Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(GS), the only firm among Wall Street's five biggest to remain profitable through the credit crisis, will shed about 3,200 workers, or 10 percent of its staff, as the revenue outlook worsens, according to a person briefed on the plans who declined to be identified.

- Developing nations' borrowing costs neared a six-year high after Standard & Poor's threatened to cut Russia's debt ratings as the global credit crisis deepened. The extra yield investors demand to own emerging-market government bonds instead of U.S. Treasuries surged 55 basis points, or 0.55 percentage point, to 8.57 percentage points, the biggest since November 2002, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s EMBI+ index.

- Crude oil rose from a 16-month low as OPEC's president said that members had reached a consensus on the need to trim production and Iran said the cut may be as much as 2 million barrels a day.

- New York Times Co.(NYT), the third- largest U.S. newspaper publisher, will consider cutting its dividend after reporting a loss on severance costs and a steeper drop in advertising sales.

- Gold fell to a 13-month low in London as the dollar strengthened and fund investors liquidated their holdings across most commodities. Platinum also declined. The euro fell to the lowest in almost two years against the dollar, while the pound traded near its lowest in more than five years.

Wall Street Journal:

- The Bush administration is weighing a roughly $40 billion proposal to help forestall foreclosures, one of a series of ideas under consideration designed to address the root causes of the financial crisis.

- Sankaty Advisors LLC, the credit fund of private-equity firm Bain Capital LLC, has lost between 40% and 50% in two funds that had about $4 billion in assets.

- Fortress Investment Group has had a final closing of $3 billion for Fortress Credit Opportunities Fund LP, a significant jump from the $2 billion Fortress set out to raise when it came to market in February, said people familiar with the matter.

- If Barack Obama wins Nov. 4, it’s the pharma industry that stands to take the biggest hit, according to Boston Consulting Group. Its analysis concludes that Obama’s plan to let the federal government negotiate Medicare drug prices could cut industry revenues by a whopping $10 billion to $30 billion.

NY Times:
- Monsanto Co.(MON), the biggest agricultural biotech company, and scientists in the US and other countries are attempting to develop crops that need less water to supply growing demand for food. Monsanto plans to deliver its first drought-tolerant corn within four years.

- Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. seldom see each other as they campaign for the Democratic ticket. And they talk only occasionally. But on Wednesday, Mr. Obama delivered a long-distance message to his running mate. “I think Joe sometimes engages in rhetorical flourishes,” Mr. Obama said, gently chiding the vice-presidential nominee as he sought to sweep aside a dustup Mr. Biden touched off when he predicted that a world crisis would test Mr. Obama during his first six months in office.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
- Two veteran warriors battling to represent the 12th Congressional District appear locked in the closest race in the district in years. Democratic Rep. John Murtha leads retired Army Lt. Col. William Russell by a little more than 4 percentage points, within the Susquehanna Poll's 4.9-point margin of error. The poll of 400 likely voters was conducted for the Tribune-Review on Tuesday, amid uproar over Murtha's statement that some of his constituents are racist.

Business Week:

- Gold price plummets again as hedge funds rush for the exits.

Daily Telegraph:

- Thousands of hedge funds are on the brink of failure as the global economy contracts with unexpected severity, according to the chief executive of GLG, Europe's biggest hedge fund.