Peter Stevenson has been named director of development for the Des Moines Symphony. A native of Waterloo with degrees from Iowa State University and the University of Iowa, Stevenson most recently worked on the administrative staff of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc is considering a multibillion-dollar share offering to investors as part of its efforts to repay a $10 billion government loan, Reuters reported, citing a story in the Wall Street Journal. Goldman Sachs, which is due to report its quarterly earnings April 14, is one of several recipients of the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program investment.

Americans are fed up with the Detroit drama, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll. Three out of four Americans would rather see General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC face bankruptcy than watch the government pour another round of bailout cash into the big U.S. automakers. Though 22 percent of respondents are willing to prop up the automakers with more cash, 76 percent want to see them face bankruptcy, according to the poll, which surveyed 1,000 Americans from April 3-5.

China’s exports fell for a fifth month in March, Bloomberg reported. Overseas sales declined 17.1 percent to $90.29 billion from a year earlier; imports dropped 25.1 percent, leaving a trade surplus of $18.56 billion. Collapsing world trade and the nation’s slowest economic expansion in seven years have cost the jobs of millions of factory workers and prompted Premier Wen Jiabao to roll out a $585 billion stimulus package. To spur consumption, China is subsidizing rural purchases of televisions and refrigerators and plans a 29 percent increase in welfare spending this year.