Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Crude oil rose to $74.45/bbl. on speculation that shipments from Iran and Nigeria will be disrupted as the US increases output of gasoline for the summer driving season.
- Ameristar Casinos(ASCA) raised its off for Aztar Corp.(AZR) to $1.6 billion, escalating the four-way bidding war for the owner of the Tropicana casinos.

Wall Street Journal:
- Advanced Micro Devices(AMD) is in a position to gain ground on its rival, Intel(INTC), which has dominated the computer microprocessor market for years, with its strategy of treating its hardware customers as partners.
- Shares of KCS Energy(KCS) advanced after media reports that Petrohawk Energy(HAWK) will buy the company in a transaction worth $1.6 billion.
- US mutual-fund investors, in a belated response to the three-year rally in emerging-market stocks, invested $11.7 billion in diversified emerging-market funds between the start of October and the end of February. Caution is called for, citing Kirk Henry who manages the Dreyfus Premier Emerging Markets Fund, as extreme inflows are generally a sign of a market peak.
- Bausch & Lomb(BOL) is a classic example of a distressed “value” stock, which finds itself in the midst of a crisis because some customers who used a contact-lens cleaning solution made by the company caught a rare fungal eye infection.

CNBC:
- JPMorgan Chase(JPM) CEO Dimon wants to buy a “big-named” brokerage or commercial lender once his company is performing better financially.

NY Post:
- John Malone’s Liberty Media(L) is near an agreement with Time Warner(TWX) to acquire Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves franchise, in exchange for Time Warner(TWX) shares and a stake in Court TV.

NY Times:
- The FDA said studies haven’t shown medical benefits from marijuana use, contradicting other scientific reports.

USA Today:
- The US Border Patrol may have as many as 12,100 agents in the field by the end of September, or about as many as the FBI, which is the nation’s largest law enforcement agency.

Irish Independent:
- Digicel Ltd., a Caribbean mobile operator owned by Irish businessman Denis O’Brien, plans to move into the US mobile-phone market.

Interfax:
- Russia is opposed to the use of military force to resolve the international community’s nuclear dispute with Iran.