Dow's CEO declines comment on BASF, seeks growth elsewhere

(Reuters) - "We'll never comment on a rumor like that, but I will say that between Dow and BASF you are looking at two of the world's leading chemical companies and reality has to set in on do-ability," Liveris said in an interview with Reuters Television.




"The barriers to doing deals like that are not just financial."


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

US federal drilling fees among world's lowest-GAO

(Reuters) - "The U.S. federal government receives one of the lowest
government takes in the world" for allowing energy companies to
drill, the Government Accountability Office said in a report
requested by Democrats in Congress.




According to data cited by the GAO, an independent
government agency, the United States ranks below countries like
Angola, Australia, Norway and Trinidad and Tobago when
comparing drilling fees, which are the U.S. Treasury's
second-biggest income generator after taxes.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Gaylord sells ResortQuest mainland business for $35mln

(Reuters) - The hotel operator also said it completed the sale of the
ResortQuest Hawaiian business to Interval Acquisition Corp.





Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Quadrangle likely winner for Dennis - sources

(Reuters) - Dennis Publishing, owned by billionaire Felix Dennis, put itself up for sale in February.



The business also owns men's magazine Stuff, music magazine Blender, and The Week, a politics and news weekly.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Koc First-Quarter Profit Jumps 14-Fold on Refining and Consumer Durables

(Bloomberg) -- Koc Holding AS, Turkey's biggest
company by sales, said first-quarter profit jumped 14-fold driven
by earnings from refining and consumer durables.

Net income climbed to 259.5 million liras ($197.9 million)
from 18.5 million liras a year earlier, Istanbul-based Koc said
today in an e-mailed statement. Sales advanced 23 percent to 11.1
billion liras. Koc had been expected to earn 134 million liras,
according to the median estimate of six analysts surveyed by
Bloomberg News.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Thermo Fisher to take $25 mln-$30 mln divestiture charge

(Reuters) - Following an investigation, the United Kingdom Competition
Commission determined that Thermo should divest either GV
Instruments Ltd as a whole or sell off that company's lines of
gas isotope ratio mass spectrometers and thermal ionization
mass spectrometers.




Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Ford's May inventory, fleet sales decline

(Reuters) - Sales to car rental agencies taken by themselves were down
24 percent in the month, Pipas said.




Ford had 554,000 vehicles in inventory at end-May, he said.
That was down by 217,000 vehicles from a year earlier and down
by 12,000 units from April.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Citi to keep research firm FRC after Bisys buy

(Reuters) - The decision puts to rest market speculation that Citi might sell Boston-based FRC after its planned acquisition of Bisys closes, which is expected in the second half of 2007.




"It's a hot property and a property that we will maintain because of its need in the industry," Andrew Smith, head of Citi's North America funds and securities services, told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry convention.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Nissan U.S. sales up 3.2 percent in May

(Reuters) - U.S. sales of Nissan cars rose 20 percent, while truck sales fell 17.5 percent in May, Nissan North America sales chief Brad Bradshaw said.




The results are adjusted for an extra selling day in May 2007.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Brocade, CKX, Cree, Dell, LandAmerica, RadioShack: U.S. Equity Movers

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares are having unusual price changes in U.S. exchanges
today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.
Share prices are as of 11:40 a.m. New York time.

AFC Enterprises Inc. (AFCE US) fell $1.75, or 9 percent, to
$17.72 and traded as low as $17.53. The owner of Popeyes Chicken
& Biscuits lowered its fiscal 2007 profit outlook to 81 cents to
85 cents a share. The Atlanta-based company had previously
expected earnings of 87 cents to 91 cents a share.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Wal-Mart CFO says to slow supercenter growth

(Reuters) - CFO Tom Schoewe made the comments at Wal-Mart's annual shareholders meeting. Analysts and investors have pushed for the retailer to rein in U.S. expansion plans as it works to improve sales growth in its home market.




Schoewe said Wal-Mart will open 190 to 200 supercenters this fiscal year, down from the company's previous view of 265 to 270 stores.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Rex Stores to sell Millennium Ethanol stake to US BioEnergy

(Reuters) - Rex Stores had received $14 million in convertible secured
promissory note and related purchase rights from Millennium
Ethanol under an agreement in December 2006. The promissory
notes and rights would convert to 33.92 percent of Millennium
Ethanol's membership Interests, Rex Stores said.





Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Wheat Futures Extend Rally to One-Month Highs as Rains Threaten U.S. Crops

(Bloomberg) -- Wheat in Chicago and Kansas City rose,
extending rallies to one-month highs, as rains in the southern
Great Plains may delay harvest and damage the U.S. winter crop.

A storm is expected to drop 1.5 inches of rain in parts of
Kansas and Oklahoma which have already received as much as four
times the normal precipitation in the past 30 days, according to
data from the National Weather Service. Wet weather promotes
fungal diseases such as leaf rust, which cuts yields and quality.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Whole Foods Roils New Yorkers With Plan for Brooklyn Store on Toxic Site

(Bloomberg) -- Whole Foods Market Inc., the organic
grocer that includes a commitment to ``environmental
stewardship'' in its mission statement, isn't green enough for
some New Yorkers.

