Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- CEOs, directors and other senior officials in corporate America are buying more of their companies’ shares than they’re selling for the first time since 1995, prompting growing confidence the stock market is poised to rally for the rest of the year. August Busch III, an AT&T(T) board member since 1980, bought $2.27 million shares in the biggest US phone company last month, his largest purchase on record. Monsanto Co.(MON) director William Parfet added to his holdings in the world’s No.1 seed producer for the first time in eight years.
- Perceived headwinds aren’t preventing the DJIA from beating all of the world’s biggest stock markets.
- President Bush is asking Congress to fund a $25 billion budget for the US Energy Dept., the largest requested increase for the dept. in five years. The president proposes to raise spending on programs to increase power production without boosting greenhouse gas emissions. The budget allocates more spending on “clean-coal” technology to capture emissions from coal-burning power plants as well as nuclear energy, which provides power without emitting carbon dioxide.
- Sugar-cane production in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer of sugar, may rise this year as growers plant more to benefit from soaring demand for biofuels, research company Datagro Ltd. said.
- The global sugar surplus may extend beyond 2009 as a price rally spurred by hedge fund buying dissuades farmers from reducing output, said Jonathan Kingsman, head of sugar and ethanol research company Societe Kingsman SA.
- Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s biggest wind-turbine maker, rose 12% in Copenhagen trading after lifting its 2007 earnings forecast.
- Ignore the Obituaries, US Reign Will Endure.
- Crude oil is rising $1/bbl. after the Houston Ship Channel was closed to tankers because of fog and Turkish planes attacked Kurdish insurgent bases, boosting investment fund speculation in the commodity.
- Citadel Investment Group LLC, the asset-management firm run by Kenneth Griffin, separated its hedge fund business from an options market-making unit in what may be a prelude to a public offering.
- Microsoft(MSFT) May Borrow for First Time to Buy Yahoo(YHOO).

NY Times:
- Another Difficulty for a Microsoft-Yahoo Marriage: Recruiting.
- GM’s(GM) Global Strategy: A Brand for Every Place.

Forbes.com:
- Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner called on the mortgage industry to help avoid a wave of defaults by “quickly” modifying payment terms.

PRNewswire:
- RBC Capital Markets today announced the launch of the RBC Emerging Manager Allocator platform, a proprietary pool of capital that is structured to invest in a diversified group of emerging manager hedge funds with a demonstrated ability in alternative investing.

Broadcasting & Cable:
- Cablevision(CVC) Starts New Video on Demand DVD Service.

Interfax:
- For the first time since 1991, Russian tanks, multiple rocket launchers and armored personnel carriers will roll across Red Square on May 9 as part of the annual Victory Day parade.