Bloomberg:
- Crude oil is falling .50/bbl. to $63.90 even as unusually low refinery utilization continues to drive gas prices higher.
- Lyondell Chemical(LYO) said a gasoline-producing catalytic-cracking unit at the company’s Houston, Texas, refinery will be out of service for 10 days starting next week. The unit will be down to make “minor adjustments.”
- US soybean-oil inventories rose 23% to a record in February on reduced domestic demand for cooking oils and margarine.
- OPEC’s daily shipments of crude oil will probably rise 1.6% in the month ending April 21 as refineries around the world rebuild depleted inventories, consulting company Oil Movements said.
- Natural gas inventories rose again this week and are now 27.4% above the five-year average for this time of the time and poised to hit all-time highs later this year.
- China will allow its currency to appreciate over the next six months as monetary authorities face accelerating inflation, according to Goldman Sachs(GS).
- Inverness Medical(IMA) made an unsolicited proposal to acquire Biosite Inc.(BSTE), the maker of emergency-room tests for heart disease, for more than $1.6 billion, topping a bid from Beckman Coulter.
- All passenger vehicles sold in the US must be equipped with electronic stability control systems by the 2012 model year to prevent rollovers, US safety regulators said today.
- UK Prime Minister Tony Blair mixed his welcome of the safe return of 15 sailors and Marines who had been held by Iran with a warning to the country to drop its support for terrorism in Iraq.
- China ordered banks to set aside more money as reserves for the sixth time in less than a year to slow inflation and investment in the country.
Wall Street Journal:
- A Gas Exporting Countries Forum meeting next week in Doha, Qatar, may lay the groundwork for a version of OPEC for natural gas.
- Carlyle Group, a Washington, DC-based leveraged-buyout firm, will start a $1 billion hedge fund next month, its first.
- US property owners including doctors and lawyers are stocking more alpacas to get favorable tax reductions.
- Advanced Micro Devices(AMD) said its upgraded version of the Opteron computer chip, which operates at the speed of 3 gigahertz, is faster than those made by Intel Corp.(INTC), citing AMD vp Allen.
- Billionaire Carl Icahn’s gamble on a $920 million takeover bid for WCI Communities(WCI) homebuilding company may shed light on how soon Florida’s housing slump will turn around.
NY Times:
- Royal Dutch Shell Plc expects to resume full output of crude oil from the Niger Delta in Nigeria within five or six months, after reaching agreements with local communities.
CNBC:
- Tracinda Corp. said it will offer $4.5 billion to buy DaimlerChrysler AG’s(DCX) Chrysler unit.
NY Post:
- Jones Apparel Group(JNY) may sell or spin off its Barneys NY unit instead of breaking up the entire company.
- The American Stock Exchange is in “highly preliminary” talks with Susquehanna International Group about a possible sale or investment.
Financial Times:
- Ford Motor(F) said it will eliminate 600 of its US dealers, or 15%, in an attempt to brighten the financial picture for its remaining outlets.
TT:
- Volvo AB is close to an agreement with Transport for London to test about six diesel-electric hybrid double-decker buses in the UK capital next year.
Arab News:
- US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi held talks with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in Riyadh on the Middle East peace process.
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