Doha trade talks may go into deep freeze: WTO chief

(Reuters) - World Trade Organisation (WTO) chief Pascal Lamy said on Monday the Doha Round on cutting tariffs and subsidies risks heading into a "deep freeze" but could be saved if key countries made small concessions.

In a speech to a United Nations Economic and Social Council meeting in Geneva, he said nations digging in their heels in the nearly six-year-old negotiations could sabotage big gains to the global economy if they did not moderate their stances.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Oil stays over $72, eye on US crude stock levels

(Reuters) - Oil prices slid on Tuesday but remain above $72 as expected crude stock drawdowns in the United States spark concerns over supply tightness in the world's largest energy consumer.

London Brent crude, presently a better reflection of the global crude oil market, traded 13 cents lower at $72.50 a barrel by 0230 GMT, after hitting $72.77 in the previous session, the highest since August.


Read more at Reuters Africa

European Government Bonds May Extend Advance as Investors Seek Safe Assets

(Bloomberg) -- European bonds may rise for a second
day as demand for fixed-income securities was stoked after a
terrorist attack on Glasgow's airport and two attempted car
bombings in London.

Gains in debt pushed 10-year yields to the lowest in more
than three weeks and two-year yields fell the most in nine days
yesterday after police found two cars packed with explosives in
London and suspected terrorists crashed a Jeep into Glasgow
airport's terminal. Coupon payments due in Germany tomorrow,
which are usually reinvested, are also buoying European bonds.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Carlyle affiliate sets IPO price at $19 per share

(Reuters) - Last week, CCC's chief executive John Stomber told Reuters
the company had cut the price and volume of the offering due to
"headwinds" in the market. It also postponed the issue.




Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 2-Wesfarmers, Coles shares fall after $17 bln deal

(Reuters) - SYDNEY, July 3 - Shares in both Wesfarmers Ltd.
and Coles Group Ltd. slumped on Tuesday after
investors raised questions about the Australian conglomerate's
ability to quickly turn around the country's No.2 retailer
after an agreed $17 billion bid.




Investors are also disappointed by the increased scrip
component used to fund the A$20 billion deal,
after Wesfarmers shares rose 24 percent since April, when it
first declared its intention to buy Coles.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Manhattan apartments brush off U.S. housing slump

(Reuters) - The median sales price rose to a record $895,000 or 1.7
percent higher than a year earlier and 7.2 percent higher than in
the prior quarter, according to the Prudential Douglas Elliman
Manhattan Market Overview second-quarter report.




The average price per square foot rose 5.2 percent to a record
$1,139 versus the prior year's quarter and 6.4 percent more than
in the first quarter.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Tokyo Housewives Moderate Currency Swings, Bank of Japan's Nishimura Says

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese housewives are helping to
moderate currency swings by betting against professional
investors, Bank of Japan board member Kiyohiko Nishimura said.

``The arrival of Japanese households as major investors
seems to have affected foreign-exchange markets,'' Nishimura, 54,
said in a speech at a meeting at the Brookings Institute in
Washington yesterday. ``The gnomes of Zurich were accused in
their day of destabilizing markets. The housewives of Tokyo are
apparently acting to stabilize them.''


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Buy Japan Bond Futures Call Options on Interest Rate Outlook, ABN Says

(Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy call options on
Japanese bond futures to profit from the view that the central
bank will maintain a policy of raising interest rates only once
every six months, said ABN Amro Securities Japan Ltd.

The contracts give the right to purchase the 10-year future
at a strike price of 132, close to the current level. To offset
the cost of buying one option, investors should sell two options
with a higher exercise price of 132.5, speculating that gains
beyond that level will be limited, said Tatsuo Ichikawa, a
fixed-income strategist at ABN Amro in Tokyo.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

JGBs follow Treasuries higher, await 10-year offer

(Reuters) - Buying has tapered off and selling has tended to pick up when
10-year yields approached levels of around 1.850 percent to 1.860
percent, and this pattern seemed likely to continue.




"The external environment isn't too bad today, but it seems
that the market lacks the energy to make a try for the upside,"
Hasegawa said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Japanese Shares Climb After U.S. Manufacturing Increases, Oil Advances

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks rose for a fourth day
after manufacturing in the U.S. unexpectedly climbed to a 14-
month high, boosting confidence Japan's largest export market
will weather a weak housing market.

