IPG Share Price Continues to Slide

NEW YORK – The share price of Interublic Group slid another 11 percent on Tuesday, a day after the holding company postponed its report on second-quarter earnings.

The slide also came as Salomon Smith Barney downgraded its rating of IPG’s stock, from “buy” to “neutral,” and Standard & Poor’s said it had put Interpublic on “CreditWatch,” which could result in a downgrading of IPG’s credit rating for both short- and long-term borrowing.

On huge volume of 20.2 million shares, IPG’s stock closed at $13.40, down $1.59 from Monday’s close of $14.99, which itself was down 24 percent. (IPG’s average volume is 2.2 million shares.)

Rival holding companies Omnicom Group and WPP Group, meanwhile, saw their stocks climb Tuesdays after each fell 7 percent on Monday. The uptick occurred after Omnicom reported a 9 percent net income growth in the second quarter and told industry analysts that auditor KPMG had signed off on Omnicom’s accounting for Seneca holdings.

Shares of Omnicom rose 13 percent to close at $53.30.

The American Depository Receipts of WPP, which will report second-quarter results on Aug. 20, closed at $34.74, an 8 percent gain.