U.S.

Yellen Said to Be Obama Pick for Fed Vice Chairman to Replace Donald Kohn Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Janet Yellen is President Barack Obama’s pick for vice chairman of the central bank in Washington, two people with knowledge of the selection process said.

Retail Sales Probably Declined in U.S. as Blizzards Kept Shoppers at Home Sales at U.S. retailers probably fell in February as blizzards kept Americans away from auto dealers and limited traffic at malls, economists said before a report today.

JPMorgan, Citigroup Helped Cause Lehman Illiquidity, Examiner Report Says JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. helped cause the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. by demanding more collateral and changing guarantee agreements, according to a court-ordered report on the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

WTC Captive Reaches Settlement of 9/11 Claims by Rescue, Recovery Workers WTC Captive Insurance Co., a victims’ fund set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, reached a settlement of as much as $657 million with 10,000 workers claiming respiratory illness stemming from rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site.

Pandit Says He `Wouldn't Be `Surprised' If Treasury Weighing Sale of Stake Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said the U.S. Treasury Department will be free to sell its 27 percent stake in the bank starting next week and that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the government were considering a sale.

Retail Buyouts Return in `Goldilocks' Market After Credit Freeze Thawed Private-equity firms looking to buy retail and consumer companies said they’re now able to finance deals and pay reasonable prices after the credit crisis and global recession triggered a buyout slump.

Latin America

Batista Closes Gap on Slim, Gates as OSX Sale Bolsters `Richest Man' Dream Eike Batista’s plan to raise $5.6 billion in the biggest initial public offering this year moves him one step closer to fulfilling his ambition of being the world’s richest man.

Pimco Says Chile Peso Not `One-Sided Bet' Investors See After Earthquake Chile’s peso will begin weakening late this year as the country’s worst earthquake in 50 years slows economic growth and record-low interest rates sap demand for fixed-income assets, Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Guillermo Osses said.

Gol Posts $225.5 Million Profit as Travel Demand Rises on Economic Growth Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, Brazil’s second-biggest airline, posted a fourth-quarter profit after a loss in the same period a year before helped by one-time gains and an economic rebound.

BHP, Anglo, Xstrata Bypass Europe on 10,000-Mile Coal Route to China Ports BHP Billiton Plc, Anglo American Plc and Xstrata Plc are shipping coal 10,000 miles to China from their Cerrejon mine in Colombia for the first time this year because of surging demand and rising prices in Asia.

Asia Stocks More Attractive Than Brazil's as Real Gains, CLSA's Wood Says Asian stocks are more attractive than those in Brazil amid a “pause” in the emerging-markets rally, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets said.

Venezuela Bolivar May Sink as Low as 9 Per Dollar This Year, Barclays Says Venezuela’s bolivar may fall as low as 9 per dollar in the “worst scenario” as the government refrains from selling U.S. currency in the unregulated market to preserve foreign reserves, Barclays Plc said.

Exclusive

Chavez Outdone by Billionaire Mendoza as Wealth Soars Amid Takeover Threat Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s “21st Century Socialism” is failing to rein in billionaire Lorenzo Mendoza.

Brown Tries to `Perversely' Benefit From U.K. Relapse Risk Before Election Gordon Brown is trying to turn the threat of a double-dip U.K. recession into an advantage.

Solar Prospectors Chase `Gold Mine' Deals in Chinese, Israeli Subsidies Olivier de Vergnies quit managing family fortunes at Dexia Private Bank (Switzerland) Ltd. in 2008 to run a New York start-up at 100 Wall St. that’s trying to tap riches in solar energy.

Chrysler in Hibernation Means Marchionne May Have to Wait on Fiat Spinoff Fiat SpA, the Italian carmaker that helped Chrysler Group LLC emerge from bankruptcy, may wait to turn around the U.S. business before deciding on a share sale or spinoff for its automotive division.

Red-Coral Rescue Plans Endanger Italian Jewelry Makers of Torre del Greco The people of Torre del Greco, 10 miles south of Naples, have lived off the red corals found in the Mediterranean Sea for more than two millennia. A proposal to list the species as endangered may push the seaside town’s $217 million-a-year coral industry into extinction.

Triple Whammy of Costs, Taxes, Inflation Sinks Stock Returns: Chart of Day U.S. stock investors made far less in the past half century than the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index’s performance would suggest, according to David Bianco, chief U.S. equity strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.