Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

- The US dollar rose against the euro and headed for its biggest weekly gain since October after a U.S. government report showed payrolls shrank last month less than some economists forecast. The euro was poised for the biggest weekly drop against the pound since its debut in 1999 on speculation the European Central Bank will cut its main refinancing rate next week to the lowest level since 2005.

- U.S. corporate bond sales soared to $41 billion this week, the most in almost eight months, as companies took advantage of investor demand to raise cash in a weakening economy.

- The ruble may fall when Russia’s financial markets open on Jan. 11 after a seven-day holiday as companies and banks demand foreign currency to repay more than $80 billion of debt this year, according to Societe Generale SA. The ruble may slump 10 percent this month against the central bank’s target basket of dollars and euros, Societe Generale analysts said. The currency lost 20 percent against the dollar and 11 percent versus the euro between August and the end of last year as the Russian economy weakened because of the falling price of oil, its main export earner.

- Genentech Inc.(DNA) rose as much as 5.2 percent on a Financial Times report that Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG is preparing to raise its bid for the biotechnology company to $95 a share.

- The Baltic Dry Index, a measure of shipping costs for commodities, advanced to the highest in more than two months on demand for capsize vessels to haul coal and iron ore to make steel. The index rose 51 points, or 6.2%, to 872 points. Shipping rates are benefitting from increased congestion at Australian ports that cut the number of ships competing for cargoes, Philippe Van den Abeele, managing director at shipping hedge fund Castalia Fund Management(UK) Ltd. said.

- India should act quickly to shore up investor confidence after an alleged accounting fraud at Satyam Computer Services Ltd. triggered a plunge in stocks, a former regulator and executive said. More than two days after chairman Ramalinga Raju claimed he’d padded Satyam’s books by $1 billion, the company’s auditors and interim management have yet to confirm any irregularities. The government should appoint outside managers and accelerate the probe to clear up the case, said Richard Rekhy, chief operating officer of KPMG in India.

Wall Street Journal:

- The Illinois House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, one month after he was arrested and charged with corruption. Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final result was 114-1. A Senate trial will follow in coming days or weeks. "You ought to be angry, you ought to be disgusted, you ought to be mad as hell," said Rep. Tom Cross, before urging his colleagues to join him in voting to impeach.

NY Times:

- Numerous money-losing hedge funds have curtailed investor withdrawals over the past few months as redemption requests piled up. But “raising the gates,” as it’s known in the industry, can cost investors dearly, according to a recent study from the Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management and Columbia University. According to the study, the implied costs to a hedge fund investor of redemption restrictions can range from 5 percent to 15 percent depending on how long the fund has been in business, the expected return and the loss generated by liquidation of assets. Firms that have raised the gates include the Citadel Investment Group, D.E. Shaw, Farallon Capital Management and Magnetar Capital.

USA Today:

- We're seeing lots of "super zoom," point and shoot cameras here at CES.

Washington Post:

- Confronted with intense skepticism on Capitol Hill over the $700 billion financial rescue program, Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy F. Geithner and President-elect Barack Obama's economic team are urgently overhauling the embattled initiative and broadening its scope well beyond Wall Street, sources familiar with the discussions said. Geithner has been working night and day on the eighth floor of the transition team office in downtown Washington with Lawrence H. Summers and other senior economic advisers to hash out a new approach that would expand the program's aid to municipalities, small businesses, homeowners and other consumers.

Reuters:
- A top bank industry group said on Friday that it opposes an agreement between financial giant Citigroup Inc and Democratic senators that would rewrite U.S. bankruptcy law to help troubled mortgage borrowers avoid foreclosure. The American Bankers Association said in a statement that it did not participate in Citigroup's agreement with lawmakers and has consistently opposed giving bankruptcy judges broad authority to unilaterally modify mortgage terms. "ABA is opposed to the agreement because it will leave in place overly broad mortgage cram-down authority and other provisions that will harm thousands of banks across the country that have made, and continue to make, good loans," said Floyd Stoner, ABA's executive director for public policy.

Negocio:
- Consumer credit extended to families and companies in Spain fell 44% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, citing the National Assoc. of Credit Establishments. The largest drop was a 56% decline in loans to buy cars.

MEES:

- Iraq may award a contract to develop its 4.35 billion barrel Nasiriyah oilfield before two bidding rounds for the rest of the country’s hydrocarbon resources. Eni SpA, Repsol YPF SA and Nippon Oil Corp. are “in the running” for the project, MEES said.