Citigroup swings to loss on $18 bln write-down

``Citigroup Inc., the nation's largest bank by assets, ended the suspense on Wall Street over just how bad its results would be, reporting its first quarterly loss since 1998 and slashing its dividend... Citigroup swung to a fourth-quarter loss of $9.83 billion, or $1.99 a share, from net income of $5.13 billion, or $1.03 a share, in the year-earlier period. Continued woes in the subprime-mortgage market caused the bank to book pretax write-downs and credit costs of about $18.1 billion.''