SevenToTen - Blogging About Everything

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Citigroup delivered another quarter of devastating results, losing more than $5 billion due to troubles in its fixed-income business and higher consumer credit costs, adding it would cut an additional 9,000 jobs.

The New York-based company also recorded more than $15 billion in writedowns, with the lion’s share coming from subprime-related direct exposures. But investors cheered the news, sending shares of Citigroup more than 6% in early trading, as the results were not as bad as some had feared.

Citi, however, did surprise analysts by delivering better-than-expected top line growth. The company said revenue rose sharply to $13.22 billion from the previous quarter, still it remained at just about half of what it was a year ago.

At the same time, Friday’s results paled in comparison to the eye-popping $9.83 billion quarterly loss the company suffered three months ago - the worst ever recorded in the 196-year history of the firm and its predecessors.

Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit said he was not happy about the results, but noted that he believed that efforts to cut costs, sell non-core businesses and beef up risk management would pay off.

“I think you will see we are taking all the action you’d want us to take to maximize the value of this franchise,” said Pandit.

Since Pandit’s ascension to the CEO post in December, management has made great strides in shaping up what some critics have called the company’s bloated corporate structure.

On Thursday, Citi announced it would sell its commercial lending and leasing business to General Electric for an undisclosed amount. The company has also announced other major moves including the sale of Diners Club International and its stake in Brazilian credit card company Redecard SA.

Citigroup’s results wrap up what has been a particularly tough week of results for the nation’s largest financial firms. Merrill Lynch recorded a loss of $1.96 billion, after about $6.6 billion in new writedowns. The company also said it planned to cut about 3,000 more jobs.

Wachovia Corp. surprised Wall Street Monday with a first-quarter loss of $350 million, while Washington Mutual reported a loss of $1.1 billion, or $1.40 a share, on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase topped Wall Street expectations after reporting earnings of $2.4 billion. Still the results were just half of what they were a year ago.

Here is another way to make money online - signup for YouTube partner program. Just fill out the online application and wait a few hours for approval. You need to have an AdSense account so they you can login to your Adsense for the account you are going to get paid through.

There are a few rules to comply in their terms and conditions. Copyright issues are top on the list. You must upload original content, especially for this partner program. You will earn a share of the revenue that is generated from ad impressions occurring when these videos are viewed.

But according to Shoemoney, he has a lot of friends who are top YouTube users and they are earning peanuts here. For amateurs like us, the money is even more pitiful.

Google’s fabulous quarter earnings eased slowdown fears. Fans enjoyed the biggest one-day Google stock rise — up $89.72, or 20%, to $539.26 — in the past two years as the Net search giant blew past earnings targets by avoiding a big drop in U.S. paid click traffic during the first quarter of 2008.

Wall Street had been a little pessimistic going into the earnings report Thursday, after ComScore (SCOR) surveys showed a third straight month of negligible advertising traffic growth related to domestic searches. The reports helped confirm suspicions that the drag of decreased consumer spending was starting to spread beyond retail and housing to the tech sector.

But the fears of a revenue slump at Google were overestimated as the company saw strong international paid click sales, and the effects of higher prices. Google reported 20% growth in overall paid click revenue over year-ago levels, which was down from the 30% pace in the prior quarter, but well above the 1.8% U.S. rate ComScore reported for March. ComScore flagged the U.S. slowdown but did not capture the bigger picture, namely Google’s expansion overseas, which accounted for 51% of total sales, up from 47% a year ago.

Analysts who had braced for a slowdown going into the earnings report quickly turned bullish after Google’s earnings were released.

One element of Google’s big performance may reflect well on rival Yahoo. Though Google gained market share in the first quarter at Yahoo’s expense, the health of the sector seems to be intact. This should give Yahoo some added sway in its standoff with Microsoft over the $42 billion proposed merger.

When Citigroup and Merrill Lynch each fessed up to nearly $10 billion in losses last quarter, investors believed the companies had finally scrubbed their books clean. Those hopes were a bit premature.

“The fourth quarter felt like the kitchen sink [quarter],” said Jaime Peters, a bank stock analyst at Morningstar. “We are going to find out it necessarily wasn’t.”

Citi and Merrill are among a group of major financial firms due to deliver ugly results for the first quarter in the coming week. The first quarter was marked by the near collapse of Bear Stearns, continued credit market woes and increased signs that the U.S. economy is indeed in a recession.

Overall, analysts anticipate that the banks’ results won’t be quite as bad as they were when they announced grim fourth-quarter results three months ago. But banks still find themselves squeezed by many of the same problems that plagued them at the end of 2007.

Gold prices plunged to a two-week low after the dollar rose surged against the euro. Other precious metals also fell sharply Friday. However, crude oil surged to a new record of $117 and wheat prices plummet.

The dollar edged higher after European officials expressed concern that its euro strength was becoming harmful. A stronger dollar encourages investors to sell hard assets like gold and silver, which are viewed as inflation hedges since they’re known for holding their value in times of rising prices.

Gold for June delivery dropped $27.70 to settle at $915.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier falling as low as $907.30, its lowest level in two weeks. Gold was “heavily weighed down by an initial retreat in crude oil and the dollar’s rapid ascent,” Jon Nadler, analyst with Kitco Bullion Dealers Montreal, said in a note.

