Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Wells Fargo & Co.(WFC), the second-biggest U.S. mortgage lender, rose the most since at least 1980 after reporting profit that topped analysts' estimates and raising its dividend.
- Mortgage applications in the U.S. rose for a third week, led by a gain in refinance applications as mortgage rates dropped.
- Industrial production in the U.S. rose more than forecast in June, led by a jump in production of autos and parts after the end of a supplier strike.
- Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.(CLF), North America's largest producer of iron ore, agreed to buy coal-mining company Alpha Natural Resources Inc. for $10 billion as demand surges for the ingredients used to make steel.
- Crude oil futures fell more than $4 a barrel in New York after a surprise increase in U.S. inventories and as a slowing U.S. economy sapped demand for energy. Supplies rose 2.95 million barrels to 296.9 million barrels last week, an Energy Department report showed. Stockpiles were forecast to drop 2.2 million barrels, according a Bloomberg News survey. Fuel demand averaged 20.3 million barrels a day in the past four weeks, down 2 percent from 2007, the department said. ``This report is very bearish both in the absolute numbers and in light of the expectations,'' said Kyle Cooper, an analyst at IAF Advisors in Houston.
- Some Federal Reserve policy makers in June said an increase in the benchmark U.S. lending rate ``would be appropriate very soon,'' minutes released in Washington today showed.
- The dollar increased the most against the euro in almost two weeks as declining crude oil prices and better-than-estimated earnings at Wells Fargo & Co. pushed U.S. equities higher.
- U.K. unemployment jumped the most in June since the aftermath of the last recession in 1992 as the economic slowdown forced housebuilders and banks to cut jobs and stop hiring.
- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.(LEH), the securities firm shaken by speculation it's losing clients, ranked highest among fixed-income dealers by market share and service quality, according to a Greenwich Associates survey.
- China needs to stick with a “tight” monetary policy and a “prudent” fiscal policy to cool excessive price increases, state radio reported, citing the legislature’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee. Inflation is still a prominent problem, China National Radio reported, citing a statement by the committee after it met with the central bank, the statistics bureau and the top economic planning agency.
- William Ackman, the activist hedge- fund manager, increased his $2 billion bet on Target Corp.(TGT) as shares of the second-largest U.S. discount retailer declined 38 percent in the past year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

Wall Street Journal:
- Spain Girds for More Pain as Housing Stalls. Supply Glut Coupled With Recession Fears Prolong Slowdown.

NY Times:
- A US envoy will attend a meeting where an Iranian negotiator will give his country’s formal response to economic and diplomatic incentives six countries offered for the suspension of its uranium-enrichment program. William Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, will attend a July 19 meeting in Geneva arranged by the EU with Iran’s nuclear negotiator. Burns will be the highest level official to meet with an Iranian official since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
- Massachusetts officials expect to gain millions of dollars in revenue as gay couples come to the state to marry. About 32,200 couples will travel to Massachusetts to wed over the next three years, creating 330 permanent jobs and adding $111 million to the economy from weddings and tourism.

CNNMoney.com:
- Goldman Sachs (GS) has kept its hands clean the credit crisis, but now the firm may have to wallow in the mud with the rest of its peers. The Wall Street Journal reports that some pointed questions are being asked of Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfien by none other than Alan Schwartz, who was at the helm of Bear Stearns when it died in March. Schwartz would like to know whether there is any truth to talk that in the days preceding Bear’s fall, Goldman traders in London were manipulating the struggling firm’s stock. Back in 1998, the firm’s traders were accused of hammering positions taken by hedge fund Long Term Capital Management as it went belly up. Lehman Bros. (LEH) CEO Dick Fuld piled on too. “You’re not going to like this conversation,” Fuld told Blankfein, according to the Journal. Fuld was reportedly hearing “a lot of noise” about Goldman traders allegedly spreading negative rumors about Lehman, whose stock has been dropping like a stone. Fuld has reportedly spent the last few months contacting traders he thinks may have been bad-mouthing Lehman. Goldman Sachs was one of the most active parties in trading securities known as credit default swaps that it had bought from or sold to Bear Stearns — more than most other Bear trading partners.

Houston Chronicle:
- While home prices in other big cities continue to take their lumps, the Houston area is holding its own. The median home price reached a high point in June, rising 1.3 percent to a record $162,000, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.

MilitaryTimes:
- Iraq surge over, evaluation period begins.

Reuters:
- AOL talks with Microsoft(MSFT) and Yahoo(YHOO) heat up.

Die Zeit:
- The US Treasury will continue to “monitor markets very closely and do all that’s necessary” to ensure financial-market stability, Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt said.

La Repubblica:
- King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said oil prices are too high and that price stability should be a shared objective of consumers and producers, citing an interview with the monarch. “When the price of oil rose above $100 a barrel, we were already contrary, let alone now that there’s talk of $200 a barrel,” he said.