Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said an impasse over Iran’s nuclear program must be resolved by peaceful means. The leaders called on Iran to “take the necessary and constructive steps to fulfill the resolutions of the UN Security Council.”
- Crude oil is rising .56/bbl. on increased speculation from investment funds as global tensions with Iran rise despite commercials increasing their net short position into the latest increase in oil prices.
- The Financial Services Authority, the UK’s markets regulator, plans to tighten monitoring of commodity markets as trading of oil, metals and agricultural produce increases.
- Dell Inc.(DELL) was raised to “buy” at Goldman Sachs(GS) as the firm recommended investors purchase the shares ahead of a turnaround at the company.
- Iranian officials are interrogating 15 members of the UK military accused by the Islamic Republic of violating the country’s territorial waters, the government in Tehran said.
- Alcatel-Lucent(ALU) won a three-year contract worth about $6 billion from Verizon Communications(VZ) to expand the US company’s mobile-phone network.
- Ginnie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration, created by the US government to boost mortgage financing, say the subprime lending shakeout will help end their more than four-year decline in market share.
- Corn prices in Chicago fell for a third straight session, dropping another 2.6%, on speculation drier weather starting in the US Midwest in April will allow farmers to plant the crop quickly, leading to a bigger harvest.
- Copper is rising in 2.0% NY as global stockpiles declined, signaling stronger demand for the metal.
- Mitsubishi Corp., Japan’s largest trading company, signed a 30-year ethanol supply agreement with Sao Martinho SA and will buy a stake in a Brazilian mill.
- World stainless steel production jumped 17% last year after Chinese producers increased output, surpassing Japan as Asia’s largest producer of the metal for the first time, the International Stainless Steel Forum said.
- Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul stock index plunged 6.1% last night despite the recent rise in oil prices.

Wall Street Journal:
- Boeing Co.(BA) is increasing production gradually, despite two years of record orders, to avoid fracturing its supply chain.
- Austin, Texas Mayor Will Wynn is promoting plug-in electric cars as part of a system to generate cleaner energy for Texas’ capital city.
- President Bush’s second meeting with executives of Detroit’s Big Three automakers will likely focus on alternative fuels. Chief executives Rick Wagoner of General Motors(GM), Alan Mulally of Ford Motor(F), and Tom LaSorda of DaimlerChrysler AG(DCX) are scheduled to meet with Bush for about 30 minutes in the Oval Office today before they each show the president one of their flex-fuel vehicles, capable of using conventional and alternative fuels.

NY Times:
- Gameloft, a maker of games for cell phones, will announce today that it is producing a line of games for the BlackBerry.

Chronicle of Higher Education:
- Midlevel college administrators got an average 3.8% pay raise this year, citing a survey by the College and University Professional Assoc. for Human Resources. Workers at public institutions received the highest average increase of 4% while those at private schools received 3.6%.

NY Post:
- Morgan Stanley(MS) will auction $2.48 billion in mortgages from subprime lender New Century Financial(NEWC).

Detroit News:
- General Motors’(GM) bid for Chrysler, which included less than 10% in GM stock and a $1 billion payment from parent DaimlerChrysler AG(DCX), was rejected for being too low.

USA Today:
- Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid added a provision to the recent war spending bill that would help billboard advertisers, an industry that donated tens of thousands of dollars to candidates in the 2006 election. The addition to the emergency spending bill for military operations and Hurricane Katrina victims would exempt some billboards in 13 southern states from the 1965 Highway Beautification Act regulations.

Washington Post:
- NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be considering a self-financed, third-party candidacy for president.

Reuters:
- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Michael Moskow said US inflation will slow at the end of the year and in 2008. Moscow also said that US subprime mortgage problems are not spilling over and that the housing market is in the process of stabilizing.

Financial Times:
- Hedge funds do best for their first two years, and usually produce lower yet more consistent returns as they grow larger, citing a Pertrac Financial Solutions study.

Interfax:
- A unit of China Petrochemical will sign an agreement to buy about 60,000 barrels a day of crude oil from Russia’s state-run OAO Rosneft.

Globo:
- Petroleo Brasileiro SA(PBR), Brazil’s state-controlled oil company, is close to confirming the discovery of a “gigantic” field of light-grade crude under the Campos Basin. The field, if confirmed, would be one of the largest of its type in the world.