Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- US financial markets have shown a “pronounced turnaround” since March, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said today. The worse is over for the credit crisis, or will be soon, and there’s now a “reduced possibility” of a deep recession, Greenspan said.
- BlackRock Inc.(BLK), the largest publicly traded fund manager in the US, bought Lehman Brothers(LEH) shares this week and remains optimistic about the company’s prospects, a BlackRock executive said.
- The US dollar headed for its biggest weekly gain in more than three years against the euro on speculation officials from the G-8 meeting over the weekend will signal they favor a stronger US currency.
- The rally that drove oil to a record $139.12 a barrel last week surpassed the gains in the Internet stocks that preceded the dot-com crash in 2000. Crude rose 697% since trading at $17.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in November 2001, and reached 28 record highs this year. The last time a similar pattern was seen in equities was eight years ago, when Internet-related stocks sent the Nasdaq Composite Index up 640% to its highest level ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Bespoke Investment Group. The Nasdaq tumbled 78% form its March 2000 peak. “There’s nothing different between this mania, the dot-com mania, the real estate mania, the Dow Jones mania of the 1920s, the South Sea bubble and the Dutch tulip-bulb mania,” said Stephen Schork, of the Schork Group, whose firms advises OPEC, Wall Street firms and oil companies on the outlook for energy prices. “History repeats itself over and over again,” he said. Investors, including pension funds, added about $250 billion to commodity index trading strategies since 2003. Commodity index traders account for about 40% of the open interest, or outstanding contracts, in the 12 agricultural commodities for which the CFTC reports data, according to Bianco Research. Investors plowed $199 billion into mutual funds dedicated to US equities during the 10-month stretch leading up to the bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000, including $36.5 billion in February of that year.
- The UK will demand disclosure of short selling in rights offerings and may restrict investors from borrowing the stocks after plunging share prices hampered banks’ attempts to increase capital.
- Google Inc.(GOOG) will get a profit boost of 15 cents a share next year from the advertising agreement struck with Yahoo!(YHOO) yesterday, Merrill Lynch(MER) said.
- Bruce McCain, head of investment strategy at Key Private Bank, which oversees $30 billion says US stock market to improve in fall. (video)
- Senators Dianne Feinstein and Ted Stevens introduced legislation that aims to limit speculation in oil markets and deflate record prices. “It is becoming clear that rampant speculation in energy markets by institutional investors may be driving up the price of oil and gas,” Feinstein said. “It’s time to level the playing field, and require position limits for all speculators.” The legislation would require the CFTC to review trading practices of institutional investors, such as pension funds and endowments, and impose limits on how much those investors can hold in a given market.
- Lead fell in London, heading for a fourth week of losses in London, after stockpiles of the metal jumped the most in seven months. “The fundamentals are clearly fairly poor and getting worse day-by-day” Dan Smith, an analyst at Standard Chartered Plc, said.
- Ireland vetoed the European Union’s new governing treaty, casting a pall over efforts to forge a more united Europe.
- Crude oil fell as Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said record prices are “unjustified” and the state oil company signaled it may soon start pumping from a new field.
- General Electric(GE), whose shares neared a five-year low today partly on concern it may need to pump cash into its finance units, repeated that no outside infusion is needed to keep its AAA credit rating.
- India’s inflation accelerated to a seven-year high on soaring commodities and energy prices, stock speculation the central bank will increase interest rates next month. Wholesale prices jumped 8.75% in the week to May 31, after gaining 8.24% in the previous week, the government said.

Wall Street Journal:
- The NYSE is planning to unveil a series of proposed new rules Friday in an effort to turn around its falling market share.
- The rising cost of shipping everything from industrial-pump parts to lawn-mower batteries to living-room sofas is forcing some manufacturers to bring production back to North America and freeze plans to send work overseas.

NY Times:
- Media Charged With Sexism in Clinton Coverage. Angered by what they consider sexist news coverage of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, many women and erstwhile Clinton supporters are proposing boycotts of the cable networks, putting up videos on a “Media Hall of Sham,” starting a national conversation about sexism and pushing Mrs. Clinton’s rival, Senator Barack Obama, to address the matter.
- Companies traditionally get loans from banks, but with so many lenders stretched and with credit so tight these days, businesses are turning to what might seem like an unlikely source for cash: hedge funds.

CNBC.com:
- Hedge Fund Bubble to Burst? (video)

Financial Times:
- UK retail market ‘worst since early 1990s’
- Argentine debt surge raises specter of default.

Shanghai Securities News:
- China’s currency regulator may boost controls on trade credit to stem capital inflows that bet on yuan gains.

Middle East Economic Survey:
- Saudi Arabia is likely to propose a “sizable” increase in oil production at a June 22 meeting with consumers to lower prices. Current oil prices threaten the global economy and hurt the long-term interests of oil producers, Ibrahim al-Muhanna, an adviser to Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, said. The “majority” of additional production would come from Saudi Arabia’s 500,000 barrel-a-day Khursaniyah oil field, which is expected to come on stream soon.