Citi Shares The Blame

   (FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 1/12/15) 
   By Sarah Krouse 

With oil prices tumbling 50% since June, the energy sector has garnered much of the blame for what is shaping up to be a lackluster fourth-quarter earnings season.

But there is certainly plenty of blame to go around, and some of it will fall on the financial sector, thanks to a hefty increase in Citigroup Inc.'s legal reserves in the fourth quarter.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. kick off bank earnings Wednesday, and analysts expect financial companies in the S&P 500 to report earnings per share shrank 1.7% in the last three months of 2014 from a year earlier, according to FactSet. That marks a significant pullback from the start of the quarter when analysts expected per-share profit to grow by 8% for the sector. Citi is the main culprit behind the decline in the financial sector's expected earnings. Last month, the bank said it would spend $2.7 billion to bolster its legal reserves, a major hit to its expected fourth-quarter profit. Analysts now expect Citigroup to earn 11 cents, down from $1.13 on Sept. 30, says FactSet.

Access Investor Kit for Citigroup, Inc.

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US1729674242

Access Investor Kit for JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US46625H1005

Access Investor Kit for Wells Fargo & Co.

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US9497461015

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires