Bernanke: U.S. needs to curb budget deficit Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called Monday for the United States to whittle down its record-high budget deficits and for countries like China to get their consumers to spend more. Bernanke said those moves would help reduce "global imbalances" -- uneven trade and investment flows among countries that contributed to the financial crisis. The Fed chief's remarks to a Fed conference in Santa Barbara, Calif., came after the government said Friday that the U.S. hit a $1.42 trillion budget deficit for the 2009 year that ended Sept. 30. The previous year's deficit was $459 billion.

Housing market index drops a point The National Association of Home Builders said Monday this month's housing market index, which tracks industry confidence, slipped by one point to 18, the first dip since June when the reading fell to 15. The drop reflects builders' concerns over the nearing deadline of a homebuyer tax credit that has helped push sales this year. Builders also are feeling less positive about the likelihood of sales between now and the next six months and said home-shopper foot traffic has softened since September.

IBM exec put on leave in insider trading case IBM Corp. put a top executive on leave Monday after he was charged in an insider trading scandal for allegedly leaking secrets about IBM's earnings and financial dealings with corporate partners. The company said Robert Moffat, a senior vice president and cost-cutting maven who was considered a possible candidate to succeed CEO Sam Palmisano, no longer serves as an officer of the company. A woman who answered the phone at Moffat's home in Connecticut said he would not comment. Kerry Lawrence, an attorney representing Moffat, said the government hasn't accused Moffat of profiting from the alleged scheme. "Not only have they not alleged that, but that definitely did not happen," Lawrence said. Rodney Adkins, who has been senior vice president in charge of development and manufacturing, was tapped to assume Moffat's position on an acting basis.

Icahn offers CIT Group a bailout In another sign that CIT Group Inc. is struggling to restructure its debt, billionaire investor Carl Icahn offered the lender a $6 billion lifeline. In a letter Monday to CIT's board of directors, Icahn said he would give the company the loan to replace a debt restructuring plan CIT has asked bondholders to approve. Icahn, who is a CIT bondholder, said in his letter the $6 billion loan would save the company $150 million in fees. He also criticized the board for pushing an exchange offer that he said unfairly favors large bondholders at the expense of smaller investors and that also undervalues the company. CIT said in a statement it received Icahn's letter and is asking for more information regarding the proposal.

New York Times to cut 100 more news jobs The New York Times said Monday it will cut 100 newsroom jobs and an unspecified number elsewhere amid industrywide declines in advertising revenue. The Times will offer voluntary buyouts at first but will resort to layoffs if it cannot meet the targets. The Times, flagship of the New York Times Co., cut its newsroom workforce by 100 positions last year mostly through buyouts, but Executive Editor Bill Keller said then that the newspaper had to make a "relatively small" number of involuntary cuts to meet that target. Even with the latest cuts, amounting to 8 percent of the newsroom staff, the Times has the largest newsgathering staff of any U.S. newspaper. The cuts would leave the newsroom with about 1,150 reporters and editors.

Merck lists fees paid to doctors, nurses, others Merck & Co. paid doctors and nurses a total of $3.7 million this summer to give talks to colleagues about the drugmaker's products and other health topics, Merck disclosed Monday. Amid growing criticism of industry influence over which treatments doctors choose for their patients, the company posted a database on its Web site listing speaking fees paid to 1,078 doctors, researchers, nurses and other health professionals. It covers July through September, and Merck -- the second major drugmaker to disclose payments to doctors -- plans to update it regularly. "There's been a tremendous amount of misunderstanding" about the relationship between industry and doctors, said Dr. Richard Pasternak, Merck's head of scientific affairs. "This shines a light on it." The 1,078 speakers gave a total of 2,493 talks and were paid $1,548 on average. The top earner got $22,693, and dozens of doctors received more than $10,000. "We think what we're doing is just fine," Pasternak said.

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