Sunday, November 23, 2008

Turkey TARP to Gobble Citigroup Before Thanksgiving?

Here comes yet another exercise in futility. The Treasury is preparing some kind of rescue for Citigroup:


Citigroup is such a large, interconnected player in the financial system that if it were to collapse it would wreak havoc on already fragile financial and economic conditions. The company has operations stretching around the globe in more than 100 countries.



Haven't we heard this before? The government bailed out AIG because its operations touched so many counterparties, and the bill for that keeps growing. This is getting absurd. Citi's balance sheet is waaaaay bigger than AIG's, so get ready for more financial tomfoolery from these tom turkeys.



What to do about all of this? Why, make money off of it, of course! If the government announces some kind of bailout within the next 24 hours, the price of C will probably jump a little. Not a lot, but enough to make calls at higher strike prices worth a little more. That would make it a little bit safer for me to write some uncovered calls on C without the burden of going long this worthless stock. I'd hate to spend my money on this turkey so close to Thanksgiving.


Nota bene: Anthony J. Alfidi does not yet have a bearish position on C. Stay tuned.