Monday Newsline:Ukraine Crimps Markets;MH-370 Changes;The Masters

US stock futures were down early Monday on the deteriorating situation in Eastern Ukraine.At the same time,the price of the safe haven gold as well as oil were rising as this crisis in Eastern Europe seems to be careening off a cliff,and a contentious emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the matter provided little basis for optimism.
Asian stocks were also chagrined by Ukraine's violent unrest,and by how the rising yen is weighing on Japanese shares.The MSCI Asia-Pacific index was virtually flat,up just 0.02%.*
London home prices have hit a record high as the supply of homes dwindles.London job vacancies in the financial sector rose 10% in March.*
The Chinese company Minmetals Group is buying a Glencore copper project in Peru for 5.85 billion dollars.A survey shows China's Q1 GDP was up 7.3% on the year.*
Retired Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston,head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre,held a news conference in Perth,Australia to sum up where we are in the hunt for the lost flight MH-370 on day 38 of the search,which is eight days beyond the guaranteed battery life of the airliner's flight data recorder.The experts have determined that the Ocean Shield will cease attempting the detection of further signals from the missing plane's black boxes later today,and will start missions with the Blue Fin 21 autonomous underwater vehicle,which generates a 3D,high resolution map of the ocean floor.The first of the 24 hour missions will cover 40 square kilometers with the vehicle's sidescan sonar.Use of this vehicle may not result in detection of the aircraft's wreckage.
Also,the Ocean Shield detected an oil slick 5500 meters downwind of the site of the underwater search.Two litres of the oil has been collected.It will be a number of days before it can be returned and definitively identified.
The chance of recovering any floating material has greatly diminished,and it will be necessary to consult with our partners to determine the way ahead.The air and surface search will be concluded in the next two days.
It looks like the Blue Fin 21 is more than adequate to the task.It's reallly up to the people on the spot to determine where we go next.We start with the four locations,and then we go outward from there.It's really important to give flexibility to the people who are doing the search.They're the experts.The first mission will be a quite intensive search.I would not term it as a long shot,but as a promising lead that needs to be investigated.That's how it's done,believe me.That's the business of search and recovery,search and rescue.
This area we're in is under the seventh aircraft ping detected by Inmarsat.This is an area that is unknown to man.It's almost flat and rolling,with a lot of silt on the bottom.The layers of silt can complicate the search.We're actually gathering information on the search environment all the time,and that goes into the calculation of where to go next
The oil slick is very close to where the transmissions are coming from.We don't think its from the ships,so it's something that must be investigated.It can't be tested at sea.
The Air France wreckage of five years ago was at 3,000 meters;we're talking about 4,500 meters.Don't be over-optimistic;be realistic,ACM Houston advised.*
American Bubba Watson,35,donned his second green jacket in three years as winner of The Masters major golf tournament in Augusta,Georgia.His compatriot Jordan Spieth,20,and Sweden's Jonas Blixt,29,tied for second,and Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain,54,the oldest man in the field,finished fourth.

Asian Shares Higher;Tony Abbott;Malaysian Grand Prix

Asian markets ended the first quarter confidently Monday,with the MSCI Asia-Pacific index up 0.50%.Markets were encouraged by China Construction Bank's better than expected performance on wider lending margins,and consumer shares were strongest.The Nikkei average was up even though Japan's sales tax goes up for the first time in 17 years to 8.0% on Tuesday,and US stock futures followed the positive trend.*
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited RAAF Pearce in Perth Monday morning to thank the multinational troops searching for the lost flight MH-370 and address the media.It's been tremendous to see all of the cooperation here,Mr.Abbott said.It's really heartening,and it demostrates the nations of this area can come together for the betterment of humanity.
This is an extraordinarily difficult exercise and we are working on extremely limited information.The best minds and all of the technological mastery that we have is being brought to bear here.If this mystery is solvable,we will solve it.I'm certainly not putting a time limit on it.We owe it to everyone to do whatever we reasonably can.The intensity of our search and the magnitude of our operations in increasing,not decreasing.
We're working on the best available intelligence and the best available leads.We're as good as anyone in the world at it.I think morale is high.They're tired,sure;but this is what they're trained for;this is what they live for.I am getting several updates a day on this.My office is at least in hourly contact with those who are responsible for the search.
This is a major international incident and Australia has the lead responsibility for what happens in our search zone.We here will bear the cost of the coordination center under Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston.It's an act of international citizenship on Australia's part.We are happy to be as helpful as we can,Prime Minister Tony Abbott assured the media and military personnel at RAAF Pearce Base.
The search will be coordinated from the Western Australia Crisis Centre in Perth by retired Air Chief Marshall Allan Grant "Angus" Houston,former Chief of Defence.*
In motor sport,Petronas AMG Mercedes took the top two places at the Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix near Kuala Lumpur on Sunday as drivers Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and German Nico Rosberg finished ahead of Infiniti Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel,the defending World Champion.This follows Rosberg's win at the season opener in Melbourne two weeks ago.Meanwhile,Australian Will Power won the first race of the season in the Indycar Series,the St.Petersburg Grand Prix in Florida,while American Ryan Hunter-Reay took second and Power's teammate Helio Castroneves of Brazil came in third.