Manufacturers such as Komatsu Ltd., the world's second-
largest maker of construction machinery, and Matsushita Electric
Industrial Co., the world's largest consumer electronics maker,
led gains.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

United Capital's Devaney Halts Redemptions on Some Subprime Hedge Funds

(Bloomberg) -- United Capital Markets Holdings Inc.,
a brokerage run by John Devaney, halted redemptions on some of
its hedge funds that invest in subprime-mortgage bonds.

The funds are within the company's Horizon Strategy group,
including the Horizon ABS Fund LP, said Michael Gregory, a
spokesman for the Key Biscayne, Florida-based firm.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

California commission not backing Calpine plant

(Reuters) - The CEC said it was analyzing a project amendment to move
the proposed location of the 600-megawatt plant to a site about
1,300 feet from the original site.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Anaren says to restate some results

(Reuters) - The company said it expects its previously reported net
income for the nine months ended March 31, 2007, to be lower by
about $700,000 to $800,000, or 3 cents to 4 cents a share, as a
result of the restatement.




It had reported net income of $11.9 million, or 66 cents
per share, for the period.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

TD Ameritrade reconfigures M&A committee

(Reuters) - The original M&A committee, formed in June after activist
investors JANA Partners and SAC Capital Advisors Llc, had five
members, TD Ameritrade spokeswoman Katrina Becker said.




Three committee members were independent directors on TD
Ameritrade's board. The remaining two were directors appointed
by Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts and Toronto-Dominion Bank.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

TREASURIES-Fear bid boosts bonds after UK events

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 2 - U.S. Treasuries rose on
Monday, sending 10-year yields below 5 percent for the first
time since early June, as global bonds rallied on security
worries and shrugged off strong U.S. factory data.




Traders said attempted car-bomb attacks in London on
Friday, Saturday's attack on the airport in Glasgow, Scotland,
and the killing of seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis in a
blast in Yemen kept a constant bid in the Treasury market.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

US STOCKS-Indexes end higher on deals, economic data

(Reuters) - Based on the latest available data, the Dow Jones
industrial average rose 128.85 points, or 0.96 percent,
to end unofficially at 13,537.47. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index was up 16.09 points, or 1.07 percent, to finish
unofficialy at 1,519.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index
was up 29.07 points, or 1.12 percent, to close unofficially at
2,632.30.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Dow Chemical buys Bayer unit for $725 mln

(Reuters) - The price includes the assumption of debt and pension
commitments, the companies said in a joint press release.




The Wolff Walsrode business, which has about 1,600
employees, makes products derived from plant cellulose that are
used in the construction, food and pharmaceutical industries.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Manor Care Options Trading Jumped Before Carlyle's Buyout Was Announced

(Bloomberg) -- Trading in options to buy shares of
Manor Care Inc. surged to a record June 29, the last trading day
before the operator of nursing homes and assisted-living centers
said it agreed to be acquired by Carlyle Group for $6.3 billion.

Manor Care option trading soared April 11 when the Toledo,
Ohio-based company said it hired investment bank JPMorgan Chase &
Co. to take advantage of its ``very strong financial position''
and ``enhance shareholder value.'' Since then, an average of
1,257 call-option contracts have traded each day, more than 3 1/2
times the prior year-to-date figure.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Brazil Bovespa Rises to Record, Led by Vale, on Global Growth; ICA Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's main stock index rose to a
record, led by mining company Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, on speculation
growth in the U.S. and Asia will boost demand for the country's
commodity exports.

The Bovespa Index of the most-traded stocks on the Sao Paulo
exchange gained 513.93, or 0.9 percent, to 54,905.99 at 1:30 p.m.,
New York time. Mexico's Bolsa index advanced 68.15, or 0.2 percent,
to 31,219.20.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Wheat Falls as Farmers Speed Up Winter Crop Harvest in Illinois, Indiana

(Bloomberg) -- Wheat futures fell in Chicago as U.S.
farmers sped up the harvest of the soft-red winter crop.

