While lawmakers are asking the Big Three carmakers to produce their future business plans before a bailout, already bailed out financial institutions are enduring further pessimism from investors.
Citicorp's shares traded under 5 on November 20 as the Dow moved toward 7,500, even though Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal had said he plans to increase his stake to 5 percent from less than 4 percent. He also called the bank's shares "dramatically undervalued" following a nearly 90 percent drop since late 2006.
The Saudi prince gave his full support for embattled Chief Executive Vikram Pandit, who earlier this week announced a plan to eliminate 52,000 jobs as part of a program to cut expenses 20 percent, but investors remain skeptical. They are especially concerned about further expected write-downs and related troubles associated with the current global economic recession and its impact on the bank.
Earlier in the week, Citi said that in order to complete the wind-down of the Citi-advised Structured Investment Vehicles ("SIVs"), it committed to acquire the remaining assets of the SIVs at their current fair value, estimated to be roughly $17.4 billion, net of cash, as compared to $21.5 billion at September 30.
