citi

Paulson cashes in on Citi comeback

Taxpayers aren't the only ones benefiting from the recovery at Citigroup.

Hedge fund manager John Paulson has made $1 billion on his bet on Citi (C), he said in his year-end letter to investors. Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the collapse of the housing bubble, started betting on big U.S. banks in mid-2009.

At the time, few people were banking on any economic recovery, even one as weak as this one, which MORE

No more minimum wage for Citi's Pandit

Citi's board just gave CEO Vikram Pandit a $1.75 million pat on the back.

Citigroup (C) said Friday afternoon it gave Pandit, its CEO since its meltdown began in late 2007, what it called a well-deserved raise. Pandit made just $1 last year, as part of a gesture he made in February 2009 to quell rising bailout rage.

But by now, Citi has paid back the government and returned to full-year profitability, and the government has MORE

Fans flee bloated megabanks

Have the too big to fail banks gotten too fat to succeed?

That's one takeaway from a round of mushy earnings reports this week. The KBW bank stocks index fell 1% or more for the second straight day Wednesday, after Goldman Sachs (GS) and Wells Fargo (WFC) joined Citigroup (C) in underwhelming anxious investors.

Each bank had its own drab story to tell. Citi let fans down by admitting it won't buy MORE

The Citi trading frenzy: update

Vikram Pandit didn't fool anyone by saying Citigroup had a great year.

Citi's (C) stock tumbled 6% Tuesday after the bank's weak fourth-quarter earnings report sent investors fleeing the financial sector.

Pandit & Co. picked a bad time to post a soft quarter, because there was little other major financial news Tuesday -- which helps to explain the huge volume in Citi shares.  

Trading in Citi had reached 1.3 billion shares by 1:30 MORE

Citi selloff chills bank rally

Bank investors are getting hit with a wave of buyer's remorse.

Finance stocks tumbled Tuesday after Citigroup (C) posted a weak fourth quarter and Comerica (CMA) agreed to purchase Sterling Bancshares (SBIB) in a push to expand its reach in fast-growing Texas.

Citigroup tumbled 5% following the release of its fourth consecutive quarterly profit. CEO Vikram Pandit said the bank accomplished all it set out to in 2010. It earned $11 billion MORE

Is Citi about to leave the dog house?

Brace yourself. Citigroup may soon depart the land of misfit stocks.

Citi (C) is due to post fourth-quarter results Tuesday. The No. 3 U.S. bank is expected to make 8 cents a share, reversing a year-ago 33-cent loss and pushing it to its first annual profit since 2007.

But returning to the black may not be the biggest shift ahead for Citi, even after two years of massive losses and controversial taxpayer MORE

TARP watchdog warns of hidden costs

Don't count your TARP profit eggs before they're hatched.

That's the message of a report released Thursday by the top federal bailout watchdog, Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Barofsky's report focuses on the special aid extended to Citigroup (C) during the 2008-2009 financial meltdown. The government recently sold the last of its Citi stock and has been saying taxpayers made $12 billion on the bailout MORE

Citi on BofA: 'Not our best call'

Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.

So it is with Citi analyst Keith Horowitz. He removed Bank of America (BAC) from his Top Picks Live list Thursday, noting that a 37% rally in the stock over the past six weeks brings it near $15 -- just $3 short of his target price.

Horowitz still rates the stock buy, saying it's the best value among banks, but he stripped its top-pick MORE

Update: Big AIG cashout in the works

Is AIG the next Citi?

Treasury will seek to sell off a big chunk of its holdings in AIG (AIG), the government-owned insurance company, in the first quarter of 2011, Reuters reports.

Hours later, AIG, Treasury and the Federal Reserve signed off on a deal formalizing the terms of the latest restructuring of AIG's relationship with its government rescuers, pointing to a likely government stock sale in 2011.

Under the deal outlined Wednesday, AIG will MORE

Citi soars as feds cash out

It's time to break up Citigroup.

A day after the government announced the sale of its last shares of its biggest bank bailout of the 2008-2009 meltdown, Citi (C) shares rose 3% to their highest level since April.

Treasury raised $10 billion and change Tuesday by selling 2.4 billion Citi shares in an offering underwritten by Morgan Stanley. The deal left the feds, savaged recently for their massive lending to the financial MORE