Citi: We'll Deal Another Day

Citigroup (C Quote), fresh off a defeat in its fight to acquire Wachovia (WB Quote), is in no rush to deploy the $25 billion capital injected this week by the U.S. Treasury in a new acquisition.

Citi CFO Gary Crittenden said on a conference call to discuss the firm's third-quarter earnings that the bank felt good about its capital position before the government's equity investment. But as consumer credit conditions continue to materially decline, Citi plans to proceed cautiously.

"This represents in many ways something we had not counted on, something we hadn't planned for, and it does represent then the possibility of our taking advantage of opportunities that otherwise might have been foreclosed to us," Crittenden said. ...