Financial Stocks: AIG tops losses in weakening financial sector

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By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Shares of bailed-out insurer American International Group Inc. led financial stocks <a href="http://www.loveinuggboots.com"><strong>ugg boots</strong></a> lower Friday after the firm reported that its losses widened by 71% to 4.1 billion in the third quarter, driven by volatile markets, a write-off at its plane-leasing unit and profit declines in its main insurance businesses. AIG /quotes/zigman/557836/quotes/nls/aig AIG -4.47% Â*fell almost 5% in early dealings Late Thursday, the firm also set a stock buyback and said that the U.S. government is unlikely to sell its stake in the company as long as the share price remains well below break even for the taxpayer. In the broader market, the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF /quotes/zigman/246222/quotes/nls/xlf XLF -2.19% Â*, which tracks the financial stocks in the S&P 500 /quotes/zigman/3870025 SPX -1.48% Â*fell 1.3%. Among the four financial stocks within the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/zigman/627449/delayed DJIA -1.34% — Bank of America Corp. /quotes/zigman/190927/quotes/nls/bac BAC -3.76% , J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. /quotes/zigman/272085/quotes/nls/jpm JPM -2.39% , American Express Co. /quotes/zigman/217470/quotes/nls/axp AXP -1.82% Â*and Travelers Cos. /quotes/zigman/455344/quotes/nls/trv TRV -1.30% Â*— all fell. Also of note, Jon Corzine resigned as chief executive of MF Global Holdings Ltd. /quotes/zigman/7192996 MFGLQ -16.55% Â*as regulators ramp up their probe of the firm's spectacular implosion. Corzine in a statement expressed "great sadness" about the firm's sudden downfall and bankruptcy. A former head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. /quotes/zigman/188479/quotes/nls/gs GS -3.32% Â* as well as an ex-governor of New Jersey who also had represented the state in the U.S. Senate, Corzine won't take any severance payments, according to a separate statement from the company. See MarketWatch story on Corzine resignation Greg Morcroft <a href="http://www.loveinuggboots.com"><strong>ugg sale</strong></a> is MarketWatch's financial editor in New York.