nobody cares. >> let's look at coca-cola as well, which was one of the worst performers today on the dow which came out with quarter ly reports. >> "closing bell" is next. hi, everybody. we enter the final stretch on wall street. welcome to the "closing bell." i'm maria bartiromo. another rally under way on wall street. but it is being overshadowed by the unexpected and sudden resignation of the citigroup ceo vikram pandit. bill, what a day. >> it is an odd story. i'm bill griffeth. looking forward to hearing more about that. plus, hopefully we'll get more insight on the shuffle at citigroup when the company hosts a conference call scheduled for 90 minutes from now. be sure to keep it here for that

in the next hour or so. meantime, stocks are higher. stock up following the news of pandit's departure. a story that still has a lot more questions than answers at this point. we'll keep you up to speed on this still developing story as the day g the highs right now. a very mixed day. you have some bank stocks higher. jpmorgan, for one, inside the dow. bank of america is lower. walmart is lower. intel among technology stocks higher. energy is higher today. so no clear trend for this market, but the dow at 13,536. technology powered higher by apple, which is up more than 2%. they announced they're going to hold a meeting next week to introduce perhaps the mini ipad. nasdaq is up a percent, the stronger of the major averages. the s&p is up 12 points. as we mentioned, a big story right now has to be citigroup chairman michael o'neil and

michael corbat hosting a conference call on the shake-up. that's scheduled for 4:30 p.m. eastern time. we'll have that for you coming up here. you spoke, in the meantime, with vikram pandit on the telephone earliedaon from the ceo-ship bu from the board as well. >> i think that's really the key here. that's why everybody is scratching their heads today because it was so sudden. i spoke with vikram today. he made very specific points to me. number one, i've been thinking about this for a long time. i've been talking to the board about succession for a long time. he said once we released earnings and they were received well and we did the conference call with investors and it was received well, i recognized it was the time to go. leaving the company at their peak after we have accomplished sudden? why the abruptness of this resignation? why not announce you are stepping down and tell the market you will stay on until

the end of the year? he said, once you have this decision, you cannot sitn to. there's no reason for me to be looking over the shoulder of corbat and basically critiquing the way he's going to be running citigroup. that was his most important point. number three, i said to him, what about any disasters on the horizon? are we going to learn there's an investigation over libor? he said i would not walk away from this company if i felt it was in bad shape. i walk away with the company looking strong. >> it's being handled publicly. when you think about this, that micha michael corbat is now already in place, he's going to hold a conference call in 90 minutes as the new ceo. the transition was already in place, apparently. >> right. they definitely had been talking about he eventuallyikra said to board was ready for this. having said that, i still feel there's something that doesn't

smell right because of the abruptness of this. the fact that i'm leaving the post of ceo. i'm leaving the board immediately. you have to believe there is also some pressure from the board basically saying, you are not executing fast enough. that also could be an issue. >> that's somebody i want to hear from too, john havens. why he's leaving at precisely the same time. it all happened so quickly. michael corbat gets the job. havens doesn't. he's leaving at the same time. >> let's not forget vikram sold his hedge fund to citigroup five, six years ago for $800 million. he greed to take $1 in sags. i said, isn't this about compensation? he said, i'm the one who agreed to take a dollar and said i would take a dollar when it was the right thing to do. let's get more about this developing story. it is rocking the business world

today. kayla with another angle. >> one of the theories that's getting tossed around as to why this new ceo is coming on before the end of the year is to help citigroup prepare for the new stress test that will come at some point in the first quarter. nonetheless, a very abrupt turn of events today. hopefully we get the whole tick by tick on how this went down on the call this afternoon. in the meantime, moving this story forward, what we're watching now are the potential moves of key personnel, of course, in addition to vikram pandit stepping down. john havens also resigning months earlier than expected and leaving a vacancy in his three-pronged role and a successor is yet to be named there. several insiders within citigroup have suggested that one of the most highly regarded executives there is jamie freese or ray mcguire, the global head of investments banking. those wtwo men could be on the

short list. "the wall street journal" reporting performance in that unit was also one at board's key sticking points here. an exodus of bankers is not really expected here. my sources say it's more likely to rattle some of the other business lines, especially those led by executives viewed as loyal to vikram pandit. following pandit's departure, one other name that's come up as a potential exit is brian leach. sources say he has no immediate plans to leave the bank. remember, leach, pandit, and havens all founded the hedge fund they sold to citi for $8 million. pandit pocketed just about $80 million of that price tag. so definitely a very multifaceted story. we should get more in just the

