Today's Headlines

Bloomberg: 

• Ukraine Truce Wobbles as Poroshenko Visits Frontline City. Ukraine said pro-Russian rebels targeted Mariupol, a frontline city in the east of the country, after President Petro Poroshenko announced his visit, further straining a four-day cease-fire. Road blocks near the port city on the Sea of Azov came under fire from militants today, presidential spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko said on Twitter. Shelling and small-arms fire continued during the past 24 hours across the war-torn regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, said Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

• Toxic Stew of New Technology, Old Hatreds in World Crises. The crises that dominate today’s news -- Ukraine, Islamic State, Libya, Ebola, Gaza, cyber-attacks -- are symptoms of the most profound revolution in world affairs in almost four centuries. A toxic stew of new technologies, old hatreds, eroding boundaries, tattered alliances, environmental dangers and independent groups are making the world more interconnected and less stable at an accelerating rate, forcing the U.S. and other nations to re-invent their approaches to defending their borders, populations and economies.

• European Stocks Decline Amid Valuations, Scotland Poll. European stocks slid for a second day as investors weighed equity valuations and U.K. shares fell on concerns that Scotland may vote for independence. Oil companies slumped after Brent crude slipped below $100 a barrel. Lenders dragged the FTSE 100 Index down 0.3 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds (LLOY) Banking Group Plc, the two banks that lend the most in Scotland, lost more than 1 percent each. Oil and gas producers posted the second-biggest loss of the 19 industry groups on the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. The Stoxx 600 retreated 0.4 percent to 346.09 at the close of trading, after earlier losing as much as 1 percent. 

• Brent Declines Below $100 for First Time Since June 2013. Brent for October settlement decreased 88 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $99.94 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange at 1:12 p.m. in New York. Prices reached $99.36, the lowest intraday level since May 1, 2013. The volume of all futures traded was 12 percent above the 100-day average for this time of day.

• Fed Research Shows Investors Underestimate Path of Rate Rise. Low volatility across financial markets may signal investors are underestimating how quickly the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, according to researchers at the San Francisco Fed. “Surveys, market expectations, and model estimates show that the public seems to expect a more accommodative policy than Federal Open Market Committee participants,” Jens Christensen, a senior economist, and Simon Kwan, a vice president of financial research, said in a report today. Data also suggest that the public is “less uncertain about their projections.” 

• Oaktree Speaks for Mom and Pop in Rejecting Expensive Junk Bonds. Oaktree Capital Group LLC (OAK)’s Howard Marks isn’t alone in being more concerned about losing money in junk securities than missing out on returns by avoiding them. Mutual fund investors last week resumed their race to top-rated company bonds, funneling $1.7 billion into the notes while pulling money from riskier, higher-yielding debt.

ZeroHedge: 

• Here Is Why Europe Just Launched The "Nuclear Option" Against Russia. (graph)

• Miami Hospital Reports Potential Ebola Case.

• Living In An Age Of Anything Goes And Nothing Matters.

• ISIS Now Has A Navy, Launches Gunboat Attack Near Baghdad.

• Scottish Independence Referendum: The Complete Summary.

• The China Boom Story: Alibaba And The 40 Thieves.

• "Jobs Friday": Why Bubblevision Misses The Epic Failure Of The US Labor Market.

• There Goes The "Housing Recovery": Record Few Americans Think "Now Is A Good Time To Buy A Home".

Business Insider:

• Iran Supreme Leader: Prepare For The ‘New World Order’. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warns that the “new world order is emerging” and that “Iran will have a strong role in creating” it, according to a Farsi-language transcript of Khamenei’s remarks late last week to the country’s Assembly of Experts. Iran will lead this “new world order” that will replace American influence as capitalism and Western influence collapse, according to Khamenei, who underwent surprise prostate surgery on Monday.

• Ukraine President Vows To Defend The Crucial Port City Threatened By Russian-Backed Rebels.

• The Simple Reason Why The Ceasefire In Ukraine Is Likely Doomed.

• Wall Street's Biggest Bear Just Flipped To Bullish.

• BUSTED: Obama Gets Caught Spinning His Most Embarrassing Statement About ISIS.

Reuters:

• Ebola spread is exponential in Liberia, thousands of cases expected soon: WHO. The Ebola virus is spreading fast in Liberia, where many thousands of new cases are expected over the coming three weeks, the World Health Organization said on Monday. "Transmission of the Ebola virus in Liberia is already intense and the number of new cases is increasing exponentially," WHO said in a statement.

Telegraph:

• Eurozone faces another recession as ECB fails to avert confidence plunge. Despite unveiling a package of interest rate cuts and a new stimulus scheme, the ECB has failed to prevent a "collapse" in euro area investor confidence.

Handelsblatt:

• Stark Says ECB Risks 'Grave Crisis' With New Plan. "Markets will be flooded more even though there is already abundant excess liquidity globally," former ECB chief economist Juergen Stark writes. ECB monetary policy leads to "fundamentally distorted market conditions, for example for bonds of highly indebted euro-area countries, and exaggerations in other financial-market segments". "The necessary correction, whenever it will come, can lead to a new, grave crisis," he said. Interest rates close to zero "won't produce a single euro in additional credit and this inefficiency, among other things, will in the long run erode the ECB's reputation even more." ABS purchases risk transforming ECB into European 'bad bank". "The ECB council isn't democratically legitimized to take decisions with such far-reaching consequences."