The market was all agog a few days ago when Citigroup announced profit which surprised the Street. Now, however, “after further consideration,” it has become clear that the so-called “profits” are non-existent; rather, that they are the result of financial legerdemain. It isn’t that Citigroup, alone, does it; many of the others do, too.
It took a while for observers to catch on to this bit of sleight-of-hand; but once it did, there was a price to be paid in the value of Citi’s stock. Specifically, Citi’s stock fell 9% yesterday, displayed by a black Candlestick which nearly engulfed the “real bodies” of the previous three days.
It was Mr. Lincoln who said “You can fool all of the people some of the time…….”, et cetera. Those words remain true today.
How refreshing it would be if the financial institutions would begin to present real profit and loss numbers rather than porridge which has no relationship to reality. When the fakery is revealed, the Candlesticks have a special way of showing the investors’ disappointment at having been deceived.
William Kurtz April 18, 2009 http://www.candlesticksonsteroids.com
