Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a record after earnings beat analysts’ estimates, inflation rose less than forecast and housing starts gained.
- US Treasuries are rising the most in more than a month after a government report showed the pace of inflation excluding food & energy rose less than economists forecast in March.
- Catalina Marketing(POS), a research company that tracks consumer shopping habits, agreed to be acquired by buyout firm Hellman & Friedman LLC for about $1.7 billion after abandoning a deal it reached last month.
- Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor who is fighting for a seat on Motorola’s(MOT) board, said CEO Zander needs to be held responsible for his efforts to revive the mobile-phone company.
- Fortress Investment Group(FIG), a publicly traded manager of private equity and hedge funds, said net income more than doubled in 2006, driven by increases in investment profits and asset-management fees.
- Cho Seung-Hui, a South Korean citizen studying at Virginia Tech University, carried out the shooting rampage yesterday that claimed 32 victims, police said.
- US business bankruptcies plunged by 50% last year to their lowest level since at least 2000, according to federal court stats. Personal bankruptcies plunged 71%, the court administrator said.
- Citidel Investment Group is on track to acquire subprime lender ResMae Mortgage Corp.
- The US would save enough electricity to power 4.8 million homes for a year and would cut gasoline use by 50%, according to sponsors of legislation introduced today in the Senate.
- Gasoline futures fell to a two-week low on speculation inventories will soon begin to rise as annual refinery slowdowns come to an end.
- China, the world’s biggest steel producer, may reduce tax breaks further, impose export tariffs and cap steelmakers’ exports, to rein in overseas sales.

Wall Street Journal:
- Time Warner(TWX) executives are considering reducing the NYC-based company’s stake in cable television
- Large-cap “growth” stocks, which have lagged “value” stocks so far this decade, have come into their own this year.
- Fannie Mae(FNM) and Freddie Mac(FRE), the biggest sources of money for US home loans, plan to assist homeowners who can’t make payments on their mortgages, citing congressional testimony.
- YouTVpc.com, Peekvid.com and other guerrilla video Web sites that provide access to copyrighted material from servers outside the US represent a new threat to big media companies.
- Coca-Cola’s(KO) Coke Zero is the Atlanta-based company’s best new-product introduction in 20 years, and could be a precursor of a larger turnaround.

NY Times:
- New York state’s Medicaid spending has been raised to $300 million a year, the highest in the country, because of drug addicts and alcoholics who repeatedly check-in to hospital detoxification centers.
- Hedge fund managers are able to defer paying some taxes for 10 years or more by taking money they earn oversees and reinvesting it in their funds where it appreciates tax-free. The hedge fund managers are able to avoid paying the taxes by setting up overseas funds that also are attractive to investors such as pension funds, endowments, and foreign investors. The practice, which is legal, is being evaluated by the US Congress, which is considering legislation that would limit the deferrals to $1 million or the five-year average of a person’s income.
- Home Depot(HD) will begin putting labels on its products that indicate their environmental-friendliness.

Detroit News:
- DaimlerChrysler AG(DCX) plans to build a $700 million axle plan in Marysville, Michigan, to replace an older plant in Detroit.

Vatan:
- Cukurova Holding AS, which controls Turkey’s biggest cell-phone company, is building a $130 million oil refinery in northern Iraq with Gulf Petroleum Investment SA, a Kuwait-based oil and gas company.

Caijing Magazine:- News Corp.(NWS/A) plans to open a Chinese version of its MySpace.com social-networking Web site in May.