PRESS DIGEST - Washington Post Business - June 9

(Reuters) - SHANGHAI - Under normal circumstances, the Chinese
citizenry isn't known for public dissent. But this week, as
investors saw their savings shrink in a few days in the stock
market, many openly blamed the government.




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FCC formally opens XM-Sirius merger review

(Reuters) - The FCC has a 180-day target for completing merger reviews, although the target is not binding and the agency sometimes takes longer to evaluate major transactions.




Sirius plans to buy XM in a deal that would combine the only two providers of satellite radio service in the United States and has sparked concerns among some U.S. lawmakers and consumer groups.


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UPDATE 1-US senator to seek private student loan crackdown

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON, June 8 - The chairman of the U.S.
Senate Banking Committee said on Friday he will introduce a
bill that would impose new disclosure and conduct rules on the
fast-growing private student loan market.




"This legislation will help to ensure that students
understand the products they are buying to help finance their
education, and that unfair and deceptive practices in this
market are outlawed," said Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut
Democrat and presidential candidate.


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Lawmaker's bill targets private student loans

(Reuters) - Dodd's committee held a hearing on Wednesday to look into questionable practices in the private student loan market, which now accounts for 20 percent of lending to college students. The remaining 80 percent comes from government-guaranteed and direct government loans.




Dodd said his bill would "improve transparency, prevent unfair and deceptive private lending practices and eliminate conflicts of interest."


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U.S. 10-Year Treasury Note Has Biggest Weekly Decline Since March 2006

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury 10-year notes had their
biggest weekly decline in more than a year as expectations global
growth is accelerating eroded demand for fixed-rate investments.
Prices rose today, sparing investors from even larger losses.

Ten-year note yields, which determine interest rates on
mortgages and corporate bonds, touched 5.25 percent today,
matching the highest since May 2002. Short-maturity yields failed
to keep pace, as the consensus forecast for Federal Reserve
policy this year shifted from an interest-rate cut to no change.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

MasterCard wins court ruling against Visa fee

(Reuters) - The judge agreed with a special master that the fee violated a 2003 settlement of claims by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers that they incurred billions of dollars of processing costs to meet card association requirements that they accept signature-verified debit cards. Visa settled for $2 billion and MasterCard for $1 billion.




According to the judge's 41-page opinion, Visa decided to assess a "settlement service fee" to any of its 100 largest debit issuers that moved its debit portfolio to MasterCard. The fee was to represent the issuer's proportionate share of Visa's remaining obligations under the settlement.


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Funds seek expert advice for millisecond advantage

(Reuters) - They are increasingly likely to hire lawyers and other experts to instantly interpret a decision in a court case or government hearing, or even just the direction of a hearing.




In a world where financial information is available instantaneously and where algorithmic trading systems automatically weigh and make buy and sell decisions in milliseconds, they don't just want to know what has been said or decided in a court or legislative body.


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Rate concerns could cool down M&A boom

(Reuters) - Announced global M&A volume slowed to roughly $75 billion this week, compared with weekly volume of between $100 billion and $285 billion for most of April and May, according to research firm Dealogic.




Accommodating debt markets helped spur M&A to record levels in the past year, with more than $4 trillion of deals in 2006 alone.


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Total Says 4 Units Affected by Malfunction at Port Arthur, Texas Refinery

(Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil
company, said four units were affected by a malfunction at its
refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.

The Paris-based company reported the incident, which
necessitated emergency flaring, to Texas regulators. The 24-
hour-long emissions event ended yesterday at 7:30 p.m. Houston
time.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Fannie, Freddie to resume current financials

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 8 - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will resume reporting current financial reports by early next year after failing to produce normal statements in recent years due to accounting scandals that hit the mortgage finance companies, the firms said Friday.



Freddie Mac said it will become a current filer next week while Fannie said it will offer timely quarterly reports by the end of February.


