WALL STREET STOCKS/AMERICAN EXPRESS &lt;AXP>

  American Express Co's stock fell
  sharply, reflecting, in part, investors' disappointment that
  the company did not make an announcement about its plans for
  brokerage unit Shearson Lehman Brothers, traders said.
      The company has said it is studying options for its
  Shearson unit. Traders said many investors anticipated an
  announcement this weekend that it would spin off Shearson
  Lehman. Also, they said, a flurry of arbitrage related sell
  programs that pounded the general market today accelerated the
  selloff of American Express, a component of the Dow Industrial
  Average. American Express fell 3-1/8 to 77-3/8.
      "It was part programs and part that there was anticipation
  of an announcement of a spinoff or something with Shearson this
  weekend, and that announcement never happened," one trader
  said.
      In the last few minutes of trading on Friday, another
  trader said, the stock jumped to close up 3-3/8, largely on
  anticipation that the company would make a weekend
  announcement.
  

