Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Google Inc.(GOOG), co-founder Sergey Brin said the World Economic Forum taking place this week in Davos, Switzerland, is a “remarkably efficient” way to seek out potential business partners.
- Sony Corp.(SNE) posted a record quarterly profit on sales of electronics such as flat-screen TVs, allowing it to drop a forecast for the first annual loss in 11 years.
- Caterpillar(CAT) said fourth-quarter profit rose 54%, helped by higher prices and mining-equipment sales and the company raised its earnings forecast for this year.
- First Data(FDC) said it plans to spin off Western Union, the world’s largest money-transfer business, in a transaction that may be valued at more than $20 billion.
- About 420 Iraqi detainees will be released by the US Army today and tomorrow.
- The US budget deficit will come in at $337 billion this year versus prior estimates of $400 billion. This would be 2.6% of GDP, right around the long-term average of 2.5%.
- Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia resigned to clear the way for Hamas, an Islamic group that has thwarted Middle East peace efforts with squads of suicide bombers, to form the Palestinian Authority’s next government.
- Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill(CMG) surged 104% in their first day of trading after the company raised $173 million in an IPO.
- US 10-year Treasuries are falling for the fourth straight day, the longest slump since the start of November, after the strong Durable Goods report.
- Natural gas dropped below $8, down 50% in six weeks, in NY for the first time in almost half a year as mild winter weather leaves supplies near record highs.

Wall Street Journal:
- The NYSE is increasingly losing new-company listings to exchanges in London and Luxembourg, partly because tougher US accounting and disclosure requirements are raising costs for the foreign companies.
- US identity-theft complaints to the FTC are rising more slowly, which may be an indication that antifraud measures are starting to work.
- Medtronic(MDT) and Johnson & Johnson(JNJ) have been approached by the holder of a patent for coronary stents seeking to find a company to but it or license rights to the invention.
- A Maryland law that requires employers with more than 10,000 workers to contribute 8% of payroll to employees’ health care will only hurt the state by driving Wal-Mart Stores away, two professors wrote.

NY Times:
- Some US school districts, strapped for cash, are seeking private money with sponsorships and naming rights.

Financial Times:
- Hedge funds specializing in currency trading probably had their “roughest year” in more than a decade in 2005 on bad bets against the US dollar.

AFP:
- Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, arrived in China today as part of Iran’s diplomatic efforts to avoid a referral to the UN Security Council.

Interfax:
- China welcomed Russia’s offer to process uranium from Iran’s nuclear program on its territory, citing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman.