Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, facing congressional scrutiny over his agency’s response to Bear Stearns’ brush with bankruptcy, said the SEC succeeded in protecting consumers.
- Fed Bank President Timothy Geithner said capital markets are still substantially impaired and policy makers and financial industry leaders must act forcefully to stem the crisis.
- The cost of protecting corporate bonds from default declined to the lowest in almost two months after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke eased investor concern of possible bank failures. Credit-default swaps on the benchmark Markit iTraxx Crossover Index dropped 17 basis points to 507, according to JPMorgan(JPM).
- Democratic congressional leaders spit today over whether Senate legislation designed to reduce housing foreclosures does enough to aid homeowners.
- The resilience of the US economy in the face of a devastated housing sector and a financial crisis is amazing. The severe recession some have predicted is still nowhere in sight. The odds are at least 50-50 that the current period of economic weakness won’t be labeling as even a mild recession.
- The market for short-term debt backed by assets such as car loans, credit card receivables and mortgages rose as investors pumped a record $3.51 trillion into US money-market mutual funds.
- iPhone Frenzy in Russia Fueled by Smugglers, Jeweler.
- Oil Falls on Concern US Supplies Are Rising as Economy Slows.

Wall Street Journal:
- The US Fed put staff members on site at five of the biggest brokerage firms to review their finances. The staffers are at Goldman Sachs(GS), Morgan Stanley(MS), Lehman Brothers(LEH), Merrill Lynch(MER) and Bear Stearns(BSC).
- It may be time to get back into cable stocks.

Financial Times:
- HBOS Plc, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, estimates that the number of UK home sales may decline as much as 30% this year, citing Finance Director Mike Ellis.

Interfax:
- Russians spent as much as $2.1 billion shopping online last year, citing President-elect Dmitry Medvedev.

Market News Intl.:
- European Central Bank council member Nicholas Garganas said inflation may start to slow in the first half of this year and drop below 2% in 2009, citing an interview.

Nikkei:
- Merrill Lynch(MER) CEO Thain said the securities firm doesn’t need to raise additional capital, citing an interview.