Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Apollo Management raised $10 billion for the world’s second-largest takeover fund.
- The US economy is likely to remain strong after two hurricanes pummeled the Gulf Coast, two Federal Reserve officials said today.
- Palm Inc. plans to sell a Treo smartphone powered by Microsoft’s operating system, handing a win for Microsoft as it tries to make inroads into the mobile-phone market.
- Gasoline futures declined and crude oil was little changed after Hurricane Rita struck only a glancing blow to Houston’s oil hub, home to 12% of the nation’s refineries.
- US Treasuries are falling for a third day as two Fed officials said the economy remains strong after two hurricanes struck the Gulf Coast, bolstering views the central bank will keep raising interest rates.

Wall Street Journal:
- US companies such as Electronic Arts and Time Warner’s film studios are taking steps to fight piracy in China by aiming to profit alongside the illegal sellers.
- A US search for programs to scale back to offset costs from hurricanes Katrina and Rita could lead to trims in spending on farm subsidies and the Medicaid and Medicare health programs.
- The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reviewing fuel efficiency requirements for larger vehicles after technological developments improved the safety of smaller cars.
- Andrew von Eschenbach, acting commissioner of the FDA, plans to review the drug-approval process to see if procedures can be streamlined.
- AMD plans to introduce today a speed boost for high end chips for servers and computer workstations.
- Janus Capital Group proposed that it switch to performance-based management fees that will let it collect more when its funds do well, and less when they don’t.
- Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase and CSFB are among brokerage firms that have resumed or are planning buyout deals, attracted by the potential for big profits.
- The Bush administration plans to propose developing satellite systems that would be shared by federal agencies to cut costs and standardize domestic satellite operations.

Le Figaro:
- Total SA, Europe’s largest oil refiner, is prepared to spend around $10 billion to extract oil from Canadian oil sands.