next hour. >> you would think so. let's get some reaction now from some respected analysts. mike mayo, bank analyst. he's also the author of "exile on wall street." our friend rob cox, the america's editor at reuters breaking views. michael, what do you make of the breathtaking events over the last 24 hours? >> i think the ceo transition is ludicrous. to have the ceo and c.o.o. step down at the same time with zero transition and to have this change one day after they report earnings. just yesterday i was asking vikram pandit questions. we were all asking him questions about the long-term strategy. one day later, he's out the door. something's not right. i think this poor transition of the ceo is a microcosm of the

poor corporate governance at citigroup under the vikram pandit reign. >> mike, i want to ask you what you think is going on here, but let me get anton in first. you're a shareholder of citi? >> i am, indeed. >> what's your next move? how do you see it? >> i'm going continue to hold. i think michael o'neil has a long history of creating valued companies he's been with. i think the transition here is important. michael corbat is very well respected by the regulators. the process is so critical because citi really generates a ton of capital. i think the ability to return some capital through buy backs, through increased dividends is critical. i think the upside to citi has been kind of, you know, sped up here. i think vikram was doing a lot of the right things, but the regulators did not like him. >> you've been waiting for a dividend too. they couldn't pay a dividend after failing the stress test. as a shareholder, are you

frustrated? does it make sense it was time for him to go? >> well, i don't think it was time for him to go, but unfortunately the relationship historically was very bad with the regulators, particularly sheila bear, who really embarrassed him by what she wrote in the book about him. sheila scuttled the merger between citi and wachovia. i think vikram would be a hero today had that merger happened. it would have created a lot of great benefits for wells fargo. the deal was done. citi stood behind it. sheila snatched it away. >> rob, you also spoke on the phone just as maria did with vikram pandit today. what's your read? he essentially told you the very same thing he told maria. it was his idea. it was time to go. he accomplished all he was after. do you believe him, and why wha -- what do you think is going on? >> i think this is not all that exciting. in one sense, it's certainly a disorderly departure, but it doesn't feel to me like there's

something we're going to find out, some sort of cockroach that's going to come out of the woodpile. feels more like these two guys basically didn't see eye to eye. from michael o'neil's perspective, it's great to turn over a new leaf as you're going back to another discussion with the regulators. so in a sense, they just had a spoiled relationship. don't forget, earlier this year, michael o'neil was in charge of the committee that was supposed to get a deal done for vikram's pay package, right? he was supposed to get that deal done. he was supposed to make sure it went through to shareholders. he completely failed in that. so i can't imagine that the blood between those two guys was especially strong -- it was pretty bad going into this. that was before, mind you, he became chairman. dick parson was the chairman at the time. so this couldn't have been very good. remember, both he and havens, i mean, they're kind of like two

musketeers. they left morgan stanley together. they sold the hedge fund to citi. them leaving together seems to me like, you know, they go out arm in arm. one thing vikram did tell me was he doesn't see this as the last chapter in his career. he's going to do something else. >> i get that. that all sounds fine and good, but why so abrupt then? if he has been thinking about this the way he said he was, and it wasn't a compensation issue, then why not stay until year end, do it in a more orderly fashion? at least not make a stunner for investors to digest. >> unless it has to do with the bad blood they were talking about. >> i heard that as well, that they have been oil and water. let's not forget o'neil coming from the commercial banking part of the business whereas vikram comes from the institutional part of the business. mike, let's go back to where we started. what do you think is behind this then? if you feel the whole thing is ludicrous and they handled this awfully, what do you think is behind it?