In energy futures, crude oil shot up to record level after a militant group in Nigeria said it had sabotaged a major oil pipeline operated by a Royal Dutch Shell PLC joint venture. The group promised further attacks on the country’s petroleum industry, rattling investors who have pushed oil prices to record highs for five straight days.

In agriculture futures, wheat plunged to its lowest level in four months as investors bet that favorable weather in the U.S. Midwest would boost crops.

With businesses in a multitude of sectors, such as health care, finance, energy, consumer electronics, industry and media, many consider General Electric to be a barometer for the health of the U.S. economy.

GE has typically been a model of consistency, rarely missing - or beating - estimates. Only once since 2006 has GE failed to deliver earnings that exactly met First Call’s forecast. That was in second quarter of 2007, when it beat the earnings per share forecast by a penny.

Thus, investors were surprised when they missed first-quarter earnings, deflating hopes that the conglomerate could rise above a continued economic slowdown.

Even with strong presence in overseas overseas and a 22% year-over-year gain in global revenue, they were not immune to the U.S. credit crisis.

GE lowered their full-year earnings guidance, and its second-quarter forecast fell short of expectations. GE reported lower net income compared to the first quarter of 2007. Earnings are at 44 cents per share, down from 48 cents per share a year earlier and well below 51-cent-a-share as projected by analysts.

Citi and Merrill are expected to announce another series of writedowns due to eroding values of mortgage-backed securities and leveraged loan portfolios. Other areas, like home equity loans, have shown increasing signs of deterioration too.

The question now is how bad do losses get? The numbers, in some cases, are really disastrous. To make matters worse, consumer spending has slowed and unemployment has increased - driving bigger losses in banks’ consumer-related businesses such as credit card, small business and even their commercial real estate portfolios. As a result, banks are having to set aside more money for potential loan losses.

Washington Mutual revealed on Tuesday that it had to set aside $3.5 billion in loan loss provisions and could be staring at a loss of $14 billion by year end.

The bad news isn’t limited to loan portfolios, either. When the Federal Reserve aggressively cut interest rates earlier this year, the expectation was the cuts would boost banks’ net interest margins, a key measure of the profit banks make from taking in deposits and lending them back out.

But competition for customers has been so tough that banks have been unable to cut their deposit rates as much as they would have in the past. At the same time, companies with sizeable investment banking divisions like Citigroup, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch are expected to be hit by a slowdown in merger and initial public offering activity. Merger advisory and equity underwriting are two key sources of lucrative fees for investment banks.

Some retailers have blamed an early Easter and cooler weather for decreasing store sales in March. These two factors, combined with sluggishness in consumer spending, exacerbated the damage.

It is a perfect storm of factors: Gas and food prices are at an all-time high, the housing market is deteriorating, the credit market is tighter and consecutive months of job losses. However, retailers are looking forward to April sales. Last April, sales fell 1.8%. So the comparisons are easier. Also, seasonal purchases should get a boost as the weather improves.

Sales tracker Thomson Financial has reported that many retailers have missed analysts’ estimates than beating forecasts. The disappointments were more pronounced for firms like Limited Brands, owner of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, and teen apparel chain Pacific Sunwear which logged an 8% sales decline.

With banks imploding and consumers spending dwindling, one safe haven for the market could be in the stodgy industrials sector. Companies that make things such as bolts and studs and hydraulic equipment may sound depressingly unsexy.

Industrial companies are actually reporting healthy sales and profits. And there’s nothing sexier than better-than-expected earnings in this ugly market. Investors believe industrials are a safe haven for those tired of seeing more big bank losses, tech companies floundering, and concerns about weak retail spending.

Fundamentally, they are well-positioned to take advantage of the weak dollar and the amount of infrastructure that will be built out in lesser developed countries.

It is hard to find jobs during this economic slump, especially the high-paying ones like bankers or sales managers. Improving your appearances and self-confidence could make the difference in such a competitive environment. I mean, celebrities go for cosmetic surgery to gain the superstar appeal, then we can’t blame the man in the street for wanting to look good too.

Breast augmentation is so popular that I seriously don’t know whose breasts are fake in Hollywood. Liposuction is another hot item to correct flaws in body shapes. They guarantee to sculpt your body shape into whatever curves you desire. Don’t envy the celebrities, they either diet, exercise hard, take slimming pills or they have gone for this treatment.

Rhinoplasty (or simply nose job) can help you to get a pert nose, perfect tip or a narrow bridge nose. If you want to enhance other facial features, a face lift can refine your natural beauty.

There are certain well-documented health related issues but the main thing is to go for reputable surgeons who conduct such operations using the proper procedures. If you need answers to your questions about cosmetic surgery, health care, and modern technologies, you can visit docshop.com.

There are many educational topics ranging from cosmetic surgery, bariatrics, dermatology, dentistry to fertility. You can find a doctor or surgeon on the site by zooming into the specialties and then into the states.

After the makeover, if you can attain a 90% similarity to femme fatale Jennifer Lopez, I think you do not need to look for jobs, they will be falling over themselves to sign you up. Even if you do not desire cosmetic surgery, you can still visit the site to enrich your knowledge.