Daytrading to earn a living: Citigroup-from Oasis into Desert.

The financial giant Citigroup(C) has now been enGulfed by The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA)for $7.5 bn.The Gulf Arab countries are running up current account surpluses of around $200 billion a year and have to put their money somewhere. ADIA, which is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, has an estimated $875 billion in assets, according to brokerage Morgan Stanley (MS).

ADIA is investing up to $7.5 billion equity units, which will be mandatorily convertible into common stock

between Mar. 15, 2010 and Sept. 15, 2012. ADIA could thus gain as much as 4.9% of Citi, surpassing the 3.6% stake held by Saudi Prince Al Waleed bin Talal, currently Citi's largest shareholder.

This isn't the first time Citi has turned to the Gulf for help. In 1991 the bank tapped Al Waleed of Saudi Arabia for capital. The prince remains Citi's largest shareholder, with 3.6%. He has been a demanding owner, willing to publicly blast Citi chief executives when it suited him.

An ADIA-related institution, al Mubadala, recently bought 7.5% of Carlyle Group, the big private equity outfit, for $1.35 billion and took an 8.1% share of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) for $600 million.

Dubai International Capital, which is owned by the ruler of Dubai, has bought stakes in both HSBC (HBC) and hedge fund manager Och-Ziff (OZM). DIIC also said on Nov. 26 that it had taken a significant stake in Japanese electronics maker Sony (SNE).

Citigroup CEO Downfall-just who spark it?

Former

Citigroup Chief Executive Chuck Prince. The CIBC World Markets (CM) stock analyst was a leading agitator for the ouster of the embattled leader of the $200 billion bank. Meredith Whitney's report downgraded the stock to market underperform, the equivalent of a "sell." coincide with the Fed's Oct. 31 meeting, which warned of slowing economic growth.

The report hit the stock market with the force of a freight train slamming into a brick wall. Citi shares fell 7% Nov. 1, as analysts at Morgan Stanley (MS) and Credit Suisse (CS) followed with their own downgrades. The broader market also dropped on the news, with the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index falling nearly 2.5%. Citi's board called an emergency meeting for the following weekend, and CEO Prince stepped down three days later, on Nov. 4. (November interview)

Whitney's clients include major hedge funds, such as billionaire Steve Cohen's SAC Capital Partners, Fontana Capital, and Denver Investment Advisors.

But Whitney has made a career of such calls. She has issued sell ratings on stocks such as Enron, Providian, CIT (CIT) and Capital One (COF), which she downgraded twice during 2006.

Whitney received several death threats after the Oct. 31 report. She takes such threats in stride, saying "sometimes it's good to know that you are striking a nerve." Layfield, a private investment banker and author of Have More Money Now, says the people who threatened his wife were cowardly. He canceled a trip to Texas so he could see to her safety.

Pride Goeth Before a Fall
Whitney says she is fascinated by the way power is used and misused on Wall Street, adding that so many of the problems in the corporate world—from Enron to Citi—flow from ego. "So much of this is a human story. Hubris is the cause of management mistakes 90% of the time," she says.

But so far, in the words of one senior investment banker, "the market is betting on her being right."

(source:Bizweek Rosenbush )

Tracking the Dow on Tuesday 27/11/07
The bulls came in full force on a rampage steering all the way through the oasis and having a slight pause at the desert between 2:30pm-3.30pm.Now they are having camels as their new companion.It's a new beginning.Towards the close was a Homing Pigeon flying in to join the masses.