- Fed’s Yellen: Stock Valuations ‘Generally Are Quite High’ (WSJ [21])
- Britain's dead-heat election 'down to the wire' on polling day (Reuters [22])
- European Markets Roiled by U.S. Fed Chief Janet Yellen’s Comments (WSJ [23])
- Stocks Drop With German Bonds to Extend $2 Trillion Global Loss (BBG [24])
- Oil heads toward 2015 highs despite ample supply (Reuters [25])
- Wary of bond 'cliff,' Fed plans cautious cuts to portfolio (Reuters [26])
- Saudi Arabia mulling land operations on Yemen border (Reuters [27])
- Buffett Climbs From Derivative Hole That Swallowed Berkshire AAA (BBG [28])
- NFL says Patriots probably deflated the balls in AFC title game (Reuters [29])
- The End of Mark Mobius’s Reign as King of Emerging-Market Stocks (BBG [30])
- College Majors Figure Big in Earnings (WSJ [31])
- Bond Dealers Face Brain Drain in London as Analysts Go to Funds (BBG [32])
- This Is What Happens When Bill Gross Ignores Bill Gross (BBG [33])
Overnight Media Digest
WSJ
* Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen weighed in on a growing debate among investors and market economists, suggesting the yearslong stock rally may have driven prices too high and raising concerns that debt-market investors are taking excessive risks. (on.wsj.com/1ERpWBV)
* The U.S. Treasury Department said it plans to increase the supply of short-term debt, in a bid to ease investors' concerns about difficulty trading in global bond markets. (on.wsj.com/1IioYCT)
* Four big banks are expected to plead guilty to rigging foreign-currency exchange rates and pay billions in combined penalties as part of settlement agreements expected to be announced as early as next week, according to people familiar with the matter. (on.wsj.com/1coC8AS)
* Bill Gross's fledgling bond fund at Janus Capital Group Inc suffered large losses over the past week, undercutting a nascent comeback for the famed money manager who has yet to attract investors en masse at his new firm. (on.wsj.com/1ReSzzs)
* Cablevision Systems Corp Chief Executive James Dolan said he wants to consolidate the New York cable and broadband market, a proposal that would add a new dimension to the rampant talk of deals in the wake of Comcast Corp's failed purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc. (on.wsj.com/1IitvU6)
* Al Jazeera installed a new chief executive for its American news channel, Al Jazeera America, as it battles through business woes and internal controversies that have led some senior executives to leave in recent days. (on.wsj.com/1EbbZwc)
FT
France-based tyre manufacturer Michelin has bought Blackcircles.com , a small Scottish online tyre company, for 50 million pounds ($76.22 million).
Chairman of Standard Chartered Plc has said the bank will stop its role as a financial adviser on a big coal mine located in Australia until it can ascertain claims that the project will threaten the Great Barrier Reef.
Investors in BHP Billiton Plc have voted in favour of splitting the Anglo-Australian company into two by spinning off a new metals producer. The move, one of the most significant restructurings in the sector, is in response to a less profitable period for the industry and is in line with the company's effort to divest unwanted assets
NYT
* A majority of the members of the European Central Bank's influential Governing Council are increasingly uncomfortable with the central bank's growing financial exposure to Greece, according to people with knowledge of the group's discussions. Members worry that the council has already stretched rules to extend additional help to the banks, whose financial health has been in serious decline because of Greece's deep economic downturn. (nyti.ms/1dNNz5E)
* Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc would pay about $8.4 billion to buy Synageva BioPharma, another company specializing in rare diseases with one drug expected to come to market this year. (nyti.ms/1IikxWT)
* European officials on Wednesday opened an antitrust investigation into whether large technology companies were impeding competition in online shopping, the latest in a string of inquiries in Europe focused on the web's biggest players. (nyti.ms/1IQ1HqG)
* Johnson & Johnson has appointed a nationally known bioethicist to create a panel that will make decisions about patients' requests for lifesaving medicine, responding to an emotional debate over whether companies should allow desperately ill people to have access to the drugs before they are approved. (nyti.ms/1KNtw21)
* In a bright spot in a largely bleak Russian economy, domestic cheese makers are meeting demand for varieties once imported from Europe. (nyti.ms/1zDx6dR)
Hong Kong
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
-- Security jitters sparked by one of Hong Kong's highest-profile kidnap investigations have seen a rush for private security services by the city's rich and famous. A former top anti-terrorism officer in the Hong Kong police who now operates in the private sector said there has been increased demand for bodyguards. (http://bit.ly/1zNxjLW [34])
