Media Digest (3/4/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

Jobs are expected to be at a nine-month high in February. (Reuters)

Chrysler hopes to refinance its debt ahead of an IPO (Reuters)

Banks which mishandled mortgage paperwork have been approached by state and federal authorities with a proposal to reduce mortgage balances in exchange for leniency. (WSJ)

GM (NYSE: GM) is close to a deal to pay off creditors. (Reuters)

Oil rose on concern about Libya. (Reuters)

Nintendo says it expects strong sales for its 3 DS which uses chips from Toshiba. (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will launch a program on Bing that  will help users find the best retail deals near their locations. (Reuters)

Family Dollar rejected a $7 billion bid from Nelson Peltz. (Reuters)

Twitter said it was not in conversations about an IPO or an outside investment. (Reuters)

A state and federal proposal for the modification of mortgages as a way to offset the misuse of foreclosures has no data on penalties. (WSJ)

Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) CEO Lloyd Blankfein will testify at the trial of Raj Rajaratnam .(WSJ)

The Justice Department will examine whether a consortium of online video providers used anticompetitive practices to slow the adoption of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) open source video code. (WSJ)

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RTP) began a search for new board members as its chairman prepares to retire. (WSJ)

The PE deal that bought HCA should return billions of dollars to investors (WSJ)

Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) CEO will return his bonus. (WSJ)

Purchases of tablet PCs have undermined sales of laptops. (WSJ)

The ECB may raise rates in April. (WSJ)

Obama offered cuts of $6.5 billion in the current budget as an olive branch to Republicans. (WSJ)

A shuttering of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could curtail the availability of 30 year fixed rate mortgages. (NYT)

China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) said Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may develop products for its network. (NYT)

More Congressman and Senators have asked that the US strategic oil reserve release crude into the market. (NYT)

Farm prices have reached the point where they may have ballooned too much. (NYT)

Merkel is against changes to the Ireland bailout loan terms. (Bloomberg)

The IMF says high world food prices may remain. (Bloomberg)

China exchanges plan to double the number of ETFs that they offer. (Bloomberg)

US jobless claims fell recently. (WSJ)

A judge who struck down part of the new healthcare law issues a stay of the ruling. (WSJ)

Growth in Brazil has slowed. (WSJ)

The budget of the Chinese military will rise by nearly 13%. (WSJ)

Top executives at BP (NYSE: BP) did not receive bonuses. (WSJ)

Total bought a portion of the equity of Russia’s largest independent gas producer. (WSJ)

Bombardier reached a deal with a leasing company controlled by the Industrial Commercial Bank of China. (WSJ)

The FCC may set rules that would prevent blackouts when TV stations and cable companies dispute carriage rates. (WSJ)

AT&T (NYSE: T) will offer a post paid bill options for tablet buyers. (WSJ)