U.S. stocks stayed above the threshold reached yesterday as a late-session buying helped offset weakness in banking and technology shares.  Financials dragged on stocks through the early afternoon even as Goldman Sachs and Citigroup reported better-than-expected profit reports.   However, the final fifteen minutes witnessed much of the activity as higher oil prices sent energy stocks higher and, in turn, helped the broader market.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed above the 10,000 level for the second-successive day, edging up 47 points, or 0.5%.  The S&P 500 index edged up 4 points, or 0.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ended the day virtually flat.  The gains in the Dow average were led by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) whose shares jumped 2.9%.  The Windows 7 is slated for release on October 22.

Among energy stocks, Chevron (NYSE:CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) shares climbed 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively, as crude prices jumped to their highest

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The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) is challenging positive conclusions given to Citigroup Inc.'s (C) management in a government-requisitioned review. Some FDIC officials are suspicious about the report, following the interviews of Citi's management who rated the effectiveness of their colleagues. Uncertainty surrounding the integrity of the report may lead the FDIC to assign the report little weight during the next regulatory assessment of the company’s management. The review was conducted this summer for Citi's board by recruiting and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International. It was triggered by the government's stress tests on top banks. Companies found to be in need of additional capital were required to conduct assessments of their management and report the findings to federal regulators. The FDIC, which had concerns about the qualifications of Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his top management team, required Citigroup to hire an outside firm ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 9, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Target Corporation (TGT), Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), Hasbro Inc. (HAS), Mattel Inc. (MAT) and Citigroup Inc. (C).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Target Lowers Toy Prices

In order to woo customers this holiday season, major discount retailer Target Corporation (TGT) recently announced an aggressive price cut on toys. The announcement came on the back of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) news on offering 100 toys for

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The management team of Citigroup Inc. (C) received a positive review in an outside appraisal but some shuffling of senior executives could be on the anvil. The review was conducted this summer for Citi's board by recruiting and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International. It was triggered by the government's stress tests on top banks. Companies found to be in need of additional capital were required to conduct assessments of their management and report the findings to federal regulators. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), which had concerns about the qualifications of Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his top management team, required Citigroup to hire an outside firm to perform the review. The report, delivered to Citigroup's board on last Friday, gave strong overall marks to Citigroup's management team and to CEO Vikram Pandit in particular. The review, however, gave less-favorable reckonings to at least two ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 14, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Citigroup Inc. (C), UBS AG (UBS), Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Bank of America Corporation (BAC).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Friday’s Analyst Blog:

Citgroup Wins Lawsuit Dismissal

Citigroup Inc.’s (C) officers and directors (including Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit) won the dismissal of a lawsuit claiming they breached their duty to the bank by manipulating the market for auction-rate securities (ARS).

On Sep 10,

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U.S. regulators have forced Citigroup Inc. (C) to hire external consultants who will analyze whether the company's current management has the caliber to lead it out of the ongoing financial crisis.   Citigroup has entered an agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) that requires increased scrutiny of the bank and also requires it to fix financial, managerial and governance issues. Recruitment firm Egon Zehnder has been retained by Citigroup to carry out a comprehensive, in-depth management review as requested by the U.S. government following the stress tests conducted in May 2009.   Citigroup is required to submit a plan of action about possible managerial changes to its board and regulators by the time it reports its third quarter results in October 2009.   The move will create intensified pressure on the management and comes as a threat to the long-term future of Citigroup top executives and ...

Considering the state of affairs at Citigroup (C), movement in its management team is not unrealistic -- this company has been among the hardest hit banks by the credit crisis and ongoing recession. Clearly, after Citigroup received $45 billion in aid from the government in the fall of 2008 (part being converted to a 34% equity stake in the bank), pressure has definitely increased for its CEO, Vikram Pandit, to improve operations and return the entity to profitability and improve operations, which has resulted in some instability in the executive management ranks. Even though the U.S. government is one of the largest shareholders, we would not expect these changes to be the result of it flexing its voting potential, but we suspect a close eye is being kept on the situation. What has resulted are the following shuffles: The current chairman of Citi Holdings ...

Representative Alan Grayson (D-Fla) is proving that Ron Paul isn’t the only one with a pulse up on Capitol Hill. Grayson is going after the “Citigroup Three” – Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner and Vikram Pandit – in an attempt to bust up the Wall Street crony alliance.

Grayson is doing what any Congress member worth his or her salt should have done a long time ago. He’s calling for an inquiry into the $300 billion government guarantee extended to Pandit’s Citigroup. Put simply, he’s asking who should be held responsible for putting the taxpayer – you and me, dear reader – on the hook for a third of a trillion dollars of toxic Citigroup assets.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what Grayson is putting to the special inspector general of the TARP program Neil Barofsky courtesy of Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge.com.

1. How was the deal negotiated by Citigroup,

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“Stocks are clearly having trouble extending their gains,” reports today’s Wall Street Journal. And that a number of key market health indicators are flashing red right now.  When were these indicators flashing green? We don’t recall.

Our memory of the recent rally was on kicked-off by a bogus memo from Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit about profitability, followed by a load of baloney from stress test regulators about banks’ health.

“People also are beginning to question whether the economic fundamentals are strong enough to justify continued gains,” continues the WSJ. This has got to be one of the most naïve sentences ever written. The 40% rise in stocks since early March never had anything to do with a 40% increase in economic fundamentals. The economy is collapsing (albeit at a slightly slower pace than before).

Stocks rose because the same “irrational exuberance” that got us into trouble in the first place

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Citigroup Inc. (C) finally agreed to bolster its common equity position by swapping $58 billion of preferred stock on Wednesday in a move that will make the federal government its largest shareholder.

Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said "Following completion of the exchange offers, Citi will be among the best capitalized banks in the world." As per the highly diluted exchange offer, the ailing bank will convert a part of the Treasury's $25 billion preferred stock into common shares giving the US government a 34% stake in the company.

Citi had issued these preferred shares to the federal government while taking $45 billion under the Troubled Asset Relief Program at the height of the financial crisis. When regulatory stress tests showed last month that Citi needed a $5.5 billion buffer in case of future losses, Citi chose to convert preferred shares to meet the shortfall.

The

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