Citigroup's third-quarter 2024 earnings report surpassed market expectations, notably exhibiting a 31% surge in investment banking revenue. This significant growth stemmed primarily from the robust performance of debt capital markets, particularly in investment-grade bond issuance. Furthermore, advisory revenue also increased, reflecting the successful completion of substantial transactions announced earlier in the year. Consequently, the overall financial performance exceeded projections.

Key Financial Performance Indicators:

• Operating Revenue: Third-quarter operating revenue totaled $20.32 billion, representing a marginal year-over-year increase of 0.9% and exceeding market forecasts.
• Net Income: Net income for the quarter reached $3.238 billion, indicating an 8.7% year-over-year decrease. However, this decrease was less severe than some analysts predicted.
• Earnings Per Share (EPS): Diluted EPS amounted to $1.51, reflecting a 7.4% year-over-year decline, although still surpassing market projections.

Within the capital markets segment, while fixed income revenue contracted, equities revenue experienced a substantial increase exceeding 32%. This was largely due to Citigroup's Chief Financial Officer, Mark Mason, attributing this growth to robust prime brokerage performance, expansion in equity derivatives, and heightened equity cash trading volumes. Client prime brokerage balances also increased by approximately 22%.

Across its five core business segments, Citigroup reported year-over-year growth. Specifically, Institutional Clients Group revenue reached a record high of $5.028 billion, representing an 8% year-over-year increase. Global Consumer Banking revenue totaled $1.676 billion, reflecting an 18% year-over-year growth, driven by a 31% increase in investment banking revenue and a 5% increase in corporate lending revenue. Global Wealth Management revenue reached $2.002 billion, demonstrating a 9% year-over-year growth. Finally, U.S. Personal Banking revenue totaled $5.045 billion, exhibiting a 3% year-over-year increase, with branded cards revenue growing by 8%.

In addition to the positive performance in other areas, Citigroup's credit loss provisions increased by $1.9 billion during the third quarter, reaching $22.1 billion. This increase reflects the bank's proactive assessment of potential future loan losses. Nevertheless, despite the impact of these increased provisions on profitability, Citigroup maintained relatively stable net income and EPS.

Citigroup's management expressed satisfaction with the third-quarter results and projected full-year adjusted revenue between $80 billion and $81 billion, with adjusted expenses anticipated between $53.5 billion and $53.8 billion. Despite navigating various challenges, Citigroup's stock price demonstrated a year-to-date increase of 27.80%, suggesting market confidence in its long-term growth potential.

Following the earnings announcement, Citigroup's stock price initially experienced a pre-market increase exceeding 1%, but subsequently declined, mirroring broader market trends, with intraday losses exceeding 5%.