Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Google Inc.(GOOG), seeking to diversify beyond four-line text ads, is matching clients’ promotions with the most popular video clips on YouTube. The buzz-targeting program flags clips based on the number of viewers, users’ ratings and how many people tag them as a favorite, Google said. Almost 85 million people in the US watched a total of 4.3 billion videos on YouTube in March, ComScore said yesterday. Lions Gate Entertainment was the first client to use buss targeting to promote the movie “The Forbidden Kingdom,” which was released last month. The ads ran along with the top 500 YouTube videos in the music and entertainment category starting in March.
- Bernanke Says Fed to Boost Loans to Banks as Needed.
- Gold Drops Most in Two Weeks as Stronger US Dollar Curbs Demand.
- Crude oil is rising another $1.50/bbl. in NY, despite the IEA lowering global demand growth assumptions for oil and the Senate passing a bill to stop filling the SPR, as speculators continued to raise bets on the commodity on comments from Iran.
- Corn futures in Chicago fell for a third day as a government report showed planting of the US crop accelerated last week and on speculation drier weather forecast in the next several days will speed up sowing.
- As many as 60 people were killed and 200 injured as eight bombs exploded in the city of Jaipur, the capital of the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.
- Marijuana smokers who spend most of their time stoned are more likely to have higher levels of a protein that may raise risks of heart attack and stroke, scientists said.
- Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is considering mounting a proxy fight to take control of Yahoo! Inc. board seats.

Wall Street Journal:
- A new European Central Bank survey of bank lending in the euro currency zone suggests the global financial-market turmoil that started last summer is now taking a direct toll on corporate Europe.
- Emerging markets along Europe’s fringes are getting deeper into financial hot water as the global economy slows, raising the risk of market turmoil to come. Romania, Turkey, South Africa and Iceland have regularly reacted the most to bouts of risk aversion coursing through global markets.
- The U.S. Senate Tuesday approved an amendment that requires the government to temporarily halt filling the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to media reports.

MacRumors.com:
- 3G iPhone with GPS, Video Conferencing, TV?

Forbes.com:
- The IEA has slashed its 2008 oil product demand forecast again in its monthly report, this time by 390,000 barrels per day, and hinted at more cuts in the future. “European consumers are to a certain extent shielded form the rise in oil prices, due to the weak dollar and high tax rates, but higher prices are nonetheless weighing on demand,” said the IEA’s in-house analysts. As well, some countries are investigating the budgetary reality of sustaining subsidies. Although demand from fast growing economies such as China and the Middle East will remain strong in the short-term, that looks unlikely to outweigh such falls from elsewhere. Clear evidence of a seasonal stock build would help, said the IEA. OPEC could kick-start the process by giving at least a clear indication that it will rapidly provide more oil if stocks do not build in the very near future. An even more powerful signal would be to provide more oil now, the IEA said.

AP:
- The US Marine Corps, Army, Navy and Air Force each met or exceeded their monthly recruiting goals in April. The Marine Corps signed 142% of the number it sought, enlisting 2,233 recruits against a goal of 1,577. That puts the corps on course to reach its goal of growing to 202,000 by the end of 2009, more than a year ahead of schedule.

KUNA:
- Kuwait, the fourth-largest oil producer in OPEC, will boost production capacity to 3 million barrels a day within a year from 2.6 million at present, citing Kuwait Oil Company Chairman Sami al-Rushaid.

Fars:
- Iran is reviewing a proposal to reduce its crude oil production, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.