Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- US stocks rose, led by consumer companies, after JC Penney(JCP) and Gap Inc.(GPS) said profits will exceed analysts’ estimates.
- The euro fell to the lowest level in more than two weeks against the US dollar as ECB President Trichet said European growth may slow.
- President Bush said the US Senate must promptly vote on his backlog of some 200 nominees, including three for the Federal Reserve Board, and stop treating them like “political pawns.”
- GSO Capital Partners LP, the hedge fund being bought by Blackstone Group LP, hired Najib Canaan and a trading team from Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP to invest in mortgages and bonds hit by the credit-market contraction.
- Bank of America(BAC) increased its stake in Ambac Financial(ABK) from 5.1% at the end of September to 7.06%.
- Copper is surging 3.7% as falling inventories quelled concern that demand for the metal may slump.
- US Treasuries declined as demand was weaker than expected at the government’s $9 billion auction of 30-year bonds, which drew the lowest yield on record.

Wall Street Journal:
- Lehman’s(LEH) Harris Tops List of Forecasters.
- The European Central Bank faces a tough task when it reviews interest rates today, not only because of the economic slowdown but also because hedge funds are trying to exploit disparities within the European Union.
- Actively managed ETFs, soon to become reality, may not offer the low costs and tax-efficiency that have been ETF’s biggest attractions.
- Alcatel-Lucent SA(ALU), the telephone equipment maker that saw its shares drop 60% in 2007, may be a good buy as an industry price war subsides.

NY Times:
- Wal-Mart Will Expand In-Store Medical Clinics.

LA Times:
- Yahoo(YHOO) said to step up talks with Google(GOOG).

Red Herring.com:
- Half of GM(GM) Cars Will Be running on ethanol by 2012. Start-up biofuel company Coskata Inc., part-owned by GM, said it has formed a strategic alliance with ICM Inc. to build a commercial plan to mass produce cellulose-based ethanol. The plant is due to open in late 2010.

Forbes:
- Some 70% of all equity volume is driven by computer models that suddenly trigger a surge in buy or sell orders that are causing the fragmentation, volatility and use of hidden trading venues.

USA Today:
- Al-Qaeda Shifts Iraq Tactics to Salvage Image.

Economic Times:
- Deutsche Bank is on the prowl for acquisitions, its CEO said on Thursday, after it dodged the subprime disaster that hit rivals.

Asharq al-Awsat:
- Saudi Arabian investors have $400 billion in investments in the US, making it the number one destination for their money, citing a report from the Riyadh-based Saudi British Bank. The US funds represent 34% of the $1.2 trillion that Saudis have invested abroad. Saudis diversified their investments away from the US after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.