>> well, one of the most important jobs of a ceo is to ensure a smooth ceo transition. this is anything but. but let's look at the bigger picture here. since vikram pandit's arrived, citigroup stock price has been the absolute worst performer among the largest bank stocks. they changed their financial metrics and targets from time to time. they've had inadequate disclosure. the compensation was not aligned with performance. it's been 182 days since shareholders, 55% of shareholders spoke up and said no to the executive compensation plan and perhaps vikram couldn't see his way through a new compensation plan. perhaps it was board pressure because of the underperformance for the past four to five years. >> if i had to guess, i would say it was compensation as well, bill. only because the way this has been handled as abruptly it has been. it seems to me that, you know, he's tired of getting bashed by

the public, tired of getting bashed by the regulators and not being paid the commensurate salary that his colleagues are. not to say he was underpaid. it smells like there's more here. more will be revealed. >> don't forget, we have the conference call with mr. o'neil and the new ceo michael corbat coming up at 4:30 p.m. eastern time. gentlemen, thank you. mike mayo, see you next hour. meantime, still have this rally going on. >> stick around. coming up, we have much moren the evolving story surrounding vikram pandit's sudden resignation, including a conference call at 4:30 p.m. we'll take you there live. we'll also hear from the new ceo on that call. we'll have a lot more. stay with us. he said the call to equity is done, but what about the banks after the citi shocker? and why are stocks rallying even in the face of pandit's stunning

departure and bill gross' bearish call? pim koe's bill cross is here next. plus, is this citi news a canary in a coal mine for the entire financial sector? that trade is ahead. plus, more details from maria's personal conversation earlier today with vikram pandit. and two titans of the tech world are ready to report earnings. what will intel and ibm tell us? we'll also hear from intel's chief financial officer just moments after the numbers are released. that's all ahead on the "closing bell." for over 60,000 california foster children,

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going to prom. i want to learn to swim. it's hard to feel normal, when you can't do the normal things. to help, sleep train is collecting donations for the extra activities that, for most kids, are a normal part of growing up. not everyone can be a foster parent... but anyone can help a foster child. you know, usually when a company's chief executive officer abruptly resigns as vikram pandit did today, it's bad for the stocks. not the case today. >> citigroup off its highs but still up about 0.7 p%. heavy volume in the stock. remember, citi will host that conference call at 4:30 p.m. eastern standard time. keep it here on cnbc. we'll have that live for you. bill. >> all right, seema. thank you very much. so what does the shake-up at

citi mean for the financial sector? they've been a leader whether up or down. pimco's bill gross has been outspoken about it. he feels the stock market and bonds have plateaued. >> let's get his view. bill gross is joining us now. thanks so much for joining us. stocks haven't plateaued just yet with this 110-point rally here. what are you seeing, bill? why do you think they've plateaued? >> well, let's look at it this way from a common sense standpoint. you have to realize returns over the past 30 years have been significantly influenced by lowers yields. the lower the yield, the higher the price. it sort of works like a totter up and down.

for bonds, that means 3 to 4% over a long period of time. for stock, 5 to 6%. when you floor interest rates, you cap asset prices at a certain premium. >> and how much of the qe, the quantitative easing, the liquidity the markets have absorbed by the fed is in that? what would the returns be like if the fed wasn't in the mar markets? >> they wouldn't be as high, both in the bond market and stock market. bonds are up 5 to 6% this year. total return for pimco is up close to ten. absent the fed buying the long-term treasury and the five-year treasury and holding fed funds basically at 25 basis points, then even the fed admits that interest rates would be 50 to 100 basis points higher, which means prices would be, you know, perhaps 4 to 6% lower. yes, the fed is significantly

influencing the bubbling of both bonds and stocks. >> and the fundamentals have weakened. we know that already. it's really not trading on fundamentals. bill, i have to get your take on the news of the day. vikram pandit abruptly stepping down. what do you think this tells us about the overall financial sector, the market? the group has been a leader recently. you're seeing more money going to the financials. today, another rally. what's your take? >> let me give you my take on that, pennsylvania r that, marimaria. the bonds are higher today. the banking industry or the financial industry, insurance companies and other financially related companies, are under threat here simply because the yield on their assets is moving down and the cost of their borrowing can't move much lower. you know, for instance, what they call the nims, the net interest rate more gin for

banks, is being compressed simply because the yield on their assets is moved down from 5 to 4% and the yield on their borrowings is floored. that's the reason why bank stocks are selling at half of their book value. simply because the return on equity is influenced by these margins that basically are compressed and promised to be compressed for perhaps a long period of time. >> do you think that goes into part of the reason that citi along with the other banks are having a harder time making money because it's tougher with the interest rate scenario? i mean, from a person who's been a student of these markets and of wall street for so many years, have you ever seen anything like this? a ceo reports earnings one day, spends an hour with the analyst community going through the earnings and what's ahead for the emerging markets and the next day says he's out? and i'm also off the board. here's the new ceo. have you ever seen anything like

