American Express (AXP) Joins Line Of The Weak

American Express (AXP) said the economy is getting worse. The company will take a pre-tax charge of approximately $440 million (approximately $275 million after-tax) for the fourth quarter.

In light of the fourth quarter charge, American Express expects fully-diluted earnings per share from continuing operations to be in the range of $0.70 to $0.72 for the quarter. Those results would compare with fourth-quarter year-ago earnings of $0.73 per share.

Shares are off 5% in the after-market to $46.30.

Douglas A. McIntyre