Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The Chicago Merc(CME) raised its bid for the Chicago Board of Trade by 16% to $9.2 billion to ward off a higher offer from Intercontinental Exchange(ICE).
- Nvidia Corp.(NVDA) shares rose as much as 8.1% after the world’s second-largest producer of computer-graphics chips reported first-quarter results that topped analysts’ estimates.
- The IPO of Everquest Financial Ltd. would allow funds run by Bear Stearns(BSC) and Stone Tower Capital LLC to transfer risk from subprime mortgage bonds and buyout loans to other investors.
- A decision to sell the Beatles’ recordings online is “virtually settled,” Billboard magazine reported, quoting Paul McCartney.
- Oil futures in NY are rising $.56/bbl. after a report predicted global demand for oil will rise 1.8% this year.

Wall Street Journal:
- The fate of CBOT Holdings(BOT), which is weighing two takeover offers, will point to further deals in the exchange industry.
- Highfields Capital Management LP, the largest institutional shareholder in Wendy’s Intl.(WEN), called on Wendy’s Chairman James Pickett and other directors to find buyers for the company.
- Smartphone users are trying to muffle an annoying mosquito-like buzz that comes out of Research In Motion’s(RIMM) BlackBerry e-mail devices when used near public-address systems and electric appliances.
- A group of United Auto Workers labor union members at a Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, hired a financial adviser to help it in its proposal to buy the Chrysler Group from Germany’s DaimlerChrysler AG(DCX).

ABC News:
- A terrorist attack is being planned on US interests in Germany, officials from both countries said, and security is being tightened at potential targets, including adding air marshals to flights.

Washington Post:
- Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, who has criticized predatory lending practices of sub-prime mortgage lenders, said he didn’t know hedge fund Fortress Investment Group expanded its holdings in sub-prime mortgage portfolios to at least $6.7 billion while Edwards worked at the fund.

AP:
- The US divorce rate has declined to its lowest level since 1970. The national rate per capita is 3.6 divorces per 1,000 people, down from the peak of 5.3 in 1981.

Financial Times:
- Goldman Sachs Group(GS) this week traded the first long-dated derivatives based on US home prices. Goldman speculated that expectations for home prices won’t be lower than they are now in five years by trading a contract based on the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.