• Asian stocks fall on commodity price decline, Hong Kong's property curbs.
  • China sees faster production gains in fourth quarter.
  • China state fund investing $500 million in Canada-based coal miner in Mongolia.
  • Dollar falls as China Output report sparks demand for high-yielding assets.
  • EU approves Pepsi bottlers merger, no concerns of dominance in Europe.
  • Euro rises to $1.4905 in European morning trade.
  • Milk glut has dairy farmers killing hundreds of thousands of cows to reduce demand.
  • Oil lingers below $79 in Asia as investors eye volatile US dollar.
  • OPEC may increase production targets in Dec as oil rises above $75/bbl: Group President.
  • Akzo Nobel reported a surprise increase in Q3 net helped by cost cutting measures.
  • Ares Capital Corp. to buy Allied Capital Corp. for about $648M in stock.
  • BP's Q3 earnings decline 34% to $5.34B on lower oil prices amid weak refining margins.
  • Canon's Q3 net falls 55% to $399.5M as revs tumbled 22%.
  • Caterpillar starts rehiring, expects demand increases in the coming months.
  • Dassault Systemes to buy part of IBM's sales and customer support ops for $600M cash.
  • DryShips reported Q3 revenue of $228.2M, exceeding cons. est. by 8.4%.
  • FairPoint Communications files for bankruptcy with plan to cut debt.
  • Honda triples full-year profit forecast on Japan, China stimulus measures.
  • IAC/ Interactive's Sept. results: $15M loss last year and $22M gain this year.
  • Johnson Control's Sept. net income rose from $16M last year to $300M this year.
  • Limited Brands expects Oct same-store sales declines to be negative low-to-mid single digits.
  • Lloyds said to gauge investor interest in $37B investment package.
  • Michelin's Q3 revenue falls 11% to €3.75B, targets positive free cash flow for 2H.
  • United Technologies said to lead bidding for GE Security unit.
  • US Steel's Sept. net income declines from a $919M gain last year to a $303M loss this year.
  • Verizon said profit fell 30% to $1.18B on higher merger and restructuring costs.
  • VF Corp.'s Sept. net income drops from $234M last year to $218M this year.
  • Winn-Dixie Stores reduced Y09 f'casts, sees EBITDA at most at $160M.

Economic Calendar: Data on Durable Orders, CaseShiller Home Price Index to be released today.

Earnings Calendar: ACE, ACTL, AGCO, AJG, AKS, APOL, BEAV, BEN, BP, BYD, CAS, CE, CHE, CNC, CQB, CVG, DAI, ECL, ETFC, FISV, HMC, IACI, MCK, RYN, TXT, V, VLO, WYNN.

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Data provided by Egan-Jones Rating Actions