Ken Lewis, Bernanke: Thursday's Headlines

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are the top stock market headlines for the morning of Thursday, October 1, 2009.

Thursday's Early Headlines

• Ken Lewis Out at BofA; No One In. - Bank of America (BAC Quote) CEO Ken Lewis has decided to retire by the end of the year. The company said its board would "continue ongoing planning" in order to name a successor by the time Lewis steps down on Dec. 31. Lewis is also leaving his position as a director on the company's board. Independent research firm CreditSights said that the timing of Lewis' departure was "not altogether surprising" given the heightened scrutiny he and the company have been under for some time. "That said, we find it disappointing that BofA was not prepared to name a successor at this time, leaving the nation's largest depository without the smoothest change in leadership," CreditSights said in a research note.
• Penske Leaves Saturn's Orbit. - Penske Automotive (PAG Quote) ended talks to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors after an unidentified manufacturer indicated its board rejected a deal to make the cars. GM had agreed to build Saturn vehicles for Penske through sometime after the end of 2011. It was after that that Penske was looking for another manufacturer to build the cars. Without the Penske agreement, GM said the Saturn brand would be phased out.
• Comcast Denies Deal for NBC Universal. - Comcast (CMCSA Quote) told The New York Times it does not have a deal to buy NBC Universal, the media unit of General Electric (GE Quote). The news of a tie-up was first reported by The Wrap, a blog run by a former Times reporter. It said bankers for the company met Tuesday to work out details for a deal. Negotiations for Comcast to buy about a 50% stake in NBC Universal have been ongoing and depend on whether French media company Vivendi decides to unload its 20% stake, Bloomberg reported, citing three people familiar with the talks. No agreement is certain, the people said.
• Kraft Lines Up Financing for Cadbury; Hershey Unlikely to Bid. - Dow Jones reports that Kraft Foods (KFT Quote) is close fo finalizing a deal with lenders on the funding of its bid for Cadbury (CBY Quote). Cadbury has imposed a Nov. 9 deadline for Kraft to make a bid. Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that Hershey (HSY Quote) is unlikely to put together a competing bid for Cadbury because it is too small to support the debt load needed.
• Council of Regulators Should Monitor Systematic Risk: Bernanke - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will visit Capitol Hill Thursday to testify on proposed financial regulatory rules before the House Financial Services Committee. According to prepared remarks obtained by Reuters, Bernanke will tell Congressional members that a council of regulators should monitor systemic risk, while all systemically important financial firms should be subject to a consolidated regulator. "For purposes of both effectiveness and accountability, the consolidated supervision of an individual firm, whether or not it is systemically important, is best vested with a single agency," Bernanke will say in his remarks. "However, the broader task of monitoring and addressing systemic risks that might arise from the interaction of different types of financial institutions and markets -- both regulated and unregulated -- may exceed the capacity of any individual supervisor."
• Cisco to Buy Norway's Tandberg for $3 Billion. - Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote) plans to begin a tender offer to buy video-conferencing technology company Tandberg for 153.5 Norwegian kroner a share ($26.49), or just under $3 billion. The price is an 11% premium to Tandberg's closing stock price Wednesday, and a premium of more than 25% to Tandberg's average closing price over the last three months.
• Jobless Claims, Auto Sales Scheduled - The Labor Department will release its initial jobless claims report at 8:30 a.m. EDT, which should show claims increased last week to 535,000 from 530,000 the previous week, according to a Reuters poll of economists. Meanwhile, the start of a new month brings the latest monthly auto sales data, with carmakers reporting results throughout the session. Edmunds.com said new vehicle sales in September (including fleet sales) are expected to be around 742,000 units, nearly a 23% decrease from a year ago and a whopping 41.1% from the previous month. Also on the economic calendar, the Census Bureau will post personal income and spending data for August at 8:30 a.m. EDT. At 10 a.m. EDT, the Institute for Supply Management will release the September read on its manufacturing index, the Census Bureau will post construction spending data for August and the National Association of Realtors will offer pending-home sales data for August.

Thursday's Earnings Roundup

• Before the start of trading, Constellation Brands (STZ Quote) is expected to report a profit of 41 cents a share on $834 million in sales, according to Thomson Reuters.
• Accenture (ACN Quote) will be among a handful of companies reporting earnings late in the day, with economists expecting a profit of 63 cents a share on revenue of $5.14 billion.