U.S.

Stocks in U.S. Decline, Breaking Eight-Day Winning Streak for Dow Average 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.

Greenspan Says Regulators `Failed' in Worst Crisis Since Great Depression Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the central bank and other U.S. regulators “failed” during the financial crisis because they became too complacent about risks.

Fed Must Release Bailout Documents Identifying Firms on Brink, Court Rules The Federal Reserve Board must disclose documents identifying financial firms that might have collapsed without the largest U.S. government bailout ever, a federal appeals court said.

Lehman's Accounting Should Be Probed in Wake of Examiner Report, Dodd Says Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s alleged accounting manipulation should be investigated by a U.S. Justice Department task force, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said.

Bank Exemption Aimed at Boosting Home-Mortgage Liquidity Is Ended by Fed The Federal Reserve Board today removed an exemption it had given to six banks at the start of the financial crisis in 2007 aimed at boosting liquidity in financing markets for mortgage- and asset-backed securities.

Icahn Begins Hostile $574.4 Million Bid for Lions Gate After Earlier Snub Carl Icahn began a $574 million hostile offer to buy Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. after the film studio rejected his efforts to increase his stake to as much as 30 percent.

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 and said inflation will stay in line with its forecasts, adding to speculation that policy makers won’t raise borrowing costs this year.

Televisa, Telefonica, Megacable Alliance Seeks Routes Around Slim's Telmex Telefonica SA, Grupo Televisa SA and Megacable Holdings SAB said they will bid together in a Mexican auction for unused fiber-optic lines that will give them new paths to route phone and Internet traffic across the country.

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 strategy, part of an effort to bolster developing-nation research at the biggest U.S. bank by assets.

Argentine Dollar Bonds Headed to a Third Weekly Increase on Debt Swap Bets Argentina’s benchmark dollar bonds are headed to a third weekly gain, the longest winning streak in 2010, on speculation the country is moving closer to restructuring its defaulted securities.

JBS to Buy Australia's Rockdale Beef From Mitsubishi, Itoham; Shares Fell JBS SA, the world’s biggest beef producer, said it agreed to buy Rockdale Beef Pty Ltd. in Australia, without disclosing how much it would pay. Shares slumped the most in six months.

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.

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.”

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.

Milberg's Former Class-Action Kings, Out of Prison, Head for Links, Slopes The four lawyers who ran Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, the firm that got investors $45 billion from securities lawsuits against publicly traded companies, are reacquainting themselves with life on the outside now that they’ve left prison.

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.

Loan Spread Points to Restraints on U.S. Housing Market: Chart of the Day The spread between rates for conforming and so-called jumbo mortgages signals the housing market will be restrained for some time.