-- Analysts and industry players echoed concerns raised by Legislative Councillor Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong that the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) has not fully performed its mission of growing companies that list there. Leung said many company owners had already planned to resell their firms for profit when they applied to list their companies on GEM. (http://bit.ly/1IhZXHQ [35])
-- Beijing says it will cut "unnecessary" tax hurdles to support emerging industries such as e-commerce. The tax relief is aimed at easing the burden on innovative and start-up firms, which have been earmarked by Premier Li Keqiang as playing a key role in speeding up industrial upgrading, but face challenges to survive as the economy expands at its slowest pace in six years. (http://bit.ly/1Res7WR [36])
THE STANDARD
-- Less than a fifth of young adults in Hong Kong save regularly, a survey by insurer Sun Life Hong Kong found. They save an average 20 percent of their personal income, or roughly HK$3,800 ($490.22) each month. Almost three-quarters saved irregularly, while 9 percent did not have any savings. (c)
-- Hongkongers consume 800 million dim sum dishes a year served from bamboo steamers, enough to wrap the earth three times over, according to a survey by Internet-based HealthyD, which said calorie counts are a major danger and warned people to go easy on the tasty but surprisingly fattening cuisine. (http://bit.ly/1EYxe8n [37])
-- The price tag for the cross-border express railway, Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, will go up by HK$18 billion to HK$90 billion because of a two-year delay in the project, said Legislative Council transport panel chairman Michael Tien. (http://bit.ly/1ER8kGn [38])
HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES
-- Tycoon Guo Taiming-controlled Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd has bought 88 percent of Hong Kong-listed electronic components maker Daiwa Associate Holdings Ltd for HK$440 million ($56.76 million), according to a disclosure from the Hong Kong bourse.
MING PAO DAILY
-- HSBC said it downgraded Wharf after its Harbour City and Times Square shopping malls posted a 16.7 percent and 12 percent fall respectively in March retail sales, much worse than Hong Kong's 2.9 percent decline in the same month.
Britain
The Times
GLAXOSMITHKLINE CHIEF BETS ALL ON RADICAL SHAKE-UP
Sir Andrew Witty set out plans yesterday to reshape GlaxoSmithKline in the last throw of the dice for the chief executive of Britain's biggest pharmaceuticals company. (thetim.es/1coou0C)
STANCHART MAY QUIT BRITAIN OVER LEVY
Standard Chartered is "listening carefully" to its shareholders over whether it should leave Britain, but the bank has not followed HSBC, its larger rival, in starting a formal review of its home base. (thetim.es/1Kjkau0)
The Guardian
UK NIGHT-TIME ECONOMY GETS ITS OWN INDUSTRY GROUP
The economy has dominated much of the general election campaign and the parties' manifestos brim over with proposals for encouraging growth, increasing employment and regenerating Britain's cities. (bit.ly/1AGaHYM)
STANDARD CHARTERED VOWS TO REVIEW ROLE IN AUSTRALIAN COAL MINE PROJECT
The chairman of Standard Chartered has said the bank will review its involvement in a controversial Australian coal mine that critics say threatens the Great Barrier Reef and will blow a hole in the global carbon budget. (bit.ly/1EYkPkT)
The Telegraph
BANK OF ENGLAND REVEALS UK DEBT DATA HAVE BEEN WRONG FOR TWO MONTHS
The Bank of England has admitted its data on UK debt sales have been wrong for the past two months. (bit.ly/1c7zpuY)
TAX HIKES WON'T FIX BRITAIN'S ECONOMIC MESS, WARN MPC FOUNDERS
Raising taxes to plug Britain's deficit will not work, two founder members of the Bank of England's panel that sets interest rates have warned. (bit.ly/1H09D6B)
Sky News
EX-TORY LEADER HOWARD HOLDS QUINDELL TALKS
Lord Howard, the former Conservative Party leader, is in talks to join the board of Quindell, one of the London stock market's most controversial companies. (bit.ly/1zNpp5n)
TESCO RAIDS B&Q OWNER FOR UK FINANCE CHIEF
Tesco has turned to the owner of B&Q to identify a finance chief for its home market as it rebuilds after the trading scandal which was partly responsible for one of the biggest ever losses in UK corporate history. (bit.ly/1EgiLQu)
The Independent
FLASH CRASH TRADER NAVINDER SINGH SARAO FAILS TO POST £5M BAIL
Navinder Singh Sarao, the London trader blamed for the 2010 Flash Crash, will remain in custody after failing to meet a 5 million pounds ($7.62 million) bail. (ind.pn/1ER0AUU)
MADAME TUSSAUDS SITE 'SOLD' TO TAIWANESE INSURER
The home of Madame Tussauds, one of London's most popular tourist attractions, is under offer from a Taiwanese investor. (ind.pn/1H2akz4)
