“Buy when you are scared to death; sell when you are tickled to death” — Market Maxim (Cabot Letter)

1. Nikkei tumbles 6.2% yen whipsaws in quake aftermath — the Nikkei closed -6.2% today to 9,620 on record volume of 4.88B shares, as investors had their first extended opportunity to sell Japanese stocks since the 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday. The Bank of Japan overnight offered to inject a record ¥7T ($183B) into money markets, and may further ease its ultra-loose monetary policy.
2. Moody’s cuts Greece rating, stokes debt fears — Moody’s Investors Service cut Greece’s sovereign-debt rating Monday by three notches to B1, infuriating the Greek government and temporarily denting the euro amid renewed worries about the ability of Greece and other debt-loaded euro-zone governments to avoid default.
3. Moody’s cuts Spain’s credit rating — the rating was downgraded one notch to Aa2 from Aa1, bringing it in line with the rating offered by Standard & Poor’s. Moody’s put the new rating on negative outlook, a signal that a further cut is possible.
4. US trade gap widens 15.1% in January — the U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in January to the highest level since the summer, as a surge in imports overwhelmed record levels of exports.
5. China posts trade deficit as exports slow — China unexpectedly posted a trade deficit in February. The slowdown swung the country’s trade balance to a deficit of $7.3 billion in February, more than offsetting January’s $6.5 billion trade surplus and giving China a net trade deficit in the first two months of the year.
6. Pimco sells off all US government holdings — The world’s largest bond investor has sold off all his fund’s U.S. government-related holdings, according to a published report. Bond giant Pimco confirmed it has unloaded all of its U.S. government holdings, including Treasurys, in the Total Return Fund. The $237B fund previously had 12% of its assets in U.S. government holdings, and had as much as 63% of its assets in U.S. government-related debt in late 2009. Bill Gross, the fund’s manager, is trying to get out ahead of the end of QE2, when he expects a rise in bond yields, and a concurrent fall in bond prices, would drive down the value of the fund’s holdings.
7. Libya’s oil terminal blazes — Gaddafi’s forces initiated air and artillery strikes on some of Libya’s oil facilities. The country’s largest crude processing plant was hit, while the nation’s largest oil terminal, at the port of Sidra, is in flames.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: