The Treasury Secretary says he has not spoken with Schumer on Senate bill. He’s not concerned about a trade war with China, he says. He has not yet made the judgment whether China is a currency manipulator.

The decade-long struggle to replace the US’s fleet of airborne refueling tankers is turning ugly as France and Germany claim that Airbus is being unfairly discriminated against in the deal…Both Boeing and EADS have at various times looked like they had the inside track for the contract. EADS promised to build a US plant as part of its partnership with Northrup Grumman. This is one of the longest running sagas in the history of the military-industrial complex and looks like it is still years away from being settled…

In lousy economic times, trade tensions become magnified, as we have seen…If these trade spats flare up further, look for risk aversion to be a theme ahead.

A joint statement from the Treasury, Office of Management and Budget and the Council of Economic Advisers says that the US economy has pulled out of an uncontrolled freefall to approximate stability. Job losses have slowed to a trickle but the unemployment rate is unlikely to decline this year. US unemployment is likely to remain elevated for some time but the average rate may be lower than forecast for 2010. Passage of pay-as-you go budgeting rules and a strengthening economy should lead to lower deficits of approximately 5% of GDP by mid-decade, the statement says.

Import prices fell 0.3% in February while export prices fell 0.5%.

Little market impact from the data.

The Volcker rule against proprietary trading is part of the package. A council of regulators can force a company to sell holding if they are seen as too risky and the council can force non-banks to be regulated by the Fed if their activities are seen as posing systemic risk.The bill sets up a system to liquidate large firms like Lehman.

The index fell to 15 in March from 17 in February. Neutral is 50…

Are discussed here. Not too much to get excited about…

The consensus was for production to be unchanged in February after a 0.9% rise in January. Capacity use rose to 72.7 from 72.5.

From 24.91 in February, close to median forecast of 22. EUR/USD steady around 1.3710.

Geithner is very green when it comes to speechifying, repeating the same old talk again and again. He says the economy is healing but it will take time to fully recover. It is important that countries like China move away from export growth. While the economy is recovering, it still needs “target” measures to spur job creation and growth. It would be a mistake to try and cut the deficit quickly but the US must show the will to get long-term deficits under control.

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