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CNNfn market movers
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August 11, 1998: 11:24 a.m. ET
Oil stocks afloat in wake of BP-Amoco deal as SmarTalk, Puma sink
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The big question Tuesday might be which U.S. stocks weren't moving as a worldwide tidal wave of selling hit Wall Street. And it seemed the only investors smiling were those whose shares are the object of buyouts.
The biggest merger deal of the day is the proposed transatlantic marriage of British Petroleum (BP) and Amoco (AN), which helped shore up the oil sector.
Amoco shares rocketed 6-3/8 to 47-3/8, while BP's American depositary receipts rose 3-1/2 to 79-1/2.
Other oil stocks fared relatively well in the wake of that deal. Texaco (TX) was up 3/4 to 57, Mobil (MOB) rose 9/16 to 64-11/16, and Phillips Petroleum (P) gained 1/4 to 41-1/4.
Cliffs Drilling (CDG) gained 1-1/8 to 20-1/2 after the oil services company said late Monday it has agreed to merge with R&B Falcon (FLC), which fell 1-9/16 to 13-3/4. The deal calls for Cliffs Drilling shareholders to receive 1.7 shares of R&B Falcon for each Cliffs Drilling share they own.
As so many stocks sold off Tuesday -- the Dow industrials lost more than 200 points -- it almost took a buyout like the Amoco deal to get company shares moving upward.
Signal (SGNL) surged 3-7/8 to 31-7/8, or nearly 14 percent, after fellow financial service holding company FirstMerit (FMER) agreed to buy Signal for $470 million in stock.
And PaineWebber Group [PWJ] gained 2-1/8 to 47-1/8 following a German newspaper report that Dresdner Bank is in talks with the U.S. brokerage about a possible merger. Neither side has commented on the report.
On the downside, SmarTalk TeleServices (SMTK) got pounded Tuesday, losing 8-3/4 to 7/78 -- or more than 52 percent -- after the provider of prepaid telecom services said that it has delayed the release of its second-quarter results while it reviews accounting practices in 1997, stemming mainly from the purchase of Worldwide Direct.
Oxford Health Plans (OXHP) fell by 5/8 to 5-15/16 after the embattled HMO reported a loss of $508 million in the second quarter, in part due to restructuring and turnaround costs.
Oxford also said it is confident it could become profitable by the second half of 1999.
Puma Technology (PUMA) shed 1-15/16 to 2-9/16 after the software maker said its fourth-quarter results will be below analysts' estimates and will come in at a loss of $1.5-$1.8 million, or 12 cents to 15 cents per share. 
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