Citigroup Inc. reported Tuesday a $7.8 billion fourth-quarter loss due to failed loans and the costs of repaying government bailout money.
The bank said it saw some early signs of improvement in its credit business although it still needed to set aside $8.18 billion to cover unpaid loans. That amount was down 10 percent from the third quarter and 36 percent from a year earlier.
John Gerspach, Citigroup’s chief financial officer, said on a conference call that the number of mortgage and credit card loans that were newly delinquent, or between one and three months past due, had started to stabilize and even drop in some of its lending portfolios. However, “the U.S. credit story is still very much developing,” he said.
The bank’s loss after accounting for payment of preferred dividends came to almost $7.8 billion, or 33 cents per share. That compared with a loss of $18.16 billion, or $3.40 a share, a year earlier. In the third quarter of 2009, it earned $101 million.
IBM Corp.: The technology giant managed a 9 percent increase in profit in the last quarter as its revenue grew for the first time in a year and a half. IBM also offered a slightly better forecast for 2010. The revenue boost in the latest quarter, which ended Dec. 31, was just under 1 percent.
Some analysts have been worried that IBM would have trouble continuing to use cost cuts to squeeze out higher profits. IBM said it earned $4.8 billion, or $3.59 per share in the last three months of 2009, up from $4.4 billion, or $3.27 per share, a year earlier. Revenue was $27.2 billion, versus $27 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.
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