Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Fannie Mae(FNM), the largest U.S. mortgage- finance company, ``should get through'' the housing slump without having to raise more capital, according to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Fannie ended the second quarter with $14 billion of core capital above its minimum requirement and $9 billion above its temporary 15 percent surplus requirement, Lehman analyst Bruce Harting in New York wrote today in a note to clients.
- MBIA Inc.(MBI) rose the most in seven months after the company agreed to reinsure $184 billion in municipal bonds for Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., winning new business after losing its top AAA rating.
- The US dollar rebounded from the lowest level against the euro this week as the U.S. economy expanded in the second quarter faster than previously estimated and crude oil prices decreased. The pound dropped to near a record low against the euro and depreciated versus the dollar as house prices in Britain fell this month at the fastest annual pace in almost 20 years. The decline in crude oil pushed Canada's dollar down the most in almost three weeks.
- Copper fell after inventories monitored by the London Metal Exchange jumped to the highest in six months, easing supply concerns. Stockpiles gained 2,200 metric tons, or 1.3 percent, to 170,500 tons today, the highest since Feb. 6. Before today, copper dropped 5.9 percent this month as inventories gained 18 percent.
- Crude oil fell more than $2 a barrel after the International Energy Agency said it would tap strategic stockpiles, if needed, because of Tropical Storm Gustav. Prices also fell because U.S. stockpiles of natural gas, a competing fuel, increased more than analysts forecast. Supplies rose 102 billion cubic feet to 2.757 trillion cubic feet last week, the U.S. Energy Department said today. A gain of 84 billion was expected, according to a Bloomberg News survey. ``This is a really bearish natural gas number,'' said Kyle Cooper, an analyst at IAF Advisors in Houston.
- Wheat fell for the fifth straight session on signs that demand from the U.S., the world's largest exporter of the grain, has waned after the price rallied in the first three weeks of August. ``Our export sales are going to fall off the map because we're too high,'' said Darrell Holaday, the president of Advanced Market Concepts in Manhattan, Kansas. ``Why would you buy from us? The only thing we can do is get the price down to be competitive.''
- Google Inc.(GOOG) will proceed with a partnership to provide advertising on Yahoo! Inc.'s Internet search results by early October, Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said.
- Tiffany & Co.(TIF) rose as much as 12 percent in New York trading after the luxury jewelry maker posted second-quarter profit than nearly doubled and forecast higher annual earnings.
- Eastern Europe's economic outlook is deteriorating and the risk of a ``hard landing'' accompanied by an exchange rate crisis somewhere in the region is ``significant and rising,'' Fitch Ratings said. Average growth in the region may slow to a six-year low of 5.8 percent this year, from 6.9 percent in 2007, and weaken further to 5.3 percent in 2009, Fitch said in a report titled Emerging Europe Faces Testing Outlook today.

Wall Street Journal:
- In a sign of increasing concern about cheating, the nation's top business schools will soon require a high-tech identity check for standardized admissions tests.
- Congress hasn't yet passed any one of the 12 appropriations bills needed to fund the government when the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. And Congress isn't likely to pass them through both houses and get them to the president before leaving town.
- "There are no winners from this conflict" was the public verdict of Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, on his country's war with Georgia. But what about OAO Gazprom, the Kremlin-controlled energy company? The longer-term result of the war will probably be that European governments try to reduce their dependence on Russian energy and that will damage Gazprom stock’s attractiveness as an investment.

The Washington Post:
- Russia's conflict with Georgia is the sign of a "weak" Russian nation, not a newly assertive one, and Moscow now has put its place in the world order at risk, the top U.S. diplomat for relations with the country said in an interview yesterday.

KTIC Radio:
- Internet giant Yahoo(YHOO) is eyeing an Omaha suburb as the location for some of its operations. The company recently applied for the biggest slate of state tax breaks available in Nebraska to help set up some operations in La Vista.

FINalternatives:
- Hedge fund manager Mark Boucher has settled a suit with the Securities and Exchange Commission that accused him of misleading investors in his real estate investments. Boucher, who is also the author of the book “The Hedge Fund Edge,” agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and to refrain from acting as an investment adviser for five years.

Reuters:
- The Inspector General for the U.S. commodity-futures regulator has officially begun an investigation into an inter-agency report on commodity markets, the Wall Street Journal said citing a person close to the matter.
- Two million Britons may be out of work by Christmas and big cuts in interest rates are needed now to stop the economy heading into a deep and prolonged slump, Bank of England policymaker David Blanchflower told Reuters. In an interview on Thursday, Blanchflower said the Bank could no longer be complacent because the economy was already shrinking and a rate cut of more than 25 basis points was probably needed. He said his own forecast earlier this year that house prices could fall by 30 percent was looking optimistic and that the jobless total could spike higher as construction companies and banks lay off workers.

Valor Economico:
- Brazil’s economy is showing signs of slower economic growth and so it’s not the right time to take more steps to curb the country’s credit expansion, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said. The central bank considered measures to reduce the pace of Brazil’s credit growth, which the finance minister called “excessive,” but decided to raise rates instead, Mantega said.

AFP:
- Moqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shiite Muslim religious leader, suspended fighting by his Mahdi Army militia. The militia, which has as many as 60,000 members, will cease operations “indefinitely,” citing a statement issued by al-Sadr today.

Aftenposten:
- Norway has joined Switzerland in opening up for talks with terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. That doesn't mean Norway is going soft on the fight against terrorism, though, said the country's deputy foreign minister.

Xinhua News:
- Finished home sales in China fell 17.8% from January through July of this year.

Global Enerji:
- Turkey will import 1 million metric tons of fuel oil from Iraq each year that will be mixed with local output, citing Mehmet Uysal, the head of Turkish state oil company Turkiye Petrolleri AO. Turkiye Petrolleri has spent $1 billion exploring for oil off its Black Sea coast and plans to open at least seven wells in the next three years.