Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The European Central Bank might have to cut interest rates, even if the immediate outlook for growth and inflation suggests otherwise, because a general credit crisis could cause a recession, according to Eric Chaney, Morgan Stanley’s chief economist for Europe.
- Clean Energy Fuels Corp. rose the most since May after co-founder Boone Pickens said the company is “ahead of the curve” by selling natural gas that the US will use as a transportation fuel because it’s “going green.”
- Morgan Stanley(MS) said it sees no hedge fund defaults in its prime brokerage unit.
- The risk of lending to US companies fell to the lowest in almost a month on optimism the Fed’s rate cut will coax investors back to the corporate debt market, according to credit-default swap traders.
- Honeywell Intl.(HON) won $16 billion contract to build and service mechanical systems for Airbus SAS’s A350 wide-body plane, work that will take place over at least two decades.
- Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein, who was forced to delay the sale of cable-television operator Insight Communications, said the Fed’s interest-rate cut may help clear a bottleneck of transactions.
- The Bush Administration reversed policy, allowing Fannie Mae(FNM) and Freddie Mac(FRE), the nation’s two largest providers of mortgage finance, to expand their investments in an effort to make mortgages easier to get.

Wall Street Journal:
- Defense Secretary Robert Gates sketched out a long-term vision for securing Iraq that includes a continuing American military force that is a fraction the size of the one there today, no permanent US bases and a significant Navy and Air Force presence in the Persian Gulf region.

NY Times:
- To gain an edge in attracting top talent, some NY hedge funds offer their employees an amenity that once was available only in residential buildings: a gym right in the workplace.

CNNMoney.com:
- China may import as much as 10 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas a year by 2010, citing Zeng Jian, vice commissioner of the Economic and Trade Commission of Guangdong province.

Dow Jones:
- Citigroup(C), the largest US bank, is planning raises for the majority of the brokers in its Smith Barney brokerage unit. The increase, scheduled to be announced in October by the NY-based bank, will boost the pay of 80% of Smith Barney’s brokers, especially those who generate $300,000 or more annually in commissions and fees.

Reuters:
- The Federal Reserve’s deep cut in benchmark US interest rates may revive the loan market by early 2008, a Bear Stearns(BSC) director and other top executives said at Reuters Loan Pricing Corp.’s Gold Sheets conference on Wednesday.

Daily Telegraph:
- Lloyds TSB Group Plc may be working with UBS AG on a possible bid for at least some of Northern Rock Plc, the UK lender bailed out by the Bank of England last week.