Citigroup has announced new job cuts effective as early as next week starting in its investment banking and wealth management divisions. Over the past year Citigroup has laid off over 23,000 people and it is now announcing a new cost cutting plan that could see up to 9,000 more jobs lost. Citigroup continues to struggle and its stock its stock is continuing to get hammered. Over the last 11 months or so, the value of its stock declined by about 68% and mid trading today its down 6 points. The struggling bank was also one of the banks selected by the Fed to recieve a cash injection in exchange for shares.

Santa Clara, California based, Sun Microsystems, also just announced it is cutting costs by eliminating up to 6,000 jobs, or 18% of its workforce to remain competitive and to align the company to be better prepared in this volatile economic time.

The Canadian Real estate Association has just released figures indicating existing sales in Canada have dropped by 14% in October over September and that the average home during this time in Canada also declined to $281,133, or 10%. If your interested in purchasing a home, you have a difficult choice, do you want for prices to come down or take advantage of a good interest rate (assuming you have good credit)? I personally expect that home prices will continue to fall, especially in markets including Vancouver and Toronto where houses are simply over priced and because of the financial crisis. I would hold off purchasing a home right now simply because I believe prices will continue to fall and the marginal benefit gained from the interest rate will not offset savings from the reduced home principal if you wait a couple more months.

Again, it is clear the credit crisis has now spilled over into the real economy as companies struggle and are forced to cut jobs and expenses to save cash.