PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - Nov 19

Nov 19 (Reuters) - The following were the top stories in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

* Boeing Co (BA.N) is reworking its entire production schedule, adding as much as 10 weeks to the original delivery date for all 3,734 jetliners in its order backlog as it tries to recover from a strike by its machinists, according to people familiar with the situation.

* The Department of Justice is investigating the off-label use of a Medtronic Inc (MDT.N) implant for promoting bone growth, bringing government scrutiny of such unapproved uses to the heart of the $189 billion medical-device industry.

* Jerry Yang's tenure as Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) CEO will likely spur the board to find a leader better equipped to navigate the Internet giant.

* Google Inc (GOOG.O) and Procter & Gamble Co (PG.N) are swapping employees as P&G seeks to learn how to market products online and Google tries to persuade advertisers to shift away from TV.

* Behind headlines of record losses, a small group of Wall Street traders on commodities, currencies and interest-rate trading desks have made huge profits for the banks that employ them. That is setting up a scramble as traders vie for dwindling pools of bonus money once heaped on such top performers.

* Mark Cuban said he never agreed to keep information about pending financing of an Internet company private.

* Stocks overcame dismal housing data, a continued swoon in the financial sector, and uncertainty over a potential auto bailout to post solid gains on Tuesday.

* Home builders' confidence in the market has plunged to a record low amid overwhelming uncertainty about the economy. Meanwhile, home prices fell in a record four out of five U.S. cities in the third quarter as low-cost foreclosures flooded the market and the U.S. housing market's decline spread.

* Debate is heating up over the future of Fannie Mae (FNM.P) and Freddie Mac (FRE.P) as the two government-backed mortgage companies struggle with heavy losses and investors continue to shy away from their debt.

* Online spending growth in October fell to its lowest rate since 2001, in a sign the sector has been hit by the slumping economy and indicating a challenging holiday season for online retailers.

* The market for debt used to finance hotels, offices and shopping malls tumbled Tuesday on worries that the long-feared rise in defaults for commercial mortgage-backed securities had begun, possibly ushering in the next phase of the financial crisis.

* Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) Tuesday surprised Wall Street with an early announcement of better-than-expected earnings for its most recent quarter -- one of the few tech companies to unveil positive numbers in the past few weeks.