Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• U.S. Companies Add 201,000 Jobs in Sign Labor Market Recovering, ADP Says. Companies in the U.S. added more workers in March, a sign the labor market may be strengthening, data from a private report based on payrolls showed today. Employment increased by 201,000 workers in March after a revised 208,000 gain in February, according to figures from ADP Employer Services. The median estimate in the Bloomberg News survey called for a 208,000 gain. Businesses added 210,000 jobs in March and the jobless rate held 8.9 percent, economists project a Labor Department report to show in two days. Another report today showed employers announced fewer job cuts in March than the same month last year, even as government payroll cutbacks climbed to the highest level in a year. Planned firings decreased 39 percent to 41,528 this month from March 2010, according to Chicago-based Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. Public employees accounted for almost half of all job cuts. Companies employing more than 499 workers expanded their workforces by 17,000 jobs. Medium-sized businesses, with 50 to 499 employees, created 82,000 jobs and small companies increased payrolls by 102,000, ADP said.
• Unemployment Rate in Washington's Ward 8 Is Highest in U.S. The jobless rate in the poorest part of the District of Columbia is higher than in any U.S. metropolitan area with a labor-force of comparable size, according to figures released by the city government. Unemployment in the Ward 8 section of the capital climbed to 25.2 percent in January, the latest month of available data, from 23.1 percent in December, figures from the Department of Employment Services show. Ward 8 is in the southeast section of The next highest rate, as measured by the U.S. Labor Department, was 25.1 percent, in El Centro, California.Washington, about four miles from the White House and home to the Anacostia neighborhood. The poverty rate is 35 percent, compared with 18 percent for the city as a whole.
• Hoenig Blames Fed for Higher Commodity Prices, Urges Tightening. The Federal Reserve's “highly accommodative” monetary policy is partly to blame for rapidly increasing global commodity prices, said Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig, who called on colleagues to raise the benchmark interest rate toward 1 percent soon. “Once again there are signs that the world is building new economic imbalances and inflationary impulses,” Hoenig, the central bank's longest-serving policy maker and the lone dissenter at Fed meetings last year, said in the text of a speech today in London. “The longer policy remains as it is, the greater the likelihood these pressures will build and ultimately undermine world growth.” The Federal Open Market Committee “should gradually allow its $3 trillion balance sheet to shrink toward its pre-crisis level of $1 trillion,” Hoenig, 64, said in his remarks at the London School of Economics and Political Science. “It should move the U.S. federal funds rate off of zero and toward 1 percent within a fairly short period of time.” “Policy should acknowledge the improving economic trends and begin to withdraw some degree of accommodation,” he said. “If this is not done, then the risk of introducing new imbalances and long-term inflationary pressures into an already fragile recovery increase significantly.”
• Obama Won't Rule Out Arming Rebels as Qaddafi Forces Advance. Libyan rebels retreated under fire from Muammar Qaddafi’s troops as President Barack Obama and U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said they may consider sending arms to the opposition forces. “We will be providing them direct assistance,” Obama said in an NBC “Nightly News” interview yesterday. Asked if this meant sending weapons to the rebels, Obama said: “I’m not ruling it out. But I’m also not ruling it in.” Rebels, after advancing toward Qaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, withdrew in the face of artillery and rocket attacks as pro- Qaddafi forces retook control of the oil port of Ras Lanuf. The BBC and New York Times, citing reporters near the Libyan front line, said rebels are streaming away from Brega and heading northeast toward Ajdabiya. “There’s little indication that Qaddafi’s forces were driven back by the rebels,” Nate Hughes, director of military analysis at the Austin, Texas-based geopolitical advisory firm Stratfor, said in a telephone interview. “The rebels are no match for Qaddafi’s forces.” Qaddafi’s advance shows he retains military capacity after almost two weeks of U.S.-led bombing that has targeted his air defenses, armor and army installations. “In two weeks from now, if the rebels haven’t taken Tripoli and Qaddafi is still in charge, I see a second UN mandate for ground troops,” Florence Gaub, a North Africa expert at the NATO Defense College in Rome, said in a telephone interview.
