Thursday morning links

TOP STORIES
• Banks Holding Up in Tests, but May Still Need Aid - NY Times
• Bank of England keeps interest rates at 0.5pc - Telegraph
• How Bernanke Staged a Revolution - Wash. Post
• CA Foreclosures About to Soar - Field Check Group
• RBS cuts 9,000 jobs - days after boss denies staff are at risk - Guardian
• Short sellers unjustly Wall Street's whipping boy - LA Times
• Energy-spending cutbacks spark price-spike talk - MarketWatch
• Pentagon preps for economic warfare - Politico

MARKETS/INVESTING
• Gold edges up as dollar weakens - Reuters
• Oil above $51 on signs of higher US consumption - AP
• State, feds offer more help for the jobless - SF Gate
• Bears, bulls and the hazards of gurudom - Globe & Mail
• SEC OKs effort to limit short sales - MarketWatch
• Gold mine output in 2008 lowest in 12 years - Commodity Online

ECONOMY
• Trade Deficit Plunges to Nine-Year Low as Imports Slump - Bloomberg
• Initial jobless claims dip; continuing claims hit new record - MarketWatch
• Apartment rents fall in Southern California - LA Times
• The Lost Decade May Only Last Three Months - Time
• Student debt and defaults surge - CSM

INTERNATIONAL
• BOE holds at 0.5% as quantitative easing continues - Guardian
• EU warns China over increasing steel exports - Telegraph
• Japan Drafts $154.4 Billion Stimulus - NY Times
• China March Car Sales Rise 10% on Stimulus, Tax Cuts - Bloomberg
• Canada's jobless rate hits seven-year high - Globe & Mail
• ING to Sell as Much as $10.6B in Assets - Bloomberg
• Boom to bust to blip - Globe & Mail
• Germany launches Hypo Real Estate takeover bid - AP

HOUSING
• Can This Man Fix The Housing Market? - Forbes
• Banks aren't reselling many foreclosed homes - SF Gate
• The Case for Buying a Home Right Now - MarketWatch
• 1819: America's First Housing Bubble - Mises

FED/TREASURY/BANKING
• Treasury Weighs Investment in Life Insurers - Wash. Post
• U.S. Imagines the Bailout as an Investment Tool - NY Times
• Worsening economy forced FOMC's hand: minutes - MarketWatch
• Government crackdown on mortgage-help scams - SF Gate

INTERESTING
• Fox to make reality TV show out of company layoffs - AP
• US finance pundit Cramer a 'buffoon' says leading economist - Guardian
• Colorado investment manager accused in Ponzi case - USA Today

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