The harvest was 73 percent complete in Illinois on June 24,
more than the five-year average of 53 percent, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture said last week. Indiana farmers had cut
36 percent of their crops, more than the five-year average of 26
percent. The USDA will update the harvest figures at 4 p.m. today
in Washington.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Crude Oil Falls After Refinery Shutdown in Kansas Curbs Petroleum Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell from a 10-month high in
New York as a refinery shutdown in Kansas cut demand.

Coffeyville Resources LLC shut its refinery in Coffeyville,
Kansas, yesterday because of flooding on the Verdigris River,
according to as statement on its Web site. The 108,000-barrel-a-
day refinery can produce about 2.1 million daily gallons of
gasoline.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

U.K. FTSE 100 Index Falls, Led By British Airways; Legal & General Drops

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks dropped for the first day
in three, paced by British Airways Plc and EasyJet Plc after
Britain raised its terror alert.

Legal & General Plc and Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group
Plc led insurers lower also on concern claims tied to floods in
the U.K. will rise. Mining stocks limited declines, paced by
Lonmin Plc on speculation the platinum producer maybe a takeover
target.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Walgreen to buy Option Care for $850 million

(Reuters) - The announcement comes after Walgreen bought Take Care Health Systems, an operator of in-store health clinics, in May. It has also acquired Medmark Specialty Pharmacy Solutions, SeniorMed Pharmacy and Schraft's, a specialty pharmacy focused on fertility medications and services.




Shares of Option Care were up 3.9 percent to $19.26 in late morning trading after rising as high as $19.30 in heavy Nasdaq trading. Shares of Walgreen rose 16 cents to $43.70 on the New York Stock Exchange.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Treasury 10-Year Note Yield Touches Three-Week Low on Concern Over Housing

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries were little changed after
the 10-year note yield touched the lowest in three weeks on
speculation over weakness in the subprime mortgage market and
concern over potential terror threats.

``It's a combination of the fear the housing sector will
continue to be a drag on the economy and a flight to quality
from global tensions,'' Gary Pollack, who helps oversee $12
billion as head of fixed-income trading in New York at Deutsche
Bank AG's Private Wealth Management unit.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Bald Eagles, Back From Brink, Hang Out at Gates's Old Seattle Swim Club

(Bloomberg) -- Seattle cafe manager Joey Perlmutter
was clearing plates one day when he spotted a thief. It had
piercing eyes, talons and distinctive white feathers on its head.

With a flap of its wings, the bald eagle was gone --carrying
with it the remains of someone's lunch.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

After dip on ISM, safety bid lifts bonds

(Reuters) - The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index rose to 56.0 in June from 55.0 in May, slightly firmer than Wall Street had forecast.




"Orders increased and inventories decreased slightly, suggesting that manufacturing prospects still look good," said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards and Sons in St. Louis. "But while manufacturing improved in the second quarter over the first quarter, it wasn't a big enough difference to cause the Fed to have to raise rates."


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

UPDATE 1-Delta Galil says founder to transfer effective control

(Reuters) - The company's shares rose more than 19 percent to $7.91 in
morning trade on the Nasdaq.




Delta Galil, which makes underwear, socks and other items
sold under brands such as Calvin Klein, said Lautman agreed to
sell 2.5 million shares of Delta to GMM Capital LLC, a company
controlled by Dabah.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE1-Focus Media says audit committee starts internal inquiry

(Reuters) - The company said the counsel informed it about the
investor, without indicating the source of the evidence,
raising questions primarily on certain related-party
transactions the company reported in 2005.




The Shanghai-based company was first informed about the
short seller in a letter from the counsel dated June 1. The
counsel reiterated its findings in another letter to the
company on June 22.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Bonds dip after ISM manufacturing data

(Reuters) - The Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index rose to 56.0 in June from 55.0 in May, slightly firmer than Wall Street had forecast.




"Orders increased and inventories decreased slightly, suggesting that manufacturing prospects still look good," said Gary Thayer, chief economist at A.G. Edwards and Sons in St. Louis. "But while manufacturing improved in the second quarter over the first quarter, it wasn't a big enough difference to cause the Fed to have to raise rates."


