Wells Fargo: Financial Winners & Losers

Updated for stock price movements

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wells Fargo shares moved higher Wednesday, along with the financial-services sector as a whole, as the company's CEO, John Stumpf, made remarks at an investors' conference here Wednesday morning.

Stumpf, who has been on something of a media campaign of late, indicated that the underwater mortgages Wells has striven to modify have performed well so far.

Stumpf also told The Wall Street Journal for a story published Wednesday that its Wachovia acquisition has caused losses in line with Wells' original expectations.

Wells Fargo shares were trading Wednesday afternoon at $29.39, up 81 cents, or 2.8%.

Citigroup shares bounced back Wednesday, gaining 3.6%, or 15 cents, to $4.27. The move followed a sharp loss in the previous session as investors reacted to news that the banking giant was planning a possible $5 billion stock sale and that the government might begin whittling down its 34% stake in Citi.

In other news, the bank's chairman, Richard Parsons, will take on added duties as an advisor to the big private-equity shop, Providence Equity Partners.

Among other megabank issues, Bank of America added 48 cents, or 2.9%, to $17.27, while JPMorgan rose $1.10, or 2.6%, to $44.29.

The latter institution said Wednesday that it was able to securitize and sell $2.53 billion in credit-card loans in a deal that doesn't qualify for the Federal Reserve's TALF program, which is designed to help loosen the tight credit markets that have hamstrung the economy.

The JPMorgan deal was therefore widely interpreted as another sign of the strengthening credit market at large.