Citigroup, Stress Test | featured news

Citigroup Inc may be a surprise winner when the Federal Reserve reveals the results of bank stress tests designed to gauge the health of the biggest U.S. banks.

Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp shares rallied in premarket trading ahead of the release of "stress test" results that will force them and other top banks to raise tens of billions of dollars in capital.

Bank of America needs $34 billion in extra cash, a source familiar with U.S. government stress tests on leading banks told Reuters, unsettling markets and stoking talk of a possible asset sale in China.

So begins the tricky process of rolling out stress test results. The dance starts with a leak to the WSJ. Word is that the Federal Reserve has told Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC) that they'll both need to raise billions more in order to be adequately capitalized. Neither is a huge surprise.