Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- On the site of a former oil exchange built during Calgary’s first energy boom almost a century ago, EnCana Corp. plans to build Canada’s tallest office tower in almost two decades.
- Cendant Corp. will split into four parts and said fourth-quarter earnings won’t meet previous forecasts.
- Mittal Steel won an auction today for Ukraine’s biggest steelmaker Kryvorizhstal with a bid of $4.8 billion, allowing it to increase production capacity and cutting its dependence on coal and iron ore producers.
- Europe can control bird flu and prevent the disease from spreading as it has in Asia, the World Health Organization said.
- Global growth in oil demand may slow because Hurricane Katrina and Rita touched a “demand nerve,” prompting people to buy more fuel-efficient cars, seek out alternative energy sources and step up conservation, said Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
- Hurricane Wilma crossed southern Florida today, knocking down trees and power lines and flooding low-lying areas on a path to Atlantic Ocean. The storm may cause $2 billion to $6 billion in damages, less than two of the four to hit the state last year.
- President Bush is expected to name White House economic adviser Ben Bernanke later today to succeed Alan Greenspan as Federal Reserve chairman.
- Oil, gasoline, and heating oil fell as Hurricane Wilma passed over Florida, missing refineries along the Gulf of Mexico.

Wall Street Journal:
- Computer Sciences may receive a takeover offer from a group of private-equity firms.
- The US Federal Trade Commission is likely to delay approval of a planned fusion of Boeing’s and Lockheed Martin’s rocket programs for the US government.
- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, and HCA Inc. are among US companies that have announced stock buybacks at the same time they send back to the US profit earned overseas, under a special one-year tax break.
- UnitedHealth Group is at the forefront of a health care plan based on the idea that people will choose the best care at the lowest price if they have to pay more of the cost themselves.
- Insurance programs set up by Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and other states to help owners rejected by private companies face higher rates after the unusually large number of hurricanes prompted a surge in claims.
- Tenet Healthcare, the second largest US hospital chain, plans to invest “hundreds of millions” of dollars to rebuild facilities and repair its central New Orleans hospital damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
- Venture capitalists spent $2.56 billion on Internet startups in the quarter ended Sept. 30, up 37% over the same period a year ago.

NY Times:
- The insolvency filing of Refco Inc., the US futures brokerage, was precipitated by a recently hired employee in the controller’s office, who asked why an interest payment that was larger than usual had been made to the company on an outstanding loan.
- Wal-Mart Stores plans to offer more affordable health insurance for its workers.
- The Bush administration is asking China and Central Asian government to deny airspace to flights the US suspects of carrying weapons technology to or from North Korea.