Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Florida will produce more orange juice than previously forecast, even with a smaller crop, because of a higher yield from each box, the US Dept. of Agriculture said.
- John Wilson, chief technical strategist at Morgan Keegan, see “positive” outlook for US equities.
- Rising gasoline prices prompted Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano to send a letter to Energy Secretary Bodman last month seeking his explanation for the increases. Napolitano asked him to conduct an investigation of the refinery industry as to why so many refiners have been very slow to come back online after recent “outages,” which curtails the supply of gasoline and sends prices higher.
- Crude oil is rising .44/bbl., pulled higher by gasoline, on speculation by investment funds that a government report tomorrow will show US gasoline supplies fell for a ninth straight week.
- Valero Energy(VLO), the largest US oil refiner, scheduled maintenance for units at three of its refineries. The work will affect fuel production at the plants, which are located in California, New Jersey and Texas, spokesman Bill Day said.
- March sales at US retailers had the largest gain in six months as shoppers scooped up Easter presents, the International Council of Shopping Centers said. Sales rose 4% to 5% from a year earlier.
- Summer US retail gasoline prices will average $2.81/gallon, down $.03/gallon from last summer’s average, according to the EIA.
- The US will export 3.6% less cotton than forecast a month ago as sales and shipments lag behind year-ago levels, especially to China.
- US ethanol production will average 399,000 barrels per day, up from last summer’s average of 313,000 bpd, according to the EIA. US distillate demand growth was revised lower by 10,000 bpd for Q2/Q3. Summer gasoline demand will rise 1.2% from year-ago levels on average.
- US corn supplies before the next harvest will be larger than forecast a month ago as some livestock producers choose to feed wheat to their animals.
- Natural gas is rising 4.1% on colder weather despite the fact that inventories are 27.4% above the 5-year avg. for this time of year, near all-time times.
- China, the world’s biggest steel producer, said it will cut tax breaks on exports of some steel products as the nation seeks to reduce a record trade surplus.
- ImClone Systems(IMCL) said its Erbitux medicine failed to help pancreatic cancer patients live longer in a study, a setback for the company’s plan to expand the market for its only drug. The stock is falling 10% on the news.
- Rising Delinquencies among US subprime mortgages are unlikely to cause a “major dislocation” in the broader market for mortgage-backed securities, the IMF said.
- President Bush said he will invite congressional leaders to the White House next week to break the impasse over $100 billion in emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- DR Horton(DHI) said orders for houses tumbled by more than a third in the first three months of this year. The stock is down 1.5%.
- Office rents in Manhattan surged to an all-time high in the first quarter as job growth pushed the vacancy rate below 6% for the first time in six years, real estate services provider Cushman & Wakefield said.
- Sun Capital Partners, the private equity firm that owns Lee Cooper jeans and Wonderbra lingerie, raised a $6 billion leveraged buyout fund, giving the firm four times more firepower for acquisitions.

Wall Street Journal:
- A mysterious price move in New York Mercantile Exchange after-hours oil futures trading on March 27 may show how electronic trading makes tracking price moves harder. Futures contracts rose 8%, or $5/bbl., in only 7 minutes, then dropped back again in another 5. The cause of the jump, which triggered other preset orders, is unclear. Electronic crude-trading volume has grown from less than 20% of trades to 79% last month.
- Chevron Corp.(CVX), ConocoPhillips(COP) and other oil companies may find their profit margin eroding over the next few years even if oil prices were to rise because oil-producing countries are increasingly keeping a bigger share of profit.
- Tom Ford, the former creative director of Gucci Group(GUCG), is trying to build a new business in menswear.
- Exchange-traded funds that track crude-oil futures have fallen even more than oil prices themselves in the past year. The reason is that near-term futures have been cheaper than those the next month out, a phenomenon known in the futures market as “contango,” so the ETFs have had to sell low and buy high each month.
- TXU Corp.(TXU) and several other power companies may build nuclear plants in Texas, making the state a proving ground for a likely nuclear renaissance.
- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ $26 billion acquisition of First Data Corp. payment-processing company may show that private equity firms no longer need to band together to make leveraged buyouts.

NY Times:
- Sony Corp.(SNE) has begun a $20 million television, radio, online, outdoor and print advertising campaign to promote its consumer camcorders and digital cameras.
- Consumer Reports named Kimberly Kleman as editor in chief and plans to redesign the magazine’s format to include more information about its product-testing methods.

USA Today:
- As much as $7 billion would be set aside to upgrade baggage screening at the nation’s major airports as part of legislation the House and Senate recently approved.

Washington Post:
- Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have declined to participate in a Fox News debate scheduled for September and co-sponsored with the Congressional Black Caucus. Liberal activists, including the online group, Moveon.org, asked Democratic presidential candidates to skip the Fox debate.

Mysteel.com:
- China’s steel product exports rose 23% in March from the previous month, citing customs data. Imports in the first three months of the year fell 7.4%.

Financial Times:
- The SEC is considering changes that would end 12(b)1 mutual fund fees, in which investors are charged for marketing expenses.
- Iran’s economy is so vulnerable to lower oil prices that its government may be interested in boosting international tensions whenever energy prices dip too low. Oil and gas generate 80% of Iran’s export revenue.

Daily Telegraph:
- Dow Jones(DJ) may buy the Financial News, a London-based newspaper, for $53.3 million.

Handelsblatt:
- Eurex AG, Europe’s largest derivatives exchange, plans to introduce securities derived from commodities and derivatives in foreign currencies.

China Securities Journal:
- China’s consumer price index, a key indicator for inflation, accelerated to 3.3% last month.

Emirates News Agency:
- The United Arab Emirates plans to increase oil production to more than five million barrels a day in the next seven years, from 2.46 million now, citing a minister.