PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Oct 13

Oct 13 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* U.S. regulators are examining whether an arrangement that lets high-speed traders rapidly buy and sell large chunks of stock anonymously could go awry and threaten markets.

* Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) agreed to hand over documents that detail the legal advice it received during its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co, according to people familiar with the situation, a reversal after months of resisting such a move.

* White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers said there were signs the U.S. economy was returning to normal, but he warned that "major slack" remained, and that weak demand would continue to crimp output.

* Frustrated in previous attempts to consolidate its fragmented steel industry, China is working on a new way to promote mergers and reduce capacity, possibly giving a boost to other global steel companies.

* Retailers in the U.S. are turning to new gift-card gimmicks as they try to lure shoppers into their all-too-empty stores and increase holiday sales to recession-scarred consumers.

* The Ghanaian government is divided over whether to cut a deal with a leading Chinese oil company or with Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) to develop a giant offshore oil field.

* The U.K. government, in a bid to reduce its debt, is exploring a novel way to raise funds, people familiar with the matter say: bundling government activities such as human resources and information-technology management into commercial companies and selling or listing them.

* Central Huijin, an investment arm of China's $300 billion sovereign-wealth fund China Investment Corp, will continue buying shares in the country's three largest banks over the next year to reassure investors and stabilize the stock market, the lenders said.

* Arthur Levinson, chairman of Roche Holding AG's Genentech, resigned from Google Inc's (GOOG.O) board amid a Federal Trade Commission probe into his membership on both the boards of Google and Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which are competing in a growing number of areas.

* Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) plans to sell several of its portfolio companies, both to the public via initial public offerings and to private-equity companies and others, said a person familiar with the situation.

* U.S. President Barack Obama has shelved a plan to raise more than $200 billion in new taxes on multinational companies following a blitz of complaints from businesses.

* A new proposal to build a transmission link to connect the United States' three major electricity grids -- Eastern, Western and Texas -- is generating interest among energy policy makers because of its potential to accelerate development of renewable energy.

* As bankers ramp up for an anticipated flurry of technology deals and consolidation, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) is promoting the longtime head of its telecommunications investment-banking group to jointly run its technology, media and telecommunications team.

* SanDisk Corp (SNDK.O) is delivering a long-awaited technology advance for chips known as flash memory, adding to developments that are helping makers of the widely used components boost their bottom lines.

* Mass resignations by business executives at China's Caijing magazine are fueling doubt over the future of the country's most influential business publication and the efforts of its pioneering editor to reshape journalism in China.