Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Greek Swaps Sellers to Pay $2.5 Billion to Settle Contracts. Sellers of credit-default swaps on Greece will have to pay as much as $2.5 billion to settle contracts triggered by the nation’s debt restructuring. The settlement was determined after dealers agreed a final value for Greek bonds of 21.5 percent of face value at an auction, according to administrators Markit Group Ltd. and Creditex Group Inc., and is in line with where the notes have been trading.
• Fisher Says Economy Doesn't Need More Easing, Reuters Reports. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said the U.S. economy doesn’t need more liquidity, according to Reuters. “There is plenty of liquidity,” Fisher said today during a roundtable discussion at a business event in London, according to Reuters. “We need no more,” he said, according to the news service.
• Bernanke Seen Not Knowing Jobless Rate Below Fed Forecasts. David Waldrop, 59, says he considers himself retired after searching unsuccessfully for work comparable to the job he lost in July 2007 at the U.S. Department of Energy in Atlanta. “There was certainly nothing in my area at my level,” he said. While the right opening might pull him back to employment, for now he sees his exit from the U.S. labor force as permanent. “I don’t see it happening,” he said. “I don’t see anything offering opportunities.” Waldrop is one of millions who have dropped out of the labor market in the aftermath of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, causing the employment-to-population ratio to fall to 58.6 percent from 62.7 percent at the end of 2007. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke says the decline reflects weakness in the economy that’s causing discouraged Americans to leave the workforce, bolstering his decision to add to his record monetary stimulus in January.
• Fed's Dudley Says U.S. Isn't 'Out of the Woods': Economy. Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said signs the economy is improving don’t dispel risks to growth that include higher gasoline prices, fiscal cutbacks and a weak housing market. “The incoming data on the U.S. economy has been a bit more upbeat of late, suggesting that the recovery may be getting better established,” Dudley said today in a speech in Melville, New York. “But, while these developments are certainly encouraging, it is far too soon to conclude that we are out of the woods in terms of generating a strong, sustainable recovery.”
• Apple(AAPL) to Pay Dividend, Buy Back Stock to Return Some of Cash. Apple Inc. (AAPL) will pay its first dividend in 17 years and buy back $10 billion in stock, heeding investors who urged it to return part of the $97.6 billion in cash amassed by robust demand for iPhones and iPads. Shareholders will receive a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share starting in the period beginning July 1, Cupertino, California-based Apple said today in a statement. The buybacks will begin in the fiscal year starting Sept. 30 and happen over three years, the company said.
• China Increases Fuel Prices Second Time in Two Months. China, the world’s largest oil consumer after the U.S., increased gasoline and diesel prices for the second time in less than six weeks after crude had its biggest monthly gain in a year. Prices gain by 600 yuan ($95) a metric ton starting today, after the three crude grades tracked by the National Development and Reform Commission climbed more than 10 percent, according to a statement on the planning agency’s website yesterday evening. Retail gasoline prices will increase as much as 6.6 percent and diesel will be as much as 7.2 percent more expensive, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

CNBC.com:

• Chinese Copycast Challenge US Small Businesses.
• Oil Rally to Continue, Next Target $125: Charts.
  

Business Insider:

• People are Freaking Out Over An Executive Order That May Give Obama Complete Control Over The Economy.
• Russia is Reportedly Sending 20,000 to 25,000 Troops to its Southern Regions.
• And Now Al Gore Has Been Accused Of Abusing His Apple Board Seat For Personal Gain.

Zero Hedge:

• Goldman(GS) Hikes Apple(AAPL) Price Target from $660 to $700.
• How to Cripple the Real Estate Market in Five Easy Steps.
  

Credit Writedowns:

• On Spain, Spanish Banks and Spanish Local Elections. The Spanish news stream is poor as the media focuses on local bank reliance central bank funding and the 2012 budget that will be unveiled next week. Just like roughly 1 in 3 that are unemployed in the euro zone are in Spain, Spanish banks account for almost half of the borrowing from the ECB in February.

Reuters:

• Home Builder Sentiment Steady in March: NAHB. Homebuilder sentiment was unchanged in March to hold at the highest level since June 2007, while sentiment in February was revised lower, the National Association of Home Builders said on Monday. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index held steady at 28, the group said in a statement, shy of economists' expectations for 30. February's reading was revised down to 28 from 29.
• G20 Web Economy Seen at $4.2 Trillion by 2016 - BCG. The Internet economy in the world's G20 nations will grow by more than 10 percent annually for the next four years, surpassing the size of the German economy at $4.2 trillion by 2016, management consultancy the Boston Consulting Group said. As a proliferation of Web-enabled smartphones is expected to help a total of 3 billion people access the Internet by 2016, online retail, banking, advertising, IT services and demand for Internet-related goods will thrive, BCG said on Monday. The G20's Internet economy will nearly double between 2010 and 2016, creating an extra 32 million jobs, according to the BCG report.

AP:

• New Mexico Regulators Scrap Carbon Emissions Rules. New Mexico regulators pulled the plug Friday on the state's effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions among coal-fired power plants, refineries and other large polluters. The Environmental Improvement Board adopted a repeal petition filed last year by utilities and industry groups that were concerned about rising costs and New Mexico's economic viability. The vote marks the second time in two months that the board has undone regulations passed in the waning weeks of former Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson's administration that were aimed at curbing carbon emissions.

Telegraph:

• Italy is Trapped in a Monetary Volkerkirker. Another month, another blow for Italy. Industrial orders fell 7.4pc in January, according to ISTAT. Domestic orders fell 7.6pc. Output fell 4.9pc, as you can see from this chart: