Bloomberg:
- Washington Mutual(WM), the largest US savings and loan, rallied as much as 19% in NY trading as a group led by private-equity firm TPG Inc. considers a $5 billion investment in the Seattle-based company.
- US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Urges Congress to Pass Colombia Free-Trade Pact: Video.
- Global investments in commodities rose by more than 20% in the first quarter to $400 billion, helping boost prices, Citigroup Inc.(C) analysts said. Investments in commodity indexes rose $40 billion in the first three months of the year to $185 billion, a large gain than the whole of 2007. After investments in indexes, commodity trading advisers account for the biggest portion of the total amount invested. At the end of the first quarter, advisers accounted for $94 billion, 18% more than at the end of last year. Hedge funds ranked third, with $75 billion in commodity holdings, an increase of 25% over the end of 2007. In all, Citi estimates $70 billion in additional investment funds flowed into commodities markets in the first quarter. Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, accounted for $46 billion in commodity investments as of March 31, up 31% from $35 billion at the end of 2007.
- Citigroup, HSBC, 7 Others to Assist Ohio Homeowners.
- General Motors(GM), the biggest
- The price of default protection for the debt of Citigroup Inc.(C), the biggest US bank by assets, and Credit Suisse Group, Switzerland’s second-largest bank, fell amid confidence governments will prevent a major bank failure. Credit-default swaps on NY-based Citi fell 23 basis points to 125 basis points, and swaps on Zurich-based CSFB fell 17 basis points to 74, the lowest in two months. Contracts on Washington Mutual(WM) fell to an almost four-month low.
- Crude oil jumped more than $2 a barrel in NY and gas rose to a record as the commodity bubble continues to inflation amid rampant investment fund speculation, notwithstanding another rise in the US dollar.
- Novartis AG agreed to buy 77% of eye-care company Alcon Inc.(ACL) in a two-step transaction totaling $39 billion.
- KLA-Tencor Corp.(KLAC), the second-biggest US chip-equipment maker, rose the most in more than eight months after Citigroup(C) said new orders from Asian companies may fuel sales growth.
Wall Street Journal:
- Polo to Outfit US Team For the Beijing Olympics.
- Carlyle Group, whose mortgage-securities fund collapsed last month, started a $1.35 billion fund last week to buy distressed assets, citing Carlyle co-founder Bill Conway.
- Lieberman, Grahm Say Cost of Quitting Iraq Too High.
- More CEOs Are Saying No (Voluntarily) to Bonuses.
- Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the state-controlled company known as Saudi Aramco, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are spending $7 billion to expand the Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, to process heavier, more acidic oil not considered desirable until recently.
NY Times:
- Lawmakers Continue to Allocate Funds to Pet Projects.
- Evergreen Solar(ESLR) plans to boost the size of its solar panel-manufacturing facility under construction in Massachusetts and add about 350 jobs.
- Hedge fund manager make mint on housing crisis. Millions of Americans may be facing the prospect of losing their homes, but a handful of fund managers have become the best paid in their industry – taking home 10-figure paychecks last year – by betting against mortgages. John Paulson, who ran a medium-sized fund until last year, zoomed to the top of the industry’s earnings table when he took home an estimated $3 billion in 2007, double what the top earner made in 2006, according to Trader Monthly.
International Herald Tribune:
- Hedge funds face tougher road ahead. “The bubble has popped, and there is going to be a lot of pain,” said Bradley Alford, the founder of Alpha Capital Management, a hedge fund advisory firm. “There will be a massive reassessment of where money should go.”
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