European markets gained early Monday, with bank stocks rising as investors cheered the latest news on U.S. measures to prop up Citigroup.
The U.S. government has agreed to guarantee over $300 billion of Citigroup's troubled assets with conditions attached. As a result, the U.S. bank's shares were up over 40 percent in Frankfurt trade. CNBC's experts weigh in on what the Citi bailout means:
Citi's Stock Worth More
Citigroup's shares are worth 5-6 times more than where they are right now, says Bill Smith, president, SAM Advisors. He tells CNBC why he is still holding the stock while Ed Ponsi, president at FX Educator.com explains why he would choose to do the opposite.
Citigroup's CEO, Management Should Go
Citigroup's CEO Vikram Pandit and its management should go, says Bill Smith, president and senior portfolio manager at SAM Advisors. He discusses Citi's survival options with chartist Ed Ponsi, president at FX Educator.com.
Citi Rescue Averted Biggest Bank Run
"Friday was the most dangerous day that we've had during this credit crisis without question. The only focus in the United States was on Citi, it wasn't the banking crisis, it was the Citi crisis. I think there was a real probability that this morning (Monday) in the US that people would run off to the bank and we would have the world's largest run on bank that we've ever had. I think that something had to be done," Ralph Silva from TowerGroup, told CNBC.
"The fact that they are actually receiving $20 billion makes me worry about the balance sheet of Citi," Silva added.
Citi's Crisis of Confidence
"Banks run on confidence … if you have no trust in a bank it can't survive, so yeah, another emergency injection," Sean Corrigan from Diapason Commodities Management told CNBC.
Watch Ralph Silva and Sean Corrigan discuss Citigroup here >>>
Citi Is Not Going Nuclear
"Citi isn't going to be going down, but it's not an equity investment that's going to be paying you a high yield, it's not going to be an equity investment that's without risk, but that risk is not going nuclear," Chris Tinker from ICAP told CNBC.
"This issue is now being faced up to rather than being swept under the carpet," Tinker added.
HSBC Likely to Scoop Up Citi Assets
It is likely that HSBC will buy Citigroup's emerging-market assets if the bank were to put them up for sale, Stuart Leckie from Stirling Finance said.
Citi Bailout was 'Necessary Evil'
"This was a necessary evil … there was no way that any government throughout the world could allow Citigroup to go down. It's kind of like a disease, we've gone from awareness to acknowledgement, now we know the severity and hopefully now we'll get a little bit of a sigh of relief that governments are being responsive," Richard Steinberg, president & CIO of Steinberg Global Asset Management, told CNBC.
"I don't think Citi is going to be the last one (to seek government aid)," Steinberg added.
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