Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:

• Merkel’s Southern Flank Wobbles as Adenauer Grandson Ditches CDU. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s bid to find a middle ground in navigating Europe’s financial crisis is stoking dissent among traditional allies. Stephan Werhahn, 59, whose grandfather Konrad Adenauer was Germany’s first post-World War II chancellor and a founder of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, has quit her bloc after 40 years and defected to Bavaria’s Free Voters party. He intends to run as its chancellor candidate in 2013 elections. For Werhahn, a partner at Munich-based investment adviser General Capital Group, the Free Voters are the only alternative to Merkel’s backing for euro-area bailouts that he says violate European Union treaties. The party’s increasing popularity may push Merkel’s Christian Social Union allies in Bavaria to harden their line against helping Greece. “Once you abandon treaties and if the EU adopts policies triggering social unrest, pitting northern Europe against the south, with Europeans or people on the street hurling insults at each other, then Europe is back in the very condition that it emerged from after the war,” Werhahn said in an interview in Munich.
• European Stocks Fall on Lagarde Warning. European stocks declined for the fourth time in five days as International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said global growth is not fast enough to curb unemployment, and Chinese new lending missed estimates, outweighing better-than-expected U.S. consumer confidence data. Akzo Nobel NV (AKZA) slid 6.1 percent as Chief Executive Officer Ton Buechner extended his leave from the company. MAN SE (MAN) fell 3.3 percent after it said 2013 will be tougher than this year. Standard Chartered Plc and Axa SA (CS) climbed as Deutsche Bank AG raised its rating for the banking and insurance sectors. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.5 percent to 269.43 at the close of trading. The measure lost 1.7 percent this week as the International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts and European Union leaders met to discuss the region’s debt crisis.
• Egypt Islamists, Secularists Clash at Tahrir Square Protests. Islamist supporters of President Mohamed Mursi clashed with secular activists in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, in a showdown highlighting the tensions that have built up since he took office in June. Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood organized protests to demand the retrial of those acquitted this week of responsibility for the deaths of demonstrators in last year’s uprising. Secular groups, who also denounced that verdict, had earlier called for a rally today to criticize Mursi’s presidency and the growing influence of Islamism. Scuffles broke out during today’s demonstrations after secularists chanted slogans against Mursi, with the two sides lobbing stones at each other. Mursi’s supporters carried banners that read “No to a prosecutor who took part in shedding the blood of martyrs.” Shopkeepers rolled down their shutters and fled as tensions mounted in the area, and at least 30 people were injured in the clashes. 
• Copper Futures Drop as Scrap Demand Ebbs, China Concerns Mount. Copper fell, capping the biggest weekly drop in three months, as signs of slowing scrap-metal purchases and bank lending in China fueled concern that demand will weaken as the global economy sputters. Scrap discounts to new metal widened 25 percent in the past three months as demand slumped in China, the world’s biggest user, according to Metalsco Inc., a St. Louis-based recycler. In China, banks extended 623.2 billion yuan ($99.5 billion) of loans last month, below the 700 billion yuan median estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In September, copper rose the most since January as central banks expanded stimulus measures.
• Finance Chiefs Appeal for U.S. to Avoid From Fiscal Cliff. The U.S. is facing pressure to avoid running off its fiscal cliff amid warnings that failure to change course would trigger another global recession. “People are concerned,” U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne told reporters yesterday at the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting in Tokyo. “There was quite a lot of discussion.”

Wall Street Journal: 

• EU Wins Nobel Peace Prize. The European Union has been awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize in a nod to the 27-member bloc's "advancement of peace and reconciliation," and to applaud its solidarity as it continues to work to contain the debt crisis hanging over the euro zone. 
• Romney Takes Aim at Biden Over Libya. Mitt Romney accused Vice President Joe Biden of "doubling down on denial" as the GOP hopeful escalated his criticism of the Obama administration's actions after the consulate attack in Benghazi, Libya. "There were more questions that came out of last night," Mr. Romney told the crowd, referring to Thursday night's vice-presidential debate in Danville, Ky. "The vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of State Department officials. He's doubling down on denial."
• OECD Chief: ECB Credibility at Risk. The delay in actually deploying the European Central Bank's new backstop offer for troubled euro-zone nations is eroding confidence that the so-called "bazooka" will work, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Friday. Spain, the lead candidate to tap the new European bailout scheme, is being subjected to "schizophrenic" political pressures, simultaneously being urged to apply for help and being told such a move would be unwelcome, Angel Gurría said in an interview.
• Wells Fargo(WFC) Profit Jumps, but Low Interest Rates Pinch. 
• Turkey Dispatches Fighter Jets to Syria Border. Turkey scrambled two fighter jets to the border with Syria for the first time since July after a Syrian military helicopter bombed the Syrian border town of Azmarin, eyewitnesses said, underlining heightened tensions along the neighbors' long border.

CNBC: 

• Apple(AAPL) Will Unveil New iPad Mini Oct. 23: Report.  
• My Employees 'Filled With Anxieties These Days': Wynn. Anyone looking to start a business under current political and economic conditions needs "a lot of courage," casino owner Steve Wynn told CNBC Friday.

Zero Hedge:

• Producer Price Inflation Higher On Spiking Food And Energy; Those Who Don't Eat Or Drive See No Price Increase. (graph)
• European Equities End Ugly Week With Credit Unchanged. (graphs)
• Santelli And Shiller On Housing, Animal-less Spirits, And Bernanke's Impotence. (video)
• Issa Wants Congressional Hearing On BLS 'Data'.

Business Insider:

• The Odds Of An Electoral Nightmare Have QUADRUPLED.  
• ART CASHIN: A Close US Presidential Election Could Lead To Riots In The Streets.   
• US Troops In Jordan Are Preparing A Chemical Attack Defense Against Syria.   
• The BBC Is Being Shaken To Its Core By An Enormous Sex Abuse Scandal.  
• GALLUP: Mitt Romney Expands His Lead Over Obama. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney expanded his lead over President Barack Obama to 2 points in Gallup's daily tracking poll Friday, his second consecutive day with a lead. Romney now holds a 49-47 advantage among likely voters. 
• What's Happening In Northern Mali Right Now Is Downright Barbaric.  
• David Rosenberg Brought Down The House With This Depressing Presentation At A Conference This Week.

Reuters: 

• TEXT-S&P says China's credit metrics turn negative.  
• War intensifies across Syria, refugee crisis deepens. Rebels battled to hold onto Syria's main north-south highway on Friday as government forces fought insurgents on several fronts across the country. The rebels captured an air defence base east of Syria's biggest city, Aleppo, and government forces unleashed air strikes and artillery bombardments on the western city of Homs, activists said.