Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:Top StoriesEU finmins agree on banking supervisor. EU finance ministers last night finally agreed to a deal in which the ECB will become the banking supervisor for the eurozone, a move that's a first step towards a banking union.

Intel and the semiconductor equipment maker ASML this afternoon announced an unusual deal intended to help accelerate the development of next-generation chip-making technologies. The agreement has two parts. Intel is going to provide $1 billion to ASML's R&D programs to help accelerate deployment of new technologies for 450 mm wafers and extreme ultra-violet lithography [...]

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:Top StoriesBaxter to acquire Sweden's Gambro for $4B. As tipped about 10 days ago, Baxter International (BAX) has agreed to buy Sweden's Gambro for $4B in a deal that should give Baxter a more complete line of dialysis products.

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:Top StoriesU.S. banks face $60B gap under Basel III. America's 19 biggest banks are at least $50B short of meeting Basel III requirements under new rules that the Fed approved yesterday, with smaller lenders about $10B short. The Fed surprised the sector by voting in favor of applying the complex regulations to all 7,307 U.S. banks, including even the smallest lenders.

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:Top StoriesEU mulls banking union. A European Commission report proposes that the eurozone set up a "banking union" that would allow the ESM rescue fund to directly inject cash into lenders and recapitalize them. Such a setup would allow, for instance, much of the issue regarding Spain and its banks to go away. Expect German/ECB denials soon, but the news has put a zip into the markets, with the euro leaping about 30 pips.

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:Top StoriesAlibaba, Yahoo finally reach buyback deal. After months of on-off negotiations, Alibaba (ALBCF.PK) has agreed to repurchase half of Yahoo's (YHOO) 40% stake in the Chinese company for around $7.1B, comprised of $6.3B in cash and up to $800M in newly-issued Alibaba stock.

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:Revolution at RIM as earnings slump again. RIM (RIMM) would consider selling itself if a strategic review found that this was its best option, CEO Thorsten Heins said yesterday after the BlackBerry maker once again missed earnings forecasts.