More than a year after announcing plans to clean up a
contaminated Brooklyn site to build a supermarket, the Austin,
Texas-based company is sparring with residents who say the
project will add to pollution and attract unwanted development.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

Stelco says considering sale of company

(Reuters) - "Discussions regarding these alternatives with third parties are at a very preliminary stage and there have been no discussions on the material terms of any transaction," Stelco said in a statement.




Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Sasol gets anti-trust notes from European Commission

(Reuters) - South African chemical and fuel group Sasol on Friday said it had received objections from a European Commission investigation into alleged anti-competitive behaviour at its units in Germany.

Sasol said according to the European Commission's documents, several European paraffin wax companies including its German units Sasol Wax GmbH and Sasol Wax International AG units, had collectively infringed applicable antitrust laws.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Quebecor bids C$63.4 mln for remaining Nurun stake

(Reuters) - OTTAWA, June 1 - Quebecor Media said on Friday that it plans to buy the remaining 42 percent of Nurun Inc. that it does not currently own for C$63.4 million



in cash.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

S.Africa maize gains on Chicago, bears linger

(Reuters) - South Africa's most active maize futures contract shot up on Friday, echoing a rally in the United States, but failed to hold its session high as traders brushed aside fresh reports of domestic crop damage.

July white maize firmed 1.06 percent to 1,712 rand a tonne, falling back from a peak of 1,725 rand.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Brazil's Real Advances Toward Seven-Year High as Inflation Measure Falls

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's real rose to an almost
seven-year high after a report showed inflation is slowing,
encouraging investors to buy local bonds.

The real has gained 12 percent against the dollar this
year, the most among the 16 most actively traded currencies.
Brazil's 12.5 percent benchmark overnight lending rate compares
with 5.25 percent in the U.S. and 0.5 percent in Japan.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

U.S. Stock-Index Futures Advance as Employers Add More Jobs Than Forecasts

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures gained after
hiring rose more than expected last month, signaling a rebound
in economic growth that may help corporate earnings accelerate.

Stocks also got a boost after Dell Inc.'s profit topped
analysts' estimates and the family that controls Dow Jones & Co.
said it may sell the company.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 2-S.Africa civil servants mount major strike

(Reuters) - JOHANNESBURG, June 1 - South African civil
servants staged the biggest strike in three years on Friday,
causing turmoil in some hospitals and emptying classrooms as
unions demanded a hefty wage hike.




Police fired stun grenades at picketing workers outside Cape
Town's Tygerberg Hospital, injuring at least one person, as many
nurses across the country defied a government ban on job
stayaways by essential workers, the SABC reported.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Bouygues, Royal Ahold Earnings, U.S. Productivity: Europe Week Ahead

(Bloomberg) -- Earnings from Bouygues SA, the
world's second-biggest construction company, and Royal Ahold NV,
the Dutch owner of the U.S. Stop & Shop supermarket chain, are
among reports that may move stocks next week.

Productivity and service-industries data in the U.S. may
also affect markets, easing or adding to concerns of faster
inflation and slower economic growth.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Cadbury to cut costs as drinks sale nears-source

(Reuters) - The world's biggest confectionery group is set to present
its new strategy for its core chocolate and sweets business to
trim around 200 million pounds off its annual
cost base after the group sells off its multi-billion pound soft
drinks interests.




The maker of Dairy Milk chocolate, Trident gum and Dr Pepper
drinks made pretax profits of 931 million pounds in 2006 and has
previously indicated it will revise its strategy for the
confectionery business once its soft drinks unit has been sold.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

CDO Alert: Investec, GoldenTree, Morgan Stanley, CVC Plan Sales in Europe

(Bloomberg) -- Banks and asset managers sold 38.7
billion euros ($52 billion) of collateralized debt obligations in
Europe so far this year, 135 percent more than the same period a
year ago, according to Deutsche Bank AG.

Collateralized debt obligations are created by packaging
bonds, loans or credit-default swaps and using their income to
pay investors. CDOs are divided into different portions of
varying risk, which can offer higher returns than the debt they
are based on or equivalently rated bonds.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

China's Stocks Decline on Speculation of New Measures to Cool Market Rally

(Bloomberg) -- China's shares fell, erasing earlier
gains, on concern the government will step up efforts to cool the
market after a tripling of the tax on securities trades failed to
deter new investors.

About 100 stocks, or a third of the CSI 300 Index's members,
fell by the 10 percent daily limit, including Bright Dairy & Food
Co. and Dongfeng Automobile Co.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

U.K. FTSE 100 Rally, Led by Punch Taverns on Upgrade; BHP Billiton Rallies

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks rose. Punch Taverns Plc
led the advance after Goldman, Sachs & Co. advised investors to
buy shares in the pub landlord. BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's
largest mining company, also gained.

The FTSE 100 Index added 21, or 0.3 percent, to 6642.4 as of
8:06 a.m. in London.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Formosa Chemicals Says Fire at Its New Aromatics Plant Injured Two Workers

(Bloomberg) -- Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp., a
petrochemical maker controlled by billionaire Wang Yung-ching,
said a fire that broke out yesterday at the company's new
aromatics plant injured two workers.

The fire, which broke out at 8:55 a.m. at a chiller at the
No. 3 Aromatics unit, was put out at 9:01 a.m., spokesman Lu
Shen-Fu said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange
yesterday. Two workers who received minor burns were given
medical treatment, he said.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News