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For U.S. stock market report double-click 1351 ET 17June2009-S&P adds Badger Meter to S&P SmallCap 600 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Badger Meter Inc shares jumped on Wednesday after Standard & Poor's said that the flow-measurement product maker will replace WMS Industries Inc in the S&P SmallCap 600 index after the close of trading on June 23.

Slot machine maker WMS Industries will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 index, replacing Colonial BancGroup Inc on the same date.

S&P also announced commercial property and casualty insurer Employers Holdings Inc will replace telecom test systems supplier Catapult Communications Corp, which is being by Ixia, after the close on June 23.

Badger Meter shares jumped 11.7 percent to $43.98, WMS Industries gained 6.5 percent to $30.37 and Employers Holdings climbed 8 percent to $13.34. Colonial BancGroup shares slid 5.9 percent to 96 cents and Catapult Communications was unchanged at $9.22.

Reuters Messaging:rm://Charles.mikolajczak.reuters.com@reuters.net 1311 ET 17June2009-Abercrombie to close Ruehl by end of fiscal year ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abercrombie & Fitch Co on Wednesday said it would close its Ruehl unit, citing unsustainable losses. The chain posted a drop of 34 percent in its first-quarter same-store sales.

Because of the closure, Abercrombie expects to take additional charges of $65 million, which it will recognize largely throughout the rest of the fiscal year.

For details, see

Abercrombie's shares rose 3.4 percent to $26.67.

Reuters Messaging: rachel.chang.reuters.com@reuters.net 1259 ET 17June2009 Protective puts look attractive in some coal names, Susquehanna ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although most names throughout the coal sector have performed well during the three-month market rally, recent trading activity in the Market Vectors Coal ETF, the coal heavy SPDR Metals & Mining ETF and in coal producer Consol Energy seems to suggest investors may be positioning for protection, said Susquehanna Financial Group in a note. With the cloudy picture surrounding coal supply and demand as well as prices, several names of the KOL ETF are possible put protection candidates, it said. In light of strong gains across the sector, volatility has dropped while skew levels are generally mixed. Given the low volatility levels, Susquehanna said investors may find puts in Foundation Coal and Walter Energy attractive due to their sector outperformance year-to-date. In other outperformers with relatively high skew levels, long put spreads could be a less costly means of protection. Candidates for put spreads could include Massey Energy and Peabody Energy, SIG said.. Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net Keywords: MARKETS STOCKSNEWS

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