Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Yale University’s handling of federal grants has come under scrutiny from three government agencies who have subpoenaed school documents going back 10 years.
- Atlantic City’s casinos shut down for the first time in their 28-year history today, casualties of a budget impasse in New Jersey’s state capitol.
- US Treasury notes fell after a private report estimated that US companies added 368,000 jobs last month, the most since at least 2001.
- Use of mercury in vaccines doesn’t cause autism among school-aged children, a study says.
- Ken Lay, who built Enron Corp. into the world’s largest energy trader and was convicted of the fraud that led to its collapse, died today near Aspen, Colorado at the age of 64.
- Marvell Tech’s(MRVL) accounting is being examined by the SEC, and Quest Software(QSFT) will restate six years of results.
- Natural gas is falling another 5% in NY on ample inventories and reduced demand for the power-plant fuel.

Wall Street Journal:
- US labor unions are taking longer to renegotiate contracts as their bargaining power has weakened and employer resistance has increased.
- Citigroup(C), Wachovia Corp.(WB) and other US banks are turning to hybrid capital to raise funds for mergers and acquisitions or stock buybacks.
- Caterpillar(CAT) plans to double the size of its engine refurbishing unit over the next four years to ease its cyclical earnings pattern.

NY Post:
- NYC may allow falshier and more creative advertising on trash cans, taxis, subways and bus shelters under a contract with CBS Outdoor.

NY Times:
- The UN ban on exporting most wild caviar that was put in place this year, effectively taking beluga caviar off restaurant menus, has proved to be a boon to California sturgeon farms.
- A NYC gem lab hopes to persuade dealers to use certificates it issues to track sales of individual diamonds and guarantee buyers aren’t getting gems traded to support wars or terrorism.

Financial Times:
- Western banks may generate little or no profit by 2010 in credit cards in China, citing a study by Lafferty Group.