Citigroup Inc, the largest US bank, on Friday posted a $2.5 billion second-quarter loss, suffering write-downs and credit losses tied to deteriorating credit markets and the slumping economy. The net loss totaled 54 cents per share, and compared with a year-earlier profit of $6.23 billion, or $1.24 per share. Citigroup said its loss from continuing operations was $2.22 billion, or 49 cents per share. The loss was narrower than a consensus analysts' forecast of a 67 cent loss, according to Reuters Estimates. Citi's results had been widely anticipated in markets globally, and the response the figures was swift. US equity index futures, which had been lower following a spate of earnings disappointments late Thursday from Google, Microsoft and Merrill Lynch, turned positive, and the dollar strengthened broadly. US Treasury debt prices fell, losing some of the flight-to-safety bid they'd had overnight, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note back over 4 percent. Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group, said “I am pleased to see income from “Wealth Management” improve as I believe that for a bank like Citi this is a crucial forward looking area for revenue generation...transactional based revenue will become harder to achieve in the quarters ahead.” “The net share loss ... is coming in better than consensus. Citigroup just because of the spread of their business is seen as a barometer of banking sector pretty much as a whole this day, certainly for US banks and also the UK banks, so things aren't possibly as bad as have been priced in. It's going to help UK banks ... but we've still got plenty of second quarter earnings season to go, so possibly next week it will be a different story.” The company said it lost $2.5 billion, or 54 cents a share, compared to a profit of $6.23 billion, or $1.24 a share. On a continuing operations basis, the firm lost $2.22 billion, or 49 cents a share, compared to a profit $6.14 billion, or $1.23 a share.
