The market is marking time, as earning season has gotten underway.  This earnings period will be a nail biter for sure. Those that miss will pay a heavy price and those that beat convincingly will get a boost.

Citigroup (C) posted results that slightly beat the street, although there were yellow flags. Hence, the early move higher has turned into a slight decline.

Revenue came in at $18.76 billion versus estimate $18.50.

Earnings were $1.95 versus estimates $1.80 (without the windfall from the Tradeweb IPO, earnings would be $1.83)

• Private banking +2%
• Corporate loans +11% to $102.6 billion
• Deposits +3.0 billion
• Credit Card billing +6.0%
• Trading revenue -5% and worse than expected (down for three consecutive quarters)

Investors need to be blown away to move stocks and Citigroup’s management is lucky its shares aren’t lower.

This session probably marks time with buying more defensive areas like Consumer Staples, Healthcare and Utilities.  But make no mistake, fireworks are going to happen this earnings season.