NEW YORK — The bad news from Citigroup yesterday just kept coming: Losses of more than $5 billion. Revenue down 48 percent. Fresh write-downs and set-asides for expected losses on bad debt of $16 billion. And finally, 9,000 job cuts.

Citigroup's report of first-quarter results was worse than most analysts expected, adding to the series of grim earnings announced this week by financial institutions. Earlier, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia reported losses, and J.P. Morgan Chase said its profit declined by 50 percent from a year earlier.

But the results from Citigroup, among the companies hit hardest by the credit market turmoil, revealed few surprises. And at a time when investors seem to be cheering all but the most horrendous results, the bank's shares rose 4.5 percent — spiking just as shares of J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch did when they reported.

Together with encouraging earnings from such large companies as Caterpillar and Honeywell International, Citigroup's results were enough to send the Dow Jones industrial average up 228.87, or 1.8 percent, to 12,849.36. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advanced 24.77, or 1.8 percent, to 1,390.33.

The broad market rally — the S&P rose 2.2 percent this week — is a sign that investors are increasingly betting that the worst of the credit crunch is over.

Investors may also believe that the chances of more ugly surprises have lessened with financial institutions providing gloomy but not unexpected reports, analysts said. Merrill, whose earnings came in modestly below expectations, and Citigroup each reported their worst earnings ever in the previous quarter.

"A lot of people think the bad news is now out of the way," said Stephen Massocca, co-chief executive of Pacific Growth Equities.