Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The cost of protecting companies from default fell to the lowest in more than two weeks after the U.S. Treasury sought authority from Congress to buy stakes in Fannie Mae(FNM) and Freddie Mac(FRE), the nation's two biggest mortgage lenders. Credit-default swaps on the Markit iTraxx Europe index of 125 companies with investment-grade ratings fell 6.25 basis points to 97, the lowest since June 26, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. prices at 11:20 a.m. in London. Contracts on the Markit iTraxx Japan index dropped 8 basis points to close at 132, Morgan Stanley prices show.
- Corn fell to a one-month low and soybeans declined as a favorable mix of sunshine and rain may boost crop conditions in the U.S. Midwest, easing concern that June flooding will cut production.
- President George W. Bush said today he's lifting a presidential ban on drilling for oil and natural gas on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, setting up a showdown with Congress over a separate ban it put in place in the 1980s. ``Today I've taken every step within my power to allow offshore exploration of the OCS,'' Bush said in a statement at the White House. ``This means the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action by the U.S. Congress.''
- Freddie Mac(FRE) received higher-than- average demand for its $3 billion of short-term notes as the U.S. Treasury's rescue plan buoyed confidence the government will back the company's debt.
- Apple Inc.(AAPL) sold 1 million of its new iPhones in the first three days after the handset made its debut, more than double what some analysts anticipated, sending the stock up 3.5 percent.
- European industrial production fell the most in almost 16 years in May, as the euro's gain against the dollar, soaring energy costs and cooling global growth weighed on the region's largest economies.

Wall Street Journal:
- In a milestone for the fast-changing business of trading on Wall Street, the Nasdaq Stock Market eclipsed the NYSE on Friday in the number of shares traded for NYSE-listed stocks.
- No Reason to Panic About Fannie Mae(FNM), Says Wallison.

NY Times:
- Hedge Funds Show Obama the Money.

Daily Telegraph:
- UK advertising budgets are being cut at the fastest rate since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as retail spending slows, citing a quarterly survey by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. Every advertising medium except the Internet is experiencing reductions.

The Scotsman:
- Scottish companies are shedding jobs at the fastest rate in more than five years as they battle an “uneasy combination” of weaker activity and higher inflation, experts will warn today. The findings of the influential report from the Royal Bank of Scotland show output across the service and manufacturing sectors falling at the sharpest pace on record.

Irish Times:
- Construction in Ireland contracted at a record rate in June.

Korea Economic Daily:
- South Korea plans to invest $11.9 billion in alternative energy by 2012 to reduce its dependence on crude oil. The country will spend a further $15 billion on renewable energy, including solar and wind power, from 2013 to 2018.

Middle East Economic Survey:
- OPEC will tomorrow say demand for its own crude oil in 2009 will be less than its forecast for 2008. The 13-member OPEC will say in its July 15 Monthly Oil Market Report that the call on its crude next year will be 500,000 barrels a day less than the corresponding figure for 2008. Keeping OPEC’s production at the current level of 32.2 million barrels a day would increase global crude inventories at a rate of 800,000 barrels a day in 2009, according to MEES.