Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Euro Falls on Growth Outlook, Spanish Aid Uncertainty. The euro fell for the first time in three days versus the dollar as concern growth in the region is faltering overshadowed prospects that leaders meeting this week will agree on new measures to solve the debt crisis. The 17-nation currency dropped against 10 of its 16 major counterparts as investors waited for a decision on whether Spain will seek a bailout and before a report forecast to show investor confidence declined in Germany, the region’s biggest economy. New Zealand’s dollar weakened after a report showed services shrank in September.
• Bread Price Set to Rise Faster Than a Porsche. (video) 
• India’s Inflation Accelerates to 10-Month High. Indian inflation accelerated to a 10-month high in September after an increase in diesel prices, limiting room for an interest-rate cut to revive the economy. The wholesale-price index rose 7.81 percent from a year earlier, after climbing 7.55 percent in August, the Commerce Ministry said in a statement in New Delhi today. The median of 35 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was 7.7 percent.
• Manufacturing in New York Region Contracts for Third Month. Manufacturing in the New York region contracted for a third straight month in October as shipments and employment declined, indicating the economy will get less support from factories. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index rose to minus 6.2 from minus 10.4 in September, which was the lowest since April 2009. The median forecast of 46 economists in a Bloomberg survey called for minus 4. The gauge of new orders increased to minus 9 this month from minus 14 in September, which was the lowest since November 2010. A measure of shipments dropped to minus 6.4 from 2.8. The employment measure fell to minus 1.1, the worst this year, from 4.3 in September. The index of prices paid declined to 17.2 from 19.2, while prices received fell to 4.3 from 5.3.
• Business Economists Reduce U.S. GDP Growth Forecasts. Business economists cut their U.S. growth outlook for next year to 2.4 percent as companies and consumers restrain spending, a survey released today showed. The growth estimate was lowered from 2.8 percent forecast in May, the survey by the Washington-based National Association for Business Economics showed. The prediction for this year was reduced to 1.9 percent from 2.4 percent.
• Citigroup(C) Sees Economic Slump Tempering Underwriting Rebound. Global debt and equity underwriting will probably remain unchanged next year as sluggish economic growth and an uncertain outlook restrain demand for securities, said Tyler Dickson, who oversees the business at Citigroup Inc.(C).
• Google(GOOG) Rebuked by EU Privacy Watchdogs Over Data Protection. Google Inc. was told by European Union regulators to bolster its privacy policy, in a warning that may trigger a new round of clashes with data protection watchdogs across the bloc. Google’s new privacy policy, introduced in March, “allows Google to combine almost any data from any services for any purposes,” European Union privacy regulators said in a letter today to Chief Executive Officer Larry Page obtained by Bloomberg News.
• BlackRock’s(BLK) Fink Says Fiscal Cliff Threatens U.S. With Recession. BlackRock Inc. (BLK) Chief Executive Officer Laurence D. Fink said the U.S. economy may shrink at the start of 2013 as companies curb hiring ahead of spending cuts and tax increases from the so-called fiscal cliff. Business confidence is waning amid the federal gridlock on paring the deficit to avert more than $600 billion in automatic budget reductions and higher taxes on Jan. 1, Fink said today at a Bloomberg Television roundtable on the U.S. debt. Congress also must act in February to raise the debt ceiling, he said. “We have the threat of going into a recession in the first quarter,” said Fink, who was joined by the CEOs of Nasdaq (NDAQ) OMX Group Inc., Honeywell International Inc. (HON) and United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) “This is a very uncertain moment.”

MarketWatch.com: 

• IPhone helped retail sales, but only a touch. Higher cost of gas, food suggests gain less positive than it appears.

CNBC: 

• Swiss Prepare Army for Euro Zone Fallout. With anti-austerity protests across Europe resulting in civil unrest on the streets of Athens and Madrid, the European country famed for its neutrality is taking unusual precautions. Switzerland launched the military exercise “Stabilo Due” in September to respond to the current instability in Europe and to test the speed at which its army can be dispatched. The country is not a member of the union or among the 17 countries that share the euro. Swiss newspaper Der Sonntag reported recently that the exercise centered around a risk map created in 2010, where army staff detailed the threat of internal unrest between warring factions as well as the possibility of refugees from Greece, Spain, Italy, France, and Portugal. The Swiss defense ministry told CNBC that it doesn’t not rule out having to deploy troops in the coming years.

Zero Hedge:

• Chart Of The Day: Hourly Earnings, Or The Lack Thereof. 
• Retail Sales Beat Expectations. (graph) 
• The Future of America Is Japan: Runaway Deficits, Runaway Debts.

Business Insider:

• MIT: The US Really Should Be Freaking Out About Possible Cyber Attacks.  
• One Of The Biggest Housing Bears Around Explains Why The Recent Bump Is Going Nowhere. 
• Bombshell Figures Show Almost Half A Million People Have Left Spain This Year.
• NIGEL FARAGE: My Advice Is To Short Everything French Over The Next Decade.
• US Exports To Iran Are Rising Despite The Sanctions.
• Obama's Economic Policies Are Stuck In The 1960s.
• Don't Get Your Hopes Up About The Next Leader Of China. 

Reuters: 

• Copper hits one-month low on worries on short term demand. Copper dropped to a one-month low on Monday as lingering concerns about poor physical demand in China and uncertainty over Beijing's next moves to support its economy prompted selling ahead of growth data from China this week. 
• ECB's Knot says getting euro debt back in line may take decades. It may be decades before debt levels in the euro zone drop below the EU limit of 60 percent of economic output, but states should still aim to beat that target, European Central Bank policymaker Klaas Knot said on Monday. 
• Canada housing market cools as household debt grows. Canadian home sales fell sharply in September from a year earlier while households pile on debt and business sentiment slumps, according to downbeat data on Monday that suggested a struggle for growth in coming months. Two reports on what policymakers say are the two biggest dangers to the Canadian economy - the hot housing market and high household debt - indicate a fairly sharp decline in house sales at a time when consumers are increasingly vulnerable to a sudden downturn in the value of their homes or a rise in borrowing costs.
• Euro crisis a dangerous 'nightmare,' Soros says. The euro crisis "is a nightmare" that is pushing the European Union into a "lasting depression," fund manager George Soros said on Monday. The crisis "is having tremendous impact in the state of affairs, it is pushing the EU into a lasting depression, and it is entirely self-created," Soros, Chairman of Soros Fund Management, said at a luncheon hosted by the National Association for Business Economics.
• Delinquency rates rise at most major U.S. banks.

Telegraph:

• Aniquilar (for Spanish readers).

Nikkei:

• EU Bank Supervision Delayed Until 2014. Consolidation of the banking supervisory mechanisms will be delayed a year because of time needed for preparations, citing an interview with ECB executive board member Beniot Coeure.
• Toyota to Cut China October Production by 50%. Toyota may cut production further, depending on sales. Toyota will idle lines at Tianjin plant the week of Oct. 22. Crown, Reiz lines to shut for full week. Vios line to be idled Oct. 22 and Oct. 26. The company is cutting hours at plants in other China regions.