Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Fortis, Belgium’s biggest financial-service company, led a drop in the cost of protecting bank debt from default as investors speculated lenders will follow Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in raising new capital. Credit-default swaps on Brussels-based Fortis fell 9.5 basis points to 62, down from 173.5 basis points last month. The benchmark Markit iTraxx European Financial Sector Index of 25 banks and insurers dropped 2 basis points to 62, the lowest since Jan. 16, JPMorgan Chase said.
- Gold fell to the lowest in almost three weeks after energy costs declined and the euro eased against the US dollar.
- Copper fell by the most in two weeks on concern demand may ease in China, the world’s largest metals buyer.
- Intrepid Potash’s(IPI) IPO may market the start of a bubble among fertilizer stocks. After surging 58% in its first day of trading, Intrepid – the largest US producer of potash – is valued at 201 times last year’s pro-forma earnings of 25 cents a share. This makes the Denver-based company’s shares more costly than those of Cisco Systems(CSCO) when the Internet bubble reached its high point in March of 2000.
- Bill Miller of Legg Mason said the collapse of Bear Stearns in March may have marked the end of a panic sparked by losses on subprime mortgages.

Wall Street Journal:
- Bond-fund giant PIMCO plans to launch a new fund that may invest in a broad range of fixed-income instruments. PIMCO plans to launch a fund which can invest in derivative vehicles such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements, or in mortgage-backed or asset-backed securities.
- What’s at Stake in Colombia by James A. Baker III. I’ve worked in politics long enough to know that when politicians spend too much time locked in partisan conflict, they can forget what they were fighting about in the first place. Unfortunately, this may be happening with the Colombian Free Trade Agreement.

NY Times:
- Europe Turns to Coal Again, Raising Alarms on Climate. Europe to Start Up 50 Coal-Fired Energy Plants.
- CBS News Recorded Worst Ratings Last Week.

Forbes.com:
- Apple(AAPL) has agreed to buy a boutique microprocessor design company called PA Semi. The company, which is known for its design of sophisticated, low-power chips, could spell a new future for Apple’s flagship iPhone, and possibly iPod products as well.

USA Today:
- In China, a battle over Web censorship. As Beijing restricts what Internet users can see, ‘hacktivists’ try to crack ‘Great Firewall’.

Daily Telegraph:
- The UK Housing Bubble is Bursting and It’s Serious.

Xinhua:
- China’s electronic and information sector grew at a slower pace in the first quarter, with growth in fixed-asset investment ebbing further and input by overseas-funded businesses declining, a source of the ministry of industry and information said.

al-Jazirah:
- Inflation in Saudi Arabia may reach 10% should the current pace of price increases continue, citing the governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority.