The markets opened lower after Citigroup warned of additional losses and its CEO stepped down. The Dow fell 48 points to 13,546 while Nasdaq lost 6 points to 2803.
On the upside
Shares of American International Group (NYSE: AIG) rose after a shareholder group announced that it wanted the world's largest insurer to explore strategic options.Analysts upgraded Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) on hopes that its mobile phone strategy can help the search engine company maintain its high growth rate.
CNBC reported that Time Warner CEO (NYSE: TWX) Richard Parsons may be replaced by the company's COO.
On the downside
Citigroup (NYSE: C) expected at least $8 billion in write-offs due to the ongoing subprime loan crisis.
China Petroleum and Chemicals (NYSE: SNP) were among the China-related companies in a sell-off after the Hong Kong and Chinese markets tumbled in overnight trading. Diesel shortages and price controls were reportedly choking profits for oil refiners.
In the broad market, declining issues outpaced advancers by a margin
of nearly 4 to 1 on the NYSE and by a margin of more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The
Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks fell 8 points to 789.
