In fact, others news Thursday from Prudential showed that the analyst had misread tea leaves from the company's announcement Wednesday about a securities offering.

On Wednesday, Prudential said it planned a $2 billion offering of senior notes, convertible into common stock. The company did not say that day what most of the proceeds would be used for.

Thursday morning, Citigroup analyst Colin Devine advised clients in a report that the offering was a surprise because Prudential currently has $3 billion to $3.5 billion of excess capital.

Devine said there's an opportunity for Prudential to present an alternative to shareholders of Lincoln, which announced last month that it would acquire Greensboro, N.C.-based Jefferson-Pilot Corp. for about $7.5 billion in cash and stock.

Lincoln has long been considered a prime acquisition target. In May, Devine and at least one other analyst speculated about a possible sale of the company, setting off a 4.3 percent gain for the stock in one day.

But on Thursday, even Devine pulled back a bit by issuing a second report in the same day, saying Prudential might use the senior note proceeds to pre-fund a 2006 buyback of its own shares.

Then, shortly before 3 p.m., a Prudential press release removed the mystery. The company, announcing the pricing for the private placement of senior notes, said most of the proceeds would be used to buy "an investment-grade fixed-income investment portfolio."

A much as $210 million of the proceeds would be used to repurchase Prudential shares under the company's existing authorization - something the company did disclose on Wednesday.

Lincoln's stock closed up $1.11 on Thursday, or 2.2 percent, at $50.98 a share, after trading as high as $54.41 during the day. Thursday's closing price was the highest that Lincoln's stock has been since before the announcement of its Jefferson-Pilot deal.

Prudential, whose stock has climbed sharply in recent weeks, closed down 62 cents, at $73.50 a share, on Thursday. The shares fell as much as 2.6 percent, to $72.18, during the day before their partial recovery.

Prudential chief executive Arthur F. Ryan, asked about mergers and acquisitions, told analysts last week that "we're opportunistic. I have no particular deals in mind at this point in time."

Prudential currently has about 716 employees, plus 44 open positions, in Hartford, having acquired CIGNA's retirement services business last year.

Lincoln isn't saying how many local jobs might be lost in Hartford as a result of the Jefferson-Pilot deal, although the signs don't bode well. Hartford is the base of Lincoln's life and annuity operations.

The companies have said that the life insurance operations of the merged company would be based in Greensboro, and that Fort Wayne, Ind., would be the center of annuity operations.

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