"Wall Street slides after Citigroup-government deal"

The government's take over of Citigroup hardly engenders a lot of confidence.

Wall Street ended another unforgiving month with a steep loss -- one that left the Dow Jones industrial average at less than half its record high.

The day's news unsettled investors. Citigroup Inc. agreed to turn over a big piece of itself to the government, a move that fanned worries that other banks would face crippling trouble with bad debt. General Electric Co. slashed its quarterly dividend by 68 percent. Both companies are part of the Dow Jones industrial average, which fell 119 points. . . .