Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• NATO Reassuring East Allies Amid No Sign of Russian Pullback. NATO said it will recommit to defending frontline states in eastern Europe that have been unsettled by the seizure of Crimea as the alliance reported no signs of a Russian troop pullback from Ukraine’s borders. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said allied intelligence hasn’t picked up evidence of Russia scaling back its “massive military buildup” and pledged to shore up the alliance’s eastern defenses. “We are now considering all options to enhance our collective defense, including an update and further development of our defense plans, enhanced exercises and also appropriate deployments,” Rasmussen told reporters at a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers in Brussels today. The immediate crisis management focused on the 40,000 Russian troops that the U.S. estimates have taken positions near the Ukrainian border, potentially poised to invade on the pretext of protecting ethnic Russian inhabitants of eastern and southern Ukraine. Rasmussen said “unfortunately” there are no signs of a withdrawal.
• China Xuzhou Zhongsen Missed Bond Coupon Payment, Paper Says. A privately held Chinese building materials company failed to pay interest on high-yield bonds, 21st Century Business Herald reported today. Xuzhou Zhongsen Tonghao New Board Co., based in the eastern province of Jiangsu, missed the 10 percent coupon payment due March 28 on the notes, which it sold 180 million yuan ($29 million) of last year in a private placement, the report said, citing an unidentified person. This would be the first default in China’s private-placement market for high-yield bonds from small- and medium-sized enterprises that was started in 2012, according to Yang Aibin, a general manager at Pengyang Investment Management Co.
• China Burns Speculators as $5.5 Billion Lost on Yuan Bets. China is succeeding in making its currency less predictable. Investors are paying the price. Clients of U.S. commercial banks have lost about $2 billion this year on $332 billion of options betting the yuan would appreciate, while Chinese companies lost $3.5 billion on $150 billion wagered on a benchmark forwards contract, according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. in Washington.
• Japan Corporate Sentiment Gains Seen Short-Lived as Tax Rises. Sentiment among large Japanese manufacturers rose to the highest level since 2007, a gain that may be short-lived as today’s sales-tax increase weighs on consumption and confidence.
• Europe’s Recovery Diverges as Italy Jobless at Record. Europe’s two-speed economy was underscored in data today showing strengthening in the German labor market just as Italy’s jobless rate reached a record. Overall euro-area unemployment was at 11.9 percent in February, lower than the 12 percent median forecast of 32 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. In Italy it rose to 13 percent, while in Germany the locally defined jobless rate for March stayed at the lowest in at least two decades. The divergence between the region’s third-biggest and largest economies highlights the challenge faced by the European Central Bank’s Governing Council as it meets this week to assess the need for stimulus and gauge the risk of deflation at a time when consumer prices are increasing at about a quarter of the pace that officials would like. 
• European Stocks Advance as U.S. Manufacturing Accelerates. European stocks advanced, after the Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined last month, as a report showed manufacturing in the U.S. expanded at a faster pace in March. Alstom SA jumped the most since January 2012 after agreeing to sell a unit to Triton. Metso Oyj soared 19 percent after Weir Group Plc proposed a merger with the Finnish maker of rock crushers. ICAP (IAP) Plc rose 2.6 percent after the world’s largest broker of transactions between banks forecast full-year profit will meet analysts’ estimates, even as sales from its broking unit continued to decline. The Stoxx 600 gained 0.6 percent to 336.35 at the close of trading. 
• WTI Crude Drops a Second Day on U.S. Inventories. WTI for May delivery declined $1.91, or 1.9 percent, to $99.67 a barrel at 2:08 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 8.5 percent below the 100-day average. Prices decreased 1 percent in March.
• Yellen’s Real-Life Examples of Unemployed Omit Criminal Records. In her first speech as Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen told the stories of three people who had trouble finding work to illustrate her concern about the unemployed -- omitting the fact that two had criminal records that might have influenced employers’ decisions on whether to hire them.
• GM(GM) recall woes worsen as CEO Mary Barra set to go before Congress. The news keeps getting worse for General Motors Co. With Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra set to testify this afternoon before the U.S. House, a top auto regulator signaled he would blame GM during the hearings for not providing sufficient information to start an investigation. Barra acknowledged she didn’t know why it took more than a decade to recall 2.6 million vehicles linked to the deaths of 13 people. Meanwhile, GM announced a new recall of 1.5 million vehicles for faulty power steering, doubling recall-related charges to $750 million.

Wall Street Journal:

• Asian Stock Hedge Funds Flat in First Quarter. Hedge funds that bet on stocks in Asia took a bruising in March after some of their favorite trades went awry, leaving them barely in positive territory in 2014 after big gains last year.
• Paul Ryan Unveils GOP Plan to Balance Budget in 10 Years. Budget Blueprint Proposes Changes to Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Other Programs.

CNBC: 

• Sheryl Sandberg slashes Facebook(FB) holdings.  
• Chicago tackles pension problem with tax hike, benefits cut. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel proposed raising property taxes and reducing retirement benefits for some city workers in order to ease a severe pension funding problem, according to details of the plan released by his office on Tuesday.

ZeroHedge:

• Buy-To-Rent Is Officially Dead In California. 
• 12 Largest Banks Sued By Public Retirement Funds For "Conspiring To Rig Global FX Markets".
• Almost One Quarter Of European Youths Are Unemployed. (graph)
• US PMI Drops, Misses By Most In 7 Months, Weather Implicated Again. (graph)
• Worst. Recovery. Ever: Japan Regular Wages Decline For 21 Consecutive Months.
• Saxo Bank CEO: Short The Euro As It's A "Currency Of Mass Destruction".
• Best And Worst Performers In March And Q1: Full "Consensus Crushing" First Quarter Summary. (graph)
• GM(GM) CEO Mary 'Under-The-Bus' Barra's "Why Did It Take So Long?" Congressional Hearing - Live Feed.

Business Insider:

• Tiger Woods Pulls Out Of The Masters After Back Surgery.
• The Current Hangover In China's Stock Market Is Worse Than 1929. (graph)
• Japan Is About To Repeat A Rookie Economic Policy Mistake.

The Real Deal: 

• Manhattan Residential prices shoot through roof. Manhattan condo and co-op prices are finally seeing the impact of chronically low residential inventory and a shift toward über luxury in new development. The average sales price for a Manhattan apartment jumped by a shocking 30.9 percent year over year, according to a quarterly report compiled by appraisal firm Miller Samuel on behalf of brokerage Douglas Elliman. The average price per square foot increased by 23.6 percent year over year, to $1,363 in the first quarter of the year. “This is going to be widely talked about,” said Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller, “and it made me nervous just because there was such ajump.” With pricing reaching historic highs, is there any anxiety in the market that another bubble could be inflating? “There is no fear that I’m sensing among some highly sophisticated individuals to enter the marketplace,” Appel said.

Reuters:

• Ford's(F) Russian venture cuts 700 jobs as economy falters.
• Weather, incentives help lift March U.S. auto sales. U.S. auto sales inched up more than expected in March after two months when weather reduced demand, but the robust sales rebound some expected will have to wait until April, initial reports by major automakers showed on Tuesday. 
• Most major economies end first quarter on weaker note. Manufacturing activity in Asia and Europe finished the first quarter on a weaker note but activity in the United States remained relatively steady, suggesting severe winter weather in North America had only a modest effect on U.S. factories. Factories across Europe eased back on the throttle in March while China's vast manufacturing industry contracted for a third straight month.