Bloomberg:
- The cost to protect corporate debt from default fell the most in a week after Lehman Brothers(LEH) sold $4 billion in shares and UBS AG made plans to raise the equivalent of $15 billion to shore up capital depleted by the US housing slump. Credit-default swaps on the Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index of 125 companies dropped 10.5 basis points to 133 basis points.
- The US dollar rose the most against the euro in almost two weeks as UBS AG and Lehman Brothers(LEH) said they’re raising $19 billion, bolstering investor confidence in the world’s largest financial institutions.
- Lehman Brothers(LEH) rose the most in a week in NY after raising $4 billion from a stock sale aimed at quelling speculation it’s short of capital.
- Commodities fell for a third day, led by oil, copper and soybeans.
- Stock hedge funds sat on a record amount of cash as the industry posted its biggest quarterly decline in almost six years. Equity managers, who oversee about one-third of the $1.9 trillion in hedge funds, held an estimated $64.8 billion in cash in February, according to data compiled by Merrill Lynch analyst Mary Ann Bartels. That was down from $90 billion in January. The last time equity funds held cash outside of their trading accounts was in 2004, according to Merrill Lynch. “The data indicates to us the equity hedge funds have de-leveraged and have record cash balances,” she wrote
Wall Street Journal:
- China has a serious inflation problem.
- Microsoft(MSFT) Unlikely to Raise Yahoo(YHOO) Offer.
- MBIA’s(MBI) Brown Sees No Immediate Need to Raise Capital.
- Wall Street Argues Over Effect of ‘Uptick’ Rule.
NY Times:
- Hamas’s Virulent Attacks Against Jews Block Peace.
- AMR(AMR), UAL(UAUA) Boost Revenue Selling Frequent Flier Miles.
- In a Hamas TV production for Palestinian children, a puppet stabs US President Bush to death in revenge for American and Israeli actions.