MH-370:Big Shift in Search Area;Obama to Saudi Arabia

Of a sudden,the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shifted the search area for the MH-370 airliner.John Young,Managing Director of the agency,said the international investigating committee in Malaysia,folowing a re-analysis of radar data from when the plane was still in contact,had provided new information to the effect that the aircraft was traveling faster than had been thought,meaning it ran out of fuel before it could have reached the old search area.The new area is 1100 kilometers?700 miles northeast of the old area,bringing it out of the Roaring Forties,the area of the worst weather and sea states in the Indian Ocean.
The hundreds of pieces of debris previously spotted by satellites in the old search area may still be parts of the downed plane.They may have drifted from the new search area.
This shift is typical of such investigations,which are constantly reevaluating the situation.
The new area is 1044 miles due west of Perth,and cuts the air transit time from four hours to three.In consequence,search aircraft will use less fuel in transit,and so will have an extra hour to search.Couple that with better visbility and the new area is much more advantageous to searchers.
Satellites have been retasked to focus on the new area.Four of the ten aircraft scheduled for the day were already surveying the new site.It's not at all frustrating,because we train for this every day,said Commander William Marks,US Navy,spokesman for the Seventh Fleet,which is providing the advanced P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft to the effort.To the pilots and air crew,this is just what they train for.We have a continuous 24-hour presence over the region.This is one of our missions,and we're very proud to be a part of it.*
For the Americans,the visit of President Barack Obama to Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh today is to reassure Saudi Arabia that the US remains a loyal strategic partner.Saudi Arabia is concerned that the White House is getting too close to distrusted Iran,and that the President was weak when he cancelled plans to attack the Assad forces in Syria because of Congressional opposition.Despite growing US energy independence,the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia remains one of the United States' oldest and most important allies in the Middle East.

Malaysian Airliner Search;New Sunday Morning Business Show

During a bad weather-induced lull in the search for the wreckage of the Malaysian airliner in the Indian Ocean,Australian officials briefed journalists.We will be very pleased to waive visa fees for the families of passengers of MH-370,Australian Defence Minister David Johnston told reporters at RAAF Pearce in Perth Tuesday afternoon.We will be very pleased to welcome them,to give them some closure.This is probably one of the most remote parts of the planet.
Let's be clear.To this point in the search,we have not successfully recovered any debris from the airplane in question.The telemetry from the satellite and the performance of the aircraft is all we've got to go on.I am confident in that because that is the best we've got.At this point in the recovery,virtually everything is speculation.
This southern ocean has shipwrecked many sailors in our history.It is very,very dangerous-even for big Panamex class ships.We are doing everything we can.We are looking for an aircraft in Victoria from Western Australia.Everything is fairly urgent,but we cannot put pilots and ships at risk.The Prime Minister is very,very fixed on dealing with Malaysia,our close friend,and the families.*
We're not searching for the needle in the haystack,added Mark Binskin,Vice Chief of Defence;we're trying to find what haystack the needle is in.We're hoping for good weather in the coming days.We're waiting for the two Chinese ships and the Korean P-3 aircraft.As we get more and more data,we continue to refine the search area.The buoys will keep very good track of where the current debris field should be.
The collaboration has been very,very good.There's been a lot of collaboration among the US,UK and Australia in refining that satellite imagery.All the information is being passed quite well to all the nations,the Vice Chief of Defence stated.*
On Sunday March 30,a new business show will debut on News Corp's Fox News channel.It is "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" from 10-11 am Eastern.The show is slotted between "Fox&Friends Weekend" and "Media Buzz."It will focus on the intersection of commerce and news events.Bartiromo will interview business leaders and newsmakers on job creation,investment opportunities and so on.
Bartiromo arrived at Fox News in February after 20 years at CNBC.She is also Fox Business Network's global markets editor and anchors the weekday morning show "Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo" from 9-11 am Eastern.*
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