Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The cost of shipping Middle East oil to Asia, the world’s busiest route for supertankers, may drop because of slowing demand. Refineries hired 84 very large crude carriers, or VLCCs, to load in November, according to a report today from Paris-based shipbroker Barry Rogliano Salles. They had booked 101 for October loadings by this time last month and the average so far this year has been more than 104 a month.

- The cost of protecting against a default by Russia soared after the central bank increased the ruble's trading band and lifted its benchmark interest rate to stem record capital outflows. Credit-default swaps on Russian government bonds jumped to 7.82 percent of the amount insured from 6.14 percent yesterday, according to CMA Datavision prices. The yield on its 30-year dollar bonds increased to 10.47 percent from 9.1 percent, according to Bloomberg prices. The central bank's widening of its ruble target against a basket of dollars and euros by 1 percent yesterday ``achieved nothing'' and cost almost $7 billion of the nation's foreign- currency reserves, according to analysts at Renaissance Capital. Russia joins Hungary, Iceland and Pakistan among a handful of central banks raising interest rates to stem currency losses, as the rest of the world cuts the benchmarks to spur lending.

- The cost of hedging against losses on debt sold by Dubai and Abu Dhabi rose on investor concern a worsening real estate market and plunging stock values will make it more expensive for the Gulf emirates to borrow. Credit-default swaps linked to Dubai jumped 100 basis points to 700, according to Standard Chartered Plc, and Abu Dhabi climbed 45 to 230 basis points, CMA Datavision prices show. The prospect of a collapse in Dubai’s real estate market prompted a pledge of support yesterday from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank Chief Executive Officer Eirvin Knox. Dubai may need help to finance a surge in borrowing that paid for the world’s tallest tower, palm tree-shaped man-made islands and stakes in banks worldwide, Moody’s Investors Service said.

- Secret stashes of aluminum hoarded by speculators and smelters may cripple the chance of a recovery in prices for producers such as Rio Tinto Group and United Co. Rusal for another year, according to Tiberius Asset Management AG. “We have been taken by surprise by the size of surpluses,” Tiberius analyst Thomas Benedix wrote yesterday. “We now suspect that aluminum is a metal which producers and speculators were hoarding in exceptionally large, ‘hidden’ inventories, which are now finding their way back onto the major exchanges.” Tiberius manages about $1 billion in commodity investments.

- Crude oil fell to the lowest since March 2007 on speculation that the International Energy Agency will cut its global demand estimate tomorrow and the U.S. will report that stockpiles gained.

- President-elect Barack Obama will act quickly on climate change upon taking office in January, his environment adviser said, and may also continue with some of the policies initiated by his predecessor, George W. Bush.

- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson plans to use the second half of the $700 billion financial rescue program to help relieve pressures on consumer credit, scrapping an effort to buy devalued mortgage assets.

Wall Street Journal:

- US Bancorp(USB), Buoyed By Federal Cash, Thinks Expansion.

NY Times:
- Oklahoma to Debut New Ambulance Siren You Can Feel.

CNNMoney.com:

- Ospraie in a corner. Dwight Anderson built a $9 billion hedge fund empire betting on volatile commodities markets. His world came undone this summer.

The Industry Standard:

- New Regulations Will Soon Swell IT Workloads.

Business Week:

- HedgeFund.net released its Q3 2008 hedge fund asset flow estimates and preliminary October hedge fund performance estimates. HFN estimates total assets in single manager funds fell 16% in Q3 2008 to $2.497 trillion. Performance losses during Q3 accounted for $347.5 billion of the reduction and investor redemptions and liquidations accounted for an additional $128 billion outflow. Investor redemptions alone accounted for an estimated $117.3 billion outflow, by far the largest on record.

ESPN.com

- One person who won't be swayed by President-elect Barack Obama's recent call for an eight-team national college football playoff is Oregon president David Frohnmayer, chair of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee.

Press TV:

- Iran’s Parliament agreed that next year’s budget should be based on an oil price of $40 to $50 a barrel, citing an official from the Parliament Energy Commission.

Charlotteobserver.com:

- Some of the nation's biggest banks including Wells Fargo & Co.(WFC) are in for a windfall – on top of the $700 billion government bailout – thanks to a new tax policy quietly issued by the Treasury Department. The notice gives big tax breaks to companies that acquire struggling banks hit hard by the mortgage crisis. In some cases, the breaks could exceed the cost of acquiring the banks, according to private tax experts.