Citi sees Q4 markets revenues down low to mid single digits year-over-year

While presenting at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference, Citi (C) CFO Mark Mason stated: “So first of all, we’ve been I think, delivering really strong performance through the year. And you’ve seen the third quarter numbers, but the top line momentum year to date up 7% with positive operating leverage across all five segments. And we see continued strength in each of the segments as we look at the fourth quarter. To get to the specifics of your question, you know, on the market side, I gave some guidance at the third quarter earnings. What we’re seeing is generally consistent with that, which pretty much equates to markets revenues down kind of low to mid single digits year over year. On the heels of a strong fourth quarter last year. So good Market activity. But again some seasonality that you’d expect third to fourth quarter and year over year down low to mid single digits. On the investment banking side, we’re seeing continued momentum, particularly in M&A. And when we look at the quarter and where it’s likely to end, we’re probably looking at revenues up or investment banking fees up in the mid 20s year over year. So good, healthy growth there as well. Feel good about that… Expenses or operating efficiencies probably worth mentioning. I gave some guidance around that. As we look at the quarter and the year coming to an end, we’re probably looking at operating efficiency a little bit better than 63.5%. Yeah, that’s better than the guidance I gave last time by the way. And that’ll include probably a couple hundred million dollars of additional severance charge or cost in the quarter. And more than I expected.”