Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- NBC cut its advertising rates for this season by as much as 5%, reflecting the fourth-ranked network’s decline in ratings.
- The Univ. of California-San Francisco is gutting a lab originally financed with US government grants and rebuilding it for stem-cell research with $6 million in privately donated money.
- Eli Lilly(LLY) and Amylin(AMLN) said they may not have enough manufacturing capacity for their new Byetta diabetes drug to keep up with sales that increased by 40% this quarter.
- JPMorgan Chase(JPM) said investors should cut holdings in BHP Billiton(BHP) and Australian mining companies as rising interest rates reduce demand for commodities.
- Fed Bank of St. Louis President Poole said US inflation is too high and that the Fed may need to act should price gains quicken.
- China’s central bank ordered banks to set aside more money as reserves to curb an investment boom that’s creating excess manufacturing capacity in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
- T. Boone Pickens, the Dallas-based hedge fund manager who has made billions of dollars speculating on higher oil prices, reiterated his call that crude will rise to $80/bbl.
- Hedge funds, designed to profit whether financial markets rise or fall have lost 2.3% in June after a 1.3% decline in May amid a sudden sell-off in emerging market stocks and commodities, according to Hedge Fund Research.
- The US House of Representatives voted to expel Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson from the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee after federal investigators last month videotaped him taking $100,000 from a government witness in a bribery probe.
- Bonds sold by US airlines that avoided bankruptcy are rallying more than any other high-yield debt as the carriers profit from rising demand for travel.
- Gasoline futures are falling to a four-week low as ramped-up refinery production signals sufficient supplies for the summer months.
- The number of active oil and natural-gas drilling rigs in the US rose by 11 to 1,672 in the week ending June 16, a 20-year high, according to Baker Hughes.

Wall Street Journal:
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has become the new hero of some politically left-wing Americans despite serious concerns by human rights groups, venerated almost as much as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
- Intel Corp.(INTC) may now be cheap because possible bad news is already priced in, citing Goldman Sachs analyst James Covello.

Women’s Wear Daily:
- Polo Ralph Lauren(RL), which designs Chaps women’s clothing sold only at Kohl’s(KSS), may make an exclusive line for Kohl’s rival JC Penney(JCP).

AP:
- The son of billionaire T. Boone Pickens was arrested last weekend after police found him hiding under a table in a Connecticut fly fishing store near a stash of items. Micahel Pickens, 51, spent three days in jail following a burglary arraignment in Bantam Superior Court June 12. He was unable to post a $15,000 bond. He was also arrested last year on charges of fraudulently boosting stock prices by faxing fake tips to thousands of recipients.