Americas

Treasuries Advance, Set for Fifth Weekly Gain, as Stock Slide Boost Demand Treasuries rose, headed for a fifth weekly advance, as a global retreat in stocks over the past month and speculation the economic recession may be prolonged boosted demand for the relative safety of government debt.

CIT Shares, Bonds Tumble on Concern FDIC May Not Guarantee Lender's Debt CIT Group Inc. shares and bonds tumbled on concern that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. won’t give the commercial lender access to its Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.

U.S. Economy on `Cusp of Stabilization' as Economists Lift Growth Forecast The U.S. economy will expand faster than previously forecast in the second half of this year and in 2010 as a revival in consumer spending signals an end to the recession, a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Muni Yields Reach Five-Week Low Amid $3 Billion in Long-Term Debt Sales Municipal bond yields slid to a five-week low as state and local governments sold about $3 billion of long-term, fixed-rate debt, the least since December for a non-holiday shortened week.

Europe

Colombia's Ecopetrol Taps Barclays, JPMorgan to Manage Benchmark Bond Sale Ecopetrol SA, Colombia’s state-run oil company, has tapped Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to manage the sale of dollar bonds, said a person familiar with the transaction.

Derivatives Group Hires Lobbyist Rosen to Dilute Obama Plan After Dispute The derivatives market’s trade group retained Edward Rosen, a lobbyist with law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, to water down the Obama administration’s plan to regulate over-the-counter securities.

California's Budget `Incompetence' Has Community Banks Wrestling Over IOUs California’s government-issued IOUs have put community banks in a no-win situation. Either they add the state’s debt to their balance sheets, or they face the prospect of losing depositors.

Bank of England May Be at `Turning Point' on Emergency Bond-Purchase Plan The Bank of England’s emergency bond-buying program may end next month as Britain’s worst recession in a generation eases, economists say.

Asia

Credit-Default Swaps in `Small Bang' to Meet Regulators' Clearing Demands Credit-default swap traders will agree changes to the way the contracts are settled next week to help meet regulators’ demands for a European clearinghouse for the $26 trillion market.

TUI Running Out of Cash as Shipping Revenue Sinks, SocGen Analysts Say TUI AG, the owner of Europe’s largest travel company, is running out of cash as revenue at its Hapag-Lloyd shipping line slides and a loan to one of its units is unlikely to be paid, Societe Generale SA analysts said.

Germany Is `Closely Monitoring' Dollar-Bond Market, Debt Agency Chief Says Germany is “closely monitoring” the dollar-denominated bond market for a possible sale, the head of the nation’s debt agency said.

Peugeot Gets 1.5 Billion Euros of Two-Year Loans From International Banks PSA Peugeot Citroen, France’s biggest automaker, got 1.5 billion euros ($2.1 billion) of two- year loans from a group of 12 international banks, the Paris- based company said in a statement today.