盡管市場的不穩定影響了花旗銀行上一季度業務的凈收益，花旗集團的首席執行官邁克爾·考伯特表示，經濟狀況“不像近期波動顯示得那么差，實際上更強韌”，呼吁市場“不要因為過度討論造成經濟衰退”。

花旗是華爾街大型投資銀行中本周第一家公布其第四季度收益報告的銀行，當期收入為171億美元，略低于2017年第四季度報告的175億美元。

在花旗銀行于周一上午舉行的財報電話會議上，考伯特指出“收入環境比預想中更困難”，對于固定收益產品等市場敏感性行業更是如此。

但考伯特建議不要過分解讀2018年12月導致各大主要股市產生震蕩的市場波動。盡管承認新年伊始將面臨“更不確定”的宏觀經濟環境，但他警告投資者不要在經濟基本面穩固的情況下自己嚇自己，最后真的造成衰退。

“我們確信美國甚至更大范圍內全球經濟的基本面包括活躍有力的勞動力市場、合理的工資增長[和]良好的消費等因素。”考伯特說。

然而，按照考伯特的說法，因為擔心上升的利率環境及中美貿易爭端持續，投資者的信心已被動搖，造成了市場動蕩。

“我們清楚地認識到，以獨立事件為基礎看到的形勢和市場告訴我們的行情出現脫節。”考伯特說。他還補充說，市場面臨的“最大風險”是“由于過度討論真的導致下一次經濟衰退，而非經濟基本面不好造成衰退。”

市場似乎對考伯特發布的最新消息反響積極，花旗股票周一收盤價上漲4％，接近每股59美元。（財富中文網）

譯者：Agatha

Despite a shaky market that impacted his bank’s bottom line last quarter, Citigroup CEO Michael Corbat cited economic conditions that are “stronger and more resilient than recent volatility would indicate” and urged the markets against “talking ourselves into the next recession.”

Citi was the first of the major Wall Street investment banks to report their fourth-quarter earnings this week, disclosing revenues of $17.1 billion in the period that fell shy of the $17.5 billion reported in the fourth quarter of 2017.

On the bank’s earnings call Monday morning, Corbat noted a “revenue environment [that] was more challenging than we anticipated,” particularly for market-sensitive sectors like fixed-income products.

But Corbat advised against reading too much into the volatility that rocked most major equity markets in December 2018. While acknowledging a “more uncertain” macroeconomic environment to start the year, he warned against investors spooking themselves into a downturn in the face of solid economic fundamentals.

“We see certainly a U.S. and even more broad global economic where the underlying fundamentals [are] comprised of strong, tight labor markets, reasonable wage increases [and] good consumption,” Corbat said.

Yet concerns over a rising interest rate environment and the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China, according to Corbat, have conflated to sap investor confidence and roil the markets.

“We clearly see a disconnect between what we see in our business on an anecdotal basis and what the markets are saying,” he said. Corbat added that “the biggest risk” facing the markets is “one of talking ourselves into the next recession rather than fundamentals taking us there.”

The market appeared to respond favorably to Corbat’s update, with Citi shares up 4% at the close of trading Monday, to nearly $59 per share.