Wednesday morning links

TOP STORIES
• Obama: Bankruptcy Best Option for GM, Chrysler - Bloomberg
• IMF sees world economy shrinking up to 1 percent in 2009 - Reuters
• California Needs New $11B Loan as Deficit Emerges - Bloomberg
• Japan's latest stimulus fails to impress - MarketWatch
• World must 'pick up the pace' on crisis: Obama - AFP
• Stimulus Thinking, and Nuance - NY Times
• Hancock Tower Sells at About Half Price to Normandy - Blooomberg
• Asian Data Shows Severity of Slump - NY Times

MARKETS/INVESTING
• Oil falls to near $48 amid gloomy data - AP
• Gold firms, traders look to G20 for direction - Reuters
• Treasuries Little Changed Before Fed’s Fourth Debt Purchase - Bloomberg
• SLV exceeds its silver storage capacity: Got Gold Report - Stockhouse
• Is this a sustainable bull market? - MarketWatch
• A Pitched Battle for Turf Between the Bears and the Bulls - NY Times

ECONOMY
• U.S. private sector axes 742,000 jobs in March - AP
• All 50 states in recession for first time since 1970s - MarketWatch
• NBER: Household and NFP Differences Are Cyclical - The Big Picture
• Philly Fed State Indexes: We're all Red States now! - Calculated Risk
• Consumers slightly more confident - CNN/Money

INTERNATIONAL
• Japan's tankan index dives to record low - MarketWatch
• G-20 protesters break into Royal Bank of Scotland - AP
• China's manufacturing down in March but off lows - MarketWatch
• G20: Barack Obama and Gordon Brown paper the cracks - Guardian
• Sarkozy Says G-20 Agreement on Economy Not ‘Secured’ - Bloomberg
• Asia is the victim if the bond bubble bursts - Financial Times
• India’s Exports Decline the Most in at Least 13 Years - Bloomberg
• Foreign central banks aren’t going to finance much of the US deficit - Setser, CFR

HOUSING
• When home prices hit bottom - CNN/Money
• Housing market still 6th-most distressed - San Diego Union Tribune
• Six reasons to tap retirement funds to buy rental property - MarketWatch
• Record tumble for home prices - Christian Science Monitor

FED/TREASURY/BANKING
• Hitler’s Specter Inspires Bill White to Battle With Greenspan - Bloomberg
• Will The Real Geithner Plan Please Stand Up? - Baseline Scenario
• Avoid regulatory 'quick fix,' Fed's Plosser says - MarketWatch
• Alan Greenspan: “I screwed up!” - Models & Agents

INTERESTING
• Boats Too Costly to Keep Are Littering Coastlines - NY Times
• French take hostages, street riot over job cuts - NY Post
• More brazen than Madoff? - CNN/Money

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