Bloomberg:
- Carl Icahn, the billionaire shareholder activist, demanded a seat on the board of Motorola Inc.(MOT).
- Crude oil is surging above $56/bbl. as investment funds speculate that a strengthening economy and colder weather will boost consumption.
- France, the world’s biggest consumer of wine, will cede that spot to the US by 2010, a British survey showed.
- Natural gas is soaring 12%, the most in more than three months, on massive speculation by investment funds even as inventories are at record levels for this time of year and liquefied natural gas imports into the US are poised to soar.
Wall Street Journal:
- The SEC gave a provisional go-ahead to a market-based method of valuing employee stock options devised by Zions Bancorp.
- Delta Air agreed to consider a merger with another airline if it wards off a takeover bid from US Air.
- Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces mounting criticism from politicians and clerics concerned about his nuclear policies, denunciations of Israel, rising inflation and higher government spending. Ahmadinejad-backed candidates failed to win in many contests for local posts and lost control of Tehran’s city council late last year. The president’s declining popularity may herald a broader attempt to curb his policies before a UN Security Council resolution ordering Iran to halt uranium enrichment takes effect Feb. 20.
- Amaranth Advisors, the hedge fund that imploded because of speculation in natural gas, paid Merrill Lynch(MER) about $250 million to take on some of its trading positions as the hedge fund collapsed in September.
- Exxon Mobil(XOM) plans to extract gas from the Barnett Shale field, the fastest-growing in the US, under an agreement with Harding Co. of Dallas.
NY Times:
- Individual investors in China are buying stocks in record numbers, driving up the Shanghai Composite Index, creating a market for day trading and providing capital for mutual funds. About 2.7 million investment accounts were opened last year, more than 300% higher than in 2005. One mutual fund raised $5 billion in a day.
- Bush administration efforts to get European governments to hold back support for exports to Iran and block financial transactions are being resisted. European governments provided $18 billion in loan guarantees for Iran in 2005.
NY Post:
- CNBC host Maria Bartiromo is in talks with the network to have her own show, using a format similar to that of Charlie Rose and Bill Moyers. Bartiromo filed at least eight applications to trademark her Wall Street nickname, the “Money Honey.”
USA Today:
- US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales plans to brief law enforcement agencies on a proposed $200 million federal grant program to fight violent crime in the US.
- Programs targeting reckless driving helped cut traffic deaths by at least 5% in 16 states last year.
Boston Globe:
- Kenneth Heebner bought shares of Goldman Sachs(GS), Morgan Stanley(MS), Lehman Brothers(LEH) and Merrill Lynch for his top-performing CGM Focus Fund.
Washington Times:
- Iran and North Korea are working together to develop long-range missiles.
Financial Times:
- Risks to the global economy have receded so much that the world has the “luxury” of worrying about mispriced financial markets, John Lipsky, new first deputy managing director of the IMF said. Lower fuel prices and a more steady US housing market have lowered risk.
La Tribune:
- Arcelor Mittal, the world’s biggest steel company, says European steel prices could drop 15 to 20%. Prices are under pressure in southern Europe from cheaper steel imports from China. Global steel production rose 8.8% last year and prices fell 10% on average in the fourth quarter.
Interfax:
- OAO Transneft, Russia’s oil pipeline operator, is looking at doubling the capacity of a link to the Primorsk port on the Gulf of Finland, citing Grigory Dvas, vice governor of the Leningrad region. The state-owned company may expand the Baltic pipeline system to carry 150 million tons a year.
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