Media Digest 1/20/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Obama said he will not let companies who owe the US taxes to bid for government work.

Reuters:   Republican Scott Brown won the Senate race in Massachusetts putting the Obama healthcare proposal at risk.

Reuters:   The government made banks pay more than the face value for warrants which it received as part of the TARP funding.

Reuters:   China is putting a brake on bank lending.

Reuters:   Unemployment will be high in many cities through 2013.

Reuters:   The Fed defended its actions in the AIG (NYSE:AIG) rescue and said it welcomes an inquiry.

Reuters:   IBM (NYSE:IBM) raised guidance but investors remained concerned.

Reuters:   Schwab (NASDAQ:SCHW) and TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) posted low earnings and asked investors to be patient as interest rates rise and traders come back into the market.

WSJ:   AIG (NYSE:AIG) is close to selling one of its units to MetLife (NYSE:MET) for $14 billion to $15 billion, which would give the New York Fed $9 billion to pay back loans.

WSJ:   Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) delayed the launch of its handsets in China.

WSJ:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) is seeking lithium to supply its electric engines.

WSJ:   Chevron (NYSE:CVX) will cut refining jobs.

WSJ:   Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) faulted Register.com for some of the hacking of the Chinese company’s systems

WSJ:   Chinese homegrown movies are starting to win away consumers of Western films.

WSJ:   Homebuilders say they expect a building recovery this year.

WSJ:   Hershey (NYSE:HSY) has limited options to operate on its own.

WSJ:   Omega 3 fatty acids have been linked to longevity.

WSJ:   Banks are being forced to put more money into faltering real estate projects or shut them down.

NYT:   When children are awake, they are usually online.

NYT:   Sony (NYSE:SNE) delayed the launch of its motion controller until fall.

NYT:   The Senate is considering dropping the consumer protection agency.

NYT:   CEO Pandit is running out of time to clean up Citigroup (NYSE:C)

NYT:   The FHA will raise standard  for mortgage insurance.

NYT:   The IMF sees global growth above 3% this year.

NYT:   There is evidence that the cyber attack on Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) was based on technical data from China.

FT:   Some analysts say that the Fed made a “killing” on AIG (NYSE:AIG) CDO contracts.

Douglas A. McIntyre