• Deal Rush Pushes Takeovers to Most Expensive Since Lehman. Corporate executives in the first quarter paid the most for takeovers since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., kicking off what investment bankers say may be the busiest year for deals since 2007. Acquirers paid a median 9.2 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for companies in the period, the most since the second quarter of 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Valuations are still lower than during the last M&A boom, when they peaked at 11.4 times Ebitda.
• Optimism Among U.S. CEOs Tops Pre-Slump High. Optimism among U.S. chief executive officers surpassed the highest level reached before the recession as more business leaders projected increased sales, investment and hiring, a survey showed. The Business Roundtable’s economic outlook index increased to 113 in the first quarter, the highest point since records began in 2002, from 101 in the previous three months, the Washington-based group said today. Readings greater than 50 coincide with an economic expansion. The previous peak was 104 in the first three months of 2005. “Companies have given strong signals about their willingness to expand,” Ivan G. Seidenberg, chairman of the Business Roundtable and chief executive officer of New York- based Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), said in a press conference. “As we keep a steady flow of capital investment, we’ll certainly see sales forecasts go up, and as we do that we’ll start to see hiring.” None of the 142 CEOs surveyed said they expected a decline in sales in the next six months, and 92 percent projected an increase, paving the way for more hiring and investment in equipment. A gain in capital spending plans points to further strength in manufacturing, the industry that’s propelled the economic expansion.
• Fukushima Governor Sato Slams Japan's Handling of Nuclear Reactor Disaster. Fukushima Prefecture, epicenter of the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, accused Japan’s central government of sowing confusion and hampering recovery efforts through poor communication.
• Bunds to Underperform on Permanent German Support for Neighbors, MEAG Says. German bunds may underperform U.K. and U.S. bonds as Europe’s biggest economy is likely to take on supporting its weakest euro-region partners as a permanent burden, according to MEAG Munich Ergo Asset Management GmbH. “Bunds enjoy a huge risk premium right now, which they may no longer enjoy to the same degree as we are moving to a kind of transfer union,” where weaker nations such as Ireland and Portugal are officially supported by their stronger neighbors, Reiner Back, who oversees more than $150 billion as head of fixed income and foreign exchange at MEAG in Munich, said in a telephone interview. German debt is already lagging behind gilts and Treasuries. Yields have climbed this year as the nation committed to aiding the region’s weakest members beyond an initial three-year period ending in 2013.
• AT&T(T) CEO Makes Case T-Mobile Deal Will Boost iPhone Service. AT&T Inc. (T) Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson, making his case for a proposed takeover of T-Mobile USA, said the deal would boost network capacity and improve service for devices such as Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone. The acquisition would improve capacity on AT&T’s wireless network by about 30 percent in some of the largest U.S. cities, Stephenson said today at an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. It could also reduce charges for overseas roaming, he said. “This transaction is very instrumental” in improving network service, said Stephenson at the event. “Virtually on the day you close the deal, getting a 30 percent lift in capacity in New York City: that’s a significant improvement in call quality and data throughput.”
• Visa(V), MasterCard(MA) Jump on Possible Delay of Debit-Card Curbs. Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA), the two biggest U.S. payment networks, posted their biggest gains of the year on speculation that U.S. curbs on debit-card fees will be delayed or modified. Visa advanced $2.99, or 4.1 percent, to $75.19 at 10:57 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the most since June for the San Francisco-based firm. MasterCard jumped $6.58, or 2.6 percent, to $258.29 after gaining as much as 4.2 percent.

