Today was mixed on the economic front. Retail sales were actually positive rather than the expected drop of -0.2%. But then University of Michigan's Sentiment reading came out at 72.5, a reading about 2 points short of estimates. The January Business Inventories being flat in January had no real impact. The gap up this morning on the back of international markets came off and shares struggled between positive and negative territory all day. Yet one more day where the closing bell's direction was not known until the final minutes. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 10,624.69 +12.85 (0.12%)
S&P 500 1,149.99 -0.25 (-0.02%)
Nasdaq 2,367.66 -0.80 (-0.03%)

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TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer wonders whether the predictive qualities of these metrics have been thrown out of whack.

Maybe sentiment indicators are as wrong, or at least stayed wrong, as they did during the selloff? The first important indicator I follow for sentiment, the Investors Intelligence Bull/Bear ratio, shows 49% bulls. That's way too high. The logic: Everyone's in the pool. There are no buyers left. The second sentiment indicator I follow is the S&P 500's oscillator, which updates, like Helene Meisler's, every night.

We are higher than +6 on the oscillator, and I don't like to buy a market that's more than +5, because I have been scalded more times than not when I do (although it doesn't ever call the exact top).

Great news for Citigroup (NYSE: C) CEO Vikram Pandit! After overseeing a 96% drop in Citi's stock price, Pandit will get to keep his job as the U.S. converts its $45 billion investment in Citi preferred stock into common. There's just a little problem for the common shareholders -- the U.S. is shoving them aside. And that's going to cost people who invested before today a little more of their money -- 43% more to be specific.

And why not? The conversion will reduce the stake that existing shareholders hold in Citi to 26% -- giving new investors the remaining 38%. But the conversion is absolutely necessary because Citi's ratio of tangible common equity to assets is now 1.5% and 2% is the minimum level required to avoid the FDIC labeling it "critically under- capitalized." The conversion has the advantage of not requiring any additional taxpayer money.

The Wall Street Journal says that Citigroup (NYSE:C) CEO Vikram Pandit has the support of the board. That is even with the bank likely to lose another $10 billion in the most recent quarter. Over at The New York Times, the business desk sees Citi sacking its chairman. "Federal banking regulators are pressing Citigroup to shake up its board and replace its chairman, Winfried F. W. Bischoff, in an effort to restore confidence in the beleaguered financial giant."

Since Pandit and Bischoff have overlapped during much of their time in power, the division of blame does not make a great deal of sense.

It would appear the government and board at the bank want to show that someone was punished for Citi's performance. Director Robert Rubin has already left. That was apparently not enough of a sacrifice. The reality of the matter is that the whole board and most of management have been part of the Citi strategic decision-making process for the last year to two years. There is plenty of responsibility to go around.

It sounds like Bischoff is gone. But, it is just a little theater. He did not do anything special except to sit on a board with a number of people who made a remarkable number of mistakes.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Vikram Pandit, Citigroup (NYSE: C)'s CEO, is set to announce an even bigger round of job cuts this morning. (This round may supercede the potential 10,000 layoffs announced last Friday.) Will these cuts help revive Citi? No. But they may lower its cash burn rate by $50 billion in 2009. And investors are not impressed, sending its stock down 2.2% in pre-market.

Citi's 53,000 job cuts would represent a 14% cut -- yielding a total workforce of 300,000. Citi may also decide on canceling management bonuses -- a move led by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). Let's hope that these bonus cuts affect the entire industry -- not just top management. After all, the Treasury has already given $159 billion to 24 leading banks and it would be a shame to see that money going to pay bonuses to people who got us into this mess.

Meanwhile, Citi is posed to raise rates on its credit card customers. Citi, which had 182.7 million open card accounts card customers in the third quarter, has told as many as 20% of them that their rates are being raised by an average of three percentage points. Credit losses in Citi's global card division rose over a third to $1.59 billion in the third quarter of 2008.

Now, thousands of Citi workers will pay with their jobs.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns Citigroup stock.

If anyone still hadn't fully digested the severity of the financial crisis, here's additional proof. And, if you thought financial firms just sat back and waited for government aide, you have been wrong. If anyone thought Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) was somehow unaffected by Lehman's bankruptcy, or wasn't trying to be proactive once it had happened, then the Financial Times over the weekend revealed just how much Goldman was affected. In fact, there was a lot going on -- and maybe still is -- leading up to the government bailout.

Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein actually called Citigroup (NYSE: C)'s Pandit last month -- after Goldman changed status to commercial bank -- to discuss a merger. While it is reported that Pandit rejected the idea immediately, this kind of call underscores the severity of the crisis and all the secretive talks that never came to light, with and without the government's blessing, to try and resolve problems.

