Credit Suisse, Barclays May Be Start Of Bank Hiring Freeze (Bloomberg)
“Now that trading revenues are dropping there’s a hiring freeze on,” said John Purcell, managing director at executive search firm Purcell & Co. in London. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see people shedding traders again.”

Papandreou's Summer Pay Cuts Keep Cash-Strapped Greeks at Home (Bloomberg)
Eleni Alexiou says she can’t afford to take her two children to a Greek island on vacation this year after the government axed her summer bonus and reduced her pay. “We’re not going anywhere, just any place that friends and family can put us up,” said Alexiou, 38, a state employee at a citizens’ advice bureau in Athens. “The crisis is the reason. The summer bonus has been cut. Everything’s gone up in price.”

Wall Street Bonuses To Rise This Year: Report (Reuters)
Incentives at financial firms should rise from 2009 levels but remain below the record payouts of 2007, according to compensation consultant Johnson Associates. Average compensation at investment and commercial banks is set to rise for the second straight year, while payouts at asset managers should rebound from a 2009 trough, the report said. While some corners of Wall Street are likely to see bonuses rise by up to 15 percent this year, others could see a 15 percent drop, the report said. Businesses that will likely see the biggest increases include prime brokerage; equities-based asset management; and high net worth units. Areas set for the steepest bonus drops are fixed-income units at both investment and commercial banks and equities.

New GM Chief Known As Pragmatic Leader (NYT)
FYI: “The world is divided into defenders and attackers, and G.M. has been a defender,” Mr. Anderson said. “Akerson has run attackers. He is going to essentially turn General Motors into a next-generation attacker.”

Maxine Waters to Face Reporters Friday to Address Ethics Charges (ABC)
Waters will be joined by her chief of staff Mikael Moore, who is also her grandson. Waters is expected to read a prepared statement in front of cameras, followed by a presentation conducted by Moore refuting the statement of alleged violations issued by the Ethics Committee earlier this month. After the presentation concludes, television cameras will be asked to leave for an on-the-record, but off-camera Q & A session with Waters and Moore.

Economists Want Policy Makers To Back Off (WSJ)
53 surveyed economists offered a bleak picture of tepid growth and high unemployment. On average, they still don't see the unemployment rate dropping below 9% through at least June 2011. They expect the economy to add just 136,000 jobs a month over the next 12 months, down from a forecast of 157,000 in the July survey. At that rate, job creation will barely keep up with new entrants to the labor force. Despite the continued challenging conditions, 30 out of 48 economists who answered the question said the economy didn't need any more fiscal or monetary stimulus. Six economists said more fiscal stimulus was necessary, while five want more monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve and seven said that the economy could use both. The survey was conducted before the central bank's announcement Tuesday that it would reinvest proceeds from its mortgage-backed securities and agency debt portfolio into Treasurys, essentially boosting monetary stimulus. "The economy needs government to get out of the way," said Stephen Stanley of Pierpont Securities.

Steven Slater Ready To Come Home To JetBlue (NYP)
"It's a wonderful airline, he loves working for them and wishes to continue to work for them," Slater's attorney, Howard Turman, said outside his client's apartment in Belle Harbor, Queens. "He did his job effectively, efficiently and appropriately."

DOJ asks HP for records in bribery probe (MarketWatch)
German prosecutors, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal in April, are looking into the possibility that H-P executives paid about €8 million ($10.9 million) in bribes to win a €35 million contract under which the U.S. company sold computer gear, through a German subsidiary, to the office of the prosecutor general of the Russian Federation. The German probe has been joined by U.S. and Russian authorities, according to people familiar with the matter.

Irish Banks Rattling Nerves Again (WSJ)
Ireland's problems have moved to center stage. On Thursday, the government sold €1 billion in six- and eight-month treasury bills, paying 2.458% on the six-month note, a big jump from the 1.367% yield it paid at the last auction three weeks ago. The yield on the 10-year bond rose to 5.367%, 2.94 percentage points higher than the relative German bund and up almost half a percentage point from one week ago. Philip Lane, a professor of international and macro-economics at Trinity College in Dublin, said Anglo Irish's call for more capital is troublesome and there are worries that the deeper the government digs into its loan book, the more problems it could find.

Hedge Fund Inflows Jumped In July (WSJ)
Hedge-fund assets rose 1.37% in July to $2.249 trillion, after falling for two consecutive months. New money from investors boosted assets by $9.3 billion, the second highest monthly net inflow this year. Performance gains added another $21.09 billion to assets, HedgeFund.net said.

BP To Pay Record Fine Over Texas City (FT)
BP agreed to pay a record $50.6m fine for continued safety violations at its Texas City refinery five years after an explosion there killed 15 and injured 170. The fine came as federal officials on Thursday said that the UK oil group might not need to finish drilling the relief well touted as the permanent solution to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.