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Edcon prices 1.81 bln euro buyout bonds - lead

(Reuters) - South Africa's Edgars Consolidated Stores on Friday priced 1.81 billion euros of high-yield notes in two parts to help fund its buyout by Bain Capital, one of the banks managing the sale said.

Edcon priced 1.18 billion euros of 7-year senior secured floating-rate notes at par with a coupon of Euribor plus 325 basis points and 630 million euros of 8-year senior floating-rate notes at par with a coupon of Euribor plus 550 basis points.


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UPDATE 1-ITG buying broker-dealer to expand offerings

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 8 - Trading technology provider
Investment Technology Group Inc. said on Friday it is
acquiring privately held broker-dealer RedSky Financial LLC for
$22 million in cash to expand into options and futures trading
offerings.




"It gives us multi-asset class capability from our almost
purely cash equity-centric capabilities that we have today,"
said ITG Chief Executive Robert Gasser in an interview.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

EU mergers and takeovers (June 8)

(Reuters) -




JUNE 28


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Hedge funds issue second letter to TDAmeritrade

(Reuters) - JANA Partners also asked TD Ameritrade's board to create a special panel free from the influence of Toronto-Dominion Bank which has a 40 percent stake in the brokerage, to explore strategic combinations.




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Mercury hits 15-month high as demand surges

(Reuters) - Mercury prices have risen by around 30 percent to 15-month highs in recent months as strong demand from emerging market countries outstrips supplies of the poisonous minor metal, traders said.

Mercury is now trading at around $650 a flask -- equivalent to 76 pounds -- compared with around $500 at the beginning of the year. Current levels are the highest since February 2006.


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Cuomo launches New York student rights drive

(Reuters) - The attorney general launched the effort to educate
students about the new law -- Student Lending Accountability,
Transparency and Enforcement Act of 2007 -- at the Stuyvesant
High School in New York.




The law includes rights such as knowing the criteria a
school uses to select preferred lenders and whether those
lenders are paying the school or financial aid officers.


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U.S. Stocks Gain After Oil Falls, Exports Rise to Record; McDonald's Rises

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks gained for the first time
in four days after oil prices fell, exports climbed to a record
and McDonald's Corp. reported a jump in sales.

McDonald's, the world's biggest restaurant chain, led the
Dow Jones Industrial Average higher after May sales beat some
analysts' estimates. National Semiconductor Corp. advanced after
the maker of computer chips posted profit that beat analysts'
estimates and announced a $2 billion stock buyback.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Disney, Sony Spat Shows Hollywood's Lax Accounting of Box-Office Receipts

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. last week said the
third ``Pirates of the Caribbean'' set a box-office record for a
movie opening. Not so, Sony Corp. responded less than two hours
later: Its ``Spider-Man 3'' is the champ.

Disney said ``Pirates'' set a six-day global record of $404
million, topping the $383 million of ``Spider-Man 3.'' Sony said
Disney included a seventh day of sales and that on that basis,
``Spider-Man 3'' took in $418 million.


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Canadian Stocks Head for Steepest Weekly Drop Since March on Rate Concerns

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks may fall for a fourth
day, on concern higher borrowing costs will push the United States
into recession, reducing demand for Canadian exports from the
country's biggest trading partner.

Commodity producers including Teck Cominco Ltd. and Canadian
Natural Resources Ltd. may decline as prices of copper and crude
oil slide. Raw-materials and energy stocks have been among the best
performers this quarter in the Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite
Index. Interest-rate sensitive financial shares such as Bank of
Nova Scotia may also decline.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Brazil's real tumbles on global market jitters

(Reuters) - Concerns that central banks around the globe will need to
raise interest rates more than previously expected to combat
inflation have battered international financial markets this
week and unnerved investors.




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McDonald's May same-store sales rise 8.7 pct

(Reuters) - Same-store sales, a key retail measure, rose 7.4 percent in the United States, climbed 8.9 percent in Europe, and increased 10.2 percent in Asia, McDonald's said in a statement.