this? >> well, i haven't. i agree with your analysis. we've been watching you and cnbc all day for an analysis. i would simply add this, that the banks and other financial institutions are in the business of making money with money. to the extent that money moves lower in yeield and the return n that money is basically floored and capped at a certain level, it's very difficult for a bank going forward to provide historical returns like they have in the past. is this the reason why vikram pandit retired? probably not. but all bank ceos and investment management company ceos basically face this future in which the return on assets, you know, basically is limiting their ability to make money. >> last question, bill. very quickly, in mid-september around the time the market was peaking, the fed was announcing

their quantitative easing. you were out there saying you felt this was inflationary and you'd be buying hard assets. i imagine you still feel that way, but, you know, gold has stalled here. are those the kinds of assets you would buy? what's the play for inflation in your view? >> yeah, i think so, long term, bill. we need to see 2.5% to 3% inflation in assets such as gold. ultimately, you know, those that protect themselves against inflation -- and in the bond market, i would suggest tips that do that. tips have negative yields for the most part. a long-term tip is basically the only instrument in the bond market that provides a guarantee relative to the future cost of purchasing power in the united states. it has a real yield and it protects you against inflation. real assets like gold and, you know, tips and perhaps municipal bonds, which are cheap and are s a -- assets for the future.

>> bill, glad you could join us. >> all right. we're in the final stretch of trading. we have a market holding on to a pretty good rally. dow industrial is up 103 points. financials leading the way. >> bill gross says the markets have plateaued, and they've plateaued again today. this guy is incredible. is citi ceo vikram pandit's shocking departure a warning of things to come in the financial sector? kevin warrish and robert zelic will weigh in on that coming up. then citigroup's largest individual shareholder giving his support to vikram pandit when i spoke to him earlier this year. >> the group under the leadership of vikram is doing really, really well. vikram was able to stabilize the company. >> and today he told me that vikram steps away with citi at its peak. so why did pandit resign abruptly? is more of my personal conversation with citi's former

ceo coming up as well as the comments from the prince. and don't forget, the new ceo is set to host a conference call at 4:30 p.m. eastern time. stay tuned. so anyway, i've been to a lot of places. you know, i've helped a lot of people save a lot of money. but today...( sfx: loud noise of large metal object hitting the ground) things have been a little strange. (sfx: sound of piano smashing) roadrunner: meep meep. meep meep?

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welcome back. we've been on the front lines of this citigroup story since it broke. now we want to talk to two people who were on the front lines of the financial crisis in 2008 that forever changed the industry.

>> does today's seismic shift at citigroup raise red flags about the financials? kevin warrish is with us as well as robert zelic. both joins now for a cnbc exclusive to talk about that and more. let me start with you, your reaction to vikram pandit's abrupt departure. you know the personalities involved. what do you think was going on there? >> so bob and i have been debating europe for much of the morning, but we did see the breaking news. i don't have any privileged information about what happened, but bill, i guess my sense would be this is how corporate governance is supposed to work. maybe it was a little not perfectly timed, but if there's a board of directors who can't come to agreement with a ceo, i'd much prefer the debate happening at the board room than i would having the government decide who should be in what post. other than that, we'll just have to watch details as they become available later today and over the coming days and weeks. >> kevin, in terms of the level

of interest rates, in terms of the tough situation the banks have been under because of the level of interest rates in terms of their own profitability, talk to us a bit about the impact you have seen in the financial services industry overall as a result of these rock bottom rates. >> right. so low-interest rates on a global basis that stay persistent over periods, it's really a double-edge coin for most of the banks. it's good news in some sense, but as you and bill said earlier, it does put some of their net interest margins under pressure. the most important thing, as you know well, to the banking system on a global basis is the strength of the global economy. i would say the strength of the global economy continues to disappoint. more over, i think for the banks that had global ambitions, citibank just being one example, the global economy, the global environment looks like a tougher environment for them to be

