ADP Report: Wednesday's Headlines

(

Updated with ADP employment data, IMF forecast, CNBC report on CIT Group

.)

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Here are the top stock market headlines for the morning of Wednesday, September 30, 2009.

Wednesday's Early Headlines

• Economic Recovery a "Slow One": Wal-Mart Chairman. - The Associated Press reports that Wal-Mart (WMT) - Get Report Chairman Robson Walton told a business conference in Malaysia that the world recovery is going to be led by Asia "although it's going to be very challenging. I think this recovery is going to be a slow one." Walton added "sales have been tough" for Wal-Mart even as the retailer has benefitted from shoppers have moved toward bargain and discount shopping during the recession.
• CIT Group Could Hand Company Over to Bondholders. - The Wall Street Journal reports that CIT Group (CIT) - Get Report was preparing a plan that would hand control of the company to its bondholders. The plan, the newspaper reports, would offer bondholders new debt secured by CIT assets, as well as nearly all of the equity in a restructured firm. The new debt would mature later than current debt, according to the Journal. CNBC reported that a committee of bondholders is actively working with the company, and that an announcement is expected late Thursday or Friday.
• Ex-Moody's Employee Warned SEC About Muni Losses. - A former Moody's (MCO) - Get Report employee will testify Wednesday before Congress that he warned the Securities and Exchange Commission in March about deficiencies in the firm's monitoring of municipal bonds after being turned away by Moody's executives. Scott McCleskey, a former senior vice president for compliance at Moody's, wrote a letter to an official at the SEC alleging a "lack of meaningful surveillance of municipal securities, contrary to statements by Moody's to the public and to Congress," according to The Associated Press. A House oversight committee will hold a hearing Wednesday that will examine the role of credit rating agencies in the financial crisis.
• Hartford Financial Taps Former BofA Exec as CEO. - Hartford Financial (HIG) - Get Report Tuesday named Liam McGee, the former Bank of America (BAC) - Get Report head of consumer banking, as the insurer's new chairman and CEO. McGee, who left BofA in August after nearly 20 years with the bank, will take on his new role Thursday.
• ADP Employment Report Highlights Economic Releases - ADP (ADP) - Get Report said nonfarm private employment decreased 254,000 in September, a small improvement from a revised 277,000 jobs lost in August but worse than the 200,000 consensus of economists. September's ADP loss was the smallest since July 2008, although ADP said employment is likely to decline for at least several more months, with losses continuing to diminish. On Friday, the Labor Department will release its own nonfarm payrolls report. The final read on second-quarter gross domestic product and the Chicago Purchasing Managers' index for September are also on tap.
• IMF Cuts Its Forecast for Global Losses. - Bloomberg reports that The International Monetary Fund cut its projection for global writedowns on loans and investments by 15% to $3.4 trillion. The IMF cited improvements in credit markets and initial signs of economic growth in its semiannual report. Banks' losses on bad assets are projected to increase from July 2009 through next year by $470 billion in the euro area, $420 billion in the U.S. and $140 billion in the U.K., the report said, according to Bloomberg.
• FDIC Chooses Pay Early Over Pay More. - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is poised to preemptively collect roughly $45 billion worth of fees that banks would have to pay over the next few years in order to keep it from going broke. Based on risk profile, banks must pay anywhere from 12 cents to 45 cents per $100 in deposits, with the "safest" institutions at the lower end of the range. The FDIC on Monday proposed collecting fees for the last quarter of 2009 through the last quarter of 2012 because a rash of bank failures has depleted its reserve fund.

Wednesday's Earnings Roundup

• Nike (NKE) - Get Report late Tuesday reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $513 million, or $1.04 a share, slightly above year-ago levels and ahead of the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of 97 cents a share. On the downside, revenue slid 11.6% from a year ago to $4.8 billion, falling short of Wall Street's estimate for sales of $4.9 billion.
• Darden Restaurants (DRI) - Get Report posted fiscal first-quarter earnings of $94.3 million, or 67 cents a share, up from a year ago and a penny better than the Thomson Reuters average earnings estimate. Revenue of $1.73 billion was down from a year ago and fell shy of forecasts. However, the restaurant giant lowered the bottom end of its expected 2010 profit range, sending shares plummeting.