We have a deal today, the Geithner Special. Step over to the window and place your order. Citigroup's price (C) on the NYSE board is frozen at just above a buck by a steady infusion of TARP money and perhaps mysterious others. It's not going up, it's not dropping. Too big to fail, and too low to be taken seriously, it's either the bargain of the Current Debacle or one more hayride to monster doom.
See, if C falls below a buck for more than 30 days it can be delisted from the exchange, and if it doesn't go up much this year, we all may as well hitchhike to the desert with a sleeping bag and a recipe for fried lichen.
From what the experts are saying this company is the keystone of the Obama administration's hopes for a turnaround. As in, Global turnaround. Citi is in nearly every country and nearly everyone's pocket.
Everybody's climbing aboard: Saudi princes, Japanese spin-offers, penny stockers (I saw a single contract of Jan 2010 calls at 29 cents (x 100) pass down the cafeteria line of my ticker). Moi, I'm in with a few cheap calls. Come Santa time, I could be up a couple of thou. Or, I could be drinking the cheaper beer for a few weeks.
Geithner and friends are also hoping to starve off the sellers this way, and it makes sense. If you're holding shares and about to dump em, but it just sits there flashing $1.01 for three hours, you might get curious to see what's next. And the buyer, assured by the same effect, gets the message that someone is manipulating the strings, and that the puppeteer wants, needs, prays that the pps will start to rise before too long. When the US Treasury is stacking the deck in the buyer's favor, one might want to consider playing.
Meanwhile, last time I looked GM is down 20 percent and no one is stopping its downward roll to the parts yard.