Discover shares battered by reports of massive Dec. job losses

Discover Financial Services, the Riverwoods-based credit-card company, fell the most in almost a month of New York trading after a private report showed U.S. employers cut more jobs than estimated in December.

Discover dropped 70 cents, or 7.2 percent, to $9.01 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 11:18 a.m., the biggest drop since Dec. 11. Payrolls shrank by 693,000 jobs last month, the most since records began in 2001, according to a report today from ADP Employer Services.

Discover won approval to become a bank holding company last month, joining larger rival American Express Co. in a rush for government funds and retail deposits amid stalled capital markets. Credit-card lenders' losses are rising as consumers hit by rising unemployment fall behind on their loans. The Labor Department may report that total job cuts reached 2.4 million in 2008, according to a Bloomberg survey median.

American Express, based in New York, slipped 38 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $20.51 and McLean, Virginia-based Capital One Financial Corp. declined $1.54, or 4.5 percent, to $32.60.