Media Digest (10/15/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is having trouble justifying its huge bonuses.

Reuters:   Bruce Wasserstein, M&A giant and head of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ), died.

Reuters:   Congress will probe compensation at AIG (NYSE:AIG).

Reuters:   US foreclosures fell for a second month but stayed high.

Reuters:   The Fed discussed rasing its asset purchases at the last FOMC.

Reuters:   Roche’s results were helped by Tamiflu sales.

Reuters:   JPMorga (NYSE:JPM) had a $3.6 billion profit setting a high bar for rivals.

Reuters:   RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM) launched a touchscreen version of the Blackberry.

WSJ: “Calpers said a former board member had reaped $50 million in fees for arranging investments that could saddle state taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.”

WSJ:   AT&T (NYSE:T) slammed Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) over call blocking by its Voice application

WSJ:   Sumner Redstone will cut his stakes in CBS (NYSE:CBS) and Viacom (NYSE:VIA).

WSJ:   Overseas Chinese Banking Corp bought certain assets of ING.

WSJ:   BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) and Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) dropped a plan to co-market some of their products.

WSJ:   Sour mortgages could hurt GE (NYSE:GE) earnings.

WSJ:   Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is opening its first retail stores.

WSJ:   Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is expanding its wireless programs.

WSJ:   Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) results are likely to show that the recession is passing.

WSJ:   China’s foreign currency reserves hit $2.273 billion.

WSJ:   Obama is proposing at $250 payment to 57 million seniors, veterans and people with disabilities next year.

WSJ:   Congress is concerned about the usefulness of first time homebuyer credits.

WSJ:   Options traders are favoring IBM’s (NYSE:IBM) earnings prospects.

WSJ:   China faces a big retrenchment of its factories as exports remain slow.

WSJ:   GM predicted big growth in China.

WSJ:   Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) is targeting IBM with some of its new products.

WSJ:   Skype’s founders are trying to get an injunction against a sale of the company by eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY)

WSJ:   The Wall Street Journal (NYSE:NWS) is likely to pass USA Today (NYSE:GCI) in paid circulation.

NYT:   Electronic markets are threatening The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:NYX).

NYT:   Treasury officials want more banks to pay back bailout money.

NYT:   A suit filed against the SEC claims it did not detect the Madoff scheme.

NYT:   Thomson Reuters (NYSE:TRI) will buy Breakingviews.

NYT:   The head of EADS said the aircraft industry will do better than expected.

NYT:   Crédit Agricole will repay bailout money.

NYT:   About 7,300 people gave offshore tax data to the IRS.

FT:   The dollar was hit on signs from the Fed that rates will stay low.

FT:   Geithner aides made million on Wall St.

Bloomberg:   Xstrada dropped its $49 billion bid for Anglo American.

Bloomberg:   Consumer prices will probably show that inflation is not a risk.

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Douglas A. McIntyre