She raised AIG to "strong buy" from "buy."
Schroeder said AIG has made "few large acquisitions" and most of its earnings come from products with tested accounting methods. The stock has dropped 6.8 percent this year amid increased scrutiny of corporate balance sheets.
Bank of America Corp rose US$1.65 to US$60.60.
The third-largest US bank agreed to pay US$490 million to settle lawsuits filed in the wake of NationsBank Corp's 1998 purchase of BankAmerica Corp.
Plaintiffs accused Bank of America of withholding information prior to the merger.
Merrill Lynch & Co jumped US$2.77 to US$48.27. President Stanley O'Neal named an operating committee of his top deputies following the broker's record US$1.3 billion fourth-quarter loss. Citigroup Inc., the biggest financial-services firm, gained US$1.06 to US$45.20.
Providian Financial Corp surged US$0.70, or 20 percent, to US$4.16. The sixth-largest US Visa and MasterCard issuer said regulators approved its capital plan to protect against unexpected loan losses, a requirement for the company to stay in business.
Sun Microsystems Inc rose US$0.53 to US$9.75. Merrill's Steven Milunovich said the company will benefit from a change in strategy to sell inexpensive server computers that run the free Linux operating system and reduce its dependence on Solaris, Sun's proprietary operating system. Milunovich raised his long-term recommendation to "buy" from "neutral."
Qualcomm, which licenses patents for mobile phones, slid US$1.65 to US$37.46. The Center for Financial Research and Analysis raised concerns about how the company reported revenue in the year ended in September.
Qualcomm's chief financial officer, Anthony Thornley, said in an interview that the company "operated with the highest standards of corporate governance and accounting."
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