CORRECTED - STOCKS NEWS US-Healthcare stocks slide as Obama launches plan

(Corrects name of index and stock prices for Aetna and Cigna in first item)

Stocks on the move [HOT-RTRS] Real-Time Equity news [U E]

U.S. stock market report [.N] 1311 ET 05March2009-Healthcare stocks slide as Obama launches plan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Healthcare stocks fell on Thursday as President Barack Obama begins his drive for a healthcare overhaul at a White House forum, seeking momentum to change the system he says is dragging down the U.S. economy. [ID:nN05298210]

The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index .HMO dropped 6.3 percent and has fallen nearly 25 percent since Obama revealed his budget plans Thursday as investors fear an overhaul could strangle profits.

Shares of Aetna (AET.N) dropped 7.1 pct to $19.78 and Cigna was (CI.N) fell 9.1 pct to $13.04. (Reuters Messaging:rm://Charles.mikolajczak.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 1214 ET 05March2009-Markets tumble on fears over banks, GM ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major U.S. markets plunged on Thursday, after General Motors (GM.N) issued a warning about a possibly bankruptcy, and investors continued to fret over the status of major banks. Citigroup (C.N) shares fell below $1 in intraday trades.

For details, see [ID:nN05324375]

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 3.4 percent to 6,642.07 while the S&P 500 .SPX lost 3.9 percent to 685 and the Nasdaq .IXIC was off 3.3 percent to 1,309.65.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net 1205 ET 05March2009-GameStop down after Amazon.com news ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shares of video game retailer GameStop (GME.N) fell on Thursday, after online retailer Amazon.com (AMZN.O) said it would allow shoppers to trade-in used video games for store credit. Analysts said the move could challenge one of GameStop's core profit drivers.

The stock fell 14 percent to $23.45 while Amazon shares were down 1.7 percent to $63.72. [ID:nN05324330]

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net 1158 ET 05March2009-One in 8 households behind on mortgages: MBA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mortgage Banking Association (MBA) on Thursday said that one in every eight U.S. households ended 2008 either behind on their mortgage payments on in the foreclosure process, as the housing market continued to be in crisis and the recession pressured the labor market.

The share of households behind on mortgages is a record, the MBA said, adding that more borrowers would be lay paying or fall into foreclosure in 2009. [ID:nNYS004897]

The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction index .DJUSHB dropped 4.8 percent to 157.4 on Thursday. Among specific homebuilding stocks, D.R. Horton (DHI.N) dropped 9.2 percent to $6.99 and luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL.N) shed 5.2 percent to $14.11.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net 1142 ET 05March2009-Bove: Wells Fargo doesn't need to cut dividend ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rochdale Securities analyst Dick Bove on Thursday said that Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) doesn't need to cut its dividend from an operating standpoint, though the market has already assumed that it will.

"Wells Fargo is going through a Citi-like situation wherein the company takes action dictated by the market rather than those necessary," Bove wrote.

Wells Fargo is the largest traditional U.S. commercial bank to not have cut its dividend in the credit crisis. Many analysts expect it to cut the $1.36 per share annual payout, as the amount of the dividend is higher than Wells Fargo's expected earnings for 2009. [ID:nBNG466603]

Shares of Wells Fargo fell 16.5 percent to $8.07 on Thursday.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net 1136 ET 05March2009-Geithner: restoring credit flow is major priority ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday said that restoring the flow of credit to consumers and businesses was a critical priority for the Obama administration, and that the administration would continue to target three areas for financial system support: capital resources for banks, direct support for credit markets, and programs to aid the housing sector. [ID:nWBT010799]

Geithner also said that a $250 billion budget "placeholder" for financial stability efforts wasn't an estimate of future funding needs, describing it as "in the spirit of how we account for foreign wars and natural disasters."

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net