U.S. Trust soars on news its processing unit is for sale.

Shares of U.S. Trust Corp., New York, surged $1.375 to a new high of $53.75 Monday, on news it had entered discussions with an unnamed bidder to sell its securities processing business.

Included in that unit are institutional custody, mutual fund servicing and unit trusts. Market sources speculated that the bidder is a money-center bank.

Last year, the processing unit generated $71 million of fee income, representing 25% of U.S. Trust's fiduciary compensation revenues, said Tom Theurkauf of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.

The talks do not include U.S. Trust Corp.'s private banking and asset management businesses.

Bank stocks generally took a beating, as investors looked nervously ahead to quarterly gross domestic product figures and other economic statistics due later in the week.

NationsBank Corp. slipped $1.25 to $47.875; Chemical Banking Corp. was off $1 to $35.375; Wachovia Corp. fell $87.5 to $32.25; and Barnett Banks Inc. slipped 75 cents to $41.375.

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