Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Euro Strengthens as Draghi Refrains From New Measures; Yen Rises. The euro strengthened the most in two weeks against the dollar after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi refrained from signaling that any new measures were needed to boost the region’s recovery. Europe’s single currency advanced versus all except two of its 16 major counterparts after Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a confidence vote in parliament, avoiding the need for another election. The yen rose for a second day against the dollar as U.S. lawmakers made no progress toward resolving a partial government shutdown and an industry report showed American companies added fewer workers than economists forecast. Australia’s dollar fell as the nation reported a trade deficit. The euro advanced 0.5 percent to $1.3594 at 11:22 a.m. in New York, reaching the biggest one-day gain since Sept. 18. The single currency was 0.2 percent weaker at 132.34 yen after falling as much as 0.9 percent. The yen strengthened 0.7 percent to 97.33 per dollar. 

• Italy’s Letta Wins Confidence Vote as Berlusconi Backs Down. Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta won a confidence vote in the Senate today after Silvio Berlusconi backtracked on a pledge to bring down the five-month old government as his party showed signs of deserting him. Letta was supported by 235 senators while 70 opposed him during a vote today in Rome. Just hours before, former Premier Berlusconi announced that he would support the government, reversing an earlier pledge to oppose Letta in the vote.

• European Stocks Drop as Hochtief Plunges Following Report. European stocks declined the most in more than a month as the shutdown of the U.S. federal government entered its second day. Hochtief AG slumped 7.9 percent after the Sydney Morning Herald reported allegations of corruption at the company’s Australian business. KappAhl AB dropped 9.8 percent after the clothing retailer proposed paying no dividend this financial year. Portugal Telecom SGPS SA jumped the most in almost four months after agreeing to merge with Brazil’s Oi SA to form a network operator with 100 million subscribers. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.7 percent to 310.79 at the close in London, its biggest slide since Aug. 30.

• WTI Crude Rises on Expected Gulf Pipeline Commissioning. West Texas Intermediate crude rose after TransCanada Corp. (TRP) said it expects to complete work on the southern portion of its Keystone pipeline expansion by the end of October. The spread between WTI and Brent oil, the European benchmark, narrowed on speculation that the link will help reduce stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the WTI contract. The 700,000-barrel-a-day pipeline will run to the Texas Gulf Coast from Cushing. Futures extended gains after a government report showed that stockpiles at the hub fell to the lowest level since February 2012.

• Monsanto(MON) Buying Climate Corp. to Add Big Data for Farmers. Monsanto Co. (MON), the world’s largest seed company, agreed to buy The Climate Corp. for about $930 million to provide farmers with weather data and farm modeling to help them boost yields and manage risk.

Wall Street Journal:

• Budget Battle: Streaming Coverage.

• U.S. Mortgage Application Volume Slips 0.4% in Latest Week -- MBA. The number of mortgage applications filed slipped 0.4% in the week ended Sept. 27 from the prior week on a seasonally adjusted basis while interest rates fell to their lowest level since June, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday. On an unadjusted basis, MBA reported the market composite index decreased 1%. The refinance index climbed 3%, while the seasonally adjusted purchase index fell 6%.

• Foreign Firms Tap U.S. Gas Bonanza. The U.S. boom in natural-gas production is luring investment from foreign manufacturers eager to tap a cheap, abundant supply of fuel and feedstocks.

Fox News: 

• Make It Hurt? Republicans accuse administration of inflicting added budget pain. Is the Obama administration employing a make-it-hurt strategy to gain political leverage in the budget battle on Capitol Hill? Republicans are making that charge as the stalemate drags on, and point to the Pentagon furlough of 400,000 civilian staffers -- even though Congress passed and the president signed a bill to supposedly keep them on the job. The partial government suspension, which started Monday after lawmakers failed to strike a budget deal, is expected to result in the furlough of roughly 800,000 total government workers. Many federal agencies have significantly curtailed their operations; national parks and monuments are closed. But Republicans are accusing the Obama administration of making the situation worse than it has to be. They complained overnight that the Pentagon furloughed 400,000 of its civilian staffers. "This is no time to use national security or our national security workforce as a political pawn," Rep. Buck McKeon, R-Calif., wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

• Firefighters alarmed by latest rescue risk: solar panels.

CNBC:

• Don't look for tapering anytime soon, says Fed's Rosengren.

• The phrase that betrays: 'Government shutdown'.

Zero Hedge:

• Only Payroll Indicator In Shutdown Week Disappoints As ADP Misses, Follows Large Downward Revisions. (graph)

• Best And Worst Performing Assets In September And Q3. (graph)

• Jamie And Lloyd Visit Obama.

• Key Pillar Of Housing "Recovery" Cracks As Private Equity Becomes Marginal Seller.

Business Insider: 

• Alleged Founder Of Silk Road — The Site Where You Can Buy Illegal Drugs — Arrested And Millions In Bitcoins Seized.

USA Today: 

• John Boehner: Obama owns this shutdown now. Washington Democrats have slammed the door on reopening the government. The president isn't telling the whole story when it comes to the government shutdown. The fact is that Washington Democrats have slammed the door on reopening the government by refusing to engage in bipartisan talks. And, as stories across the country highlight the devastating impact of Obamacare on families and small businesses, they continue to reject our calls for fairness for all Americans.

Reuters: 

• Investors turn their backs on "robot" hedge funds. Investors in the $330 billion computer-driven hedge fund sector are pulling out money for the first time since 2008, data showed on Wednesday, signalling the possible start of a bigger exit from the industry. These so-called CTAs (commodity trading advisors), which employ mathematicians and physicists to build programmes betting on market trends, have been in demand since they racked up large profits during the credit crisis.

• Swap exchanges launch in threat to Wall Street profits. More than a dozen new U.S. exchanges opened their doors for clients on Wednesday, marking the start of regulated trading of derivatives in a threat to one of Wall Street's most lucrative businesses.