24/7 Wall St.

Reuters:   The retirement package for Ken Lewis of Bank of America (BAC) may be as high as $125 million.

Reuters:   US car sales plunged in September with Ford (F) up and GM down. Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) also lost sales.

Reuters:   The CIT (CIT) board approved a restructuring plan.

Reuters:   Comcast (CMCSA) shares were punished on rumors it might buy the NBC Universal unit of GE (GE).

Reuters:   Fed officials said the economy was getting better but there are pockets of major weakness.

Reuters:   Wal-Mart (WMT) says it sees a slow business recovery.

Reuters:   Geithner said a strong dollar is important.

Reuters:   Toyota’s (TM) chief is worried about profits due to the decline of the dollar.

Reuters:   Northrup (NOC) beat Boeing (BA) on a $3.8 billion tanker maintenance contract.

WSJ:   The Fed may have improperly gotten money from Lehman ahead of creditors.

WSJ:   Bank of America (BAC) may hire a “short term” CEO.

WSJ:   The UK gave Xstrata a deadline in its bid for Anglo-American.

WSJ:   RBS (RBS) appointed two new directors.

WSJ:   Bernanke backed a council of regulators to watch for risk in the larger financial system and economy.

WSJ:   The new head of Wal-Mart (WMT) must deal with a competitive market and expansion overseas.

‘WSJ:   Cicso (CSCO) is stepping up its rivalry with HP (HPQ).

WSJ:   Comcast (CMCSA) may be worried that the Internet may become one of the largest content channels.

WSJ:   Parts of Asia are worried about inflation.

WSJ:   The VIX jumped on stock fears.

WSJ:   Mortgage rates fell below 5%.

WSJ:  Delta (DAL) and the AFL-CIO are at odds over work rules.

WSJ:   The Washington Post (WPO) and Bloomberg are creating a new service.

NYT:   China’s economy is gaining on Japan.

NYT:   A large Madoff investor has trouble getting money back in 2003.

NYT:   Bayer is being charged with deceptive labeling on a cancer drug.

FT:   The crisis has created a new sophistication about risk.

Douglas A. McIntyre