Market News Update – General Electric (NYSE:GE), Citibank (NYSE:C), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), American International Group (NYSE:AIG)

The big news on the market for the 16^th is the meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, which is in session later this afternoon.  Economists are predicting that the Fed is going to keep interest rates close to zero, but all eyes will be on what wording the committee uses: Will they imply that economic conditions are still shaky, and that they’ll continue keeping the interest rates low? Or will they imply that in the coming year, they believe the market is going to be strong enough that they’ll start slowing raising interest?

Good news for investors of General Electric (NYSE:GE). The American institution has announced they expect increased profits and larger dividends for 2011, according to their CFO.  “We have good visibility in our cash flow… we believe we’re going to have earnings growth [in 2011]”.  Shares are up as a result – Reuters

The Eurozone have reached a consensus for a Greece bailout plan, should the need arise.  Finance ministers for the EU refused to release details of the plan, which was announced yesterday, instead only saying “We clarified the technical arrangements that would enable us to take coordinated action which could be swiftly put into place in the event it is necessary”.

The stock markets have been up slightly to start the day.  At the time of writing, the S&P was up 0.51%, the Dow was up 0.29%, and the NASDAQ was up 0.47%.  This signals the markets have responded positively to the Feds anticipated interest rate moves.  Citibank (NYSE:C) has helped lead the charge, up around $4 a share at the time of writing on news that the bank is increasing its propriety trading desk, which is a high-risk and flies in the face of Senator Dodds potential financial reform bill being discussed in the Senate.

Another large American bank was a subject of Jim Cramer’s latest show and his followers dutifully responded. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) is the financial entertainer’s latest ‘buy’ stock, and share prices jumped as a result.  B.of.A is up nearly 1% at the time of writing.

American International Group (NYSE:AIG) announced yesterday that they raised approximately $452 million from sales of their shares to Transatlantic Holdings, Inc.  The embattled corporation has been making moves this year to streamline their business, selling assets (including all their Asian holdings) in an attempt to restructure their company for future profits.

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