By Paddy Power

Fed’s Lacker said the losses on commercial real estate are mounting for community and regional banks, but do not present a systemic risk to the broader industry. Lacker added that he is pretty confident that the US economy will see growth of 2.5%-3% in 2010. (RTRS)

US Initial Jobless Claims (Oct 17) W/W 531K vs. Exp. 515K (Prev. 514K, Rev. to 520K) (BBG)

US Continuing Claims (Oct 10) W/W 5923K vs. Exp. 5970K (Prev. 5992K, Rev. to 6021K) (BBG)

The United States, which posted a record deficit in the last fiscal year, may lose its Aaa-rating if it does not reduce the gap to manageable levels in the next 3-4 years, Moody’s Investors Service said. (RTRS)

Today the Nikkei closed -0.64% and at 1349 BST (0749 CDT) European Indices were trading at: FTSE 100 -0.96%, DAX -1.24%, CAC 40 -1.37%. (BBG)

Wall St

Earnings

3M – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 1.37 vs. Exp. USD 1.17, Q3 revenue USD 6.2bln vs. Exp. USD 5.778bln. Boosts forecast Sees 2009 EPS USD 4.50-4.55 vs. Exp. USD 4.25. (BBG/RTRS)

AT&T – Q3 EPS USD 0.54 vs Exp. USD 0.501, Q3 revenue USD 30.9bln vs. Exp. USD 30.886bln. Sees 2009 revenue slightly below 2008 level. (BBG/RTRS)

McDonalds – Q3 EPS USD 1.15 vs. Exp. USD 1.108, Q3 revenue USD 6.05bln vs. Exp. USD 6.071bln. Q3 earnings rise on strong global results. (BBG/RTRS)

Travelers – Q3 operating EPS USD 1.61 vs. Exp. USD 1.29. Co. boosts forecast and sees FY 2009 operating EPS USD 5.30 – USD 5.50 vs. Exp. USD 5.25. Boosts quarterly dividend and sets regular quarterly dividend of USD 0.33 per share. Board of Directors has approved an additional USD 6bln of common share repurchases. (BBG)

Other News

P&G – According to sources, co. is in talks to buy part of Sara Lee Corp.’s international household products unit. Co. is mainly interested in the division’s air-care business, which makes Ambi Pur air fresheners, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. Sara Lee is unloading units to focus on coffee and food, and agreed to sell body-care and European detergent units to Unilever for USD 1.9bln last month. Based on that multiple of 1.8 times sales, the air-care unit would be worth about USD 700mln. (BBG)

Companies going ex-dividend: Caterpillar (USD 0.42000)

S&P 500

Earnings

Schering-Plough – Q3 ex-items EPS USD 0.40 vs. Exp. USD 0.40, Q3 revenue USD 4.5bln vs. Exp. USD 4.49bln. Says Q3 Remicade sales USD 608mln vs. Exp. USD 583.5mln, Q3 Nasonex sales USD 266mln vs. Exp. USD 266.0mln and sees Merck merger closing in Q4. (BBG/RTRS)

Merck – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 0.92 vs. Exp. USD 0.82, Q3 revenue USD 6bln vs. Exp. USD 6bln. Reaffirms forecast for year revenue and sees FY adjusted EPS USD 3.20-3.30 vs. Exp. USD 3.23. Co. says the pending merger with Schering-Plough is progressing as planned, with the closing anticipated in the fourth quarter. “Growth of key products, Januvia, Janumet, Isentress and Singulair, plus continued expense management allowed co. to deliver strong Q3 results,” said Richard T. Clark, chairman, president and chief executive officer. (BBG/RTRS/Briefing.com)

Bristol-Myers Squibb – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 0.52 vs. Exp. USD 0.513, Q3 revenue USD 5.49bln vs. Exp. USD 5.525bln. Reaffirms ‘07-’10 adjusted EPS CAGR at least 15% and sees 2009 adjusted EPS USD 2-2.05 vs. Exp. USD 2.02 and sees USD 1.75bln cash on closing of Mead refinancing. Says sees ‘09 EPS cut USD 0.02-0.03, ‘10 cut USD 0.07-0.09 on Medarex. Q3 Erbitux sales fell 3% to USD 179mln, Q3 Abilify sales rose 16% to USD 653mln, Exp. USD 686.3mln and Q3 Plavix sales rose 8% to USD 1.55bln, Exp. USD 1.55bln. (BBG/RTRS)

