Media Digest 12/17/2007 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron's

According to Reuters, the pace of holiday spending dropped off in late November and early December.

Reuters writes that Ingersoll-Rand (IR) is buying Trane (TT) for $10.1 billion.

Reuters writes that chip makers like Intel (INTC) are considering going to larger wafers to increase production but the move could cost billions of dollars.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Related Companies, a large privately held NY real estate company will get a huge cash infusion from Goldman Sachs (GS) and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development as Arab interests increase investments in the US.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Ford (F) is near a deal to sell Rover and Jaguar to Tata.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Time Warner’s (TWX) studio release "I Am Legend" broke a box office record bringing in almost $77 million.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Cerberus and United Rentals (URI) have entered settlement talks over their broken buy-out deal.

The Wall Street Journal writes that IBM (IBM) is increasing its staff in India and China

The New York Times writes that sales of women’s clothing has been particularly weak this holiday season.

The New York Times reports that software programmers are having trouble keeping up with the new speed of faster chips

The FT writes that a rise in food prices is likely to hit all of the world’s major economies.

The FT also reports that telecom companies are turning to Silicon Valley to get their senior tech talent.

Barron’s reports that Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) may be overvalued.

Bloomberg says Wall St expects M&A to fall 20% due to growing credit problems in the market.

Bloomberg also reports that the price of wheat moved above $10 a bushel.

Douglas A. McIntyre