Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- President Bush today pledged to help people who’ve fallen behind in their mortgages keep their homes and to tighten safeguards against predatory lending, while rejecting a bailout for “speculators.”
- Senator Charles Schumer said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson expressed interest in allowing Fannie Mae(FNM) and Freddie Mac(FRE) to exceed limits on their combined $1.4 trillion mortgage portfolios in order to help distressed borrowers refinance their home loans.
- The Brazilian real gained as a pledge by President Bush to help delinquent US mortgage holders keep their homes eased concern that the housing slump will throttle global economic growth.
- The risk of owning corporate bonds fell 3.5 basis points today to 69 basis points, according to traders of credit-default swaps.
- A benchmark subprime mortgage ABX index tied to risky home loans made in last year’s second half is rising 9.5% today.
- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in his first public remarks in six weeks, said the central bank will do what’s needed to prevent this month’s credit market rout from undoing the six-year expansion.
- Investors added $83 million to high-yield bond funds, the first infusion in 12 weeks, seeking to capitalize on gains in high-risk debt, JPMorgan Chase(JPM) said, citing AMG Data Services.
- Norman Hsu, a Democratic fundraiser wanted for fraud, turned himself in to California authorities, according to a statement by his lawyer.
- Cree Inc.(CREE) shares jumped the most since June and options trading surged on speculation that the maker of semiconductors that light dashboards and cellular phones may be acquired by General Electric(GE).
- Intel Corp.(INTC) rose to its highest in six weeks after Dell Inc.(DELL) profit beat estimates and a Caris & Co. analyst said Intel’s memory chip venture will probably be approved by regulators.

Wall Street Journal:
- Russian officials are pleased that the country’s capital markets seem to have withstood a $10 billion net outflow in the past three weeks without negative consequences.
- Vulture Funds Start Circling Credit Markets.

Washington Post:
- US Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is willing to compromise with Republicans opposed to the Iraq war on limiting troop deployments in the country. Reid will back away from his demand to withdraw from Iraq by the US spring, a position that has impeded his ability to negotiate with Republicans who want to end the war but not to set a timeline.

NY Post:
- Apple Inc.(AAPL) is working with record labels to offer ringtones on iPhones from its iTunes online music service.

Times Online:
- Speculation today hit fever pitch over the possible shape of Google’s(GOOG) next foray into telecoms as a host of blogs carried pictures of what claimed to be a low-cost, internet enabled handset – the “Gphone.”

Le Monde:
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy is increasingly willing to join the US and Britain in imposing sanctions on Iran, without waiting for a UN resolution.