successful across borders, across time zones. what we're seeing in realtime are banks deleveraging and most of them are coming back home. that's the situation in the u.s. and at least as much it's the situation in europe. these banks coming home is continuing to put real pressure on the european economy. >> speaking of which, bob, our markets are fixated on what's going on in europe. latest drama has to do with spain and whether they ask for aid from the ecb. there was a rumor out today that maybe they'd set up a line of credit. how do you think that resolves itself? >> well, that's the topic we've been discussing here at stanford. i think the general sense is mario draghi, the head of the ecb, has offered a pathway and bought some time. but now the key players have to act. they have to act on the reforms

on their fiscal and structural side, but also in particular, spain is likely going to need to face this step. this is something that under their democratic process only they can decide. there's sensitivity with others in germany. frankly, one of the lessons in the european crisis over the past two or three years is if you get a breather and then you wait too long, the markets or something may hit you again. i hope that they act to stabilize. >> you know, on the one hand, it feels like the corporate sector has not been this strong in a long time. you're talking about lean and mean companies, huge cash levels, $3.6 trillion by some estimates. yet, they're sitting on the cash and we seem to be stuck in neutral. so hwill you characterize the financial system as well as the economy in the united states right now? >> well, i think actually going back to the citigroup story, i think there's a lot of uncertainty about strategies for

financial institutions. i suspect this is one of the underlying aspects. it's not only true in that firm. it's going to be true in a lot of others for market conditions but also the regulation and other aspects. and i think that's one of the things that affects the overall corporate economy. there's a lot of potentially strong sides to the u.s. economy. the energy sector, some things in manufacturing. but a lot of uncertainty because of the fiscal cliff, the tax policy, some of the regulatory issues. so also, of course, the u.s. is part of a global economy. europe is struggling. some of the emerging markets that have been the source of growth, they've also had sort of weaker periods. so frankly, i think that a lot of companies are just waiting to see. >> kevin, do you agree with that? any thoughts from your standpoint in terms of the financial system right now, the health of it and the u.s. economy? >> yeah, i guess i'd say a couple things. first, maria, i think i'd rather have the u.s.'s problems and challenges and have the courage to deal with them adroitly than the challenges of most of our

big trading partners around the world, but we shouldn't take that as a sign of complacency. we should take that as a sign we need to take really strong and bold action. i'd say with respect to the banking sector, we have a benefit that no other advanced economy around the world has, which is we have 6,500 banks that should be competing with each other, competing to provide credit to customers, competing to innovate new products, but i worry, as you know, in the post dodd-frank world whether or not now we don't have at the top of our banking system banks that look more like the banks that are dominant in europe, banks that are in some sense quasi public utilities that are potentially arms of their government, listening to their government's views. what we need is that robust banking system to provide real credit. we don't need anymore too big to fail institutions. and we shouldn't be following the banking systems we see that are in real harm's way in europe. >> great analysis.

quickly, when would you expect interest rates to move up? do you worry we could have a real spike and it could happen quickly? >> so it's possible. i think the real key question, maria, is, do interest rates go up because there are good things happening in the economy? the companies about which you speak start to get on their forward foot and drive global growth. or do interest rates grow up for reasons that aren't so good? fears and concerns about u.s.'s willingness to confront its debt and deficit problems, fears over inflation and misallocation of assets. so we could see either of those developments. it's really up to policymakers, not just the federal reserve alone, to really drive our way through this period. as bob and i talked about with our colleagues on europe this morning, there is a window of opportunity. if it is seized, we will all end up in a better place. if we rely on markets to give us the signal, then moorarkets wil

prove to be very come plcomplac. >> gentlemen, thanks for your time today. thank you very much. >> glad to be with you. >> thanks so much. >> heading toward the close, 25 minutes left. the dow plateauing. keep using that word. >> we are all over this story behind vikram pandit's resignation from citigroup. someone here says good riddance. why he says citi is much better off without pandit. plus, more details of my conversation with pandit. >> and a conference call now ske scheduled in the wake of all this. we're all over that. stay tuned. nsh . ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪

