Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- US mortgage applications rose for the first time in five weeks as filings for home purchases rebounded, according to a private group’s survey.
- BP Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, said a decline in oil and gas production worsened in the fourth quarter, with damage from hurricanes costing more than $900 million in profit at its Texas City refinery.
- Wall Street firms will pay their NYC workers a record $21.5 billion in bonuses for 2005 after profits at companies including Goldman Sachs(GS) and Lehman Brothers(LEH) reached an all-time higher, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi said.

Wall Street Journal:
- Currency hedge funds posted their lowest returns in at least three years in 2005 because of the strong rally in the US dollar, prompting some to prepare for an exodus of short-term investors from the funds.
- Coca-Cola(KO) is having to compete in the US with imports of its own brand from Mexico, which are favored by Hispanic immigrants.
- Office rents rose worldwide for the first time in five years in the second half of 2005, as vacancies fell in 10 of the biggest markets, citing data by CB Richard Ellis.
- US state, non-profit and company programs to encourage people to save money have begun to produce an accumulation of assets among poor and lower-income Americans.
- China’s TCL Corp., the world’s biggest maker of TV sets, has teamed up with Intel(INTC) to develop a personal computer that resembles and functions like a flat-panel television.

NY Times:
- The FDA cleared 20 drugs last year, down from 36 in 2004, the second such drop in the past 10 years.
- The first comprehensive New Orleans rebuilding proposal calls for a complete revamp of the city’s school system, eliminates a 76-mile shipping channel that helped to cause flooding after Hurricane Katrina and adds a new jazz district downtown.
- General Electric’s(GE) NBC television network has sold few advertising spots for its “The Book of Daniel,” a series criticized as anti-Christian by the conservative American Family Association.
- Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Logo channel founder Matt Farber agreed to create a record label for gay and lesbian music artists.
- Johnson & Johnson(JNJ) made a last-ditch effort to acquire Guidant Corp.(GDT) to prevent the company from accepting a $25 billion bid from Boston Scientific(BSX).
- Developers are poised to break ground on a “big-box” shopping center in East Harlem after Home Depot(HD) signed a long-term lease and Costco Wholesale(COST) prepared to do the same.

Reuters:
- US Transportation Secretary Mineta suggested that Delta Air and Northwest Air may emerge from bankruptcy a merged carrier.