Wall Street Journal:

• Gadhafi Push Tests The Coalition Strategy. Forces loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi continued to push rebels out of positions along coastal oil towns, further delaying the rebel drive on Tripoli and testing the limits of the coalition airstrikes at a time when the alliance is considering arming the rebels.
• First Solar(FSLR) Chairman Ahearn Slashes Stake. First Solar Inc. (FSLR) Chairman Michael Ahearn may be taking a dimmer view of the solar power company these days, having cut his stake by nearly half in the past month.
• Morgan Stanley(MS) Sees Even Higher Corn, Soybean Prices Ahead. Most agricultural commodities are marginally lower today, with the exception of soybeans, but that hasn’t stopped Morgan Stanley from getting bullish on foodstuffs. Dow Jones reports that Morgan Stanley believes corn and soybean prices need to jump even more – they recently hit two-and-a-half-year highs – to entice farmers to plant more. The investment bank said it initiated a long position in November 2011 soybean futures to go along with its long December 2011 corn futures position. The USDA is scheduled to issue it plantings estimate report tomorrow.
• Google(GOOG) Seeks Answer to Facebook With 'Social Search'. Google Inc., seeing a threat from social-networking companies such as Facebook Inc., plans to allow people to reorder the way websites are ranked on its core Web-search engine based on which sites they and their friends like or find useful, said people familiar with the matter.
  

MarketWatch:

• Cephalon(CEPH) Soars on Hostile Bid From Valeant(VRX). Late Tuesday, Cephalon (CEPH 75.32, +16.57, +28.20%) confirmed that Valeant(VRX 49.17, +4.78, +10.76%) first approached it with a bid of $73 a share on March 18.

CNBC.com:

• JPMorgan's(JPM) Dimon Slams CFTC on Swaps Crackdown. Jamie Dimon, chief executive of Wall Street giant JPMorgan Chase(JPM), lashed out on Wednesday at efforts by U.S. regulators to police the $600 trillion swaps market, in which his bank is a big player. New regulations being implemented by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, mandated under 2010's Dodd-Frank Wall Street reforms, "would damage America," Dimon said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event on capital markets. He was upbeat about the economy, however. "Corporate America is in very good shape. It's well-financed, it's well-funded," he said. "The consumer is spending ... housing is better than it was."
• Why the New Mortgage Risk Rules May Fail.
  

Business Insider:

• The Globe is Cooling - Here's How to Profit From It. (graph) In recent months, headlines have touted 2010 as the “warmest year on record.” While we agree with this claim (the temperatures were scientifically measured), we belong to the school of thought that temperatures are cyclical and that despite headlines, the Earth is actually in a cooling phase.
• The Long List of Presidents Who Promised to Reduce Foreign Oil Dependence and Failed.
• The Next Egypt: Spain's Youth Unemployment Problem Swells, One in Five Under Thirty Still Hunting for First Job. The unemployment situation in Spain has gotten so bad, it's impossible to ignore. A quick look in, from The Guardian:
• Chart of the Day: Amazon(AMZN) Still Has a Gigantic Growth Opportunity, Even in Books and Electronics.
• The Cuts Begin: IMF Slashes US 2011 GDP Projection. The IMF just announced a cut to their 2011 GDP outlook for the U.S., reducing their annual growth estimate to 2.8% from 3.0% (via Zero Hedge). Simultaneously, they announced a Japanese GDP cut to 1.4% from 1.6%.
  

Zero Hedge:

• Treasury Sells $29 Billion in Bonds, Bringing Total Settled US Debt to 14.31 Trillion, More Than the Debt Ceiling.
• Third Government Set to Fall in a Week: Kuwait Cabinet Expected to Resign on Thursday "Over Questioning".
• Airline Stocks Could Be Ready for Take Off.
  

LA Times:

• Proposed Settlement Would Force Banks to Allow Short Sales for Delinquent Homeowners. The proposed deal among banks and government officials is aimed at stabilizing the real estate market and helping underwater borrowers who are months behind on mortgage payments avoid foreclosure.

