Citigroup, E*Trade, Wilmington Trust

Citigroup Inc. today reported a loss of $5.1 billion, or $1.02 per share, for the first quarter, the second consecutive quarterly loss for the New York banking giant, which took $13.9 billion in write-downs in connection with collateralized debt obligations. The loss compares with net income of $5.01 billion, or $1.01 per share, in last year's first quarter. Revenue in the first quarter fell 48% to $13.22 billion, from $25.5 billion in the first quarter of 2007. The company plans 9,000 layoffs in the next 12 months, on top of the 4,200 cuts announced in January. E*Trade Financial Corp. of New York released its first-quarter earnings yesterday, reporting a loss of $91.2 million, or $0.20 per share, compared with net income of $169.4 million, or $0.39 per share, in the comparable 2007 quarter. Results included a $234 million provision for loan losses. Revenue fell to $316.2 million, from $645 million. Analysts at Thomson Financial had forecast a loss of $0.10 per share based on revenue of $364 million. Wilmington Trust Corp. reported first-quarter net earnings of $41.4 million, or $0.62 per share, down from $43 million in 2007. Directors of the Wilmington, Del. based company voted to raise its quarterly dividend from 33.5 cents per share to 34.5 cents.