Opening Bell: 09.29.10

Morgan Stanley Third Quarter Estimates Reduced By Goldman Sachs (Bloomberg)
Morgan Stanley’s earnings-per-share estimate was reduced to 15 cents from 60 cents, analysts led by Richard Ramsden said in a note to clients dated yesterday. The analysts kept their “neutral” recommendation on the stock. “Investment bank earnings are likely to be soft in the third quarter 2010, as evidenced by Jefferies’ shortfall last week,” the analysts said. The largest adjustments are due to “muted activity” in fixed income and equities, they said.

Anti-austerity protests sweep across Europe (AP)
In Dublin, a man rammed a cement mixer into the gates of the Irish parliament Wednesday in an apparent protest at the country's catastrophically expensive bank bailout. Written across the truck's barrel in red letters were the words: "Toxic Bank Anglo."

Bill Gross: Say Good-Bye To Double Digit Returns (CNBC)
In his investment outlook, Gross wrote that future investment returns will be "far lower" than the historical averages and a less levered hedge fund community, faced with lower yielding assets, will likely resign itself to "a high single-digit future...Some characterize it in biblical terms – seven fat years to be followed by seven years of lean," he wrote.

US Said To Be Looking For A Way Out Of AIG (NYT)
Breaking away from A.I.G. will be a tough and complicated process, in part because of the insurance giant’s fragile state and in part because several parties jumped in to save the company in 2008 and used different forms of assistance. Officials working on the exit plan are seeking a way for the various rescuers to pull out without damaging one another’s interests in the company. Anyone have any suggestions? They're open to ideas.

Icahn Folds In Vegas (NYP)
After picking up the bankrupt Fontainebleau Las Vegas on the cheap, the investor is now holding a fire sale at the massive unfinished casino resort. While the project, which is 70 percent complete, sits idle on the Las Vegas Strip, Icahn has started selling off beds, dressers, TVs and other furnishings, according to a source.

Obama As Comeback Kid Just Needs A Weaker Dollar (Bloomberg)
Simon Johnson: "What conventional wisdom misses is that we experienced a severe credit crisis of the kind more typically seen in recent decades in middle-income emerging-market countries. The U.S. can recover quickly -- and jobs can come back much faster than expected -- but only if the dollar now depreciates...The Obama administration is blamed for high unemployment -- the result of a financial mania that was emerged long before it came to power. It would be a nice irony if, also through no fault of the administration, jobs return faster than expected as we head into the 2012 presidential election."

Las Vegas hotel guests left with severe burns from 'death ray' caused by building's design (DM)
Due to the concave shape of the Vdara hotel, the strong Nevada sun reflects off its all-glass front and directly onto sections of the swimming pool area below. The result has left some guests with burns from the powerful rays and even plastic bags have been recorded as melting in the heat. Chicago attorney Bill Pintas felt the power of the dangerous ray first hand last week. 'It felt like I had a chemical burn. I couldn't imagine why my head was burning,' he said. 'Within 30 seconds, the back of my legs were burning. My first though was, 'Jesus, they destroyed the ozone layer!'

Gates, Buffett Set To Dine With China's Rich (NYT)
The private dinner, which local media says will be in a mansion on the edge of Beijing modeled after the baroque 17th century Chateau de Maisons-Laffitte in France, is expected to gather several dozen people.

Case On Amaranth Collapse Gets Class Action Status (Reuters)
In a ruling dated on Monday, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin granted class-action status to futures traders who bought, sold or held natural gas futures or options on futures contracts from Feb. 16 to Sept. 28, 2006. The case "involves more than 1,000 potential claimants who are asserting claims based on common issues," Scheindlin wrote.

Investors, Regulators Laid Path To Flash Crash (WSJ)
One area of discussion, one person said, concerns the so-called "E-mini" futures contract, which mimics movements in the Standard & Poor's 500 index and was a source of heavy trading that day when liquidity dried up. Part of the discussion concerns whether to disclose the number of contracts exchanged in the E-mini contract, which could show the size and impact of the trades. The CFTC doesn't want to name the company behind the trade, this person said. The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets have identified the firm as Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. Waddell has said it didn't intend to "disrupt" the market.

HSBC Dismisses Talk Of Moving To Hong Kong (WSJ)
So you know.