While Citigroup seemed more interested in Wachovia recently (losing out to Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), it may have wanted to consider Goldman's suggestion more seriously as the combined strengths would have been remarkable. With Citi's investment banking operation, it is, however, nearly unthinkable the amount of layoffs this merger would have caused -- much more than the current layoffs each firm is undertaking. And more shocking, it would have caused Goldman to lose its independence.

For now, such a merger is unnecessary given the Treasury's capital injection, not to mention Buffett's investment in Goldman. So far, Citi, though, hasn't seemed to move on any deals, or win the ones it does want.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) is considering buying Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM), the nation's largest savings and loan. It sounds like Sandy Weill is back in charge and trying to create the kind of financial conglomerate he built in the 1990s and earlier this decade.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Citigroup and several other banks are reviewing the Seattle thrift holding company's books, which are packed with shaky mortgages."

Just a few months ago, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit was talking about cutting the big bank's expenses by 20% and selling off "non-core" assets. Now he is thinking about buying the most troubled large financial company in America.

Pandit would be better off staying with his first plan. There is a reason WaMu's stock got down to under $2. If mortgage defaults move up and housing prices move down, the mortgage company's financial situation could get much worse.

Pandit is proving to be a "flavor-of-the-month" CEO. Investors never know what he plans to do tomorrow, let alone what he wants to do with Citi over the next year.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS), concerned about its future growth, may see limited opportunity and may consider selling itself, the Wall Street Journal reported. If it does decide to sell, suitors could include Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), BAE Systems Plc (OTC: BAESY) and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC).
• The Wall Street Journal reported that, in an attempt to toughen its regulation standards, SEC chairman Christopher Cox said earlier this week the agency would push Wall Street investment houses will have to reduce borrowing and rely less on short-term financing.
• As part of plans to reduce costs and restore profit growth, people close to the situation said that Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) is likely to today identify up to $400B in non-core assets that could be sold. Additionally, the Financial Times reported that Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit will confirm his pledge to cut the bank's cost base by about 20% at a meeting with analysts today. Sources familiar with the matter believe Pandit will dismiss calls for a break-up of the company.

OTHER PAPERS:

• According to sources, the New York Post reported that the ax may fall as early as next week on some investment bankers at The Bear Stearns Companies Inc (NYSE: BSC).

It was not enough that Citigroup (NYSE: C)'s CEO Vikram Pandit sold the bank a hedge fund business which lost most of it value, now he is being accused of being too slow in coming to decisions and making it difficult to turn the bank around. Investors can always hope he will be pushed out. It would probably add $5 to Citi's share price.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Even executives who praise his cautious, deliberative approach express concern Mr. Pandit is taking too long to make decisions." Add to that the concern that Pandit has not disclosed his longer-term plan for the business.

The attacks on Pandit appear to be lead by the founder of the modern Citi, Sandy Weill. The deal-maker created the complex company and would probably be best to keep his thoughts to himself. He bears at least as much responsibility for Citi's problems as his hand-picked successor Chuck Prince.

None of that lets Pandit off the hook. He has made no real attempt to streamline the company by selling off any major assets. Is Citi a stock broker though Smith Barney, an investment bank, a consumer bank, or a corporate lender? As Warren Buffett recently pointed out, some large financial companies have become too complex to run. Pandit needs to sell-off some assets and focus the firm on two or three core operations.

Right now, it looks like Citi may have three bad CEOs in row.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Three years into its $35B takeover of Nextel, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is considering selling or spinning off the troubled unit. Few details were available and a deal is not imminent.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that pressure is mounting on Citigroup Incorporated's (NYSE: C) CEO Vikram Pandit to show that he can turn around the troubled bank. Executives believe Pandit, who has been praised for his cautious and deliberate approach, has been taking "too long" to make crucial decisions.

WEB SITES:

• According to a person close to Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), Reuters reported that Google and Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) are still "hammering out the intricacies" of a potential advertising and search deal. The source said no final agreement has been reached yet.
• ABC News learned that if Rupert Murdoch does not testify in a lawsuit accusing one of his companies of "corporate espionage," it may cost News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) hundreds of millions of dollars, a federal judge overseeing the trial said. News Corp has denied any wrongdoing, and lawyers maintain Murdoch had no direct knowledge of the unit's alleged hacking into EchoStar Corporation's (NASDAQ: SATS)/DISH Network Corporation's (NASDAQ: DISH) security code and posting it on the Internet.