Barclays PLC (BCS) is to water down

Barclays PLC (BCS) is to water down the pension benefits of 17,000
long-serving employees, U.K. newspaper the Times reported on its Web site
Wednesday, citing a letter to staff from Chief Executive John Varley. The CEO
said he had reluctantly concluded it was "untenable" to let the existing
pension arrangements continue. The bank plans to close its final salary pension
fund, which has been closed to new members since 1997, to current members and
offer them benefits in a cash-balance scheme. The final salary setup had a
GBP2.2 billion shortfall in September 2008 and this has since worsened.
Barclays said pension benefits for past service were safe, and only future
accruals would be affected. Unite, the trade union representing some Barclays
staff, said employees would be angry.

USD/HKD likely to stay

USD/HKD likely to stay close to lower limit of trading band this week on continued capital inflows, says trader at Chinese bank. Pair last at 7.7500 vs 7.7501 yesterday. "The fall of the U.S. dollar against major currencies overnight after comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner fuels market uncertainties about the U.S. dollar's status and prompts investors to shift funds into the Hong Kong dollar"; adds more interventions by HKMA likely today. Notes HKMA intervened in FX market again during Asia and NY trade Wednesday by selling total of HK$12.01 billion. Tips pair in 7.7500-7.7505 in near term.

Correct: Treasury's five-year note came in at a yield of 1.849%, compared with the 1.798% on the when-issued paper just before the auction. The bid-to-cover ratio is 2.02, compared with 2.21 for the previous auction in February and the average of 2.18 from the past 10 auctions. (Item timed 1:02 p.m. stated the coupon, not the 5-yr yield)

Broad standards for compensation

Broad standards for compensation practices would help improve systemic stability, Treasury's Geithner tells House committee. "I do think it's appropriate for the country to put in place strong standards to govern compensation pratice across the financial community as a whole, because as we've seen those can have systemic consequences creating a more fragile and unstable system," Geithner says in response to question. "It's a difficult balance. The government should not be proscribing detailed regulations to govern amounts of compensation and their distribution," he says. However, "we have to hold to broad standards and again make sure that we're not encouraging short term risk taking at the expense of long term stability," Geithner says.

Supermarket sales

Supermarket sales plunged 5.4% year on year to Y952.6 billion in February, the third straight month of decline and the first time in 18 years that the figure fell below Y1 trillion, the Nikkei reported Monday, citing the Japan Chain Stores Association.

OPEC decided to leave output unchanged

Contributing to the feel good factor that prevails early Monday, helping the euro higher,  is the sharp drop in crude oil prices after OPEC decided to leave output unchanged, rather introduce fresh cuts. Crude fell $2 a barrel as the cartel said it would adhere to previous production levels more strictly instead. "The outcome was relatively good news for oil consumers and highlights a less aggressive shift in the aim of getting prices back up to the $70-$80 range desired by many OPEC members," says Calyon.

Though things appear to be getting better

Though things appear to be getting better across the markets, one portfolio manager says he isn't going to fall victim to the same trick twice. "It's shocking to me that we have a massive equity rally because Citi and BofA say things are better.  Remember pre-Lehman bankruptcy when all the CEOs said the crisis was mostly done? HOW can people believe these guys?"