Quinnipiac University:

• Obama Gets Lowest Approval, Re-Elect Score Ever, Quinnipiac National Poll Finds; More Voters Oppose US Involvement in Libya. American voters disapprove 48 - 42 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing and say 50 - 41 percent he does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012, both all-time lows, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. This compares to a 46 - 46 percent job approval rating and a 45 - 47 percent split on the President's re-election in a March 3 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. In a hypothetical 2012 matchup, President Obama gets 36 percent of the vote to 37 percent for an unnamed Republican challenger. Voters oppose 47 - 41 percent America's involvement in Libya. In the survey concluded Monday evening as President Obama was addressing the nation about Libya, voters say 58 - 29 percent that he has not clearly stated U.S. goals for Libya.
  

Apple Insider:

• Cheaper iPhone Could Give Apple(AAPL) Control of China's Smartphone Market. A new survey shows that Apple is poised to capitalize on an explosion in sales of 3G smartphones in China, with the iPhone the most popular option, though lower prices could give it the lion's share of sales. The survey results revealed this week by Morgan Stanley and AlphaWise show 3G handsets and smartphones are taking off in China in 2011. Nearly 90 percent of respondents said they have "high interest" in buying a 3G handset or smartphone as their next phone. Of those who plan to buy a smartphone, the most popular option is Apple's iPhone. A total of 30 percent of respondents with 3G handset purchase intensions said they will most likely purchase an iPhone, followed by 25 percent for a Nokia device, 7 percent for HTC, 5 percent for Samsung, and 4 percent for Motorola. The iPhone would be an even more popular option, the survey found, if Apple were to lower the price of its smartphone. With a cheaper option, Apple would command a 53 percent share of 3G phone buyers, leaving Nokia with 20 percent and Research in Motion's BlackBery with 5 percent.

Channel 6 News:

• Iran Welcomes Egypt's Willingness to Resume Bilateral Ties. Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Wednesday welcomed remarks by his Egyptian counterpart Nabil al-Arabi on promoting bilateral ties, Press TV reported. The Iranian foreign minister commented on the remarks by saying "despite the ups and downs, the historical ties between the two countries have been sustained." He added that good relations between the two countries could help the region's stability, security and development. The new Egypt's foreign minister said on Tuesday that his government is ready to open "a new page with Iran," but added that the establishment of diplomatic ties depends on the Iranian side. Al-Arabi said that the Egyptian government does not see Iran as an enemy state, noting that the two countries have historically had deep relations.

Reuters:

• Misrata Battle Killed 18 Residents on Tuesday: Rebels. Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi killed 18 civilians in the city of Misrata on Tuesday and the troops are still shelling and fighting skirmishes with rebels, a rebel spokesman said.
• Libya Threatens to Sue Firms Over Rebel Oil Deals. Libya's government warned on Wednesday that it would sue any international company that concluded energy deals with rebels who control some of the country's oil infrastructure, the state news agency reported. The threat is likely to make it more complicated for the rebels based in eastern Libya to sell oil on the international market, a trade they had been counting on to finance their insurgency against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.
• Microsoft(MSFT) Co-Founder Allen Blasts Gates in Book.
• Caterpillar(CAT) CEO Again Criticizes Illinois Business Climate. "Legislators in Illinois have created an environment that is unfriendly to business and investment. At Caterpillar we want to help and lead a change in that climate," said Douglas Oberhelman at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event.
• Google(GOOG) to Build High-Speed Network in Kansas City.
• News Corp.(NWSA) Promotes James Murdoch to NY Role.
• EU Bailout Plan Raises Short-Term Default Risk: Fitch. Plans for the euro zone's new bailout fund increase the risk in the short term that weaker economies will default, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday after Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece and Portugal due to similar concerns.

Die Zeit:

• Germans are becoming increasingly skeptical about the benefits of the single-European currency, with only 55% expressing confidence in the euro's long-term success, citing a survey by the Ipsos research service for the Assoc. of German Banks. Germans are also increasingly doubtful about European Union membership, with 31% of those asked saying the EU has more disadvantages than benefits, the highest level since 1994. Only 24% regard EU membership as offering more advantages.