Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Watch the Evolution of Obama's Statements on Syria. (video)

• Ruthenium Drops to 8-Year Low as Ipad Demand Hurts Hard-Disk Use. Ruthenium slid to an eight-year low on reduced demand for the material used to coat hard disks as consumers favor computer tablets including Apple Inc.’s iPad and smartphones and as manufacturers used metal from inventories. The metal, also used in the electrochemical industry, slid 33 percent this year and is set for a third successive annual decline.

• Druckenmiller Says Fed Exit Would Be Big Deal for Markets. Stanley Druckenmiller, who boasts one of the hedge-fund industry’s best long-term track records of the past three decades, said it would be a “big deal” for financial markets if the Federal Reserve were to completely end its asset purchases as outlined over the next 12 months. “How in the world does anyone think when the actual exit happens that prices are not going to respond?” Druckenmiller said today on Bloomberg Television’s “Market Makers” with Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle, given the selloff in bonds and emerging markets in the past few months on the mere hint that the Fed might taper its purchases.

• Facebook’s(FB) Zuckerberg to Meet With Republican House Leaders. Facebook Inc. (FB:US) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has been pushing for a revision of U.S. immigration law, plans to meet with the top four Republicans in the House next week in Washington. The meeting, scheduled for Sept. 19, will include House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, Whip Kevin McCarthy and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, the head of the Republican conference, according to two leadership aides who weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Wall Street Journal:

• Italy Plans to Raise 2013 Debt Ceiling. Italy's Treasury has asked parliament to allow it to issue 98 billion euros ($130 billion) in net debt this year, up from the planned and approved level of EUR80 billion. The announcement comes as yields on Italy's government bonds tiptoe above those issued by Spain, raising concerns about Rome's commitment to rigor.

CNBC: 

• Americans pause to remember day 'like none other'. At memorials and in their schools, homes, and places of work across the country on Wednesday morning, Americans paused to remember those lost in the Sept. 11 attacks that shook the nation 12 years ago. 

• Uh oh. People buying houses fear rising prices. How should we define a housing bubble? There's no clear cut answer. The term "bubble" means different things to different people. The classic housing 2004 housing bubble paper by Karl Case and Robert Schiller explains it this way (emphasis added):

Zero Hedge:

• US Income Gap Soars To Widest Since "Roaring 20s". (graph)

• Our Huge, Stinking Mountain of Debt: Student Loans. (graph)

• Higher Rates Crush Mortgages: Refinancings Plunge To 2009 Levels. (graphs)

• America's Next "Debt Ceiling": At Least $17.8 Trillion.

• Meanwhile, This Is What Putin Is Doing..

Business Insider:

• This Housing-Bubble Era Home Loan Commercial Will Make You Cringe.

• The Feds Are Thinking Of Removing The Biggest Impediment For Legal Marijuana Businesses.

• The Fingerprint Scanner On The New iPhone Is About Money, Not Security.

Washington Post:

• Iraq officials say bombs explode near Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad, killing at least 35. Iraqi officials say a double bomb attack on a Shiite mosque in northern Baghdad that struck as worshippers were leaving after prayers has killed at least 35. Police say more than 50 people were wounded in the Wednesday evening attack. They say it happened in a part of the Iraqi capital known as Kasra, a predominantly Shiite enclave in a part of the city that is otherwise largely Sunni.

Financial Times:

• Italian bank funding more fragile that it looks.

Telegraph:

• France and Portugal to miss deficit targets. France will post weaker growth in 2014 and miss its deficit target this year, the country’s finance minister has said, as the government announced €15bn (£12.6bn) of “unprecedented” spending cuts to get the economy back on track. 

• Greece may need two more bail-outs, says Coene. Greece may need two more rescue packages to keep the beleaguered economy afloat, European Central Bank ratesetter Luc Coene has warned.  

AFP:

• Syria Christian 'made to convert at gunpoint' By Rebels. Jihadists who overran Syria's ancient town of Maalula last week disparaged Christians as "Crusaders" and forced at least one person to convert to Islam at gunpoint, say residents who fled the town. Many of Maalula's people left after a first rebel assault knocked out an army checkpoint at the entrance to the strategic town on September 4. Some went to a nearby village and others to Damascus, about 55 kilometres (34 miles) to the south. One of them, Marie, was still frightened as she spoke of that day.