Daily Highlights: 12.29.09

• Asia commodity stocks, metals gain on China demand; Japan bank shares drop.
• Beaten by cable and the Web, broadcast TV looks to build a new business model.
• Build America Bond subsidy shift to fuel $130 billion in sales.
• Dollar trades at almost two-month high versus Yen on US recovery outlook.
• Fed proposed selling interest-bearing term deposits to banks, to drain some of the liquidity.
• Gold declines, snapping four-day gain as dollar rise saps investor demand.
• Oil closes in on $79 a barrel in Asia after US cold-snap drives energy futures higher.
• Two prime residential sites were sold via auction for lower-than-expected $1.34B in Hong Kong.
• US Holiday Retail Sales rise 3.6%, rebounding from worst year since 1970.
• BlackRock is planning to buy shares in $2B Rusal IPO.
• Canplats Resources received $265.2M takeover offer from Newmont Mining Corp., topping Goldcorp Inc.’s most recent bid.
• China CNR rises 6.5% in Shanghai trading debut after $2B stock sale.
• China Railway, Tongling bid $651M for Canada's Corriente Resources.
• Fairchild Semiconductor settled patent lawsuits with Infineon, enters a broad cross-licensing agreement.
• Fannie Mae said its home-loan assets shrank at an annualized rate of 26% last month.
• GM offering its dealers hefty incentives to move thousands of leftover vehicles from its Saturn, Pontiac brands.
• Imperial Sugar Co. settled property insurance claim for a February 2008 industrial accident for an aggregate of $345M.
• Korea National Oil Corp. has purchased Kazakhstan's Sumbe in a deal valued at $335M.
• Nufarm sells Sumitomo 20% stake after rejecting $2.3B Sinochem bid.
• Pilgrim's Pride emerges from Ch 11 bankruptcy protection after a year-long restructuring.
• Sumitomo Mitsui to study share sale as banks urged to boost capital ratios.

Economic Calendar: Data on CaseShiller 20 City, Consumer Confidence to be released today.

RECENT RATING ACTIONS
PACTIV CORP (PTV)
RANGE RESOURCES CORP (RRC)
OMNICOM GROUP INC (OMC)
EQUIFAX INC (EFX)
L-3 COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS (LLL)
UNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC (UNH)
WESTERN UNION CO/THE (WU)
NOBLE CORP (NE)
DOLLAR GENERAL CORP (DG)
OMNICARE INC (OCR)
MILLICOM INTERNATIONAL (MICC)
DELUXE CORP (DLX)
SCHOLASTIC CORP (SCHL)

Data provided by Egan-Jones ratings and analytics