. carmakers are facing a tough road ahead, as GM, Ford (F Quote) and Chrysler are getting hit by flagging sales and tough credit markets. The Big Three have lately been hoping to tap $25 billion of government money. Reflecting the dim outlook, Goldman Sachs on Monday reduced its price target on Ford shares to $2. The stock ended down 4.4% at $1.72.

In other analyst actions, PC maker Dell (DELL Quote) caught a Merrill Lynch downgrade to neutral from buy, and JPMorgan cut mining firm Freeport-McMoRan (FCX Quote) to neutral from overweight. Dell dropped 3.4% to $10.52, and Freeport-McMoRan slumped 4.9% to $23.14.