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welcome back. shares of citigroup rallying today after the surprise departure of ceo vikram pandit. the stock has trade an enormous amount of volume. seema mody is tracking the tick by tick movement. 116 million shares. that used to be one day at new york stock exchange years ago. >> pretty amazing moves we are seeing this shares of citigroup. take a look at the stock. we're up about 40 cents, gaining

momentum. to hit a couple other points, since vikram pandit took the helm in 2007, the stock has fallen nearly 90%. here's a silver lining. shares gaining nearly 250% since the march lows that it hit back in 2009. now, we are less than an hour away until citigroup chairman michael o'neill and new ceo michael corbat will host an analyst conference call. cnbc will take that live. bill. >> seema, thank you. a big news day for the financials, obviously. there's the citi shake-up, the sector is mixed today. shares of citi still higher. goldman giving up earlier gains despite strong earnings out this morning. how does the financial sector look now? a quick look at that in our "talking numbers." you want to look through the eyes of the xlm, the financial etf. >> we'll look at one-year chart

first. the one-year chart looks like it's in a strong up trend. you can see the federal reserve's effect here. operation twist. very nice rally. anticipation of qe-3, very nice rally. if you look at the three-year chart, you can see that it's one of the few sectors that has not made a new high for the last 2 1/2 years. >> that's the picture of volatility. >> it really is just a back and range. most of the rallies have been driven by federal reserve action. unfortunately for the banks, i think low interest rates are going to effect them negatively after this initial sugar high. i'm in the a buyer. >> you won't be buying financials. >> no. >> dan, would you? >> well, we'd be buying them on a short-term trade. our view there's a little more upside to the market here. what you've been hearing all day in a secular sense is something that we agree with. the sector is challenged from a regulatory standpoint. from a secular standpoint, from

a cyclical standpoint with lower interest margins and lower rates. there really isn't too much to like here at all. >> yes, but we can all pay higher fees, which we're doing, right? thank you, both, for joining us on "talking numbers" today. maria. >> all right, bill. thanks so much. 20 minutes before the closing bell sounds for the day. we have a market holding on to a triple-digit move. up 114 points on the industrial average. up next, i spoke with pandit by phone earlier today. was he forced out, or did he leave on his own? more details on that conversation with the former citi ceo. then we'll hear citi's side of the story when the company's chairman and new ceo hold a conference today at 4:30 p.m. eastern. we'll take you there live. plus, former wells fargo ceo is with me today saying vikram pandit never should have been selected to run citigroup in the first place. he's here exclusively chatting about that. stay with us. tdd#: 1-800-345-2550 when i'm trading, i'm totally focused.

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all right. let's check in with the shares of citigroup. they were higher. they're off those highs of the day. very, very heavy volume. now 117.5 million shares

changing hands here at the new york stock exchange. >> the shake-up coming on a day when the major averages are all up. banks have led the way. certainly has been leading the way up for the last few weeks. good to see you all. let's start with you, jonathan what's your take on what's going on today in this market? money continuing to move into equities once again. >> i think there's a couple stories. first, a good industrial production number, which meant the economy not falling out. that's on the back of yesterday's good retail sales. probably the most important news is not citi but the fact it looks like spain may be closer to taking bailout money and the market wants to see that. >> what about greece? greece says they're out of money the end of november. >> the market is convinced that it comes through, we keep pushing this forward. the market is really -- if today tells you anything, the market is less concerned about europe. you see that euro and the market is up. >> bob, it hasn't exactly been all hands on deck with this rally today.

some notable declines among the gainers today. >> home builders were down. part of the problem was we had the nahb home builder sentiment index that came out at 10:00. it came in right in line with expectations. i think the problem was with all the good news we've been hearing about home building recently and home sales, i think they were expecting a little bit better number. that's one that hasn't really done anything. by the way, financial stocks today. i know citigroup dominates everything, but pnc did better than expected, yet it's down today. that's because it's getting margin compression. that's the same problem wells fargo had. all the regional banks are down today on the issue pnc is seeing. all on the downside today. >> rick santelli, a rise in treasury yields. how much higher door you think they go here? >> well, this actually could be significant, bill. right now we're up about half a dozen basis points. we're up about seven basis points in 30s. as your first guest said, a lot

of this has to do with spain. right now it's only a credit line, but maybe people are reading more into that. and, indeed, the way the stock market has kind of righted itself over the last couple of sessions, also gave a little bit more selling pressure to treasuries. on the euro currency, which is kind of evidence of all of the european activities, it's around 130.48. >> all right. we'll leave it there. gentlemen, thank you so much. great to see you. >> as we head toward the close, we're seeing buying coming in here. the dow up 113 points again. >> so why did vikram pandit officially leave citi? he told me his side of the story. there's more intrigue, though. we'll get into it next. >> and don't miss citi's conference call with analysts about its big executive change. their brand new ceo with their chairman will be talking with analysts at 4:30 p.m. eastern time. we'll have it live for you.

