Here’s the hoax Citigroup email

“Subject: Rumour/ Rumour : New York, NY (Reuters) - The US’s top bank,

Rumour/ Rumour : New York, NY (Reuters) - The US’s top bank,
Citigroup (NYSE: C), has cited, in a filing with the US Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), that they have underestimated their exposure
to the subprime lending market.
Liabilities incurred by Citi are, according to the company, expected to
be “a nineteen-fold increase over previously reported expectations”.
Previously, the company had anticipated $300mil in exposure to the
subprime market.”

This cod Reuters story first did the rounds on Wall Street on Tuesday, before cropping up in London on Wednesday morning.

Dow Jones issued a short news story on the “rumour” on Tuesday saying Citigroup denied the report, following that up with a further news item on Wednesday, quoting Reuters saying this was not a Reuters report.

The hoax report does not really bear more than a quick glance. Even when set against the tortuous prose employed by some news wire journalists, the hoaxer is not a scribe. “The US’s top bank…has cited…that they have undestimated …”?? Oh, and no news outlet on earth shortens million to “mil.” That’s trader talk.

Does it matter? Probably not. Citigroup’s stock took quite a bashing during Tuesday’s sell off in New York, but then it would have done with or without the hoax report.

Some day, though, someone with a bit of writing ability, employing some attention to detail, might produce something believable…