U.S.

U.S. Budget Gap Rises to Record $221 Billion on Spending to Revive Economy The U.S. budget deficit widened to a record in February as the government boosted spending to help revive the economy.

Stocks in U.S. Trim Advance as Telephone, Consumer-Staples Shares Decline U.S. stocks trimmed gains in the final hour of trading, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower, as a rally in banks slowed and telephone and consumer- staples companies extended losses.

Citigroup Cuts Yield on $2 Billion TruPS Offering to 8.5%: Credit Markets Citigroup Inc., seeking capital after repaying bailout funds to the Treasury, is selling trust preferred securities as rising investor demand drives borrowing costs to near the lowest in almost five years.

Goldman Tells Grassley It Gets Third of Muni Fees From Build America Bonds Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the bank that got $10 billion in taxpayer bailout money, has made $55.7 million on the sale of $36.4 billion of Build America Bonds, about a third of the fees it earned from municipal business, it said in response to queries from Iowa Senator Charles Grassley.

Wal-Mart Brings Back 300 Items to U.S. Stores After Losing Shopper Traffic Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, returned about 300 items to its U.S. stores after their removal last year hurt shopper traffic.

Hedge-Fund Losses Show Drop in Euro Fails to Benefit All Currency Traders Hedge funds that trade currencies are taking hits from politicians casting them as speculators out to sink the euro and push Greece into insolvency. They are also losing money.

Latin America

Petrobras, Repsol, BG Find More Oil Near 2 Billion-Barrel Brazil Discovery Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Repsol YPF SA and BG Group Plc found more evidence of oil in the same offshore Brazilian block where the companies’ Guara field holds as much as 2 billion barrels of crude.

America Movil Proposes One-Time Dividend, Larger Stock-Buyback Program America Movil SAB plans to pay a one-time dividend and buy back more of its stock, rewarding investors as the Latin American wireless carrier pursues the region’s largest acquisition this year.

Odds of Brazilian Rate Increase Decline If Meirelles Resigns, Volpon Says Brazilian central bank President Henrique Meirelles is unlikely to raise the benchmark interest rate this month if he leaves his post to seek a vice presidential nomination, according to Tony Volpon, a Latin America strategist at Nomura Holdings Inc.

Argentine Senate Set to Oust Central Bank's Marco del Pont Over Transfers Argentina’s Senate tomorrow will reject Mercedes Marco del Pont’s appointment as president of the central bank after she transferred $6.6 billion of reserves to the Treasury, said opposition Senator Gerardo Morales.

Vale's ADRs Cut to `Neutral' From `Buy' at UBS on `Disappointing' Results Vale SA’s American depositary receipts were cut to “neutral” from “buy” at UBS AG, which cut its valuation for the iron-ore producer to $32.70 from $34.38 after “disappointing” fourth-quarter results.

Empresas ICA Rises to Five-Week High on Lower Tax Bill, Earnings Revision Empresas ICA SAB, Mexico’s largest construction company, rose to a five-week high in Mexico City trading after cutting an estimate for future payments under a new tax law and revising up its fourth-quarter earnings.

Exclusive

Obama Proving Pessimists Wrong as Rebounding Economy Converges With Stocks The political consensus may be that President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy has been weak. The judgment of money in all its forms has been overwhelmingly positive, and that may be the more lasting appraisal.

Buyout Firms Struggle to Spend $503 Billion of Investor Cash as Deals Wane Buyout funds sitting on half a trillion dollars committed by investors may need more than a decade to put the money to work if mergers and acquisitions continue at the current pace.

Monsanto 7-State Probe Threatens Profit From 93% Hold on U.S. Soybean Crop At least seven U.S. state attorneys general are investigating whether Monsanto Co., the world’s largest seed producer, has abused its market power to lock out competitors and raise prices.

AIG's `Money in the Door' Asset Sales Garner $3.2 Billion for Bondholders American International Group Inc. bondholders reaped at least $3.2 billion after the bailed-out company announced deals to sell its two largest non-U.S. life insurance divisions for $51 billion.

Pink Floyd, Queen May Leave EMI as Guy Hands's Buyout Mission `Implodes' Pink Floyd and Queen, bands that have been with EMI Music for about four decades, may head for the door, according to two people familiar with their talks, as concern mounts about the U.K. record label’s finances.

Smartphones Eclipse PCs by 2012 as IPhone, Android Take Off: Chart of Day Demand for Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Google Inc.’s Nexus One will help propel smartphone sales past those of personal computers in two years, Gartner Inc. forecasts.