Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Boeing Co.(BA) deserves another chance to bid on the $35 billion US Air Force aerial-tanker contract won by rival Northrop Grumman(NOC), a government agency said.
- Brazilian central bank President Henrique Meirelles said policy makers are on the lookout for increases in consumer prices and are ready to raise interest rates further if their inflation target is threatened.
- New York Times(NYT) said advertising revenue at its newspapers and their Web sites dropped 13% in May, the biggest monthly drop this year.
- Crude oil’s “bull run” may be over as prices become increasingly volatile and Saudi Arabia pledged to boost supplies, according to JPMorgan Chase(JPM). Spare production capacity may reach 5 million barrels a day by 2010, similar to levels in 2002 to 2003, when oil was $30 a barrel, the analysts said.
- Crude oil is surging more than $2/bbl. as historic investment fund speculation for the commodity continues unabated, despite a smaller-than-expected weekly US oil inventory drawdown and a rise in the US dollar.

Wall Street Journal:
- China’s investment-banking market is about to become increasingly crowded. After a two-year hiatus, regulators are opening the way for global banks to set up joint ventures and allow them to expand their businesses in the country.
- EU Rethinks Farm Subsides, Seeks More Production. With global food prices and arable land in short supply, the EU finds itself at loggerheads over how to overhaul a subsidy system that frequently pays landowners not to grow crops.
- A new exchange-traded note is attempting to break new ground by employing a sophisticated strategy popular with hedge-fund investors: using short-selling and stock selection in an effort to outperform the market. In late May, JPMorgan Chase(JPM) teamed up with asset manager First Trust Advisors on an ETN that uses a so-called 130/30 strategy.

NY Times:
- Michelle Obama Seeks New Introduction After Stumbles.

CNBC.com:
- The economy of California, the most populous US state, will remain weak this year as the downturn in its housing market persists, but strong exports and agricultural activity will help offset that drag, according to a UCLA Anderson report. “Though you still hear talk of recession these days, it does appear that California will not exhibit the type of job loss that typically goes with a national recession,” the report said. "We are looking for a 2008 growth rate of 1.5 percent in personal income after adjusting for inflation. Not a barn burner, but not bad in a slow economy," the report said. "Most of that growth will take place later in the year. Through 2009 the growth rate will increase towards more normal trend levels." "Suffice it to say, the housing market has yet to hit the affordability bottom, an event we think will occur before year end," their report said. "When that happens, home prices and mortgage interest rates will once again stimulate the demand for housing, though not nearly to the extent we have seen in recent years."

MarketWatch.com:
- President Bush called for the lifting of a ban on offshore oil drilling on Wednesday, touting it as a way to boost US oil production as Americans suffer from high and rising gasoline prices and echoing an identical proposal made Tuesday by Republican presidential contender John McCain. "For many Americans, there is no more pressing concern than the price of gasoline," Bush said at the White House, laying out a four-part plan including allowing drilling off of U.S. coasts. A majority of Americans -- 57% -- support opening up new territories to drilling, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Washington Post:
- The campaigns of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama on Tuesday engaged in a heated exchange over the rights of terrorism suspects, with each side accusing the other of embracing a policy that would put the country at risk of more attacks in the future.

USA Today:
- The Air Force is expected to double patrols of armed drones in Iraq and Afghanistan to help save more lives.

Hedgeweek:
- Net hedge fund industry inflows slumped to $2.62 billion during the first quarter. Combined with a new performance loss of some $36 billion, this resulted in estimated assets falling to $1.75 trillion at the end of March.

Morningstar.com:
- Sharp increases in commodity prices may be due to pension-fund investors, not speculators, NYSE Euronext(NYX) CEO Duncan Niederauer said. Pension funds have made commodities a part of their investment portfolios and are investing in them regularly, Niederauer said in response to questions after a speech to the National Press Club. "Frankly, that completely alters the supply and demand for these commodities," he commented. "I think that's what's driving it."

Advertising Age:
- Consumers will spend five hours a day watching videos on mobile phones, televisions and computers by 2013, an increase of 25% from 2008, citing a study by Forrester Research.

Reuters:
- The video game industry is expected to shoot from $41.9 billion in global sales last year to $68.3 billion in 2012, a compound annual growth rate of 10.3% and better than all other media sectors except for online advertising and access.

Ottawacitizen:
- Today we are told the era of cheap energy -- cheap oil in particular -- has passed. Again. And this time we are told it ain't ever coming back. The more excitable doomsayers foresee the end of the world as we know it -- whether due to gentle decline or apocalyptic collapse. I don't buy it. The history of civilization is the history of people running into walls and figuring out how to climb over, go around or tunnel under. We are an inventive species.

Xinhua:
- Inflation in Russia may reach 12% this year, some one percentage point higher than the previous official forecast, a Russian Central Bank Official said.

Khaleej Times:
- UAE’s inflation soared to a 20-year high of 11.1% in 2007, exceeding estimates made by various official sources and global research agencies. According to latest estimates, with no end sight for the easing of rents that had shot up 17.5 per cent last year, coupled with skyrocketing food and fuel prices, inflation would be headed for another record surge in 2008, even beyond 12 per cent despite serious efforts initiated by the Ministry of Economy to contain inflation at five per cent this year.