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Crude Oil Falls After Refinery Shutdown in Kansas Curbs Petorluem Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell from a 10-month high in
New York as a refinery shutdown in Kansas cut demand.

Coffeyville Resources LLC shut its refinery in Coffeyville,
Kansas, yesterday because of flooding on the Verdigris River,
according to as statement on its Web site. The 108,000-barrel-a-
day refinery can produce about 2.1 million daily gallons of
gasoline.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Unions says workers strike at S.Africa's Vodacom

(Reuters) - About 1,000 workers at South African mobile phone operator Vodacom have gone on strike after talks on union recognition, pay and conditions broke down, a union for communication workers said on Monday.

The Communication Workers Union said its members in South Africa's main urban areas had stopped work on Monday and would continue to strike on Tuesday and Wednesday unless Vodacom management agreed to restart talks.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Biogen signs deal to develop electrolyte drug

(Reuters) - Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen said the drug, lixivaptan, is an oral compound expected to enter a late-stage, or Phase III, clinical trial this year in heart patients with hyponatremia, a condition that occurs when the level of sodium in the blood is too low.



Biogen will pay Philadelphia-based Cardiokine $50 million up front and would make up to $170 million in additional payments if and when certain development milestones were met, as well as royalties on sales.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Kirchner's Popularity, Argentina's Economy Are Chilled by Energy Shortages

(Bloomberg) -- Argentina's energy rationing may
chill South America's second-largest economy -- along with
President Nestor Kirchner's political popularity.

As the southern hemisphere's winter sets in, cutbacks in
electricity and natural gas are leaving potatoes to rot at
McCain Foods Ltd.'s French fry plant in Buenos Aires province
and workers idled at Fiat SpA's car factory in Cordoba. Energy
supplies in Argentina have failed to keep up with surging
demand, exacerbating shortages to the point where there's no
quick solution, analysts say.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Costco, Discover Financial, Local.com, SanDisk: U.S. Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares may have unusual price changes in U.S. exchanges
today. This preview includes news that broke after exchanges
closed on June 29. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company
names. Share prices are as of 7:30 a.m. in New York.

Apple Inc. (AAPL US) rose $1.36, or 1.1 percent, to $123.40
in trading before U.S. exchanges opened. The U.S. debut of the
iPhone drew thousands of shoppers over the weekend, emptying most
of AT&T Inc.'s (T US) inventory and causing network glitches as
the flood of customers began activating the device. Shoppers
bought as many as 500,000 units over the weekend, Piper Jaffray
analyst Gene Munster said, more than twice his projection of
200,000. JPMorgan analyst Bill Shope estimated sales were
312,000. Before the phone's debut, analysts expected Apple to
sell 50,000 to 200,000 units.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

BP Halts Gas Flows at Teesside Terminal After Damage From Ship's Anchor

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil
and natural-gas company, halted flows of natural gas through a
U.K. North Sea gas pipeline, cutting potential deliveries of
more than a tenth of Britain's domestic gas production.

BP decided ``to temporarily suspend operation'' of the
Central Area Transmission System, or CATS, pipeline, which
carries supplies of gas to the Teesside sub-terminal in
northeast England, Joanne McDonald, a spokeswoman for the
company based in Aberdeen, said today in a phone interview.
Flows stopped yesterday afternoon, she said.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-Dominion to sell gas assets to Linn Energy

(Reuters) - With this move, Dominion has now sold or agreed to sell all
of the natural gas and oil exploration and production
operations it plans to divest. The company is retaining its
Appalachian gas assets.




Last November, the Richmond, Virginia-based company said it
would pursue the sale of most of its exploration and production
assets as part of a restructuring. Prior to the Mid-Continent
deal, Dominion had agreed to sell $11.84 billion of those
assets.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Swiss Franc Climbs Most in Week as Pace of Manufacturing Growth Quickens

(Bloomberg) -- The Swiss franc posted its biggest
advance in more than a week on speculation faster manufacturing
growth may prompt the central bank to raise lending rates,
reducing the appeal of so-called carry trades.