Philip Morris – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 0.93 vs. Exp. USD 0.908, Q3 revenue USD 6.6bln vs. Exp. USD 6.632bln. Says experienced lower organic volume in the quarter. Boosts forecast and sees FY09 EPS at USD 3.20-3.25 vs. Prev. view USD 3.10-3.20 vs. Exp. USD 3.24. (BBG/RTRS)

Occidental – Q3 EPS USD 1.14 vs. Exp. USD 1.057, Q3 revenue USD 4.1bln vs. Exp. USD 3.854bln. (BBG/RTRS)

Dow Chemical – Q3 ex-items EPS USD 0.24 vs. Exp. USD 0.10, Q3 revenue USD 12.0bln vs. Exp. USD 11.837bln. (BBG/RTRS)

Raytheon – Q3 cont. ops. EPS USD 1.25 vs. Exp. USD 1.156, Q3 revenue USD 6.2bln vs. Exp. USD 6.185bln. Says ended Q3 with backlog of USD 36.2bln and Q3 total bookings USD 5.1bln. Raises 2009 forecast to USD 4.70 – 4.80 vs. Prev. view USD 4.60 – 4.75 vs. Exp. USD 4.78. (BBG/RTRS)

EMC Corp – Q3 non-gaap EPS USD 0.23 vs. Exp. USD 0.206, Q3 Revenue USD 3.52bln vs. Exp. USD 3.443bln. Sees restructure charges USD 0.01 for Q4. (BBG/RTRS)

Fifth Third Bancorp – Loss per share USD 0.20 vs. Exp. loss per share USD 0.209. Says tier 1 capital ratio 13.23% and Q3 net charge offs were USD 756mln. Co. extended over USD 17bln of new and renewed credit in Q3. Says credit environment remain challenging and that nonperforming assets in the loan portfolio increased 13%. Provision for loan losses exceeded net charge-offs by USD 196mln. (BBG/RTRS)

Suntrust – Q3 adjusted loss per share USD 0.76 vs. Exp. loss per share USD 0.63. (BBG)

Black & Decker – Q3 EPS USD 0.91 vs. Exp. USD 0.91, Q3 revenue USD 1.2bln vs. Exp. USD 1.211bln. Sees Q4 EPS USD 0.68 – USD 0.78 vs. Exp. USD 0.48 and sees FY 09 ex-items EPS USD 2.45 – USD 2.55 vs. Exp. USD 2.22. (BBG/RTRS)

United Parcel Services – Q3 EPS USD 0.55 vs. Exp. USD 0.517, Q3 revenue USD 11.15bln vs. Exp. USD 11.155bln. Co. to cut 2009 capex to USD 1.7bln, down USD 500mln. Co. says Q3 UPS domestic package revenue USD 6.87bln and Q3 International package revenue USD 2.42bln. (BBG/RTRS)

Kimberly-Clark – Q3 EPS USD 1.40 vs. Exp. USD 1.152, Q3 revenue USD 4.9bln vs. Exp. USD 4.866bln. Boosts forecast and sees FY09 down 2% and had earlier seen FY09 down 4-6%. (BBG/RTRS)

Danaher – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 0.89 vs. Exp. USD 0.826, Q3 revenue USD 2.75bln vs. Exp. USD 2.732bln. (BBG/RTRS)

Thermo Fisher – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 0.78 vs. Exp. USD 0.757, Q3 revenue USD 2.53bln vs. Exp. USD 2.499bln. Sees FY09 EPS USD 2.95 – USD 3.05 vs. Exp. USD 3.00 and sees FY09 revenue USD 9.95bln – USD 10.05bln vs. Exp. USD 9.954bln. (BBG/RTRS)

