Citigroup's earnings edge higher in first quarter

NEW YORK (AP) — Citigroup’s first-quarter earnings rose, helped by declines in expenses and provisions for bad loans. The earnings improved even as revenue from mortgage refinancing and bond trading fell.

EARNINGS: Citigroup reported a profit of $4.1 billion in the first quarter, after stripping out the effects of an accounting change and a tax item. That was up 2.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, when it made $4 billion.