The Wall Street Journal-20080213-BofA- AIG- Molson Up- RIM Drops

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BofA, AIG, Molson Up; RIM Drops

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Bank of America rose on a federal plan to forestall foreclosures, Molson Coors Brewing was tapped for a gain, and Research In Motion tumbled after a BlackBerry outage.

It all added up to a mixed day for stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 133.40 points but Nasdaq was virtually unchanged. "A lack of bad news plus a compelling move by Warren Buffett to try to assist the bond insurers somewhat alleviated concerns regarding credit issues that have been stymying the market," said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group.

Bank of America gained 68 cents, or 1.6%, to $42.82. The financial institution is one of six major mortgage lenders that joined with the Bush administration to unveil the latest response to the turmoil in the housing market, offering to "pause" the foreclosure process for certain homeowners.

Molson Coors Brewing rose 4.30, or 9.5%, to 49.66. The beer maker's fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations and sales topped Wall Street expectations.

Research In Motion (Nasdaq) lost 2.97, or 3.1%, to 91.50. The consumer-electronic-device maker experienced a significant outage of its BlackBerry wireless email service on Monday, its second major North American disruption in the past 12 months.

Masco lost 2.39, or 11%, to 19.37. The home-improvement and building-products concern posted a narrower fourth-quarter loss on fewer write-downs but projected 2008 results well below analysts' expectations.

Schering-Plough rose 1.21, or 5.9%, to 21.83. Despite posting a steep fourth-quarter loss due to massive accounting charges, the drug company's revenue and adjusted earnings per share exceeded Wall Street's expectations.

General Motors dropped 52 cents, or 1.9%, to 26.60. The auto maker swung to a fourth-quarter loss as it continued to struggle in its core North American market, despite growth in emerging markets.

Electronic Arts (Nasdaq) rose 2.50, or 5.4%, to 48.85. The videogame maker said its long-awaited Spore offering would be released the week of Sept. 7.

MBIA fell 2.08, or 15%, to 11.50. An overture by Mr. Buffett, through his Berkshire Hathaway investment vehicle, to provide a second level of insurance for municipal bonds backed by bond insurers like MBIA was seen as carrying a high cost and not helping the companies' real problem area, subprime loans. Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares shed 250, or 0.2%, to 139,700.

American International Group rose 1.40, or 3.1%, to 46.14. The insurer said it doesn't believe the expected minimum $1.6 billion of write-downs from overvalued credit default swaps it announced on Monday will lead to greater losses for the company.

Alpha Natural Resources dropped 3.42, or 9.4%, to 33.01. The energy company's fourth-quarter net income plummeted 91% from a year earlier.

Omnicom Group gained 1.63, or 3.6%, to 47.09. The advertising agency's fourth-quarter net income and sales both rose 13% from a year earlier.

Nuance Communications (Nasdaq) rose 1.94, or 12%, to 18.19. The speech and digital-imaging software maker posted first-quarter results and issued a second-quarter revenue forecast that were above Wall Street expectations.

Watson Wyatt Worldwide rose 3.36, or 6.8%, to 53.14. The consulting firm plans to buy back as much as $100 million of its shares.

Expeditors International of Washington (Nasdaq) lost 3.85, or 8.6%, to 40.95. The air and ocean-shipping company posted fourth-quarter profit that fell below Wall Street forecasts on lower-than-expected airfreight revenue amid rising fuel prices.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq) lost 1.07, or 5.9%, to 17.14. The biotech concern reported a wider fourth-quarter loss and said it is planning a public offering of about six million shares.

Coca-Cola Enterprises rose 79 cents, or 3.4%, to 24.28. The soft- drink marketer and distributor swung to fourth-quarter profit from a year-earlier loss, when results were hurt by a franchise-impairment charge.

Varian (Nasdaq) rose 2.17, or 4.3%, to 53.13. The scientific- instruments company approved the repurchase of up to $100 million in common shares.