Let's play What's Wrong With This Picture!

By Number Six

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 09:08 AM

Just a cute and short, nasty, of course, take on some recent news, and after the break, we'll play!

First, let's start with this news item:

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. posted the biggest loss in the bank's 196-year history as surging defaults on home loans forced it to write down the value of subprime-mortgage investments by $18 billion.

The fourth-quarter net loss of $9.83 billion, or $1.99 a share, compared with a profit of $5.1 billion, or $1.03, a year earlier, the New York-based bank said in statement. Citigroup reduced its dividend by 41 percent and is selling $14.5 billion of preferred stock to investors including the government of Singapore to shore up depleted capital. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit eliminated 4,200 jobs and plans more cuts.

-snip

Citigroup fell 7.3 percent in New York trading as the largest U.S. bank warned of rising delinquencies on its $214 billion portfolio of home loans and said more credit-card and auto loans were going bad. The bank cited a slowing economy in setting aside $5.2 billion to cover loan losses in its U.S. consumer division, about five times the year-earlier amount.

The markdown on subprime securities, almost double what the company forecast in November, also was the biggest so far among the world's top financial companies, exceeding the $14 billion taken by Zurich-based UBS AG, Europe's largest bank.

Aw, gee, that's some pretty bad news, right?

Hmm, now, let's look at this little gem:

Chevron Corp. expects that its fourth quarter profits will exceed the $3.7 billion the company earned in the July-September period, the company said late Thursday in an interim update.

A jump in crude oil and natural gas prices fueled the improvement in profits at San Ramon-based Chevron.

Profits for refining, marketing and transportation, also known as the downstream business for the company, "are expected to remain low in the fourth quarter."

Chevron's shares dropped $1.27 or 1 percent Friday to $90.63.

Okay, quiz time: Compare these two stories and ask yourself...What's Wrong With This Picture?

Y'all come back now, y'hear?