[Opies]

* Citigroup Has $5.1 Billion Loss, Cuts 9,000 More Jobs; Sales Top Estimates

* Stocks in U.S. Rally on Citigroup, Google Earnings; European Shares Climb

I Just don't understand how the market rallies around a tanking company. I know Bloomberg has some pretty crazy things on it but this just makes no sense to me... Can anyone explain this?

[RonMN]

I agree with you...WTF?

But TPTB say the loss was less than expected...so PARTY ON!!!

[MrBean]

Fed is so busy inflating, that the money just has to go somewhere, anywhere (but to poor man's table)...

Funny, isn't it, starving because of too much money...

[Plantagenet]

The Citi losses are "write-downs" of bad past investments.

Income is the take from current operations.

A company can have a huge net loss, but if the stock price has already fallen because investors projected that loss months ago the strong income stream can still suggest to some investors that it remains a good investment so it goes up now.

The pricing of stocks in the stockmarket has little to do with past performance.....the past is already built in to the price. its all about guestimating future profits.

Take Google----it had already fallen about 40% from its highs because people feared its profit growth was slowing, so they projected a lower value. Yesterday Google announced its profit growth was great, so its price has now jumped over a hundred points in two days on hopes of continued future growth.

[Opies]

thanks for clearing that up PA although it still seems kind of silly