Citi's Stock Selloff

Back in March I wrote a regrettable post angrily denouncing the media for crediting the emerging turnaround in the DJIA (then in the mid-6000's) to Citigroup's declaration of quarterly profits. As we now know, over the subsequent months the DJIA has advanced briskly and broadly to the mid-10,000 range. The last line of the post I would like more than anything to delete, in fact the whole post I would—it really was written in the heat of the moment—but integrity dictates it has to stay. This "dead cat bounce" wasn't the huge surprise to me that the line suggested, though later I did make a top call in the 8500 range.

Today, a substantial slide in the DJIA was again attributed to Citigroup—this time because they "sold stock at a discount."[1] Again, I'm tempted to poo-poo this as having any sort of relevance to the broader economy, but experience has shown me I have much to learn.

Sources:
1. Stocks Fall on Citi Sale, FedEx Forecast (BusinessWeek).