Citi Struggles

Citigroup (C) is locked in the fight of its life. With its stock in a downward spiral, the financial services company is weighing its options: Either sell off pieces of the company, or sell the whole thing outright.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these discussions are still in the preliminary stages. But with its worst ever 1-day performance yesterday -- a 26% decline in share value -- executives are scrambling to come up with a solution. Even news of Saudi Prince Alwaleed raising his stake in the company above 5% failed to halt the stock from plunging. This week alone, Citi shares have dropped 50%.

See Toddo’s Freaky Friday Potpourri.

From the Bull Pen: The drop in stock prices is mind-blowing and the financial markets remain as stressed as ever. Bulls should continue to look to stocks that aren’t making new lows like BJ’s (BJ). A sell stop can be set below $30.

From the Bear Cave: We might see the beginnings of a sharp countertrend rally, but fundamentally there isn’t much reason to think it's anything but that. Bears can consider a downside play in a stock like Qualcomm (QCOM) on a rally back to $35. If and when.


Quick Check Around the World

Asian trading closed with the Hang Seng 2.93%, Nikkei 2.70%, Sensex 5.49%, Taiwan 1.98% and Shanghai -0.72%.

Glancing towards Europe, we see the CAC -0.83%, DAX -0.96%, FTSE 0.07%

As of 8:30 a.m. EST, S&P futures are trading +20 to 769, and Nasdaq futures are +20 to 1059.


A Look At Commodities

Crude oil is trading +0.79 to 50.21. Gold is +7 to 755.40. Silver is +0.125 to 9.150 and copper is -2.600 to 156.85.

The dollar index is -0.500 to 87.421.

No events on the radar today. Good luck and have a great weekend!
 

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