The Wall Street Journal writes that major auto companies including Ford (F) and GM (GM) had a huge sales slump in March.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Intel (INTC) is making progress providing chips for mobile devices.

The Wall Street Journal reports that an airline association downgraded it forecasts for industry profitability in 2008.

The New York Times writes that a bi-partisan bid to help mortgage holder is gaining momentum.

The New York Times writes that the Shanghai market has dropped 45% since October.

The FT writes that the market rally could be partially due to short-sellers retreating from the market.

Money raised by Lehman and UBS (UBS) may signal an end to the rout in the equities market

Asian Market recap- The Nikkei was up 4.2% to 13,189. The Hang Seng rose 3.6% to 23,595. China Life (LFC) rose 5.2% to 26.6. China Mobile (CHL) rose 4.2% to 122.6. China Petroleum (SNP) rose 5.5% to 7.26. The Shanghai Composite rose .6% to 3,448.

Senate sets urgent push for housing compromise. Reuters.
IMO this is big news and could light the market on fire led by a larger short covering in financials. We loved and traded FNM and FRE the past couple days. Do not overlook this news if you have short positions this behind the scenes news is IMO partly the reason we were up 400 points yesterday. Too many bears, too many people and hedge funds leaning short. I talked about the removal of the uptick rule last year and only now is it starting to gain airtime (no one really cared last year but I was all over it on the board). The removal of the uptick rule gives shorts an upperhand not doubt about it. The mechanics of the fluidity of money into issues have been changed due to this change. One of the people that helped institute the uptick rule was JFK’s father who was a big trader himself in his day and was given the power at the SEC to level the playing field after the Crash of 1929, partly caused by “Bear Raids”. They knew about these Bear Raids and many other tricks of the trade that hurt investors and this was one of them.

The ADP Employment Change showed that the economy added 8,000 jobs in the private sector in March; analysts had been looking for a loss of -45,000 jobs. This unexpected number caused the futures to jump. If they hold, it will cause the markets to open higher.

URBN target raised to $40 from $34@NEED
Needham raised their target after previewing Leifsdottir, URBN?s newest wholesale brand. They believe the company continues to perform well in a difficult environment and reiterate a Strong Buy rating.

Fed Chrmn Bernanke before Joint Economic Committee 9:30am on Economy 4/2.

Biotech: Prefer GILD and CELG over BIIB and DNA@LEHM
Lehman prefers GILD and CELG over BIIB and DNA due to recent IMS prescription data.

AAPL: iPhone stock outages likely due to a production shortfall@BERN
Bernstein believes iPhone stock shortages at US Apple Stores and US Apple online store is likely due to production shortfall and not due to the imminent launch of a 3G phone or price cut. The firm said the inventory shortfall could be due to a components shortage but said the impact to the March quarter will be limited. Shares are Market Perform rated.

MON reports Q2 EPS $1.79 vs. consensus of $1.72. Reports Q2 revenue $3.8B vs.