Top financial stocks august 15 2011, Bank of America and Wells Fargo

Top financial stocks august 15 2011, Bank of America and Wells Fargo : Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. led a rally in financial stocks on Monday, gaining after the former unveiled plans to exit the international credit-card business and the latter acquired the investment-banking business of Citadel Securities.

More broadly, the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF +2.35% which tracks the financials in the S&P 500 SPX +1.64% , added 2% in the early going.

Among the financial stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average other than Bank of America, Travelers Cos.TRV +1.10% , American Express Co. AXP +1.72% and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.JPM +2.65% all rose.

Bank of America BAC +4.53% sold its third international credit-card portfolio of the year and said it plans to exit its much larger consumer credit-card operations in the U.K. and Ireland.

Separately, Wells Fargo WFC +3.17% said it’s hiring 25 investment bankers from hedge fund Citadel, including its head Brian Maier.

The agreement also involves the transfer of Citadel’s related banking business to Wells Fargo. Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today

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