Positive news came out of the White House

Stocks closed in positive territory with corporate credit spreads finally bucking pre-quarter end technical trends and tightening.
A large buyer of IG CDS (credit default swap) protection seemed to be weighing on the markets but today the IG index finally tightened after under-performing for the past couple of days.
Once payrolls are out of the way and April is here, we could see the IG index continue to grind in tighter.
Corporate cash bonds traded well today with new issues getting significantly over-subscribed by real-money investors.
That being said, credit will likely under-perform relative to stocks which will be buoyed by corporate earnings.
In Treasury land, warnings on inflation by outgoing Kansas City Fed Chief Thomas Hoenig were ignored by buyers who were encouraged by results for the 7 year auction.
Hoenig will be missed; he showed rare resilience standing up to (and voting against) Bernanke's inflationary policies.
Positive news came out of the White House on the topic of corporate tax reform, long overdue and a necessary step to help the real economy achieve a sustainable recovery.
M&A (mergers & acquisitions) action made a small come-back after a volatility-induced hiatus.
In the pharmaceutical space, Valeant made a $5.7 billion hostile bid for Cephalon.
In the energy space, British Tullow sold stakes in Ugandan oil to China's CNOOC and France's Total for $2.9 billion.
In the technology space, a development that has been barely acknowledged by the mainstream media could have significant reverberations.
RSA's 2 factor authentication securID was breached more than 10 days ago, a development the company has yet to acknowledge publicly.
This has the potential to alter the landscape for security software in the technology space; RSA currently controls more than 80% of the space.

In new issues, Archer Daniels Midland, a maker of agricultural commodities and products, hit the market with a 10 and 30 year new issue.
Archer Daniels issued $1 billion of 30 year debt at +120 and $750 million of 10 year debt at +95; the allocation book was reportedly $9.5 billion strong (actual number should be smaller given how many players put in for larger allocations than what they actually want).
That being said, the issue tightened 5 bps in the grey market almost immediately thereafter.
First Data hit the market with $750 million of an 8 year issue at +391; the FDC paper rallied some 2 points in the grey market.
Yesterday's Nordea covered bond issue tightened some 3 bps in the market today with bids for cash bonds strong.
Initial jobless claims and factory orders numbers are out tomorrow; most eyes are on Friday's employment numbers.