• Asian stocks gain on commodity prices; Newcrest advances on record gold prices.
• ECB little reason to raise rates over next 12 months because of a muted inflation outlook: IMF.
• Fed should increase interest rates 'sooner rather than later,' Hoenig says.
• Gold hits record $1,045 on report suggesting the end of dollar-based oil trading.
• Gold jumps to record $1,038 an ounce as outlook for inflation fuels demand.
• JP Morgan says US may take until 2013 to recover jobs lost in recession.
• Nationwide, effective office rents fell 8.5% in Q3 - steepest YoY decline since 1995.
• 3M Co. will spend about $1B on acquisitions within the next 12 months: CEO.
• Allegheny Energy to sell its fiber optic network assets to NTELOS for $27M.
• Amazon.com trimmed $40 off the price of its Kindle e-reader.
• Boeing announces another delay to its 747-8 freighter, to take a $1B charge in Q3.
• Costco 4Q profit falls 6%, but Sept. sales rise
• Delphi emerges from 4-yr bankruptcy; most of the US automotive assets goes to GM.
• Emerson Electric acquires IT company Avocent Corp. for $1.2B cash.
• ExxonMobil buys Kosmos Energy's stake in oil blocks offshore Ghana; deal at $3-4B.
• Fannie, Freddie to aid mortgage banks to acquire short-term credit for lending purposes.
• GM says talks to sell its Hummer brand to China's Tengzhong are 'on track'.
• In reversal, AT&T will allow Skype, similar services on iPhone network.
• Ivanhoe Mines, Rio Tinto to develop $4B Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold project in Mongolia.
• Julius Baer to buy ING Groep NV's Swiss private bank unit for $506M.
• Marshall & Ilsley sees slide in bad loans; but posts Q3 losses wider than est.
• Pepsi Bottling Group's Q3 net rises 9.9% to $254M, helped by lower commodity costs.
• Santander's Brazilian unit seeks $8B in record IPO to fund growth.
• St. Jude Medical sees Q3 EPS at $0.57-0.58 vs. prev view of $0.61-0.63.
• Starwood Capital, TPG to buy real estate assets of Corus Bankshares Inc. for $554.4M.
• Sunoco Inc. to cut its quarterly dividend in half; idles its refinery in New Jersey.
• Tesco Plc's H1 net rises 1.3% to £1.03B; revs up 9.2% at £27.78B.
• Verisk Analytics, owned by Travelers Cos. & CNA Fincl Corp., raises $1.88B via IPO.
• YUM! Brands beats by $0.12, posts Q3 EPS of $0.70. Revs fell 2.3% to $2.78B.

Economic Calendar: Data on Crude Inventories, Consumer Credit to be released today.

Earnings Calendar: AA, AYI, COST, FDO, HELE, MON, PRXI, RT, WWW.

Recent Egan-Jones Rating Actions:
FREEPORT-MCMORAN COPPER (FCX)
NEWMONT MINING CORP (NEM)
BARRICK GOLD CORP (ABX)
RPM INTERNATIONAL INC (RPM)
HARTFORD FINANCIAL SERVICES (HIG)
MOSAIC CO/THE (MOS)
EMERSON ELECTRIC CO (EMR)
CIT GROUP INC (CIT)
DARDEN RESTAURANTS INC (DRI)
REGIONS FINANCIAL CORP (RF)
PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP INC (PNC)
ENERGY FUTURE HOLDINGS CORP (TXU)
BROCADE COMMUNICATIONS (BRCD)

Data provided by Egan-Jones Ratings and Analytics