McKesson Falls On Financing Worries For Pharmacies

By MARLEY SEAMAN

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of McKesson Corp. skidded Wednesday due to concerns that one of the pharmacy benefits manager's biggest customers, drugstore operator Rite Aid Corp., could default on its loans this year.

On Tuesday, Moody's Investors Service published a quarterly list called "The Bottom Rung," a list of 283 companies that face the greatest risk of defaulting on their loans and have little access to cash. Rite Aid was included on the list, and an analyst for Deutsche Bank said some smaller independent pharmacies are also "highly likely" to go bankrupt.

In afternoon trading, shares of McKesson fell $5.68, or 13.6 percent, to $36.24. ...