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Sovereign loses most of its value
Sovereign Bancorp shares are down more than $5, to around $3, in afternoon trading.
"The biggest problem now is a lack of confidence," said Rick Weiss, analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott, which had rated Sovereign "buy" just this morning. "I think we're past the point where investors are looking at fundamentals. Mutual funds are trying to get out before the quarter end, no matter the price, it looks like. It seems as if this is feeding on itself."
Sovereign, of Reading, is the biggest bank still based in eastern Pennsylvania. National City Corp., Cleveland, is also down more than 50 percent today; it's one of the nation's largest business banks, with commercial lending and (ironically) distressed-asset offices in the Philadelphia area.