MBIA, JPM: Financial Winners & Losers

MBIA shares jumped for a second straight day
By Dan Freed ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Financial stocks were down slightly on light trading, as is typical in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day. The

Financial Select Sector SPDR

(XLF) - Get Report

was down 0.19% to $15.95.

One stock not going quietly into the New Year is that of

MBIA

(MBI) - Get Report

shares of which surged for a second straight day after

JPMorgan Chase

(JPM) - Get Report

and

Barclays

(BCS) - Get Report

withdrew

from a lawsuit opposing the insurer's plan to split into two separate units.

The two banks, along with several others, had argued the split would leave insufficient capital to cover bond guarantees MBIA had underwritten for them. MBIA shares, which gained more than eight percent Wednesday, were up another 13.32% just before noon on Thursday to $11.74.

What was big news for MBIA shareholders, however, was a non-event for those of JPMorgan and Barclays. JPMorgan shares, which fell slightly Wednesday of about a third of their average daily volumes over the past three months, were down 0.26% on similarly weak volumes Thursday. U.S.-listed shares of Barclays were lower by 0.73% to $16.38 on Thursday after falling by two cents on Wednesday.

The other big U.S. financials were mixed, with

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

and

Morgan Stanley

(MS) - Get Report

rebounding slightly after they lost ground Wednesday due to an estimate cut by Calyon Securities analyst Mike Mayo. Goldman was up 0.26% to $168.07, whie Morgan Stanley was up by 0.17% to $27.33.

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

,

Wells Fargo

(WFC) - Get Report

and

Citigroup

(C) - Get Report

, which were spared by Mayo and Nomura analyst Glenn Schorr, who made a similar call on Goldman and Morgan Stanley a few days ago, were mixed. Bank of America was up by 0.11% to $13.3, while Citigroup was down a penny to $4.76 and Wells was down 15 cents, or 0.48% to $30.87.

--

Written by Dan Freed in New York

.

Disclosure: TheStreet's editorial policy prohibits staff editors, reporters and analysts from holding positions in any individual stocks.

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