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speculation over the sudden departure over citigroup ceo vikram pandit. >> i spoke with him earlier today. here's what he told me. number one, this was my decision. it was time to go. after five years, based whoon y on what you saw from the earnings, it is clear i accomplished what i set out to do. number two, there are no major issues looming on the horizon. when i asked him about the possibility we could see an investigation, that we could see problems over the derivatives, he said that would all be discloseable, and i would not walk away from this company if there were these red flags looming. however, i have to think that it had to do with compensation. he said, no. he said, we've been talking about this on the board level. they were ready for this eventuality. that's why corbat was there, ready to take over.

at the same time, you know, remember he is the one who said, i will work for a dollar a year after the financial crisis. i said to him, is this about compensation, the fact they will not pay you the numbers that some of your colleagues at the other banks are making? he said, i was the one who said i would work for a dollar. so it's in the about that. but you have to wonder what else is here. you don't announce a ceo resignation if, in fact, all is well immediately. >> the timing is just incredible. >> it's incredible. >> the day after you report really great numbers, it set the tone for the morning. you spend an hour and 40 minutes with analysts on the conference call last night. nothing is said at all. no hints at all anywhere. then he met with reporters after that. no hints, nothing. it was all about the company and the earnings. then we get up this morning and he's out. very strange. >> look, i think that one source said to me, michael o'neill, the chairman of the company, and vikram, they're like oil and

water. they actually did not see eye to eye on a lot of things. o'neill did not feel vikram pandit was moving fast enough. let's face it. this focus for the last several years has been on deleveraging, selling assets, raising capital. he has been doing that pretty substantially. yet, maybe it wasn't fast enough for o'neill. you have to look at the fact the stock is down 90% in five years as part of the reason for this. again, he's sticking to his story it was his idea, that he felt the time had come. you know, you have to believe that also he was annoyed and sort of frustrated with getting bashed all the time. regulators basically setting up shop at citi. they have their offices there. the public bashing as well. >> and you're asking, if i don't own shares of citigroup, why should i care? you may own shares and not even know it. citi is among the top ten holdings among some of top hedge funds out there and some of the top mutual funds. in the 401(k), you may own citi

shares and not know it. 1.2% or $4.7 billion funds. same thing for the fidelity large cap value fund. they hold $334 million of citigroup stock. chances are, you may own shares of citi and not know it. >> certainly one of the top ten most held stocks from institutions and individuals. 120 million shares was the volume today. >> just today. that's incredible. >> i remember when that was a day at new york stock exchange. i'm sorry. that is a fact. up next -- >> we're coming back with the closing countdown. a quick recap of what happened and more on the citi shake-up. of course, the conference call with the new ceo coming up at 4:30 p.m. eastern time. >> then ibm and intel. they're on deck with earnings. they're going to kick off the

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two minutes p left if what has been a very eventful day. we're standing here if front of the post where they trade shares of citigroup. they've done enormous volume today. more than 124 million shares trading on citi today as it comes off the highs. a gain of 1.72% today. jonathan, do you like financials? i mean, they are among the leaders again. the earnings have not really been all that bad here. >> no, there's really two stories to financials. the regional banks, the guys in the lending business, have not been a good story. they're telling the flat yield curve is painful. the money center banks are really giving a much better

story about things. citi, there's no real news. it's moving more or less in line with the market. it's a big trading day, but i don't think it's a big story. >> kenny, you've been skeptical of this market rally. here's another rally today. what do you make of this rally today? >> really, where are we? we're up 127 today. we're in the same place we were last week before we had the 2% correction. so we're still stuck in that 1425, 1460 range. i don't see any reason for us to move out of it unless they do fiscal cliff stuff. >> ibm, intel set to report after the close. certainly they can set the tone for tomorrow. technology, what do you think? >> listen, if they come out with a good number, i think the market moves higher once again. i think it's going to move higher and get exhausted right at the 1460 mark. >> do you like technology here? >> i'm overweigh technology. we think the market goes over 1500 by year end. >> there's that forecast. thank you, guys. let you