Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- General Motors Corp.(GM), Ford Motor Co.(F) and Chrysler LLC, struggling for support in Congress for aid, won money-saving union agreements to delay contributions to medical funds and suspend a program that pays laid-off workers. Today’s move by the United Auto Workers gives GM, Ford and Chrysler a boost as their chief executive officers prepare to testify tomorrow and Dec. 5 on their requests for $34 billion in financial help.

- The U.S. economy weakened across all regions since the middle of October as it became tougher to get loans and demand for credit shrank, the Federal Reserve said in its regional economic survey.

- President-elect Barack Obama said Bill Richardson will be an “economic diplomat” for the U.S. as commerce secretary and a key member of a team that lays the groundwork for renewed growth.

- Hedge funds and index funds that helped drive copper to a record in July have “dropped out” in the last several weeks, leaving “almost traditional” factors such as inventories more influential, according to Bloomsbury Minerals Economics Ltd. in London.

- Fortress Investment Group LLC(FIG), the private equity and asset manager, halted redemptions from its Drawbridge Global Macro hedge fund after investors asked to withdraw $3.51 billion by year-end. The withdrawal requests include $1.5 billion in notices disclosed last month, the New York-based company said today in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Fortress didn’t say when it would resume allowing investors to get their money back.

- Oil traders are increasing bets that crude will fall below $30 a barrel in the first quarter of 2009, following a price drop of more than $100 a barrel in less than six months. January $30 puts rose 4 cents to 7 cents a barrel, or $70 a contract, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of 1:58 pm on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the third-most active contract on the exchange, trading 334 lots, up from 47 yesterday.

- Harvard University’s endowment decreased 22 percent, or $8 billion, in the first four months of fiscal 2009, putting the fund on course to have its worst performance in at least four decades. The endowment, the biggest U.S. education fund, had totaled $36.9 billion on June 30 after gaining 8.6 percent in fiscal 2008. The worst annual return that Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has recorded in at least 40 years was a negative 12.2 percent in 1974.

Wall Street Journal:

- In the latest evidence of how Wall Street is seeking to broaden its sources of funds, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.(GS) is weighing whether to launch an Internet banking operation, according to people familiar with the situation.

MarketWatch.com:

- Mortgage applications filed last week rose a seasonally adjusted 112.1%, compared with the week before, as borrowers rushed to lock in lower rates, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey, released on Wednesday.

NY Times:
- Kia Motors Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, said Wednesday that construction of its first U.S. plant in West Point, Georgia is proceeding on schedule and will open as planned late next year.

- The iPod is going to medical school. Officials said Tuesday that an Apple Inc.(AAPL) portable media player will become standard equipment for Ohio State University med students.

Docu-Drama:

- Intuitive Surgical(ISRG), the oh-so-successful Sunnyvale maker of robotic surgery tools, said that its board of directors approved a severance plan that covers its executives in the event of an involuntary separation from service within 12 months after a change in control” of the company.

Silicon Alley Insider:

- Cyber Monday Traffic: Amazon(AMZN) Takes The Prize.

- RIM Blows Q3, But ‘Strong’ Demand For New BlackBerries(RIMM).

Reuters:
- Online spending on the Monday after Thanksgiving reached $846 million, up 15 percent from a year earlier. ComScore said the solid online spending showing for the first Monday after the holiday shopping season officially began was an encouraging sign for retailers.

- U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rates, pivotal to the fortunes of the crumbling housing market, will fall steeply in reaction to government steps to buy mortgage-related securities, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund said on Wednesday. "We think the 30-year mortgage rate will come down another 50- to 100 basis points" as a result of the government purchases of housing-related securities, said Bill Gross, chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co. or Pimco, speaking on CNBC television.

- Cisco Systems Inc's (CSCO) chief executive stood by his long-term revenue forecast, despite concerns that a deep and prolonged U.S. recession could derail the company's growth plans. CEO John Chambers has targeted revenue growth of 12 percent to 17 percent a year in the long run.

- Financial services company Citigroup Inc (C) said on Wednesday it had teamed its customer loyalty program with global online retailer Amazon.com Inc (AMZN) in what an executive said was the largest-ever rewards program.

- Britain is likely to roll over its ban on short-selling financial stocks when the current rules run out in January, the Alternative Investment Management Association's deputy chief executive (AIMA) told Reuters. Andrew Baker added that the ban, which was introduced in September and expires on January 16, could potentially last for the entire length of the financial crisis.

- Electronic Arts(ERTS) and Gameloft, the world's two largest mobile gaming firms, said on Wednesday the market was doing well, a day after their next biggest rival, Glu Mobile, warned of soft demand.

Financial Times:
- Europe should launch discussions with the US over ways to curb speculative fluctuations in agricultural commodities markets, says a draft report that could be presented by European Union regulators on Wednesday. The paper, produced by the European Commission and seen by the Financial Times, recommends that national governments re-examine shopping hour restrictions, crack down on cartels and improve the functioning of the food supply network. The paper also addresses one of the most controversial issues in the food price spike - the role of hedge funds and other financial players that have moved into commodities markets. The Commission warns that these investors have "increased the risk for speculative bubbles in agricultural commodities future markets" but it stops short of blaming them for last year's price increases.

Financial Times Deutscheland:

- Germany’s cement makers have cut their sales forecast for the current year and 2009 as the crisis on financial markets causes builders to ditch new projects, citing an industry group. Demand for cement should shrink by as much as 4% next year, citing the group VDZ.

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Folha de Sao Paulo:

- Brazilian auto parts makers plan to cut about 4% of their workforce by year-end as slowing global growth erodes demand for automobiles.

Gazeta Mercantil:
- Brazil’s oil production may exceed Russia’s in 2014, citing Jose Carlos Vidal, a consultant for Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras(PBR). Due to the discovery of offshore pre-salt fields, Brazil’s proven oil reserves may exceed the 79.4 billion barrels recorded for Russia last year.

Valor Economico:
- Brazilian mutual funds faced a record redemption of $35.2 billion between April and November, citing data from local Web site Fortuna.