Opinion on  Citigroup Inc (C)     Sector: Financial  >  Industry: Money Center Banks
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Call it Vikram Pandit’s “midnight magic”. The staff memo sent by the Citigroup chief executive just before the clock struck 12 on Monday night appears to have done the trick, at least for one day. Equity and bond investors who read the document’s assertion that Citi was profitable in January and February were able to put aside their worries over the beleaguered bank’s long-term future and send its shares soaring. Citi’s battered stock closed up $0.40 at $1.45, a rise of more than 38 per cent. More than 1.87bn shares Citi changed hands – the fourth-largest volume in US history and a sign that the stock’s jump was underpinned by heavy buying. Not even Mr Pandit’s words about Citi’s deposits being “relatively stable” – the first official admission that the bank’s prolonged troubles might have led some savers to take their money elsewhere – spoiled investors’ good mood. In fact, his revelation that Citi had accumulated $19bn in top-line revenues in the first two months of the year and was having its best period since the third quarter of 2007 boosted the entire sector.