Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The DJIA is making another all-time high as investor optimism regarding the prospects that the worst of the housing slowdown may be over rose after this morning’s new home sales report exceeded estimates.
- Gerald R. Ford, who became the 38th US president in 1974 has died at the age of 93.
- US Treasuries yields are rising, pushing rates on benchmark 10-year notes to a six-week high, after a government report showed new home sales and prices surged more-than-expected in November.
- Merrill Lynch(MER), the largest US brokerage firm, will offer bigger bonuses next year to financial advisers who bring in wealthier clients and increase the revenue they generate.
- Shares of InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, the world’s biggest lodging company, rose for a second day on speculation that the hotelier may be a takeover target.
- Crude oil fell to a one-month low as mild weather reduced near record speculation by investment funds. As well, natural gas is falling to the lowest price in more than 10 weeks in New York.
- Dennis Gartman, economist and editor of the Gartman Letter, is slightly bearish on base metals for 2007.
- Chile’s state-owned Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, plans to spend $580 million to upgrade its Andina mine.
- Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter, will pump at least 9 million metric tons of crude to Europe via Ukrainian pipeline in 2007, twice as much as this year, as the country steps up exports to sustain economic growth. “We may even increase the volume of Russia oil up to 12 million tons,” Ihor Kiryushyn, CEO of VAT UkrTrasNafta, operator of Ukraine’s pipeline, said today in an e-mailed statement.

Wall Street Journal:
- The National Association of Manufacturers in the US predicts slower economic growth will prompt the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates by a half-percentage point by the middle of 2007, citing the AP.
- The SEC is increasingly hesitant to approve private investments in public equity, or PIPEs.
- Results from late-stage trials of potential treatments by ImClone Systems(IMCL) and Threshold Pharmaceuticals for pancreatic cancer are expected to be released in the first quarter of 2007.
- The FDA has approved an injectable wrinkle treatment called Radiesse that claims to last longer and cost less than its competitors, citing a CEO. BioForm Medical, which makes the treatment, will announce FDA clearance on Wednesday.
- Elected officials and business leaders in the US Virgin Islands are lobbying Congress to ease a tax crackdown they say has hurt the local economy and government revenue.

USA Today:
- The US Transportation Security Administration modified a new screening machine for airline passengers so that it won’t show intimate body parts once testing begins.

NY Times:
- Iran is funding infrastructure projects in Afghanistan in an effort to develop more influence in the country.

AP:
- Weight loss can help reduce the risk of virulent prostate cancer, citing a study by the American Cancer Society and Duke University Prostate Center.
- Verizon Communications(VZ) has opened stores in malls in Texas and Virginia to market its FiOS service package for the company’s fiber optic television service.

Tex Report:
- Taiwan Power Co. will more than double liquefied natural gas consumption in 2017 after building new thermal power plants.

The Guardian:
- BP Plc(BP), Europe’s second-largest oil company by market value, is to become a sponsor member of BWEA, a campaign group for renewable energy.