Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Wall Street Grain Hoarding Brings Farmers, Consumers Near Ruin. As farmers confront mounting costs and riots erupt from Haiti to Egypt over food, Garry Niemeyer is paying the price for Wall Street’s speculation in grain markets. Commodity-index funds control a record 4.51 billion bushels of corn, wheat and soybeans through Chicago Board of Trade futures, equal to half the amount held in US silos on March 1. The holdings jumped 29% in the past year as investors bought grain contracts seeking better returns than stocks or bonds. The buying sent crop prices and volatility to records and boosted the cost for growers and processors to manage risk. Index-fund investment in CBOT corn, soybeans and wheat has increased 66% to the equivalent of 902,105 futures contracts, a record, since January 2006, when the government began collecting the data. Investments in grain and livestock futures have more than doubled to about $65 billion from $25 billion in November, according to consultant AgResource Co. in Chicago. The divergence between CBOT futures and the underlying commodity is so great that some grain merchants have stopped bidding for new crops.
- Global copper production will outpace demand this year and next as consumption growth slows, the International Copper Study Group said. The surplus will be 85,000 metric tons this year and 429,000 tons in 2009. Supply fell 37,000 tons short of demand lat year, the ICSG said. Copper usage in China, the world’s largest buyer, will expand more slowly than last year’s 36%. Combined with a decline in consumption in the US, world usage will gain 2% this year, down from growth of 6.4% last year. Mine production will rise 6%, faster than last year’s 3%. In 2009, output will rise 9%.
- HBOS Plc led a decline in the cost of protecting bank debt from default to the lowest in 14 weeks on reports it will sell stock to shore up capital amid subprime-related writedowns. Credit default swaps on the benchmark Markit iTraxx European Financial Sector Index of 25 European banks and insurers dropped 5 basis points to 60, from a peak of 160 last month.
- The risk of US companies defaulting fell again, according to traders of credit-default swaps. Contracts on the Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index of 125 companies in the US and Canada fell 3 basis points to 96.5 in NY, according to broker Phoenix Partners Group.
- Monsanto Company(MON) and Mendel Biotechnology today announced a collaborative agreement to enhance the development of Mendel’s BioEnergy Seeds & Fedstocks business. The two companies will apply Monsanto’s expertise in crop testing, breeding and seed production to perennial grass seed varieties Mendel is developing for use in biofuels and other commercial applications.
- Adverse weather and speculators are helping to buoy food prices and the European Union is taking steps to boost supply, said Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
- Mars Inc., backed by billionaire Warren Buffett, agreed to buy Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.(WWY)$23 billion to create the world’s biggest candy maker.
- Investor Kirk Kerkorian said he bought 100 million Ford Motor(F) shares, or 4.7%, and intends to buy more in a vote of support for CEO Alan Mulally. Ford rose 12% in NY trading.
- US newspapers reported that circulation losses accelerated in the six months through March as more readers turned to the Internet and publishers cut promotions to lower expenses.
- Rates on Eurodollar deposits compiled by the Federal Reserve suggest the cost for dollar loans at the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, are about to stabilize.
- US companies armed with more than half a trillion dollars in cash are stepping up efforts to take over rivals weakened by depressed stock valuations.
- Lehman Brothers(LEH) strategist Ian Scott, who advised investors to buy global stocks before the past month’s rebound, said better-than-expected earnings will pave the way for a bigger rally.

Wall Street Journal:
- A New Face of Hedge Funds Isn’t Shy.

NY Times:
- Senator Barack Obama is making subtle changes in his campaign style and message in an effort to strengthen his appeal to blue-collar voters and to avoid a defeat in Indiana that aides fear could give Democratic Party leaders further pause about his viability in a general election.
- Golden Years of Television Find New Life on the Web.
- Some parents reacted with outrage over the weekend when the television program “Entertainment Tonight” began showing commercials promoting a scoop: Miley Cyrus, the star of the wholesome Disney Channel blockbuster “Hannah Montana,” had posed topless, albeit with her chest covered, for the Vanity Fair photographer, Annie Leibovitz.

Financial News:
- Two groups of banks are seeking to start their own interdealer brokerages to cut the cost of trading interest-rate and credit derivatives.

LA Times:
- Pushing to fast-track its takeover of wounded home-loan goliath Countrywide Financial, Bank of America(BAC) will promise today to help 265,000 troubled borrowers keep their homes over the next two years by refinancing or modifying at least $40 billion in mortgages.

Power Online:
- Money Doesn’t Grow On Trees, But Gasoline Might. While it may be five to 10 years before green gasoline arrives at the pump or finds its way into a fighter jet, these breakthroughs have bypassed significant hurdles to bringing green gasoline biofuels to market. “Green gasoline is an attractive alternative to bioethanol since it can be used in existing engines and does not incur the 30% gas mileage penalty of ethanol-based flex fuel.” “In theory it requires much less energy to make than ethanol, giving it a small carbon footprint and making it cheaper to produce.”

NY Post:
- Fresh off his legal victory over Liberty Media, IAC/InterActiveCorp(IACI) boss Barry Diller is expected to meet with his board this week to restart the process of breaking up his company into five separate pieces.

FINalternatives:
- A decade after his Long-Term Capital Management imploded, John Meriwether has once again become the bearer of bad news. Meriwether’s JWM Partners has seen both of its hedge funds bleed red ink this year, leading the firm to offer investors an early exit.

AppleInsider:
- Long-time iPod manufacturer and current iPhone builder Foxconn Electronics has been selected by Apple to assemble the company’s upcoming 3G iPhone handset, with volume shipments expected to begin this June.

Reuters:
- United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp.(UAUA) and US Airways Group(LCC) are in “very advanced” merger talks.

Austrian state broadcaster ORF:
- European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet reiterated that he’s concerned about a surge in the euro against the dollar. “We had observed sharp fluctuations in the recent period of time and I have concerns about the repercussions of these sharp fluctuations on financial stability,” Trichet said.

Punch:
- Nigeria’s daily crude oil production has fallen to less than 1 million barrels a day after shutdowns. Strikes have closed all 860,000 barrels a day of output at an ExxonMobil facility while Shell has closed 169,000 barrels a day of exports. The combined losses are 1.03 million barrels a day out of 2.02 million barrels a day of production. Nigeria is losing $103 million a day because of the shutdowns, based on an average price of $100 a barrel.

Saudi Press Agency:
- Saudi Arabian annual inflation accelerated to a record 9.6% in March from 8.7% in February. Food costs increased 14.2%, while fuel and water prices and rents climbed 15.8%.