Bloomberg:
- Natural gas is falling in NY, ending the recent rally, amid record inventories in underground storage.
- Crude oil is falling more than $1/bbl. on speculation that US stockpiles, near 7-year highs, are adequate to meet demand in coming weeks.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average is making another all-time high on strong earnings reports and a better-than-expected new home sales report.
- Goldman Sachs(GS) promoted 262 executives to managing director a day after adding 115 partners, the firm’s top rank.
- Federal Reserve officials may leave interest rates alone until the middle of next year, confident of “moderate” economic growth and abating inflation.
- ExxonMobil(XOM) said third quarter profit rose 5.7% because crude prices climbed to an all-time high and production increased for a third straight quarter.
- China and Russia said they would oppose a draft resolution imposing UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, as the Security Council’s five permanent members prepared for their first meeting on the text.
Wall Street Journal:
- Private-equity and hedge funds are considering taking stakes in the bankruptcy-plagued US auto-parts industry.
- Blackstone Group LP, which announced recently that it had raised the biggest-ever private-equity fund, with $15.6 billion, wants to increase that amount to $20 billion.
- Clear Channel Communications(CCU) may get bids from a group of investors led by Thomas H. Lee Partners that includes Texas Pacific Group and Bain Capital LLC.
- Wild Oats(OATS) has been a lackluster performer, with annual sales growth of 3-5% at established outlets, against 7-9% for the industry as a whole. That, however, could change under new leadership, and the company’s stock has risen twice in the past week, first on the news that CEO Odak’s contract wouldn’t be renewed, and again when it was announced that he’d resigned.
- Cold Stone Creamery, Marble Slab Creamery and MaggieMoo’s Intl. are trying to develop a niche within the ice cream market by offering high-end versions of a common product.
NY Times:
- Democratic bloggers are targeting about 50 Republican candidates in an effort to make particular articles or Web sites appear at the top of a Google search list. After embedding a candidate’s name with a hyperlink to a negative article about the person, blogger Chris Bowers, who devised the plan, has been distributing the links to others with left-wing blogs.
Boston Globe:
- McDonald’s(MCD) restaurants in New England are getting a makeover that features leather chairs, plasma televisions and wireless Internet access.
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