Charlie Rose interviewed Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit on his PBS program last night. It was Pandit's first extended TV interview, and one he clearly prepped for with the help of Citi's communications department, given his insistence on starting off every response with Charlie's name. Unfortunately, Pandit seems to have also been advised not to answer any questions and stick to canned statements instead, so poor Charlie (and the viewing audience) didn't get to find out what exactly transpired behind the scenes last weekend when Citi was rescued by Washington, or what Pandit thought of the Times' crushing account of the bank's failures last Sunday. (This also explains why Charlie looks so grumpy for most of the interview.) Points to Vikram for sitting through 54 minutes without saying anything substantial. And he did wear a nice blue suit and red tie, if that's any consolation. Video of the non-interview after the jump.

♦ Don't expect another winning day on Wall Street: Stock futures pointed lower following grim news about unemployment and consumer spending. [WSJ]
♦ Consumer spending fell 1 percent in October, the steppest decline in seven years. And the four-week average of new jobless claims hasn't been this high since January 1983. [CNN, WSJ]
♦ Good news: Shares of Citigroup appear to have stabilized. Bad news: Not everyone is convinced the rescue plan will be enough to keep Citigroup solvent. And it's never a good sign of things to come when your head of human resources suddenly jumps ship. [WSJ]

We're not sure if this is a sign that the bailout is doomed, or just a signal that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson really is contemplating endorsement deals to revive the economy, but this morning Bloomberg News squeezed a brand name in the headline of a story about the frantic, behind-the-scenes work involved in rescuing Citigroup this past weekend: "Citigroup's $306 Billion Rescue Fueled by Pizza From Domino's."

♦ News of the government's rescue package for Citigroup provided the market with boost yesterday, but Citi CEO Vikram Pandit (who still has his job for the time being) has many long days and nights ahead if he's going to turn the bank around. "This is a reprieve, but it's not a complete pardon." [WSJ]
♦ On CNBC, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the bank's biggest shareholders, expressed confidence in "Mr. Vikram" while "stroking a strand of beads and wearing red-tinted glasses." Then he blamed the bank's problems on Chuck Prince. [NYP]
♦ Tim Geithner may be the man of the hour, but shouldn't he be shouldering some of the blame for the government's missteps thus far? [NYT]
♦ Banks are concerned they may have a credibility problem on their hands. You think? [Reuters]

Rescuing Citigroup from certain doom and presenting the economic team that will lead the U.S. after Barack Obama takes office led to a big bounce on Wall Street today: The Dow gained 396 points, or 4.9 percent, the S&P advanced 6.5 percent, and the Nasdaq was up 6.3 percent. Oh, you wanted some more bad news? Okay, how about this: New York State's comptroller says the financial crisis could cost 225,000 jobs in New York City over the next two years. [Marketwatch]

Last week the New York Times Co. slashed its dividend and announced poor earnings and saw its stock plunge to lows not seen in decades. Times journalists must be afraid for their financial futures. Well the company has a suggestion: how about buying some New York Times Co. stock? Cheap! The company just sent out an unfortunately-timed internal memo offering employees the chance to buy stock at a discount. Don't forget that you should consider "your future financial objectives" first. Do you want to lose money in the future? Buy now! Read the whole hot stock offer below:

Reports tonight surfaced that the federal government is offering to buy tens of billions of Citigroup's worst holdings. A bailout is impossible, because Citigroup is just too big, with $3 trillion in inflated "assets" on the "books." Maybe we could nationalize Citigroup, but what about, uh, the nation of Switzerland? Its two largest banks hold about 10 times the nation's total GDP on their balance sheets, which means writedowns could require an Iceland-style bailout by other counties. Once that happens, it may only be a matter of time before the kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland declares bankruptcy.

The situation at Citigroup turns bleaker by the minute. Shares have fallen below $4, the bank's CEO, Vikram Pandit, is busy reassuring employees that the bank will not be broken into pieces, and there have even been rumors that Pandit himself may be forced out. One sign that doesn't bode well for Pandit: The financial press has stopped spelling his name correctly. [Bloomberg, Dealbreaker]

JPMorgan says it's planning to lay off 10 percent of its investment banking staff, or about 3,000 people. The bank also plans to freeze salaries next year for employees who earn more than $60,000 to $70,000. [Bloomberg]

How bad is the situation at Citigroup today? Really, really bad. Citi executives are now frantically lobbying Washington to crack down on short-sellers, something that both Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers tried to do. (And you know how that turned out.) Meanwhile, Dealbreaker reports that the bank has removed the company's ticker symbol from the screens in the lobby, lest employees start to panic at the sight of Citi shares hovering below $4.

