Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The Federal Reserve, struggling to contain a crisis of confidence in credit markets, will for the first time lend Treasuries in exchange for debt that includes mortgage-backed securities.
- The International Energy Agency cut its forecast for 2008 global oil demand for a second month as prices above $100/bbl. slow consumption in some parts of the world economy.
- One in four teenage girls in the US had at least one common sexually transmitted disease, according to the first national study to assess combined rates of the most common STDs among young women.
- MasterCard said US gasoline demand is down 3.7% from year-ago levels.
- Hovnanian Enterprises(HOV), New Jersey’s biggest homebuilder, rose as much as 19% after reaching an agreement with banks on new lending terms.
- A person close to investor Joesph Lewis, who purchased a 9.6% stake in Bear Stearns(BSC) in December, said he may increase his stake in the company.
- Spreads on credit-default swaps tied to 25 of the safest commercial mortgage securities on the Markit CMBX index fell 28 basis points to 255 basis points after the Fed said it would lend up to $200 billion in exchange for mortgage-backed securities.
- Yields on agency mortgage-backed securities relative to US Treasuries narrowed after the Fed move.
- Crude oil rose to another record, climbing above $109/bbl. despite a rise in the US dollar, as historic investment fund speculation for the commodity continues unabated.
- Washington Mutual(WM) rose the most in almost eight years on speculation that Warren Buffett and Goldman Sachs(GS) may invest in the company.
- Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management Ltd. plans to close its main Global Equity Fund to new money as assets are close to a $5 billion target.
- Google(GOOG) Closes DoubleClick Purchase After EU Approval.

Wall Street Journal:
- Exxon Mobil(XOM) wants a piece of the hybrid-car market.
- Amid Water Shortage, Australia Looks to the Sea. Opened in late 2006, Perth’s $360 million desalination plant sucks in roughly 50,000 gallons of the Indian Ocean every minute. It then runs the water through special filters that separate out the salt, yielding some 25,000 gallons of drinkable water – enough to meet nearly a fifth of Perth’s current demand.
- Europe should set up procedures to prepare for the failure of a bank with a business that crosses national borders, according to a group of European business professors.
- Eads Pushes Ahead With US Business Expansion Plan.
- New York Democrat Governor Eliot Spitzer may resign as soon as today following reports linking him to a prostitution ring, citing a person close to the governor.

NY Times:
- General Electric’s(GE) NBC Universal and News Corp.’s(NWS/A) Fox network are to start a joint venture which will allow users to view television shows and films free of charge.
- Columbia University to Offer Financial Aid to More Students.
- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is named in an e-mail disclosed in the fraud trial of Antoin Rezko.
- Spitzer’s ‘Private Matter’ Was a Betrayal of Public.

LA Times:
- UCLA experts say US recession unlikely.

Reuters:
- The stainless steel industry is trying to cut nickel usage in its production process.
- NetApp Inc., a data storage equipment maker, on Tuesday forecast that fiscal year 2009 revenue will climb 15-20% from the prior fiscal period.