Shares of Hudson United Bancorp of Mahwah, N.J., jumped 11% on Tuesday after TD Banknorth Inc. of Portland, Maine, announced an agreement to buy the company for $1.9 billion.
The deal would bring the Toronto-Dominion Bank affiliate into new markets including eastern New York and New York City suburbs in New Jersey and southern Connecticut.
TD Banknorth's shares fell 2.9%. The American Banker index of 225 banking stocks dipped 0.1% as the Standard & Poor's 500 edged up 0.23%.
The market was mixed for a trio of financial companies that kicked off the earnings-report season.
Shares of M&T Bank Corp. rose 2% after the Buffalo company reported second-quarter earnings of $1.69 per share, 10% more than a year earlier.
But Marshall & Ilsley Corp.'s shares fell 1%. The Milwaukee banking company racked up a 21% rise in per-share earnings, to 81 cents.
Investors rewarded Ameritrade Holdings Inc. with a 2% price increase after it posted a 3 cent rise, to 18 cents, in per-share earning for its fiscal third quarter.
Among Tuesday's big gainers were Mercantile Bank Corp. of Grand Rapids, Mich., up 3.7%; Oak Hill Financial Inc. of Jackson, Ohio, up 3.3%; and BancFirst Corp. of Oklahoma City, up 2.8%.
Among the day's decliners were Doral Financial Corp. of San Juan, Puerto Rico, down 4.5%; Sandy Spring Bancorp Inc. of Olney, Md., down 4.1%; and Great Southern Bancorp. Inc. of Springfield, Mo., down 3.7%.