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Marriott to pay $220 mln to settle issues with IRS

(Reuters) - In addition, the company fully resolved all IRS issues
pertaining to the audits of the company's 2000, 2001, and 2002
federal tax returns, it said.




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S.Africa rand slips over 1 pct vs dollar, bonds weaken

(Reuters) - South Africa's rand extendes its losses against the dollar on Friday, and local government bonds weakened, as the greenback climbed to two-month highs against the euro and sterling.

At 1030 GMT the local currency was at 7.3435 to the dollar, after weakening more than 1.1 percent to 7.3645 earlier, its weakest level since March 28 according to Reuters data.


Read more at Reuters Africa

UPDATE 1-Canada adds fewer jobs than expected in May

(Reuters) - The unemployment rate stayed at a 33-year low of 6.1
percent, in line with forecasts. But the number of jobs added
was less than half the average estimate of 19,000 made by
analysts in a Reuters poll.




The data, which followed a 5,200 dip in employment in
April, will likely provide little support for the Canadian
dollar, which has traded at near 30-year highs this week.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News

Czech Economy Expanded 6.1 Percent in First Quarter on Household Spending

(Bloomberg) -- The Czech economy expanded 6.1 percent
in the first three months of the year, the same pace as the
previous quarter, as consumers stepped up spending and warmer-
than-usual weather boosted construction and industrial output.

Growth in the $152 billion economy accelerated for the first
time in a year, the Prague-based statistics office said today,
though the pace of expansion was slower than the median estimate
of 6.3 made by 13 economists in a Bloomberg survey.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Edcon drops fixed-rate bond, ups FRN spreads - lead

(Reuters) - South Africa's Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon) has scrapped plans for a fixed-rate note issue and is offering higher yields on floating-rate notes it is selling due to market volatility, an official at one of the banks managing the sale said on Friday.

The clothing and fashion retailer now plans to sell 1.18 billion euros of 7-year senior secured FRNs yielding 325 basis points over Euribor, the official said, versus guidance on Thursday of 275-300 basis points over.


Read more at Reuters Africa

North Sea Brent Crude Oil Daily Shipments Will Decline 17 Percent in July

(Bloomberg) -- Daily shipments of North Sea Brent
crude, part of the price benchmark for almost two-thirds of the
world's oil, will fall 17 percent next month.

Tankers are set to load 180,645 barrels a day of Brent crude
in July, from 217,667 in June, according to the loading program
of field operator Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil
company.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Euro Slumps Against Yen, Dollar After European Stocks Decline

(Bloomberg) -- The euro dropped to its weakest in
almost a month against the yen and to the lowest in a week
against the dollar as European stock markets declined.

Global stocks have slumped and U.S. Treasury yields soared
to the highest in almost a year on expectations central banks
round the world will raise interest rates. The yen strengthened
against 15 of the 16 most actively traded currencies as the
decline in stocks prompted investors to sell higher-yielding
assets funded by borrowing at lower rates in Japan.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Capgemini watching IT services market developments

(Reuters) - "Capgemini's position is unchanged. We have no comment on
Atos Origin. But as one of the market leaders, we are watching
market developments," she said.




She added that Capgemini remained "focused" on expanding in
the United States and in BPO.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

JGBs tumble on Treasuries sell-off, eye on stocks

(Reuters) - The sell-off sent JGB futures to an 11-month low and the
two-year yield to a 10-year high as the market tracked U.S.
Treasuries, which tumbled on Thursday on expectations for solid
global growth and central banks continuing to lift interest rates
to ward off inflation.




An unexpected rate hike by New Zealand came a day after the
European Central Bank raised rates to curb price pressure, and
investors have nearly eliminated from their stance any chance of
lower U.S. interest rates this year.


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Rossi Residencial, Masisa, Madeco, Rossi, Walmex: Latin American Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may make
significant gains or losses in Brazil, Chile and Mexico
today. Symbols are in parentheses after the company name, and
stock prices are from the last session. Brazilian markets were
closed yesterday for a holiday.

In Brazil, preferred shares are the most commonly traded
class of stock.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News