U.S.

U.S. Stocks Erase Gain as India Raises Rates for First Time Since July '08 U.S. stocks declined, ending an eight-day winning streak for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as India’s unexpected interest rate boost spurred speculation withdrawals of economic stimulus will curtail global growth.

Fed May Increase Discount Rate Before Next Policy Meeting, Economists Say The Federal Reserve may increase the discount rate, charged on direct loans to banks, before the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on April 28, economists said.

Insurers Bought Most Company Debt Since 2004 as Buffett Saw `Raining Gold' U.S. insurers, holders of more than $2.2 trillion in corporate debt, bought the bonds at the fastest pace in five years in 2009, taking advantage of a market that Warren Buffett said was “raining gold.”

Finance Bonds Beating Industrials as JP Morgan Sells Debt: Credit Markets Financial company bonds are beating industrial debt by the most this year after lagging behind in February, encouraging investors to snap up new issues from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Credit Suisse Group AG.

Chubb's CEO Finnegan Says Ability to Compete Hurt by `Troubling' Bailouts Chubb Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Finnegan, who shunned investments in subprime loans, said government bailouts punish the best-run companies and impede the functioning of markets.

Citigroup Names Kept Secret by Treasury Out of Concerns About Harassment The U.S. Treasury Department refused to disclose names of Citigroup Inc. executives who haggled over bailout terms in late 2008 after the bank said they might be harassed like the American International Group Inc. workers pilloried for taking big bonuses.

Latin America

Mexico Central Bank Keeps Overnight Rate at 4.5% as Prices Stay in Check Mexico’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged today as policy makers expect the pace of recovery after the deepest recession in almost 80 years to keep prices in check.

Bank of America Hires Ades, Milne to Bolster Emerging-Market Debt Research Bank of America Corp. hired Alberto Ades as co-head of emerging-market fixed-income research, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

Batista Raises $3.9 Billion Less Than Sought for OSX Initial Share Sale Billionaire Eike Batista is raising $3.9 billion less than he sought for OSX Brasil SA’s initial share offering after trying to lure investors to an oil-services and shipbuilding company with no revenue or profits.

JBS Agrees to Acquire Australia's Rockdale Beef From Mitsubishi, Itoham JBS SA, the world’s biggest beef producer, said it agreed to buy Rockdale Beef in Australia, without disclosing how much it would pay.

Brazil Stocks to Jump 22% This Year Spurred by Earnings, Landers Says Brazilian stocks will gain 22 percent this year, led by consumer and housing companies as the economy grows as much as 6 percent, BlackRock Inc.’s William Landers said.

Reinsurers May Cut Buybacks After Quake Thins Cash Cushion, Moody's Says Reinsurers may report first-quarter losses and curtail share buybacks after paying claims from the earthquake in Chile and European Windstorm Xynthia, Moody’s Investors Service said.

Exclusive

Alcoa Gets Energy Chill From Australia's $130 Billion Natural Gas Boom Australia is attracting more than $130 billion of investment in some of the world’s richest natural gas fields to supply buyers in Japan and China. Domestic customers, including Alcoa Inc., will have to wait.

CDO `Samaritan' Hildene Duels With Fund Goliaths Over Stripping Collateral Hildene Capital Management LLC, the $150 million hedge fund that gained 33 percent last year, is fighting firms 100 times its size to preserve the value of collateralized debt obligations holding bank securities.

Greek Banks' Struggle to Make Profits May Trigger Credit-Rating Cut at S&P Profitability at Greece’s largest banks may be “challenging” in coming years as the country’s economy deteriorates, which may trigger a cut of the lenders’ credit ratings, Standard & Poor’s said.

Enel to Seek Banks This Month to Advise on Green Power IPO, CEO Conti Says Enel SpA plans to seek banks this month to advise on the initial public offering of its renewable energy unit, likely to be Europe’s largest since 2007.

Finland Industry Group Seeks Labor-Law Change as Strike Blocks Sea Trade Finnish stevedores agreed to end a strike that shut ports for more than two weeks and halted 90 percent of the Nordic nation’s foreign trade.

Norway's CEOs Race Inmates in `Dead Hard' Annual Cross Country Ski Event The Birkebeiner, Norway’s annual cross-country ski race, is attracting a record turnout, with chief executive officers and prison inmates lining up among tomorrow’s 16,150 participants.