Don't Bank on It; Have an Apple

From What a Difference a Year Can Make in today's Wall Street Journal:

In the crazy, mixed-up, upside-down, recession-fearing world, here is a startling development: The current adjusted market value of Citigroup is $110.6 billion, a scant billion dollars or so ahead of Apple, at $109 billion.

Last year at around this time Citigroup's market capitalization was around $264 billion and Apple's was at $73 billion, according to Capital IQ. Now, it is difficult to compare apples and oranges (or in this case, Apples and Citis). Still, it is worth taking a moment to pause and reflect on this tale of two market caps.

Apple has been racking up the good will of investors, while Citigroup has been losing it. [And] iPods are easier to understand than, say, collateralized mortgage obligations.

At least Citi's shareholders aren't the only ones suffering. Our pain is shared by Citigroup's top investment bankers, who "took as much as 20% more of their bonuses in restricted stock units this year."