Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- US stocks rose the most in a week after signs of increased productivity and a closely watched private report on employment suggested the economy will avoid recession.
- Thomas H. Lee Partners raised $8.1 billion for leveraged buyouts, a sign that investors expect LBOs to rebound. The fund, the firm’s sixth and largest, will focus on North American companies.
- Paccar Inc.(PCCR), the world’s fifth-largest market of medium- and heavy-duty trucks, rose as much as 8.7% after Merrill(MER) recommended the stock on a projected boost in demand.
- Electronic Data Systems(EDS), the second-biggest provider of computer services, rose the most in more than two-years in NY trading after announcing it will repurchase as much as $1 billion in stock.
- Intel Corp.(INTC) climbed to the highest in a month after Thomas Weisel Partners raised its stock rating for the world’s biggest semiconductor maker to “overweight” because personal computer demand may accelerate next year.
- Companies in the US added 189,000 jobs in November, more than triple the amount economists had forecast, a private report showed.
- Hedge funds were unprepared and damaged by this year’s collapse of the subprime credit market, according to a survey at the GAIMInvest conference.
- Trouble in the US market for mortgages to people with poor credit has not damped capital inflows into the hedge fund industry, said Ken Heinz, president of Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc.
- American International Group(AIG) CEO Sullivan said writedowns from the US housing market are “manageable,” boosting the shares more than 4%.
- The risk of corporate bond defaults is falling on speculation that US regulators and lenders are close to agreeing on a plan to avert a jump in mortgage foreclosures, according to credit-default swap traders.
- The US dollar is rising against the euro and yen as policy makers in the US and Europe stepped up efforts to stem the spread of subprime-loan losses and a private report showed the job market in the US remains healthy.
- Mortgage applications in the US jumped 22.5% last week, the most in three years, led by a 32% surge in refinancing as long-term interest rates dropped to two-year lows.
- Crude oil is falling $.48/bbl. after the EIA said oil supplies fell substantially, but distillate and gasoline inventories jumped significantly more than estimates.

Wall Street Journal:
- For years, media and technology companies have been ensnarled in a battle over the rights to video posted online. Now ratings giant Nielsen wants to be the policeman.
- NY State prosecutors subpoenaed Wall Street firms including Merrill Lynch(MER), Baer Stearns(BSC) and Deutsche Bank AG seeking details on packaging and selling of debt linked to high-risk mortgages.
- Bullish Appetite for China Begins to Wane. Fund Managers Pull Back, Sensing Bubble May Burst Sooner Rather Than Later.

TechCrunch.com:
- Yahoo TechTicker To Go After CNBC Crowd.

Dow Jones:
- Nokia Siemens Networks sees the US market as “a good growth” opportunity as fourth-generation network technology is needed to handle data transfers, citing CEO Simon Beresford-Wylie.

AP:
- Hong Kong’s customs department said it found toxic levels of chromium, lead and barium in two Chinese-made makeup sets for children.