Buy Stocks Tip

(Sept. 19) Financial companies jumped after the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve announced efforts to halt the credit-market seizure and British and American regulators cracked down on short sellers. Here are they:

• Citigroup Inc. (C:US) climbed 24 percent to $20.65.
• Wachovia Corp. (WB:US) surged 29 percent to $18.75.
• American International Group Inc. (AIG:US) jumped 43 percent to $3.85.
• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS:US) added 20 percent to $129.80.
• Washington Mutual Inc. (WM:US) rose 42 percent to $4.25.
• Morgan Stanley (MS:US) increased 21 percent to $27.21.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM:US) advanced 17 percent to $47.05.
• General Electric Co. (GE:US) rose the most since November 2002, adding 7.4 percent to $26.62. The third-largest company got about half its profit from financial units last year.

Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABK:US) tumbled 42 percent to $3.87 for the biggest drop since April. Moody’s Investors Service said it’s considering cutting financial-strength ratings by several grades for the bond insurer and its larger rival MBIA Inc. (MBI:US). MBIA dropped 8 percent to $12.88.

Tags: Ambac, Citigroup, General Electric, Goldman Sachs, MBIA, Washington Mutual