Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Coca-Cola(KO) is turning its attention back to the company’s bottlers around the world to boost sluggish sales.
- A buyout group including Blackstone Group LP and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is seeking $4.35 billion of loans to fund their purchase of Biomet Inc.(BMET), a maker of artificial hips.
- Federal Reserve Governor Randall Kroszner said the US economy’s slowdown last quarter will “prove transitory” as growth picks up over the rest of the year.
- Cattle futures in Chicago fell to a four-month low as beef demand slowed after the US Memorial Day holiday.
- Crude oil is rising more than $1/bbl. on concern that US refiners aren’t increasing motor-fuel production fast enough after an unusual rash of nationwide refinery “outages.”
- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett will host a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in NY this month, helping her attract donors who can write four-figure checks.
- About 98,000 candidates in 89 countries will take the CFA exam this weekend, capping an exam year that drew a record number of candidates amid rising stock prices.
- Wal-Mart Stores(WMT) will buy back as much as $15 billion in stock, sending the shares to their biggest gain in four years.
- Treasuries declined after reports showed the US created more jobs in May than economists forecast and manufacturing unexpectedly accelerated.
- General Motors(GM) posted a 9.6% increase in sales in May, while Japan’s Toyota Motor gained 14% to outsell No. 2 US automaker Ford Motor(F).
- Venezuelan President Chavez’s shutdown of the country’s most-watched television network has set off growing condemnation in Latin America and may derail his drive to become the region’s leader.

Wall Street Journal:
- ETFs are starting to suffer a financing drought as electronic trading spreads and the number of trading floor “specialists” dwindles.
- Boeing(BA) and Airbus SAS are working to increase the percentage of scrapped aircraft that can be reused.

NY Times:
- US private equity firms, hedge funds and investment banks are taking advantage of subprime mortgage industry woes to buy firms on the cheap. Cerberus Capital Management owns or plans to acquire Residential Capital, Option One and Aegis Mortgage. Together, the companies would make Cerberus the largest subprime lender in the US.
- A high-ranking US State Dept. official used a White House-approved speech to criticize Russia for its actions towards neighboring countries and suppressing individual rights and political opposition.

Washington Post:
- The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence demanded a legal review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation techniques as part of its 2008 authorization bill.

Chronicle of Higher Education:
- 50% of Americans say they believe post-secondary education is essential to a successful career, up from 31% who said so in a 2000 survey.

NY Post:
- Major League Baseball complained that Sling Media’s Slingbox television-watching device violates baseball’s contracts with networks, potentially costing the sport revenue.

Financial Times:
- Hedge funds have asked the International Swaps and Derivatives Assoc. to look into whether banks are manipulating markets by reworking US homeowners’ subprime mortgages, citing a copy of a letter the newspaper reviewed. A group of more than 25 hedge funds, led by Paulson & Co., sent the letter. They’ve bet against securities backed by home loans to borrowers with poor credit or high debt by using credit-default swaps. A fund run by NY-based Paulson betting against subprime bonds is up 90% this year.

La Repubblica:
- Luxottica Group SpA, the world’s biggest maker of eyeglasses, may buy US eyewear maker Oakley Inc.(OO).

Arab Oil & Gas:
- Arab states and Iran plan to increase their refining capacity 72% in the next eight years, by starting up new refineries and expanding existing plants at a cost of $173.4 billion.