Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- US stocks are rising again and the DJIA climbed to its fifth straight record after Alcoa’s(AA) unsolicited $26.9 billion bid for Alcan(AL) added to speculation the record pace of takeovers will accelerate.
- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert survived three no-confidence motions brought by parliamentary opponents after a government commission’s report blaming Olmert for being unprepared for last year’s war in Lebanon.
- Teva Pharma is bidding more than $6.1 billion to acquire Merck KGaA’s generic-drug unit.
- Microsoft(MSFT) CEO Ballmer interrupted a Hawaiian vacation to call his top Internet ad man, Yusuf Mehdi, on April 16 after Google Inc.(GOOG) announced its $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick.
- Abby Joseph Cohen of Goldman Sachs(GS) and Edward Keon of Prudential Equity Group raised their forecasts for US stocks as the S&P 500 climbed toward a record.
- Gasoline futures fell for a second day as some refineries increased production, after a recent rash of “outages,” signaling inventories may grow for the first time in three months. Oil is falling another $.91/bbl., breaking below its 50 and 200-day moving averages as investment funds cut record speculation on the commodity as US inventories move towards 8-year highs.
- Copper dropped in New York, halting a six-session rally, after a mining strike ended in Peru, the world’s third-largest producer of the metal.
- Corn futures in Chicago fell 3% on speculation dry weekend weather firmed muddy fields in the eastern Midwest, allowing farmers to accelerate planting of the biggest US crop.
- Wal-Mart Stores(WMT) will install solar-power systems to provide some of its electricity at 22 locations in Hawaii and California.
- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said the US should help Detroit-based automakers pay for retiree health care while at the same time requiring them and their overseas competitors to boost fuel efficiency and reduce tailpipe emissions.
- Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway(BRK/A), said newspaper investors face “long-term problems.”
- Copper, nickel and lead, the best performing commodities in the past four months, may be the worst by year-end. On Wall Street, the chorus is getting louder that rising metal supplies are outpacing demand. From Goldman Sachs Group(GS) to JPMorgan Chase(JPM) to Societe Generale, there are warnings of a mania that is showing all the signs of a climax.
- New Century Financial Corp.(NEWC), the largest subprime lender in bankruptcy, can borrow as much as $100 million to stay open as it auctions off its remaining assets, a judge ruled.
- Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, said its proposed oil plant in Canada may start processing bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands by 2013.

Wall Street Journal:
- BAE Systems Plc is in advanced talks to buy Armor Holdings Inc.(AH), a US maker of military and heavy vehicles, for $3.5 billion.
- Some shareholders of Clear Channel Communications(CCU) lobbied the company’s board over the weekend to reconsider a sweetened $19.35 billion buyout proposal it turned down on May 3.
- Small and mid-size company mutual fund flows were down 35% from year-ago levels in the first quarter, despite the fact that mid-caps have been this year’s best performing group, according to data from Citigroup.

NY Times:
- A US Defense Department program is using venture capitalists to help find innovations from start-ups that haven’t traditionally been part of the military’s supply chain. DeVenCi, or Defense Venture Catalyst Initiative, combines the slow moving bureaucracy of the federal government with fast-moving investors.
- Mobile-phone versions of television shows, which are rising in popularity, haven’t been able to draw advertisers, who are reluctant to abandon traditional formats.

Women’s Wear Daily:
- Wal-Mart Stores(WMT) may be interested in buying Gottschalks Inc.(GOT) department stores to gain a foothold in northern California.

AP:
- A New Jersey Senate committee may this week recommend replacing the state’s death penalty with a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Edaily:
- Germany’s SunTechnics GmbH and South Korea’s Dongyang Engineering & Construction Corp. plan to build the world’s largest solar-powered plant in the Asian country.

Sarmayeh:
- Iran’s central bank passed a directive to allow foreign lenders to operate in the country.

Al-Hayat:
- The US Agency for International Development provided $350 million to support agriculture projects in Iraq.

Die Welt:
- German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck wants to persuade this counterparts from other European Union countries to back his government’s push for hedge funds to be subject to a code of conduct.

Gestion:
- US, German and Peruvian companies plan to invest over $100 million in wind-farm projects in Peru.

Vedomosti:
- Wal-Mart Stores(WMT) registered 42 trademarks in Russia after foreign brands including Starbucks(SBUX) were misused.