Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The DJIA is poised to post its best quarterly performance since the fourth quarter of 2003.
- UK police dismantled a car bomb found outside a nightclub packed with hundreds of people near London’s Piccadilly Circus, raising concern about terrorism.
- US treasuries are rising after a government report showed the Fed’s most closely watched measure of inflation slowed in May. The 10-year yield has plunged 27 basis points in less than 2 weeks.
- The Canadian dollar fell after the nation’s economy unexpectedly registered zero growth in April.
- Washington Mutual(WM), the biggest US savings and loan, will refinance up to $2 billion in subprime loans. The loans will be refinance or modified at discounted rates to help borrowers’ stabilize their finances and avoid foreclosure.
- BP Plc(BP), Europe’s second-largest oil company, and UK biofuels developer D1 Oils Plc said they plan to start a joint venture to plant jatropha for use as biodiesel.
- General Motors(GM) will invest $945 million over the next five years in Europe to introduce more fuel-efficient vehicles that cause less pollution.
- The price of US steel sheet fell for a third straight month in June because of reduced demand from manufacturers and a drawdown of inventories by distributors, Purchasing magazine said.
- Corn plunged to a 12-week low in Chicago after a government report said US farmers planted more acres than forecast in March.
- Crude oil rose to a 10-month high in NY on speculation by investment funds that low supplies of gas will continue to boost prices into the summer.
- Talbots Inc.(TLB) appointed apparel-industry veteran Trudy Sullivan as its new CEO in an effort to stem five years of declining profit at the women’s clothing retailer.
- Chicago Board of Trade’s(BOT) largest shareholder, Sydney-based hedge fund Caledonia Investments, has voted against the proposed sale to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange because the price is too low.
- Bear Stearns(BSC) hired Jeffrey Lane from Lehman Brothers Holdings(LEH) to run its asset-management division after the near-collapse of two hedge funds forced the firm to put up $1.6 billion for a bailout.

Wall Street Journal:
- Discover Financial Services, set to be spun off by Morgan Stanley(MS), is far smaller than rivals Visa USA Inc. and MasterCard Inc., yet its shares may be attractive because credit-card demand is growing.
- Delta Air Lines may be the leading contender to gain the first new non-stop flights between the US and China, to be awarded under agreements signed in May.
- Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, may determine the outlook for legislative proposals to raise taxes on the hedge-fund and private-equity industries.
- Lawmakers moved to salvage parts of a grand compromise on immigration reform following the collapse of the broad package.

Boston Herald:
- Massachusetts is considering creating a loan pool backed by as much as $200 million in state bonds to enable homeowners to refinance unaffordable mortgages.

Washington Post:

- Russian authorities have shut down a US-funded non-profit training organization for journalists and filed criminal charges that critics say are politically motivated.

LA Times:
- Doug Frantz, managing editor of the LA Times, will become the Middle East bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal next month.

AP:
- The California State Assembly approved another 17,000 slot machines at casinos run by four Southern California tribes that will bring the state hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue.

CNBC:
- The SEC is increasing its scrutiny of Bear Stearns’(BSC) hedge fund business.

Financial Times:
- Goldman Sachs Group(GS) was the top investment banking adviser in the world in the first half of 2007, citing Dealogic data.

China Knowledge:
- BP Plc(BP), Europe’s second-largest oil company, aims to double the import and sale of liquefied petroleum gas in China by 2010.