Industry News
Citigroup Board to Meet Today Amid Rumors of Sell-Off
Nov 21, 2008
By: Tonie Auer, Contributing Correspondent

U.S. stock futures surged early this morning after a report Citigroup may put itself on the block and following upbeat results out of Dell and Salesforce.com, according to MarketWatch. S&P 500 futures leaped 31.7 points to 780.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 39.25 points to 1,079.70. Dow industrial futures leapt 293 points. U.S. stocks stumbled to 11-and-half year lows as hopes faded for a rescue of the automakers and as concerns grew about Citigroup's financial health. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 444 points, the S&P 500 lost 54 points and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 70 points, the report stated.

Citi's shares jumped 21 percent in pre-open trade on Friday, however, according to MarketWatch, Citigroup Inc.'s board meets today. Reports in the Wall Street Journal indicate that Citi may choose to sell pieces of the bank or the entire company. Citigroup, once the biggest U.S. bank, with a stock market value of $274 billion at the end of 2006, dropped yesterday to about $26 billion, according to Bloomberg. The company's shares fell 26 percent in New York trading yesterday, closing below $5 for the first time since 1994, as stocks worldwide sank on concerns a global recession may deepen.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest U.S. bank, fell 18 percent to $23.38, while No. 2 Bank of America Corp. declined 14 percent to $11.25 and Wells Fargo & Co. fell 7.7 percent to $22.53. U.S. Bancorp fell 6.4 percent to $22.12, Bloomberg reported.

On the homefront – literally - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest U.S. home loan finance companies, on Thursday said they would suspend foreclosures of occupied homes until early 2009, Reuters reported. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said the hiatus on foreclosures -- which will run from November 26 through January 9 -- will give mortgage servicers more to work out easier borrowing terms for troubled homeowners, according to Reuters. No major government reports are due out today.

 
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