Stocks in the news: Citigroup, MasterCard, Chevron

The following post rounds up the companies making headlines today:

Citigroup (C) said it sold its Japanese brokerage businesses, Nikko Cordial Securities Inc. and some parts of Nikko Citigroup's Japan operations, to Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group for about 545 billion yen ($5.6 billion). Citigroup is trying to restructure and improve its financial position by selling non-core assets after the struggling financial institution incurred more than $100 billion of credit losses and writedowns that's led to three bailouts by the U.S. government. It may be required to boost its capital position further next week when stress trests are revealed. Citi shares traded 2.3 percent higher before the bell.

Mastercard (MA), the world's second largest credit card company, said first-quarter profit fell 18 percent to $367.3 million, or $2.81 a share, amid the impact of a stronger U.S. dollar on overseas revenue. The result beat the $2.62 average estimate of 21 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. MA shares slumped 4.4 percent in pre-market trading.