Business Highlights

NEW YORK (AP)--Wall Street finished sharply lower Monday as investors pored over more signs of economic weakness, including a huge round of layoffs at Citigroup Inc.

Stocks zigzagged throughout the session, finally giving way to a stream of late-day selling that left the Dow Jones industrials lower by 223 points to 8,273.58.

A better-than-expected reading on industrial production did little to boost investor sentiment, and markets were nervously waiting to see if the nation's troubled automakers would get a bailout.

___

Citigroup to shed another 53,000 jobs

NEW YORK (AP)--Citigroup Inc. is shedding approximately 53,000 more employees in the coming quarters as the banking giant struggles to steady itself after suffering massive losses from deteriorating debt.

The New York-based bank, which has already reduced its assets by about 20 percent since the first quarter of the year, also plans to trim expenses by 19 percent in 2009 from third-quarter levels, to $50 billion.

The plans, posted on the company's Web site, were discussed by CEO Vikram Pandit at the company's town hall meeting in New York Monday with employees.

___