CITIGROUP

Futures pointed to a slight rebound on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.46 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.41 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.34 percent at 5:28 a.m. ET.

Former Washington Mutual Inc executives agreed to settle a lawsuit for less than 10 percent of the $900 million originally sought by the FDIC for their role in the biggest bank failure in U.S. history, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Sheila Bair, former chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), is said to be the leading candidate to monitor banks during a nationwide foreclosure settlement.

The rumors about the next generation iPad, dubbed iPad 3, are endless. And the latest rumor is that the highly anticipated iPad 3 will launch in March or April 2012.

A market participant with apparently $400 million in cash lying around just became one of Bank of America's (NYSE:BAC) largest shareholders. Between 11:01 and 11:02 a.m. New York time, trade in Bank of America spiked as over 72 million shares changed hands.

Stock in the largest American banks were particularly bullish on the developments, trading up in heavy volume during pre-market action in the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Citigroup (NYSE:C), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) were up more than 2 percent in very early pre-market trading. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), whose operations are generally considered to be more sensitive to developments out of Europe than its large bank peers in the U.S., was up over 3 percent.

Walnut Place, a group of undisclosed investors who oppose Bank of America Corp's $8.5 billion mortgage bond settlement, is the Baupost Group, a distressed debt fund, according to an attorney for the bank.

Talk of Greece voluntarily leaving -- or being kicked out of -- the eurozone was once verboten. Now bank economists, investors, and even central bankers are talking about it as though it's a done deal. The divide between rhetoric is also growing. Those predicting the future Greek exit are calling it "manageable," while those saying it won't happen are labeling the possibility "catastrophic."

European shares fell in a choppy afternoon session on Thursday, erasing earlier strong gains, with traders saying the market came under pressure after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi cautioned on the region's economic outlook.

Fewer Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. Thursday's data once again edged back from the 400,000 mark -- the level below which economists say signals a strengthening job market - after popping above it in the prior week.

Citigroup began a round of layoffs among its London-based investment bankers this week after Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said the bank will layoff 4,500 employees as it attempts to trim costs.

U.S. equities rallied in the last hour of trading Wednesday, before retreating in the last few minutes, as rumors that a $600 billion International Monetary Fund Bailout of the European sovereigns was about to be announced swirled the market, only to be dispelled just before trading closed for the day.

Citigroup began a round of layoffs among its London-based investment bankers this week, with jobs in advisory, equities and fixed income set to go as the bank readies 4,500 redundancies worldwide.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) announced that all deposit-taking ATMs in its network of more than 12,000 machines in the U.S. are now entirely envelope-free. Citibank (C) stated in its recent edition of client manual for consumer accounts that the bank will be installing new envelope-free ATMs at Citibank branches and other Citi locations "throughout 2011."

Stocks index futures were little changed on Wednesday after two days of gains as investors waited to see if European officials can craft a plan to combat the region's debt crisis at a summit this week.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), which announced Tuesday that it would cut about 4,500 jobs, could get faster regulatory capital than other banks, according to a Wall Street analyst.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open for equities on Wall Street on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 up 0.6-0.8 percent.

Citigroup Inc. (C) Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said the bank will eliminate 4,500 jobs "over the next few quarters" in an effort to reduce costs, The Associated Press reported.

Citigroup Inc is cutting 4,500 jobs worldwide, Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Tuesday, becoming the latest large bank to trim staff.

Bank of America agreed on Tuesday to pay $315 million to settle claims involving mortgage securities issued by Merrill Lynch.

The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index (CESIYUSD), a closely watched index that compares economists' expectations for key indicators and actual results, is at a peak. If trends are to be believed, it's three months from a cyclical nadir -- a point that has signaled a stock market correction in the past.