Mr. Kerkorian, who built his fortune largely on airlines and casinos, was a quiet investor in Chrysler in the 1990s until the automaker's management declined his requests that it increase its dividend and buy back shares.
Not only did Citigroup exceed the expectation of Wall Street analysts with earnings that rose 5percentt on record revenue, but it said it would increase its dividend 75percentt.
"As a business does better it can increase its dividend".
The Dow Chemical Company said yesterday that it would increase its dividend 15.5percentt.
The company also confirmed that it would increase its dividend payments this year by about 5% to $10bn.
The better-than-expected performance helped bolster Wall Street, as did an announcement by Tiffany & Company, the luxury jewelry retailer, that it would increase its dividend 13percentt.
The Dow rose as shares of General Electric surged 4.5 percent after the company told investors it might increase its dividend to shareholders next year.
In a sign that strength is expected to continue, British American said that it would increase its dividend for the first six months of this year 10 percent, to 11.8 pence in September.
Texas Instruments stock rose strongly after the company said it would increase its dividend by a third and buy back up to $5 billion more of its own stock.
Even with the investment in NBC Universal, Comcastsaid it would increase its dividend by 20 percent to 78 cents a share and buy back $2 billion in stock in 2013.
Antony P. Jenkins, the chief executive of Barclays, said the increase in capital would help stabilize the bank and allow it to increase its dividend to shareholders next year.
