Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Confidence among US homebuilders rose for a second straight month, the first back-to-back increase in almost a year, as signs emerged that lower house prices attracted more buyers.
- The Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund, which aims to profit from the resumption of US trade with Cuba, surged the most in its 13-year history after Fidel Castro resigned as the country’s president and commander-in-chief.
- Verizon Wireless(VZ) is offering a flat-rate subscription for unlimited calls, intensifying price competition with rivals Sprint Nextel(S) and AT&T(T).
- If Exxon, (XOM), Corning(GLW) Earn So Much, How Can S&P Be Cheap?
- Lansdowne Partners Ltd. and LNG Capital LLP were among investors that profited from an “easy” bet over the past year on the 93% decline in Northern Rock Plc, the bank being nationalized by the British government.
- Mortgage companies including Fannie Mae(FNM) and HSBC Finance jointed a US Treasury Dept.-led effort to offer 30-day foreclosure freezes to give delinquent borrowers more time to arrange payment plans. Remaining members of the Hope Now alliance adopted the initiative announced last week by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and six banks, including JPMorgan Chase(JPM) and Citigroup(C), the group said.
- Crude oil is surging above $99/bbl. in NY on record investment fund speculation after the dollar weakened, Iran said OPEC would likely cut production and a refinery fire in Texas curbed gasoline production.

Wall Street Journal:
- As Oil Prices Soar, Prospectors Return To Pennsylvania.
- Disney(DIS), Viacom(VIA) and Others Take Videogames In-House, Seeking Cut of Hot Market.
- Sweet Home, Santiago: Cuba’s Ethanol Future.

AppleInsider:
- Apple(AAPL) taps Linkin Park to perform at "secret" NYC event.

Finansavisen:
- Saudi Aramco CEO Abdallah Jum’ah said the so-called “peak oil” theory is a myth. Saudi Aramco plans to boost oil production capacity to 12 million barrels a day in 2009 from about 10 million barrels a day in 2004 by developing new fields and increasing output at existing fields.

Seoul Economic Daily:
- South Korean companies may win oil-exploration rights in Iraq, citing a South Korean official. Companies including Korea National Oil Corp. may be able to develop oil fields with combined reserves of about 3 billion barrels in the Kurdish-controlled region of Iraq, under an initial agreement with Iraqi Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.