York Stock Exchange

A Wall Street analyst yesterday downgraded his estimate on 1993 earnings for the Ryland Group Inc., a Columbia-based home builder.The analyst, Lawrence Horan, who follows the company for Prudential Securities in New York, lowered his earnings estimate for the year to $2 a share, from $2.15, citing what he said were disappointing new-home orders during the company's second quarter, which ended June 30. The company has not yet reported second-quarter earnings.Mr....

Alex. Brown Inc. said yesterday that it will move trading in its stock to the New York Stock Exchange, making shares of the nation's oldest investment banking company available in the nation's best-known financial marketplace for the first time.Big Board trading is expected to begin next month under the symbol "AB."The company's shares now trade in the over-the-counter market, as they have since Alex. Brown went public in 1986."The majority of publicly traded firms in the securities industry are listed on the NYSE," said Chief Executive A. B. Krongard.

NEW YORK -- Many traders who had hoped to profit by betting against stocks they thought were overvalued were forced to run for cover again this month as share prices continued to rise.That trend was evident in figures released Friday by the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange on the number of shares sold short and not yet covered in the month ended Feb. 14.Though those figures represent a tiny fraction of the shares listed on those exchanges, they are an important measure of the overall bearishness of traders.

NEW YORK -- The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials closed at a record high yesterday based on the fortunes of two large corporations: Walt Disney and Procter & Gamble.The two companies, major components of the Dow index, saw their stocks soar yesterday following strong fourth-quarter earnings reports. They carried the Dow into record territory, closing up 31.53 at 3,272.14. That topped the previous record close of 3,264.98 set Jan. 17.But the dramatic gains weren't mirrored in the broader market, where advancing issues narrowly outnumbered declines on the New York Stock Exchange.

NEW YORK -The New York Stock Exchange said yesterday that it will delay opening until 11 a.m. Sept. 11, out of respect for memorial services planned in New York City and across the country on the first anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history. "On 9-11, New Yorkers and all Americans will honor the victims of 9-11, their families and loved ones, and the heroes of the rescue and recovery efforts," NYSE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Grasso said in a statement.

Sparks-based McCormick & Co. Inc. said yesterday that it will switch its stock next month from the Nasdaq stock market to the New York Stock Exchange in an effort to raise its visibility in the global marketplace.The spice-and-seasonings company will list its nonvoting common stock on the NYSE beginning May 25. A ticker symbol has not yet been assigned, said Robert J. Lawless, McCormick's chairman, president and chief executive.Until then, the company will continue trading on the Nasdaq under the "MCCRK" symbol.

Shares of General Growth Properties Inc. rose 27 percent yesterday after the Chicago-based mall owner said it replaced its chief financial officer and suspended dividend payments to weather the seizure in financial markets. The shares climbed $2.08 to $9.67 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock had fallen 86 percent in the 12 months through yesterday. General Growth is the master developer of Columbia and owner of Harborplace and other shopping malls in the Baltimore region.

Shares in Municipal Mortgage & Equity LLC, the Baltimore company known as MuniMae, lost nearly half their value yesterday after the company announced late Monday that it was cutting its dividend and was facing delisting by the New York Stock Exchange. MuniMae shares closed yesterday at $9.19, down 47 percent from Monday's close at $17.20, just before the announcement. The company has been struggling for more than a year to restate its earnings from 2004, 2005 and 2006. On Monday, it said it wouldn't meet a March 3 deadline set by the New York Stock Exchange, meaning the exchange will likely drop MuniMae, leaving its shares to trade over the counter.

NEW YORK -- For years, even while they were snapping up Japanese electronics and German automobiles, Americans remained downright jingoistic about their investments.Their money stayed close to home -- in U.S. stocks, bonds, certificates of deposit and other instruments.But government and private-industry data show that more capital is leaving the country for investment in foreign stocks and bonds. In the first three quarters of last year, U.S. investors poured $23 billion into foreign stocks and bonds, according to the government.

NEW YORK -- Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. has been censured and fined $20,000 by the New York Stock Exchange for problems stemming from the 1988 merger of Baltimore-based Baker, Watts & Co.and Washington-based Ferris & Co. Inc.The settlement, announced yesterday, comes after extended negotiations between Ferris and the exchange.The company, which neither admitted nor denied guilt, agreed to the terms only reluctantly, said Theodore Urban, general counsel for Ferris."It took a great deal of thought, but it became such an ongoing time-consuming problem with the exchange's enforcement division that we just felt, from purely a business standpoint, it was worthwhile to settle," Mr. Urban said.