Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- US stocks rallied as Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke’s testimony that inflation may be slowing lifted banking shares, while rising orders for semiconductor equipment boosted the Nasdaq Composite Index the most in a month.
- Oil will drop more than 30% to $40/bbl. in March and may drop to $30 as rising prices for storing crude lead to a “breaking point” that forces speculators to sell, Sanford C. Bernstein said.
- President Bush said the Iraqi government is keeping its promise to deploy more of its forces in Baghdad and his strategy to help secure the Iraqi capital is “beginning to take shape.”
- Increased acreage will stabilize corn prices as use of ethanol increases over the next few years.
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he may nationalize supermarkets that sell meat above the government-set price.
- Crude oil fell on forecasts for warmer weather in the eastern US and an EIA Dept. report that showed some fuel supplies dropped less than expected.
- Treasuries are rising, pushing yields on benchmark 10-year notes down the most since September, after Fed Chairman Bernanke said “inflation pressures are beginning to diminish.”
- The world’s hedge fund industry must better disclose practices and move toward self-regulation, or it will find itself restricted by government action, said Jonathan Spalter, chairman and chief executive of Public Insight investment research and regulatory advisory firm.
- China National Coal Group, the nation’s second-biggest coal supplier by sales, said it produced 25% more of the fuel in January.

Wall Street Journal:
- Merrill Lynch(MER) hired former Tennessee Democrat representative Harold Ford as a vice chairman and senior policy adviser.
- Telstra Corp., AT&T Inc.(T) and other phone companies are boosting capacity to profit from a surge in spending for online Internet-based services.
- The demand by billionaire investor Carl Icahn that Motorola(MOT) should repurchase more of its shares is likely to put other makers of telecom equipment under pressure to do likewise.
- Investors’ returns from ETFs are being eroded by a tendency towards less liquid areas of the market and less well known proprietary indices.
- The FAA is expected to ask Congress for approval of a new $5 billion air traffic control system.
- US lawmakers from both parties will join President Bush today to back proposed legislation which will require securities brokers and mutual funds to report the original purchase price paid for stocks, bonds and other securities.
- Venture lenders, as distinct from venture capitalists that buy slices of equity, are playing a growing role in financing high-tech US start-ups.

NY Times:
- Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group is in early talks to merge with Vanguard Car Rental, the owner of National and Alamo, in a deal valued at more than $3 billion.

Washington Post:
- Senate Democrats including Christopher Dodd of Connecticut introduced a bill that would give all detainees in US custody more rights and provide a more narrow definition of who can be deemed an “enemy combatant.”

Manager Magazine:
- DaimlerChrysler(DCX) CEO Zetsche is in negotiations with General Motors’(GM) Wagoner about selling the Chrysler division to the world’s largest carmaker.

Financial Times:
- Nicolas Sarkozy, the French governing party’s presidential candidate, will press for a European Union tax on “speculative movements” by investors such as hedge funds.

Arab Oil and Gas:
- Total SA, Europe’s third-largest energy company, may spend $4 billion to $7 billion developing potential petroleum reserves in an area of southern Sudan.

Vancouver Sun:
- Al-Qaeda called on strikes on oil and natural gas installations in Canada as part of a campaign to target some of the major energy suppliers to the US, citing an online message from the group.

Haaretz:
- Oracle Corp.(ORCL) expects to triple its spending in Israeli technology start-ups in 2007.

Arab News:
- Iraq reopened its embassy in Saudi Arabia, as both countries move to strengthen diplomatic ties after Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to a break in ties.