Citigroup posts $5.11 bln loss, to cut 9,000 jobs

By Jonathan Stempel and Dan Wilchins

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a $5.11 billion quarterly loss on Friday and said it will cut another 9,000 jobs after suffering billions of dollars of write-downs tied to mortgages, other debt and a slumping economy.

The loss was larger than expected and reflected more than $16 billion of write-downs and credit-related costs at the largest U.S. bank.

Investors nevertheless took comfort that the bank and its new chief executive, Vikram Pandit, are taking steps to get past credit problems, drive down expenses, and restore luster to a stock down by about half over the last year.

Citigroup shares traded up $1.78, or 7.4 percent, at $25.81 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Results helped spark a broad stock market rally, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index .SPX up 2.1 percent.

"It's a cathartic quarter," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co in Boston.

Citigroup's net loss totaled $1.02 per share, and compared with a year-earlier profit of $5.01 billion, or $1.01 per share. Revenue fell 48 percent to $13.22 billion.

Analysts, on average, had expected a loss of 96 cents per share on revenue of $14.35 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

"We're not happy with our financial results this quarter," Pandit said on a conference call. Nevertheless, he said his confidence in Citigroup's future is "extremely high."