Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- Merrill Lynch(MER) posted its third straight quarterly loss and said it will cut about 3,000 more jobs after the credit-market seizure forced the investment bank to writedown about $6.5 billion of debt. The shares are surging 4.5% on heavy volume on the news.
- GE(GE) agreed to buy most of Citigroup’s North American commercial lending and leasing unit, adding $13.4 billion in finance assets less than a week after an unexpected first-quarter profit decline.
- Former US President Jimmy Carter Meets Hamas in Cairo, Ignoring US, Israeli Objections.
- Josh Birnbaum, one of the traders who led Goldman Sachs’(GS) push into bets against subprime-mortgage bonds, has left the world’s biggest securities firm and plans to forma $1 billion hedge fund.
- The $62 trillion market for credit derivatives that triggered some of Wall Street’s $245 billion of subprime losses and writedowns remains “vibrant,” defying its critics, according to the industry’s trade body.
- McCain Says Tax, Spending Cuts Will Spark Economy.

Wall Street Journal:
- Yahoo Inc.(YHOO) moved closer to outsourcing its search advertising to Google Inc.(GOOG) after an initial test of the system yielded what the two firms deemed positive results.
- Adobe(ADBE) Web Photo Site Is Great for Editing, But Lacks Some Basics.

USA Today:
- Home buyers are taking advantage of steep price declines and home foreclosures, leading to sales gains in some parts of the US, citing buyers and real estate agents.

Forbes.com:
- A group of leading German economic think tanks on Thursday cut their forecast for growth this year in Europe’s largest economy to 1.8% from a prior forecast of 2.2% growth. They forecast growth of 1.4% next year in Germany.

AltAssets:
- Cleantech investments in North America, Europe and Israel totaled $1.25 billion in the first quarter of 2008, up 42% form the same period a year ago.

Financial Times:
- Risk premiums in European credit derivatives markets fell on Thursday as equities rose in relief that writedowns at Merrill Lynch(MER) and JPMorgan(JPM) were not as dreadful as feared.

AFP:
- Soros urges regulation for hedge funds.

Interfax:
- Russia’s Economy Ministry said inflation in the country will probably be between 9% and 10%, compared with the previous forecast of 8% to 9.5%.

Haaretz.com:
- Hezbollah’s TV station Al-Manar reported on Thursday that Syrian President Bashar Assad has said that Syria is preparing for war with Israel as a real possibility.

O Estado de S. Paulo:
- Brazil may have as much as 70 billion barrels of oil in fields along its Atlantic coast between Espirito Santo and Santa Catarina states. Brazil currently has official oil reserves of 14 billion barrels.