monday market mutation, page-51

those guys are playing for keeps...

The analyst whose downgrade of Citigroup sparked a broad stock market sell-off on Thursday said she has received several death threats stemming from her research, the Times of London said.

Meredith Whitney of CIBC World Markets late Wednesday downgraded Citigroup to "sector underperformer," saying the largest US bank by assets might need to raise more than $30 billion of capital and cut its dividend.

Her downgrade triggered a 6.9 percent drop in Citigroup's shares Citigroup IncC
37.73 -0.78 -2.03% NYSE

Thursday, leading to declines of 362 points in the Dow Jones industrial average and 2.6 percent in the Standard & Poor's 500, the biggest drop since August.

It also led to renewed calls for Citigroup Chief Executive Charles Prince to step down.

"People are scared to be negative, especially when a company has such a wide holding," Whitney told the Times of London in an article published Saturday.

"Clients are not pleased with my call and I have had several death threats," she continued. "But it was the most straightforward call I've made in my career and I am surprised my peer analysts have been resistant. It's so straightforward, it's indisputable."