TOP STORIES 
 
YELLEN VOWS FED VIGILANCE ON LOW INFLATION 

Three "big questions," including the outlook for inflation, will guide Fed officials as they consider whether the economy is finally healthy enough for the central bank to step back from its low-interest rate policies, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said.

 
BANK OF AMERICA REPORTS LOSS 
 

BofA reported a 1Q loss of $276 million, or 5c a share, versus a profit of $1.48 billion a year ago, as it was weighed down by $6 billion in legal charges and by slumping mortgage originations. Revenue fell 2.7% to $22.57 billion. Shares were off 3%.

 
U.S. STOCKS MAINTAIN BROAD GAINS 
 

U.S. stocks gained broadly, as rising hopes of economic stimulus from Asia helped boost investor confidence. The Dow industrials were up about 125 points in recent trading.

 
U.S. HOUSING STARTS CLIMB 2.8% IN MARCH 
 

U.S. housing starts rose 2.8% in March to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 946,000, fueled by growth in single-family homes, but broader trends suggest the market remains in a slump.

 
YAHOO UP AS CONCERNS EASE 
 

Yahoo shares rose 8% after the company's first-quarter report indicated progress with its advertising business and eased concerns about slowing growth at Alibaba, the e-commerce giant in which Yahoo owns a 24% stake.

 
U.S. INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION RISES IN MARCH 
 

Industrial production increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in March from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said. Capacity utilization, a gauge of slack across industries, rose 0.4 percentage point to a 79.2% rate.

 
HUNDREDS MISSING IN KOREAN FERRY DISASTER 
 

South Korean military divers worked into darkness to search for close to 300 people missing after a ferry sank near the country's southwest coast, in what many fear will become one of the nation's worst passenger-ship disasters.

 
COMBAT VEHICLES IN EAST UKRAINE RAISE RUSSIAN FLAG 
 

Militants seized Ukrainian armored military vehicles and paraded them with a Russian flag through the heart of a region seized by pro-Russian separatists, the country's defense ministry said, as evidence grew that the operation to regain control of the east was sputtering.

 
MOELIS SHARES OPEN HIGHER IN TRADING DEBUT 
 

Moelis's shares opened higher in their trading debut at $27, and held the gains in early trading, up 8% from the company's $25 IPO offer price.

 
MT. GOX GIVES UP ON REHABILITATION BID 
 

Defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has given up its plan to rebuild under bankruptcy protection and said it has agreed with a Tokyo court on the first step toward liquidation.

 
OIL SLIPS ON LARGER-THAN-EXPECTED SUPPLY BUILD 
 

Crude-oil prices slid after government data showed the biggest one-week increase in U.S. crude-oil supplies since March 2001, a rise of 10 million barrels.

 
 
 
 
  ======= DOW JONES NEWSWIRES ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARIES ======= 
 
 
Horizons 
THE ECB'S PROBLEM WITH CURRENCY TRADERS 
 

When the head of a powerful central bank warns that its currency is overvalued and threatens action to deal with it, it usually causes waves in financial markets, writes Michael Casey.

 
The Wall Street Journal 
ALIBABA FLEXES MUSCLES AHEAD OF IPO 
 

Alibaba is nearing another giant milestone: a hotly anticipated initial public offering in the U.S. that could raise about $15 billion from investors, just shy of what Facebook sold when the social-networking firm went public in 2012.