Tuesday, January 18, 2011

"Citigroup: Singular Sensation or Something Darker?" (C)

Maybe one more quarter of Vikram & Co. getting their downsized more transparent act together.
The stock is down 5.2% at $4.85.
From MarketBeat:
Citigroup’s poor earnings have pushed the banking behemoth steadily lower all morning. And it’s ended up souring the entire financial sector.

Gaining attention: Citi’s miss on the revenue line. For the fourth quarter, Citi reported $18.37 billion in revenue, about $2 billion shy of expectations. While earnings (Citi missed those, too) can benefit from skillful use of various accounting levers, you can’t hide from a top-line miss, especially one of this size.

And Citi reported broad weakness from credit cards to fixed-income trading to prop trading. Unlike Apple, which is fighting back gamely from lows reached earlier in the day in the wake of CEO Steve Jobs taking medical leave, Citi isn’t finding much love....MORE