Wednesday's Top Stories in 2 Minutes

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Here at the Fool, we've searched high and low across the Web this Wednesday morning to find the biggest news and best stories. Here are your top five morning reads.

1. GMAC needs more money ... again
What's another bailout after you've already had two of them? GMAC is in talks with the government for a third capital infusion, since it's apparently struggling to meet the capital requirements set by stress tests earlier this year. (Read more at Real Clear Markets.)

2. The insider trading saga deepens
Sources have told The Wall Street Journal that ex-Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) CEO Hector Ruiz is accused of sharing insider information with the Galleon Group. If this source proves reliable, Ruiz would be the biggest name yet in this expanding case. Don't think the buck stops with him, though; expect more big names to fall in the coming months. (Read more at The Wall Street Journal.)

3. A couple of earnings reports from this morning
International Paper (NYSE: IP) beat earnings expectations by trimming fixed costs and capacity. While cost-cutting is all the rage this earnings season, the company managed to pump the bottom line in other areas, too, including an impressive $525 million tax credit for an alternative fuel program. (Read more at MarketWatch.)

Meanwhile, Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) failed to deliver on the top line, but still beat earnings estimates and gave upbeat guidance. As seen in Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T's (NYSE: T) earnings reports earlier this week, home phone lines are drying up as customers move to wireless accounts. Those companies have large wireless units to offset this switch, but Qwest isn't so lucky. The company will continue to focus on heavy cost-cutting to combat its declining phone-line business. (Read more at Yahoo! Finance.)

4. Time to stock up on food?
Despite dwindling supplies of agricultural goods, farm commodities have largely missed out on the rally. Is there an investment case for putting some of your portfolio in agriculture-related goods at this point? The Telegraph looks at what factors could push farm goods prices upward. Some investors seem to be banking on the trend. For example, Invesco's (NYSE: IVZ) DB Agriculture Fund (NYSE: DBA) ETF has more than $2.3 billion in assets. (Read more at The Telegraph.)

5. In case you're still watching housing ...
I know focusing on Case-Shiller numbers is sooo 2008, but August's numbers did once again show a modest month-over-month gain. The good news: this is the fourth consecutive month of improvement. The bad news: We're still facing heavy year-over-year declines. (Read more at CNBC or Calculated Risk.)

Check Fool.com throughout the day for commentary and analysis on these and other stories. Or you can follow us on Twitter, on Facebook, or through our email digests.

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Eric Bleeker owns shares of no companies listed above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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