Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Ihop Corp.(IHP), the largest US pancake-house chain, agreed to buy Applebee’s Intl.(APPB) for $1.9 billion and sell securities backed by franchisee fees to finance the purchase.
- Lear Corp.(LEA) shareholders turned down Carl Icahn’s $2.9 billion buyout offer, handing a victory to a group of investors who led a five-month battle against the sale of the automotive-seat maker.
- ReAble Therapeutics Inc., an orthopedic device maker controlled by the private equity company Blackstone Group, agreed to purchase DJO Inc.(DJO) for $1.6 billion to add leg braces and post-surgery pain therapies.
- Natural gas futures are plunging 4.5% in NY, heading towards their biggest decline in five months, on forecasts for below-normal temperatures and lower demand in the key consuming markets of the Midwest and Northeast.
- Gasoline futures are dropping another 4.3% a breaking down convincingly through the uptrend that has been in place since mid-December.
- Corn is plunging 5.4%, the maximum daily limit, and soybeans are falling on speculation rains will help to replenish Midwest soils after two months of dry weather.
- US Treasuries are rising for a second day on speculation mounting losses in securities backed by subprime mortgage loans will fuel demand for US government debt.

Wall Street Journal:
- Sony Corp.’s(SNE) Sony Pictures Entertainment has revamped its Grouper video-sharing Web site, now known as “Crackle,” to help new filmmakers.
- Charles Schwab(SCHW), E*Trade(ET) and TD Ameritrade(AMTD) may be boosting their business by adding services such as asset management.
- US real-estate investment trusts with strong management records may be good bets following a sell-off of REITs amid concern that rising interest rates may hurt future returns.

NY Times:
- Casinos in the US Gulf Coast are performing better than before Hurricane Katrina struck the region in 2005. Harrah’s Entertainment(HET) casino in New Orleans, the largest in the city, is heading for its best year, with gambling revenue up 13.6% during the first five months of the year compared with the same period in 2005 prior to the storm.

NY Post:
- TiVo Inc.(TIVO) will start a ratings service today that ranks television commercials from 15 networks on a second-by-second basis compared with Nielsen’s minute-by-minute system.

Tuoi Tre:
- Merrill Lynch(MER) has warned investors that liquidity in Vietnamese equities may be low after the central bank reduced money in the system, citing a research report.

Etemaad:
- Iranian police in the capital Tehran will arrest men with “Western-inspired” haircuts and clothing, citing a top policing official.