The currency rose for a second day versus the euro after
Credit Suisse Group said an index based on a survey of about 200
executives rose to 62.8 from 58.9 in May. Economists forecast a
gain to 59.9, according to the median of 12 estimates in a
Bloomberg News survey.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Germany's DAX Index Decreases; Shares of Allianz, Lufthansa Pace the Drop

(Bloomberg) -- Germany's benchmark DAX index fell
for the first time in three days, led by Allianz SE after
Merrill Lynch & Co. removed the stock from its ``most
preferred'' list.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG and DaimlerChrysler AG paced declines
by companies most sensitive to a higher oil price.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Europe Government Bonds Rise, Pushing Yields to Three-Week Low, on Terror

(Bloomberg) -- European bonds rose, pushing 10-year
yields to a three-week low, as investors sought the safety of
government debt after an attack on Glasgow International Airport
and two attempted car bombings in London.

Benchmark two-year yields also fell the most in almost two
weeks after U.K. police found cars with explosive materials on
June 29 and two men crashed a Jeep into the terminal entrance of
Glasgow airport the next day. Bonds were also underpinned by
redemptions and coupon payments by the Italian and German
governments due this week, which investors tend to reinvest.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Tight supplies, weak dollar lift copper

(Reuters) - Copper prices rose to fresh two-week highs on Monday as a weaker dollar, threats to supply and falling stocks boosted confidence, while nickel bounced and lead rose towards record highs.

Copper for three-month delivery on the London Metal Exchange touched $7,689 a tonne, the highest since June 18. At 0935 GMT it was at $7,630/7,650, up from $7,560 at the close on Friday.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Citigroup Says Buy Malaysian 20-Year Government Bonds and Treasury Bills

(Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy Malaysia's 20-
year bonds and government and central bank bills due in a year
or less because they are cheaper than the nation's medium-term
notes, according to Citigroup Inc.

The 20-year bond is attractive because of its yield
advantage over other Malaysian government securities, according
to a note sent to clients today by Citigroup's Singapore-based
analysts Chua Hak Bin and Leon Hiew. Hiew confirmed the contents
of the report in a telephone interview.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Uranium Prices Fall for First Time in Almost Four Years, TradeTech Says

(Bloomberg) -- Uranium prices snapped almost four
years of consecutive weekly increases as power utilities halted
purchases, industry consulting company TradeTech LLC said.

Spot prices for uranium oxide concentrate dropped $3 to
$135 a pound last week, Denver-based TradeTech said June 30 in
its weekly Nuclear Market Review. Prices previously rose for 47
consecutive months to a record $138.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

FTSE 100 Index Retreats, Led by British Airways, EasyJet; Insurers Decline

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks declined, snapping a two-
day rally, paced by British Airways Plc and EasyJet Plc as oil
traded near a 10-month high and Britain raised its terror alert.

Legal & General Plc and Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group
Plc led insurers lower. Shares of DSG International Plc and
Cadbury Schweppes Plc also retreated.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

JGBs slip before auction, little help from tankan

(Reuters) - JGB futures rose to three-week highs early in the session
after the Bank of Japan's June tankan survey generally matched
forecasts and after U.S. Treasuries rose late last week.




An initial fall in Tokyo share prices also lent support to
JGBs but the gains proved fleeting, as the tankan kept intact
market expectations for the BOJ to raise interest rates to 0.75
percent from 0.50 percent, perhaps as early as next month.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Raw Sugar May Be Little Changed This Week, White to Decline, Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- Raw sugar may be little changed this
week while white, or refined, sugar may fall on speculation
previous gains were exaggerated, a survey showed.

Five of 13 traders, analysts and brokers surveyed June 29
forecast no change in raw sugar traded in New York. Four
predicted the price will fall. Raw sugar dropped 0.17 cent, or
1.8 percent, to 9.52 cents a pound last week. It is down 39
percent in the past year.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Commercial real estate refuses to cool in New York

(Reuters) - The Woolworth Building, a 1913 Gothic masterpiece in downtown Manhattan, was set for conversion to luxury condominiums, but the price of commercial office space has risen so much that the owners changed course.




Instead of becoming one of the coolest places to live in New York City, the building will house luxury office space. In a city where people pay $500,000 for a studio apartment, the owners -- led by the developers Steven Witkoff and Ruben Schron -- scrapped a 7-year-old residential plan in May in favor of the commercial project.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News