Frontrunning: March 13

Tainted Libor Guessing Games Face Replacement by Real Trades (Bloomberg [35]) - so circular, self-reported data is "tainted" - but consumer confidence is great for pumping a stock market?
Japan Sets up $12 Billion Program for Dollar Loans, Increases Growth Fund (Bloomberg [36])
China Hints at Halt to Renminbi Rise (FT [37])
Spain Pressed to Cut More From Its Budget (FT [38])
Bailout can make Greek debt sustainable, but risks remain: EU/IMF (Reuters [39])
Banks to Face Tough Reviews, Details of Mortgage Deal Show (NYT [40])
U.S. and Europe Move on China Minerals (WSJ [41])
Use of Homeless as Internet Hot Spots Backfires on Marketer (NYT [42])
Obama administration seeks to pressure China on exports with new trade case (AP [43])
Show of Confidence in Europe (China Daily [44])
Missile Defenses Offering Israel Calm in Conflict (WSJ [45])
Clinton Calls for Bilateral Aid on Egypt Economy (FT [46])

Overnight Media Report

WSJ

* The U.S., EU and Japan plan to ask the World Trade Organization to press China to ease its stranglehold on rare-earth minerals.

* U.S. commanders had mobilized a search party to hunt for an Army sergeant after he left his post in Afghanistan, but were too late to stop him from allegedly killing 16 civilians.

* Rising appetites for borrowing and investing are fueling a bond market revival, lifting revenue at Wall Street firms that took a beating last year.

* Some energy officials and environmentalists agree that poorly built natural gas wells are to blame for some cases of water contamination -- not fracking.

* The Federal Reserve is fighting a subpoena from lawyers in a civil lawsuit who want Chairman Ben Bernanke to testify about conversations he had in 2008 before Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch to save the securities firm from possible collapse.

* CME Group's Chief Executive Craig Donohue will retire at year's end, in a surprise change at the world's largest futures-exchange operator as it wrestles with fallout from the collapse of brokerage MF Global.

* U.S. and state officials accused five large U.S. banks of overcharging and misleading borrowers in court documents filed Monday as part of the $25 billion settlement of alleged foreclosure abuses.

POTENTIAL BUYERS EYE GAME GROUP

Potential predators are eyeing the assets of Game Group , as the struggling video games retailer fights for survival.

CHINA HINTS AT HALT TO RENMINBI RISE

Chinese central bank officials have suggested the renminbi is no longer significantly undervalued after six years of gradual appreciation, citing the country's large trade deficit in February.

CME GROUP CEO TO RETIRE AT END OF 2012

Craig Donohue is to step down as chief executive of CME Group as the U.S.'s biggest futures exchange attempts to restore confidence in its markets in the wake of the collapse of MF Global.

HSBC TO SCALE BACK ASIAN OPERATIONS

HSBC is set to scale back its Asian operations as it considers the sale or closure of seven Asian retail businesses from Pakistan to New Zealand, where it has decided to no longer focus investment.

FERGUSON STEPS DOWN AS HEAD OF SVG CAPITAL

Nicholas Ferguson, one of the most prominent figures in Europe's private equity industry, will step down at the end of this year as chairman of SVG Capital, after nearly 30 years at the listed fund.

SPAIN PRESSED TO CUT MORE FROM ITS BUDGET

Euro zone finance ministers called on Spain to make new cuts in its 2012 budget to reduce its deficit by another 0.5 percent of economic output, a stinging rebuke to the new government of premier Mariano Rajoy, which publicly flaunted Brussels-imposed deficit targets less than two weeks ago.

WOMEN ON BOARD TO PASS 25 PERCENT TARGET BY 2015

Women are joining FTSE 100 boards at such a fast rate that they are likely to exceed the target of 25 percent female directors by 2015, an official report will predict on Tuesday.

COST FEARS CAUSE MOD TO RETHINK FIGHTER JETS

British ministers are considering another U-turn in the long-running debate over which model of the F35 Joint Strike Fighter the UK should buy, threatening further disruption to a project which has been dogged by indecision and cost escalation.

WHISTLE BLOWERS DRAWN BY REGULATOR PAYOUTS

Company informants tempted by the prospect of multimillion dollar payouts are rushing to U.S. regulators with audio recordings and internal documents to take advantage of a new programme that can make whistleblowing on wrongdoing lucrative , lawyers and regulators say.

ORIEL SECURITIES LAYS OFF 10 PERCENT OF WORKFORCE

Oriel Securities, one of the few stockbrokers confident enough to expand aggressively in the past year, has laid off more than a tenth of its staff, in the latest sign of the tough conditions for London's independent brokers.

NYT

* On Tuesday, the United States, the European Union and Japan plan to file a case against China over its restrictions on exports of rare earth metals.

* The thousands of MF Global Holdings Ltd customers whose lives and businesses were derailed after $1.6 billion vanished in the collapse of the brokerage firm have now received offers to sell their claims and recoup nearly the entire shortfall, people involved in the negotiations said.

* Some companies contend that federal loans for developing fuel-efficient cars have dried up because of a political firestorm that followed the bankruptcy last year of the solar panel company Solyndra.

* Banks will face stiff penalties and intense public scrutiny if they fail to live up to the standards of a $25 billion mortgage settlement with state and federal authorities, according to court documents filed as part of the deal Monday in federal court in Washington.

The details of the agreement include how much credit the five mortgage servicers will receive for varying levels of loan forgiveness.

* India's government on Monday authorized a drug manufacturer to make and sell a generic copy of a patented Bayer cancer drug, saying that Bayer charged a price that was unaffordable to most of the nation.

The decision requires Bayer to license the drug Nexavar to Natco Pharma, which must pay Bayer a royalty on its sales but will sell the drug for about 3 percent of Bayer's price.

* The World Trade Organization affirmed that Boeing received $5 billion in improper subsidies, giving it an unfair advantage over Airbus, but both sides were claiming victory in the decision.

* Yahoo Inc stepped up its feud with Facebook Inc on Monday, suing the social-networking giant and accusing it of infringing on 10 patents tied to an array of Web technologies.

* Felix Investments and SharesPost are expected to face the first legal actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission since it started its investigation into the trading of shares in privately held companies.

* As China seeks a soft landing for its bubble-prone economy, senior economic officials said on Monday that they might encourage bank lending, while also hinting that the country's currency might not appreciate as rapidly as it has in recent years -- a contentious issue in the United States presidential election this year.

* The changes at PepsiCo Inc laid out at a potential line of succession to Indra Nooyi and were aimed at addressing investor concerns over its stock price.

Canadian Press