Union Pacific – Q3 EPS USD 1.02 vs. Exp. USD 0.997, Q3 revenue USD 3.67bln vs. Exp. USD 3.661bln. (BBG/RTRS)

Entergy – Q3 oper. EPS USD 2.40 vs. Exp. USD 2.521, Q3 revenue USD 2.9bln vs. Exp. USD 3.746bln. Co. says continue to experience the negative effects of the slowed economic recovery. Reaffirms FY 2009 EPS USD 6.20 – USD 6.80 vs. Exp. USD 6.45. (BBG/RTRS)

PNC Financial – Q3 EPS USD 1 vs. Exp. USD 0.28. Says credit quality deterioration occurred at a slower pace during Q3 of 2009. (BBG)

NY Times – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 0.16 vs. Exp. loss per share USD 0.01, Q3 revenue USD 570.6mln vs. Exp. USD 561.6mln. (BBG/RTRS)

Hershey – Q3 Adjusted EPS USD 0.73, Q3 sales USD 1.48bln. (BBG/RTRS)

Xerox – Q3 EPS USD 0.14 vs. Exp. USD 0.12, boosts forecast. (BBG)

Other News

Bank of New York Mellon – Russia’s Federal Customs Service and co. have reached a settlement over a USD 22.5bln lawsuit. The suit sought damages from the bank related to a U.S. DoJ investigation in which a co.’s vice president allegedly helped to transfer USD 7bln out of Russia in the late 1990s. (WSJ)

Lockheed Martin – Co. being awarded a Cost-Plus-Incentive-Fee / Cost-Plus-Award-Fee contract with a total value of USD 1.034bln. The contract is to serve as the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Combat System engineering agent and the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Weapon System design, development and computer program source for Aegis cruisers and destroyers. (theflyonthewall.com)

Dow Chemical – Co. CEO sys we are seeing pockets of volume growth in certain businesses versus the prior quarter. (theflyonthewall.com)

News Corp – The new CEO of co.’s MySpace said that the web site is no longer interested in competing with Facebook for the title of world’s largest online social network. (FT)

Companies paying dividend: Fifth Third Bancorp (USD 0.01000)

NASDAQ 100

Earnings

eBay –Q3 ex-items EPS USD 0.38 vs. Exp. USD 0.37, Q3 revenue USD 2.2bln vs. Exp. USD 2.14bln. Sees Q4 adjusted EPS USD 0.38-0.40 vs. Exp. USD 0.40 and sees Q4 revenue USD 2.2-2.3bln vs. Exp. USD 2.26bln. Sees Skype deal closing in Q4. (BBG)

Amgen – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 1.49 vs. Exp. USD 1.27, Q3 revenue USD 3.8bln vs. Exp. USD 3.78bln. Boosts forecast and sees FY09 EPS USD 4.90-5.05 vs. Exp. USD 4.89 and sees FY09 revenue to upper end of USD 14.4-14.8bln vs. Exp. USD 14.7bln. Says Q3 Epogen sales USD 663mln vs. Exp. USD 640.1mln,

combined Neulasta and Neupogen sales USD 1.21bln vs. Exp. USD 1.19bln. Q3 Enbrel sales USD 924mln vs. Exp. USD 906.9mln. Sees 2009 capital expenditures less than USD 600mln. (BBG)

Celgene – Q3 non-gaap EPS USD 0.56 vs. Exp. USD 0.54, Q3 revenue USD 695mln vs. Exp. USD 668.35mln. Co. says Q3 Revlimid net product sales increased 31% to USD 450mln and Q3 Vidaza net product sales increased 62% to USD 103mln. (BBG/RTRS)

Citrix – Q3 adjusted EPS USD 0.43 vs. Exp. USD 0.41, Q3 revenue USD 401mln vs. Exp. USD 400mln. Sees Q4 revenue growth 3-4%. (BBG)

Other News

Apple – The newest versions of co.’s iMac desktop and MacBook feature significant improvements but they’re more evolutionary than revolutionary and their prices remain firm. (WSJ)

Microsoft – Co. launches Windows 7 today in its most important release for more than a decade, aiming to win back customers after the disappointing Vista and strengthen its grip on the PC market. (RTRS)