Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

♦  AIG is already running out of the $123 billion in cash it was provided by the Federal Reserve, which means the authorities are slowly waking up to idea that something else might be going on. [NYT]
♦  The U.S. economy shrank at a 0.3 percent annualized rate in the third quarter as consumer spending declined at the fastest rate in 28 years. [MW]
♦  The Fed's half-point rate cut yesterday? It won't do much to prop up the economy. [NYP]
♦  Andrew Cuomo has asked banks to provide his office with bonus data. [NYT]
♦  Some hedge funds are still raking in cash from investors. Steve Cohen's SAC is down 5.5 percent in 2008 (and he's moved most of his funds into cash), but he's accepting new funds beginning in January. [Bloomberg]More

♦  The Fed is expected to cut interest rates again today, possibly to as low as 1 percent. [WSJ]
♦  The White House is pushing banks to stop hoarding the bailout billions and start making more loans. [AP]
♦  George Soros says the number of hedge funds "will be reduced in size by anywhere between half and two thirds" over the next few years. [Reuters]
♦  GMAC, which is controlled by GM and Steve Feinberg's Cerberus Capital, is now looking to become a bank holding company so it can tap into the $700 billion bailout pool. [WSJ]
♦  Credit card crunch: Lenders wrote off an estimated $21 billion in bad credit card loans in the first half of 2008. [NYT] More

♦  The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would provide up to $37.8 billion to AIG. That's on top of the $85 billion lifetime the insurance giant got a few weeks ago. [NYT]
♦  Hank Paulson suggested yesterday the government may invest in banks as part of the next step in trying to resolve the credit crisis. [Bloomberg, NYT]
♦  Talks continue between Wells Fargo and Citigroup, who are both vying for control of Wachovia, although they appear close to a settlement. [WSJ, DB] More

♦  The world's central banks are joining together to carry out a coordinated (and unprecedented) cut in interest rates, part of a plan to restore confidence in the global economy. [WSJ, NYT]
♦  Speculation that Morgan Stanley's deal with Mitsubishi UFJ had fallen through led to a huge drop in Morgan's stock price; the Japanese bank now says the deal will be done by this weekend. [Bloomberg]More

♦  Invoking emergency powers, the Fed will create a special fund to buy up commercial paper—short-term debt that companies typically use for such things as payroll—in an effort to ease up the credit markets. [Bloomberg]
♦  Wachovia and its sparring suitors, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, have agreed to a two-day truce as negotiators try to work out a resolution. [WSJ, DB]
♦  Did you miss Lehman CEO Dick Fuld's testimony before the House yesterday? A recap. [WSJ, FT, NYT]
♦  Bank of America reports that profits plunged 68% in the third quarter. [CNNMoney]More