STOCKS NEWS US-Citi sees Internet penetration growth in 2009

Stocks on the move [HOT-RTRS] Real-time Equity news [U E] [RESF/US]

U.S. stock market report [.N]
1006 ET 13Jan2009 Citi sees Internet penetration growth in 2009
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Citi Tuesday said it had a cautious outlook for large cap Internet stocks
in 2009, seeing "very muted growth" for advertising, retail and travel. The
group "remains heavily consumer discretionary spend dependent -- hence, severe
recession risk," it said.

Despite that, the firm also argued that penetration rates should continue
to rise across advertising, retail and travel segments, "generating relatively
robust top-line growth for leading Internet companies, especially market share
gainers like Amazon (AMZN.O), Google (GOOG.O) and Priceline (PCLN.O)."

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
0920 ET 13Jan2009-Markets open flat, investors focus on Citi
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Major U.S. indexes opened flat on Tuesday, as investors fretted over the
possibility of more credit losses at Citigroup (C.N) and worried about the
troubled bank's outlook. The markets were also impacted by comments from
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the Fed still had tools to
prevent balance sheet shrinkage, and by crude oil, which erased early losses to
trade modestly higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 0.3 percent to 8,451.87 while
the S&P 500 .SPX slid 0.4 percent to 867.25 and the Nasdaq .IXIC was down
0.2 percent to 1,536.54.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
0912 ET 13Jan2009-UnitedHealth settles with NY attorney general
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) Tuesday agreed to a settlement with New York
State's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo over concerns about the independence of
the company's databases, which are used by health plans to set reimbursement
rates.

Under the terms of the settlement, UnitedHealth will transfer its Ingenix
database to a non-profit entity and pay $50 million to fund the independent
database. It will not need to take a financial charge. [ID:nN13386399]

Shares of UnitedHealth slid 2.9 percent to $24.90 in premarket trade.
0859 ET 13Jan2009-JPMorgan lowers view on large-cap banks
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JPMorgan Tuesday lowered its view on large cap banks, saying the group's
results in the fourth quarter of 2008, as well as 2009, were "likely to be hurt
significantly by sharply higher credit costs and markets related weakness, with
credit losses rising sharply in credit cards, commercial real estate and also
commercial loans." It expects capital ratios will remain under pressure.

The firm slashed its earnings outlook for several large banks, including
Bank of America (BAC.N), Citigroup (C.N) and Wells Fargo (WFC.N), among others.
For the current fiscal year, JPMorgan sees earnings of 89 cents a share for
Bank of America, a loss of $3.25 a share for Citigroup and earnings of $1.95 a
share for Wells Fargo. It previously saw earnings of $2.76 a share, a loss of
$1.71 a share and earnings of $2.22 a share, respectively.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
0853 ET 13Jan2009-Trade deficit shrinks by 28.7 pct in November
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The U.S. trade deficit shrank by 28.7 percent in November, as weak consumer
spending and falling oil prices caused a record drop in imports, a U.S.
commerce department report showed on Tuesday. It was the biggest contraction in
12 years. [ID:nN13387045]

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
0847 ET 13Jan2009-ML: 2009 will be as hard on CMBS as 2008 was
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Merrill Lynch on Tuesday said it expected 2009 to be as hard a year for
commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) as 2008 was. "Our outlook is for
property values to fall and CMBS credit problems to ratchet up as the economic
landscape is negative," it wrote.

The firm sees a further decline of about 20 percent in commercial real
estate values and said that financing would be difficult to obtain. "Even if
available, [the financing] is likely to have lower leverage. We think this and
a poor economic environment will send cap rates higher and they could
eventually reach 9-10 percent."

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net