New York, Feb 28, 2026, 12:25 EST — The market has closed.
- On Friday, Citi shares took a notable hit, with investors moving out of U.S. bank stocks.
- Hot U.S. inflation numbers combined with renewed credit concerns sent the sector moving.
- Attention now turns to next week’s U.S. jobs numbers, along with potential ripples from private credit and lending.
Citigroup (C.N) dropped 5.2% on Friday, finishing at $110.19. Volume surged—about 29.1 million shares changed hands, more than double Thursday’s 14.8 million. 1
Banks took a beating, the KBW Nasdaq Bank Index dropping 4.9% as concerns flared up around stubborn inflation, the rise of private credit—loans handled by nonbank funds—and fresh worries about how AI could shake up the sector. Citi shares followed the sector’s risk-on, risk-off swings, regardless of any major headlines from the company itself. 2
U.S. stocks slipped Friday. The Dow shed 1.05%, S&P 500 dropped 0.43%. Fresh inflation numbers ran hotter than expected, fueling worries, and fallout from the collapse of UK mortgage lender Market Financial Solutions weighed. “There are still some cracks out there,” Carson Group’s Ryan Detrick said. CME’s FedWatch tool put odds of a March Fed rate hold at 94.1%. 3
Citi highlighted a fresh services deal on Thursday, saying BlackRock tapped Citi Investor Services for certain middle-office duties covering roughly $4 trillion in U.S.-listed iShares ETFs using BlackRock’s Aladdin platform. “This latest collaboration with BlackRock reflects the outcome of our product and technology investments,” said Chris Cox, Citi’s head of investor services. 4
The U.S. Producer Price Index posted a 0.5% gain in January, with the core reading—stripping out food and energy—jumping 0.8%, according to Reuters. Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide, flagged that expanding producer margins could translate to higher consumer prices, which may prompt the Fed to hold rates steady in March. The January PCE inflation reading, delayed, lands on March 13. 5
Credit market headlines aren’t doing any favors. Reuters is flagging renewed pressure on the $2 trillion private credit sector, with Blue Owl’s situation putting liquidity and valuation risks under the microscope and fueling larger doubts about lending practices. “Private credit’s golden era is not over yet, but the days of generating equity-like returns might be,” said Kyle Walters, U.S. private equity analyst at PitchBook. 6
Citi isn’t facing blowback from a specific exposure here. The real issue is speed—investors hit the sector fast whenever “unknowns” surface. In a risk-off market, banks move as a single trade.
Net interest income tends to benefit from higher-for-longer rates—the gap between what banks make on loans and what they pay out on deposits can widen. On the flip side, the same rate environment can trigger more loan defaults and slow dealmaking. Citi, with its sizable consumer lending portfolio and hefty markets arm, is squarely in the crosshairs of this push and pull.
If headlines stay quiet, the stock might find its footing by Monday. Still, a hotter inflation print—or a sudden shift in credit sentiment tied to lenders and private-credit vehicles—could keep the pressure dialed up.
Friday, March 6 brings the next major data point: the U.S. posts its jobs numbers for February. Reuters’ economist survey is looking for a 60,000-job increase—down noticeably from January’s 130,000. “There continues to be this … back and forth about who might be the victim,” said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group. Bank stocks, Citi included, often move sharply in response to any surprises in the report’s impact on rate expectations. 7
