The dismantling of Citigroup (NYSE: C) continued yesterday as the banking company unveiled plans to spin off its Primerica Inc. life-insurance and mutual-fund sales unit. In a regulatory filing Thursday, Primerica laid out plans to sell shares of itself via an initial public offering of stock. Citigroup will pocket the proceeds from the IPO and said it will sell the remainder of its Primerica holdings "as soon as practicable" following the IPO. The move should help strengthen Citigroup’s capital buffers. –The Wall Street Journal


JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) found an unsettling fact buried in the books of newly acquired Bear Stearns Cos. last year: The brokerage had loaned millions of dollars to a German money manager for bets on hedge funds no one had ever heard of. JPMorgan’s efforts to follow Bear Stearns’s money, described by a person familiar with the matter, helped spur an international probe of K1 Group that led to the arrest of its founder, Helmut Kiener. JPMorgan, one of at least three banks that loaned to K1, faces about $100 million of the $400 million in losses, the person said. The case, if proven, may be among the biggest hedge-fund frauds to target banks, said Thomas Newkirk, a partner at Jenner & Block in Washington and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement official. -Bloomberg

Shares of General Electric (NYSE: GE) rose 3.5 percent to $14.93 in premarket trading on Friday, after Bernstein upgraded the Dow component to "outperform." Additionally, shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) rose 1.6 percent to $122.50 in premarket trading on Friday, after Bernstein upgraded the stock to "outperform."

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s managers may deliver more cost cuts to Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett after the billionaire replaced Richard Santulli as the head of a money-losing plane-leasing unit. Berkshire executives have eliminated jobs and closed plants as the sale of bricks, jewelry and luxury flights suffered in the recession. The company, which reports third-quarter results today, may need further reductions, even as the U.S. recovers, said Jeff Matthews, founder of the hedge fund Ram Partners LP. -Bloomberg

The unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983 – and is likely to go higher. Nearly 16 million people can’t find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended. The Labor Department said Friday that the economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised 219,000 lost in September. August job losses were also revised lower, to 154,000 from 201,000. –Daily Finance

-Jutia Group