Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The SEC’s top market-regulation official said Bear Stearns(BSC) probably will sell assets and reduce leverage in an “orderly fashion” at its two hedge funds that almost collapsed last month.
- The House Financial Services Committee will draft legislation requiring US hedge funds to keep copies of trading data.
- The US Treasury Dept.’s top domestic-finance official and a Federal Reserve governor said investor losses from subprime-mortgage delinquencies aren’t posting broader risks to the financial system.
- The SEC adopted new rules ensuring it can sue hedge funds for misleading investors, following a court ruling that put in doubt the regulator’s authority over the $1.6 trillion industry.
- Financial advisers’ pessimism about US stocks grew by the most since 2004 last week, according to a survey by Investors Intelligence, amid lingering concern the slump in housing will reduce corporate profit.
- Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO) lost the battle with Google Inc.(GOOG) in searching the Internet and now may have jeopardized its lead in display advertisements.

Wall Street Journal:
- Nuance Communications(NUAN) is poised to prosper from the widening use of speech-recognition technologies.
- Express Scripts(ESRX) became one of the first US companies to put its headquarters on a college campus by installing offices at the Univ. of Missouri in St. Louis. The university’s willingness to allow a corporation to move on to its premises underscores an effort by colleges located in urban areas to spur economic development and reclaim declining neighborhoods.
- Liz Claiborne(LIZ) plans selling or licensing 16 of its 36 brands as part of a plan to cut back after a slump in department-store sales.
- A SEC proposal to require shareholders who want to nominate candidates to corporate boards to own at least 5% of shares has been deemed too stringent by critics.

NY Times:
- NY State Governor Eliot Spitzer has asked two administration officials to draft a plan for providing all state residents with universal health coverage. The program would be phased in over several years and could cost $3 billion to $6 billion annually.

NY Daily News:
- Serious crime on the NYC subway has fallen to its lowest level since 1990 because of police surveillance and a restriction on walking and riding between train cars.