♦ The effort by U.S. automakers to secure a bailout hit a major roadblock after execs from the Big Three were sent home by Congress empty-handed. The behind-the-scenes negotiations continue. [WSJ, Bloomberg]
♦ Shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America are at multi-year lows as the Dow hovers at a six-year low of its own. [DB, DB]
♦ GMAC, controlled by Steve Feinberg's Cerberus Capital, says it's applied to become a bank holding company so it will be eligible for bailout cash. [DB]
♦ GE has turned to China and Singapore as it looks to raise cash. [Bloomberg]
♦ Harbinger's Phil Falcone is pulling back on his media investments. He's reduced his exposure to the New York Times and Media General, just months after fighting for board representation. [WSJ]
♦ Deutsche Bank plans to cut 900 more jobs. [NYP]
♦ Weekly jobless claims have reached a 16-year high. [MW]

The market tanked once again today: The Dow dropped more than 400 points to close below 8,000 for the first time since March 2003. We'd share with you some good news, but we're not sure there is any, so you'll have to dream something up yourself. [CNNMoney]

Yesterday we sent a big batch of coupons to Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein, just in case he was thinking of cutting back on his spending now that he won't be receiving a $60 million bonus at the end of the year. Today we're bestowing charity on the most beleaguered CEO on Wall Street this week, Vikram Pandit. The Citigroup chief announced plans to dismiss 50,000 people earlier this week, and Citi shares tumbled to a historic low today as the bank teeters on the edge of the abyss. Sounds like someone needs a little cheering up!

♦ The U.S. consumer price index fell 1.0 percent in October compared to the previous month, the biggest drop in 61 years. [WSJ]
♦ Citigroup is liquidating another one of its hedge funds after it plunged 53 percent last month. Also: Citi's stock dropped to its lowest level in 13 years yesterday. [FT, NYP]
♦ Just because he spends his days taking aim at Wall Streeters doesn't mean Andrew Cuomo left any bigwig financiers off the guest list for his birthday party/fundraiser on Dec. 2. [NYP]
♦ The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler who pleaded poverty in front of Congress yesterday flew their private jets to get there. [ABC News]
♦ Most hedge funds are pulling back right now, but hedge fund king John Paulson actually celebrated on Monday night with a lavish dinner for more than 100 at the Metropolitan Club. [DB]

♦ Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says Citigroup should follow Goldman's lead and forgo bonuses for senior execs. [NYP]
♦ Embattled Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang has announced he will step down as soon as the board finds a replacement. [NYT, WSJ]
♦ Mark Cuban's attorney on the insider trading charges leveled against his client: "The case has no merit, and is a product of gross abuse of prosecutorial discretion." [WSJ]
♦ Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is unlikely to use the rest of the $700 billion bailout fund on any new initiatives, preferring to hand over the remaining pennies—and very big problems—to his successor in the Obama administration. [WSJ]
♦ Andrew Ross Sorkin on extending the bailout to GM: "Taxpayers shouldn't fork over a cent, at least until shareholders are wiped out, management is tossed out and the industry is completely reorganized." [NYT]

Ha, well we had a chance to look over the SEC's insider trading complaint against mouthy billionaire Mark Cuban, and it's surprisingly entertaining! Mostly because they allege that Cuban may have tried to pull off the single most idiotic inside trading move in history. To set the scene: The CEO of a company Cuban partially owns calls him up with (confidential) bad news; Cuban gets pissed, knowing the news will sink the stock price; but he just received confidential information, so he can't sell! Here's how they say he handled this financial quandary:

♦ Goldman Sachs' seven most senior execs have decided to forgo their 2008 bonuses. The move was simply "the right thing to do," said a Goldman spokesman. [WSJ, NYT]
♦ JP Morgan may cut up to 3,000 people, or 10 percent of its global workforce, in the coming months. [Telegraph]
♦ Citigroup's CEO, Vikram Pandit, says the bank plans to eliminate another 50,000 jobs, and cut expenses by as much as 20 percent. [Bloomberg]
♦ UBS reportedly plans to lay off 30 percent of its investment banking division. [Dealbreaker]
♦ Japan has announced that it is officially in a recession. [Bloomberg]
♦ As for the U.S., 96 percent of the economists surveyed in a recent poll believe the economy is in a recession, and nearly three-fourths think it could persist beyond the first quarter of next year. [CNNMoney]

♦ Things may be about to get worse at Citigroup: The Times reports that the bank may be forced to lay off another 25 percent of its workforce as it deals with continued losses, a plunging stock price, and a lack of investor confidence. [NYT]
♦ In a show of faith, Citi CEO Vikram Pandit and three deputies bought a total of 1.3 million shares yesterday after the stock fell below $9 for the first time in 12 years. [Bloomberg]
♦ Is the $700 billion bailout working? Not so much: More than a month and nearly $300 billion into it, "many of the nation's financial arteries seem nearly as sclerotic as they were before. Some of them, in fact, appear to be hardening more." [NYT]

Henry Blodget, the Wall Street analyst returned to journalism, wrote that Michael Lewis' (last?) Portfolio article on short-seller Steve Eisman and the collapse of Wall Street generally is "pure pleasure from start to finish." It's true; it's the sort of piece that will keep you up late, assuming you're remotely interested in the ongoing collapse of the modern financial system. But the article's most compelling section deals not so much with finance as with the eternal tension between writer and subject, i.e. fucking over your sources. '

By 1:00 this afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 316 points. It closed three hours later up 552 points. What's going on in this insane market? Let's turn to the experts: "The market’s abrupt about-face left investors and analysts grasping for explanations. 'I have no idea,' said Michael Feroli, an economist at J.P. Morgan Chase." There you have it. [NYT]