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[Viana]

Dorsey Wright & Associates poderam ficar a frente do departamento tecnico de um dos maiores bancos do mundo, o Citigroup.



The stock charts and graphs are hanging around at Citigroup (C:NYSE - news - research).

A week after dismissing its technical analysis group, the brokerage arm of the world's biggest bank has reached a tentative agreement with an outside firm to provide the same kind of research.

A Citigroup spokesman says the bank has an "agreement in principle" with Dorsey Wright & Associates to provide technical analysis to Smith Barney brokerage customers and brokers. Dorsey Wright, an 18-year-old independent research outfit based in Richmond, Va., specializes in technical analysis for brokerages, hedge funds and other institutions.

The outsourcing deal with Dorsey Wright is the latest twist on a cost-cutting initiative by Citigroup that is taking place across the company.

Last week, when Citigroup announced it was dismissing its entire stock market technical analysis team, including longtime analyst Louise Yamada, the bank said it planned to focus its resources on fundamental stock analysis. The company said it had no plans on hiring other analysts to replace Yamada and her team.

But a source says the bank left the door open to the possibility of outsourcing the work to another firm. Citigroup did not disclose details of the contract with Dorsey Wright, but presumably it's spending less money than it did for its own technical analysis team.

Under technical analysis, charts and computer programs are used to project price trends in stocks, bonds and the broader market. The practice makes minimal use of economic fundamentals and is not without its critics on Wall Street.

"We do this for many, many firms,'' said Thomas Dorsey, the firm's president. "You're dealing with a group of people who know what they are doing. It makes a lot of sense on an outsourcing basis."