Connecticut firms weathered the continuing credit crunch on Wall Street today, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average staged a late day rally to rebound from a 340-point drop to a loss of just 13. “Everyone is waiting to see whether the Fed will drop interest rates,” said John Derway, senior vice president of Coburn & Meredith Inc. in Hartford.
Stocks of some local defense companies took small hits, but most still traded above lows reached during down days in the last two weeks. Shares of Hartford-based United Technologies Corp. traded around $70, down about $1.60 from yesterday. There were some small gainers: shares of Bristol-based aerospace firm Barnes Group Inc. were up 40 cents to $29.88, slightly down from the $32 peak it hit over the last few weeks. Shares of New Britain based The Stanley Works were up about 50 cents to $54.40.
Area financial services firms made small gains today. Among them: The Hartford Financial Services Group shares climbed $2.20 to close at $87.80. Shares of Webster Bank were up $1.25 to $41.71. Shares of Aetna Inc. were up $1.68 to $48.80.
