Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Investors in the $591 billion high- yield, high-risk loan market are accusing Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(GS) of naked short selling to profit from record price declines. At least two fund managers complained verbally to officials of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association, saying they believe Goldman helped drive down prices by using the technique, according to people with knowledge of the objections. New York- based Goldman is acting against its clients by trying to profit at their expense, the investors said.

- Hedge-fund manager David Tepper entered the third quarter with $3.1 billion of U.S. stocks and exited with $648 million, selling most holdings to reduce risk and raise cash as carnage spread across the financial markets. ``We moved a lot out early because we didn't want to lose money,'' said Tepper, 51, president of Appaloosa Management LP in Chatham, New Jersey. The firm, which switched some money to bonds, has between 30 percent and 40 percent of assets in cash. The story at Appaloosa, whose returns have dropped more than 20 percent this year, was repeated across the hedge-fund world in the quarter as managers were hit by client withdrawals, tumbling financial markets and tighter credit.

- Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said the central bank should provide emergency lending programs only to financial institutions that create credit and handle payments.

- Peter Beutel, president of energy consultant Cameron Hanover Inc., sees likelihood of $35-$40 crude oil. (video)

- Commodities will be under pressure for as long as 18 months, with UBS AG predicting lower prices next year for all but four of the 28 raw materials it forecasts following a collapse in credit for industry. A slump in consumption of steel, a benchmark for industrial demand of raw materials, is feeding through to markets including iron ore and shipping, UBS wrote.

- Citigroup Inc.(C), the U.S. bank with the most employees, plans to eliminate more than 50,000 jobs and cut expenses by 20 percent from their peak as the global economy contracts.

- Stocks are in the midst of an “Era of Fear” that might end soon, according to Donald G.M. Coxe, a global strategist at BMO Capital Markets.

Wall Street Journal:

- General Motors(GM) is a once-great company caught in a web of relationships designed for another era. It should not be fed while still caught, because that will leave it trapped until we get tired of feeding it. Then it will die. The only possibility of saving it is to take the risk of cutting it free.

- Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said late Sunday his government could build a nuclear reactor in the state of Zulia with help from Russia.

NY Times:
- After a rocky beginning, the nonprofit group One Laptop Per Child thinks an advertising campaign will give a lift to the organization’s effort to place low-cost laptops in the hands of children in developing nations.

- President-elect Barack Obama’s advisers have begun reviewing former President Bill Clinton’s finances and activities to see whether they would preclude the appointment of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as secretary of state, Democrats close to the situation said Sunday.

Boston Globe:

- Device Tells if It’s Time to Take a Pill. It’s time to take your medicine. Cambridge start-up says its high-tech gadget can help save lives, cut healthcare costs, boost pharmacies’ business.

Rigzone.com

- Petrobras'(PBR) average oil production in Brazil reached the mark of 1,872,970 barrels in October, an 8.3% increase over a year ago. The natural gas production, also in the domestic fields, topped-out at 53.711 million cubic meters/day, 26% more than the 42.589 million cubic meters produced in October 2007.

Wealth Bulletin:

- Man Group, the hedge fund manager whose share price has fallen by 60% this year, is planning to double the size of its flagship AHL fund despite analyst concerns it is too reliant on the computer-driven product.

Dallas Morning News:

- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged Mark Cuban on Monday with insider trading stemming from a 2004 sale of stock in an Internet company. The complaint alleges that Mr. Cuban avoided losses in excess of $750,000 by selling 600,000 shares he learned would be diluted by a new stock offering. The company, Mamma.com, told Mr. Cuban about the offering on the condition that he keep the information confidential. Mr. Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, owned a 6.3 percent stake in the company, now known as Copernic Inc. “Less than four hours later, Mr. Cuban betrayed that trust by placing an order to sell all of his shares,” said Scott W. Friestad, the SEC’s deputy director of enforcement. “It is fundamentally unfair for someone to use access to nonpublic information to improperly gain an edge on the market.”

Reuters:
- The consumer chiefs of the European Union and the United States called on China on Monday to crack down on unsafe products, especially toys, ahead of Christmas. More than 20 million Chinese-made toys were recalled worldwide in 2007 due to unsafe features such as excessive levels of lead paint. Beijing has faced the wrath of EU and U.S. lawmakers over other risky products ranging from milk and seafood to toothpaste and furniture.

Market News International:

- European Central Bank council member Nout Wellink said the euro-zone economy is cooling rapidly and inflation is less of a worry.