Monday, March 29, 2010

"This Market’s Not Big Enough for Citi" (C)

A follow-on offering.
[he means following "AN INTERVIEW WITH BRUCE BERKOWITZ: Why the Fairholme founder finds AIG, Bank of America and Citi very attractive now." (AIG; BAC; C)" -ed]
From MarketBeat:

Monday’s trading in Citigroup is turning out to be among the most active of the year, relative to the market as a whole. The catalyst, of course, is the Treasury Department’s announcement of its plan to sell down 7.7 billion shares of the bailed-out Wall Street giant, giving traders further detail about an exit that’s been widely anticipated.

Citi’s share price is down nearly 3% to $4.19 a share on the news.

Over the last few months, breaking developments and shifting expectations about the government’s handling of its Citigroup shares have made the bank the only show in town during slow market days.

So far on Monday, almost 700 million shares in Citi have changed hands. At one point in the day, that volume was more than 27% of New York Stock Exchange composite volume. It has since slipped a smidgen below 25%....MORE

MarketBeat had an earlier post wherein the Treasury said they would sell the stock in 2010 with a link to the Treasury news release:

Government Officially Announces Plans to Sell Citi Stake