Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Amgen Inc.(AMGN), with more cash than all but two U.S. pharmaceutical industry rivals, will compete with Pfizer Inc. and other large drugmakers to snatch up distressed biotechnology companies at bargain prices. Amgen, the world's largest biotechnology company, has $9.76 billion in cash and marketable securities, according to Bloomberg data. The company is seeking ``attractive opportunities'' in the ``challenging environment for biotech companies needing to raise cash,'' said David Polk, a spokesman, in a Nov. 3 e-mail. The comments follow similar pledges last month by Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Wyeth.

- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is considering taking stakes in non-bank financial companies after already allocating $250 billion for government investments in banks, two people briefed on the matter said.

- CSFB cut its oil forecast for 2009 to $60 from $75/bbl.

- A rising threat of inflation earlier this year ``froze in its tracks'' in recent months as the credit crisis worsened, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said. Plunging commodity prices, including a 55 percent decline in the cost of oil since July, have eased inflation pressures. ``I don't believe we are likely to have sustainable deflationary impulses,'' Fisher told reporters after his speech.

- Contracts on the Markit CDX North America Investment Grade Index of 125 companies in the US and Canada decreased 10 basis points to 188, according to Phoenix Partners Group. The Markit iTraxx Europe Index of 125 companies with investment-grade ratings declined 10 basis points to 135, JPMorgan prices show.

- Surging prices for oil, copper, gold and corn sent commodities rallying as a U.S. Election-Day plunge in the dollar boosted the appeal of raw materials as a hedge against inflation. Speculation that Democratic candidate, Senator Barack Obama, who leads national polls, will win against Republican John McCain helped send the dollar lower and lift commodity and equity markets. ``With the Democrats, there's the assumption of the potential of more inflation, given their spending plans,'' said William O'Neill, a partner at Logic Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

- Chicago is bracing itself for Barack Obama's hometown election-night rally. The event scheduled for Grant Park, known as the city's front yard, may draw as many as 1 million people, Mayor Richard M. Daley said. Officials are hoping for a peaceful gathering, while preparing for possible violence that could further tarnish Chicago, which has the highest murder rate among the country's biggest cities.

- Democrats have been pushing for months a second economic stimulus package worth at least $100 billion. Now that will only be a down payment. Lawmakers are facing growing calls from a measure that would dwarf the $168 billion economic stimulus package signed into law in February and the $175 billion measure Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has called for.

- The cost of borrowing dollars for one month in London fell to the lowest level in almost four years as central-bank cash injections and interest-rate cuts worldwide showed signs of thawing the freeze in lending. The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, that banks charge each other for such loans slid 18 basis points to 2.18 percent today, the lowest level since November 2004, and the 17th straight decline, according to British Bankers' Association data. The three-month rate dropped 15 basis points to 2.71 percent, the lowest level since June 9, according to BBA figures.

- Interest rates on U.S. commercial paper fell to the lowest in four years as Federal Reserve efforts to unlock short-term credit markets, including buying the debt directly from companies, showed signs of working. Interest rates on the highest-ranked 30-day commercial paper fell 0.27 percentage point to 1.74 percent, the lowest since Sept. 22, 2004, according to yields offered by companies and compiled by Bloomberg. Yields on 90-day paper fell 0.06 percentage point to a three-month low of 2.62 percent.

Wall Street Journal:

- Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama joined voters eager to cast ballots on Tuesday before making one last pitch for supporters to turn out for their historic presidential contest.

- Big iron-ore miners, in a swift reversal of fortune, are privately bracing for significant price cuts in coming contract negotiations with the world's steelmakers as demand for autos, construction infrastructure and appliances weakens. Although contracts won't be signed until next year, there are indications that steelmakers will be seeking prices 20% to 40% less than this year's levels from BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, popularly known as Vale. Together, these companies control about 75% of the world's iron-ore production.

- Pain in the market for convertible bonds is crippling big hedge funds and cutting off a key avenue of financing for many companies. This market, which has long welcomed businesses struggling to raise cash, is the latest to suffer from too much borrowing and faulty hedges, which came unwound in the recent turmoil. Overall, the $200 billion convertible-bond market has lost 36% so far this year, a bit more than the stock market, according to Merrill Lynch. But the average convertible-bond hedge fund has lost about 50% in that time, including a 35% plunge in October.

- Intel Corp.'s(INTC) next big shift in chip design is receiving strong early reviews from Web sites that test computer hardware.

- More than three-quarters of the world's largest hedge fund managers have lost money for their investors in the first nine months of the year as crisis deepens in the industry. None of the world's five largest managers' flagship funds has made money for the year to September, according to details supplied by investors. Of the 79 of the world's 100 largest hedge fund managers where Financial News has been able to obtain details, 61 of them, or 77%, have flagship funds that have lost money.

Washington Post.com:

- Study Links Violent Games, Hostility. Research in US, Japan Shows Aggression Increased for Months After Play.

Platts:
- Flight from hedge funds affects gas market, stocks. In the third quarter, investors pulled more than $31 billion from hedge funds, the largest net capital redemption in the industry's history, said Hedge Fund Research, a leading firm specializing in the analyzing hedge fund returns. HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, which is designed to represent the overall composition of the hedge fund universe, fell 6.9% in September and is off 15.19% year-to-date. Energy-related funds have posted even stiffer losses. The HFRI EH Energy/Basic Materials Index, which represents funds with a primary focus in energy or basic materials, fell 13.21% in September and is down 20.84% year-to-date. Gas market participants also have seen a sell-off from hedge fund traders who have been active in the futures and cash markets over the past few years. While CME Globex electronic trading has made it more difficult to identify who is trading what positions at what size, Ed Kennedy, vice president of energy trading at Hencorp, said the market looks like many of the funds are liquidating their trading positions as investors panic and flee to cash. "Open interest continues to decline," Kennedy said. "People are looking to get out of these hedge funds and mutual funds," Kennedy added. "It's huge what you're seeing here. It's overpowering the scaled-down buying by end-users," he said. Open interest - the number of long or short active positions held - in the prompt-month gas contract has declined about 100,000 since July according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Commitments of Traders reports. During the same period, the prompt month gas futures contract has plummeted about 55% from its July high of $13.577/MMBtu.

Reuters:
- Saudi Arabia has cut supplies to some customers “significantly” after last month’s OPEC meeting. The kingdom may have cut exports since August by as much as 900,000 barrels a day.

- Most Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production that remains shut after Hurricane Ike will be restored by one pipeline repair project expected to finish by March, a U.S. government official said on Tuesday.The repair will bring several deepwater platforms back on line at once, said Lars Herbst, Gulf region director for the U.S. Minerals Management Service."Once that ... pipeline system is repaired, all of that will come back on at one time, and that's at least half if not three-quarters of what's remaining shut in," he said.

Etemaad:
- Iran’s former President Mohammad Khatami criticized the economic policies of his successor, for failing to revive the economy.

Kargozaraan:

- Iran will face ‘big trouble’ if the price of oil falls below $60.60 a barrel for the next five months, citing Ramin Pashaifam, the central bank’s deputy for economic affairs. Pashaifam said that with oil at $60 a barrel, Iran will deplete its oil stabilization fund by the end of the Iranian year on March 20^th.