Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit and CFO John Gerspach were on the firm's Monday earnings call, taking turns responding to questions from Wall Street analysts.  At one point, Mr. Gerspach compelled his boss to set the record straight - and, in doing so, appeared all too eager to telegraph the bank's intentions to offload a stake in its Smith Barney joint venture with Morgan Stanley. CFO Gerspach, responding to a question about the firm offloading its entire stake in the joint venture to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney on the cheap in order to comply with tightened capital requirements, said, "Well, we have our investment in Morgan Stanley, in the joint venture, in Holdings, so by definition we are looking to exit that business.  It’s not part of our core operations going forward." Pandit quickly retorted: "Having said that, the capital numbers we are at and the progress we’re making in the business suggest that there is not a need to [sell the remaining stake], either, which is important to appreciate and understand."  He added: "We’ve got plenty of time." So much for having the upper hand when entering prospective negotiations with Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman.  Citi is looking to get an attractive price for the 14% stake in the venture that Morgan Stanley has a right to buy in May.  Adding that piece would increase Morgan’s hold on Smith Barney to 65%. Some Wall Street analysts believe that Citi, which has virtually written down its entire investment in the venture, may score billions less for the stake because of the shaky economy and the difficulties in meshing the massive, 17,000-strong brokerage enterprise. That, of course, is one of the reasons why many expect Morgan Stanley to consider purchasing all of Citi’s 49% stake in the brokerage.  The partnership was struck in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2009. [Note:  See C-I's WHO Tuesday posting, "The Fate of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney"] Wall Street was heartened by Citi’s performance in its fixed-income business, which recorded $4.74 billion in revenues, compared with $3.98 billion during the same period last year — a fact that helped drive its stock price higher yesterday. During the call, Citi officials also vowed to cut expenses at the firm by as much as $3 billion this year - a point that Wall Street has been homing in on, since banks are struggling to eke out profits in an environment of low interest rates and harsher regulations.  [NYPost, 4/17/12]