Bloomberg:
- BOJ Watchers Push Back Exit Forecasts. Fewer economists see any chance of monetary tightening this year by the Bank of Japan after Haruhiko Kuroda’s renomination as governor and his comments on when the BOJ is likely to start thinking about exit. None forecast any change at this week’s policy meeting. While the vast majority of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg think the central bank is inching closer toward the day it will start winding back its monetary stimulus program, less than one-third of them think it will come this year. That’s down from about half in Bloomberg’s last poll in January.
- Keep Calm About U.S. Crisis And Invest in Stocks, Barclays Says. (video) There’s no need to hide your money under the mattress for fear that the next selloff is around the corner, according to Will Hobbs, head of investment strategy at Barclays Plc in London. “The further into the future you are happy to look, the less you need worry about calling the next recession, and the more you need to just put your cash to work and forget about it,” Hobbs told Bloomberg News in an interview. “It could be a long and painful wait for those out of the market, based on the indicators that we look at.”
- Trend-Chasing Quants Post Worst Returns in 17 Years. The strategy, which rides price trends across asset classes, fell 6.4 percent in February, the worst month since 2001, according to a Societe General basket of the 20 largest managers.
Wall Street Journal:
- North Korea Says It Is Open to Talks With U.S. About Abandoning Nuclear Weapons. Kim Jong Un indicates he is willing to discuss normalizing relations with Washington.
- Tax Cuts Fuel Biggest Merger Spree Since 2000. With $325 billion in bids to start the year, this M&A party looks likely to get bigger and louder before it ends.
- Big Banks Get a Big Win in Senate Rollback Bill. Nation’s largest banks would gain incentive to buy more municipal bonds in legislation targeting smaller banks.
MarketWatch.com:
CNBC: