Broadcom says offered Verizon deal to others

(Reuters) - The phones in question use a wireless chip technology that
is the focus of a patent dispute between Broadcom and
Qualcomm.




Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

USDA's Johanns-no tax increase to offset farm bill

(Reuters) - "We don't support tax increases. We don't think that's how
this should be put together," Johanns told reporters after
briefly participating in the committee's bill-drafting
session.




While Johanns was present, Colorado Republican Marilyn
Musgrave proposed "sense of Congress" language saying tax
increases should not be used to offset the farm bill. Chairman
Collin Peterson ruled the amendment was not germane and said,
"To me, it looks political."


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Zions Bancorp posts higher 2nd-qtr earnings

(Reuters) - Zions said net earnings were $155.6 million or $1.43 a
share, exactly what analysts had expected, based on Reuters
estimates. The earnings were up from $145.3 million, or $1.35 a
share, in the year-earlier quarter.




In January, Zions increased its size when it closed its
acquisition of The Stockmen's Bancorp, which allowed it to
expand in Arizona and California.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Top risk officer for HSBC in United States leaves

(Reuters) - David D. Gibbons, recently elevated as senior executive
vice president of corporate risk and compliance at HSBC North
America Holdings Inc., no longer works at the company,
according to a recent U.S. regulatory filing.




HSBC did not return messages seeking comment.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

China-bashing used inappropriately - IMF economist

(Reuters) - Johnson said China, now the world's fourth-largest economy,
should be given more credit for its contribution to global
growth and poverty reduction.




"China is being used excessively and inappropriately by
politicians as a way to play the protectionist card," said
Johnson, who joined the fund in late March.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Interwoven posts Q2 revenue below analysts' view

(Reuters) - In a statement, the company said it was not providing other
consolidated financial results due to its ongoing stock option
review.





Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Seagate net rises on tax gain; revenue advances

(Reuters) - SAN FRANCISCO, July 19 - Seagate Technology , the largest U.S. maker of hard-disk drives for computers, posted a higher quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by a tax benefit and higher revenue.



Fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose to $541 million, or 96 cents per share, from $7 million, or 1 cent per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 8.5 percent to $2.74 billion from $2.53 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Intuitive Surgical quarterly earnings rise

(Reuters) - For the second quarter, the company earned $30.7 million,
or 79 cents a share, up from $16.7 million, or 44 cents a
share, in the prior-year quarter. Revenue rose 61 percent to
$140.2 million.




Analysts were expecting earnings of 67 cents a share,
excluding items, on revenue of $124.5 million for the quarter,
according to Reuters Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Google profit disappoints on expenses, shares drop

(Reuters) - SAN FRANCISCO, July 19 - Web search leader Google Inc. reported on Thursday a 28 percent rise in profits that fell short of consensus expectations, as a recent jump in operating expenses offset market share gains against rivals.



Shares tumbled 5.5 percent in extended trade after Google said net income rose to $925 million, or $2.93 a diluted share, compared with the year-ago quarter's $721.1 million, or $2.33 per share. Excluding one-time items and stock option expenses, Google posted a profit of $1.12 billion or $3.56 per share, which was 3 cents per share short of Wall Street targets.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Soros reports 5.5 pct stake in Ultrapetrol-filing

(Reuters) - The filing also did not reveal the purpose behind the
transactions.




Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Microsoft shares slip

(Reuters) - Shares were down at $31.20 in electronic trading after closing at $31.51 on Nasdaq.




Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

First Data quarterly results fall

(Reuters) -



) Keywords: FIRSTDATA RESULTS/


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Ceridian rebuffs fund's bid to top takeover deal

(Reuters) - BOSTON, July 19 - Ceridian Corp. said on
Thursday that it rejected an offer from hedge fund Pershing
Square, its biggest shareholder, that might have toppled a
previously agreed takeover bid.




The rejection comes one week after Pershing Square manager
William Ackman told the human resources and payroll company he
could come up with a better deal than the proposed $5.3 billion
bid Ceridian's management has hammered out with Thomas H. Lee
Partners LP [THL.UL] and Fidelity National Financial.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

TREASURIES-Bonds steady on Bernanke's balanced view

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 19 - U.S. government debt prices
finished steady on Thursday, caught between warnings from
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about inflation and
threats to growth from a weak housing market.




Sharp gains in stocks, driven by upbeat earnings news that
pushed the Dow Jones industrial average to an unofficial close
over 14,000 for the first time, also kept a lid on bond prices,
analysts said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Stryker 2nd-quarter earnings rise

(Reuters) - The maker of artificial hips and knees posted second-quarter net earnings of $269.1 million, or 65 cents per share, compared with a profit of $213.9 million, or 52 cents, a year ago.






Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Broadcom second-quarter profit and revenue fall

(Reuters) - The maker of chips for everything from digital music players and television set-top boxes to mobile phones, said its profit fell to $34.3 million, or 6 cents per share, from $106.1 million, or 18 cents a share in the year-ago quarter.



Revenue fell to $897.9 million from $941.1 million a year ago. Broadcom had forecast second-quarter revenue in a range of $890 million to $905 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Corn Futures Decline as Widespread Rains May Boost Crops in U.S. Midwest

(Bloomberg) -- Corn futures declined for the third
day this week in Chicago after rains fell from Nebraska to Ohio,
easing the threat of damage to the largest U.S. crop after a two-
month dry spell.

The biggest storm of the summer dropped as much as 3 inches
(8 centimeters) of rain overnight in states including Iowa, the
largest corn grower, improving crops before drier conditions and
above-normal temperatures develop next week, said Mike Tannura, a
meteorologist for T-Storm Weather in Champaign, Illinois.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

GLOBAL MARKETS-U.S. stocks rally, dollar near lows vs euro

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 19 - U.S. stocks rallied on
Thursday and pushed the Dow toward a record closing high as
better-than-expected corporate earnings helped ease persistent
worries that problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market
will spill over into the wider economy.




In the session's final half hour of trading, the Dow
flirted with levels above the 14,000 mark. On Tuesday, it
crossed the 14,000 milestone for the first time and set a new
lifetime high at 14,021.95.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Alcoa, Clearwire, Foot Locker, Midland, Starbucks: 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 3 p.m. in New York.

Alcoa Inc. (AA US) slid $2.01, or 4.3 percent, to $44.44.
The Australian newspaper reported that BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP US)
won't make a takeover offer for the world's second-largest
aluminum company. The newspaper cited sources it didn't name as
confirming that Alcoa, based in New York, is ``no longer a target
of interest'' for Melbourne-based BHP, the world's largest mining
company. BHP's American depositary receipts, each representing 2
ordinary shares, gained $1.85 to $67.64.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Google Looks for Acquisitions to Spur Sales as Search Unit's Growth Slows

(Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., with sales slowing after
a sevenfold increase in the past three years, is seeking
acquisitions worldwide.

Google says it has about a dozen people weighing deals that
might be financed with stock and its $11.9 billion in cash and
marketable securities. The owner of the most-popular Internet
search engine announced eight purchases in the second quarter,
its busiest since going public in 2004, including the
$3.1 billion buyout of DoubleClick Inc.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

TREASURIES-Bonds flat on Bernanke's balanced economic view

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 19 - U.S. government debt prices
were flat on Thursday, caught between warnings from Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about inflation and threats to
growth from a weak housing market.




Sharp gains in stocks, driven by upbeat earnings news, also
kept a lid on bond prices, analysts said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 2-Ex-press baron Black faces battle to retain freedom

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, July 19 - U.S. prosecutors urged a judge
on Thursday to revoke Conrad Black's $21 million bond and take
the former media baron into custody immediately as a "four-time
convicted felon" who could flee to his native Canada and who no
longer has the assets to cover the bond.




The statements came in a motion filed prior to a hearing on
whether the 62-year-old member of Britain's House of Lords
should remain free until he is sentenced on November 30
following his conviction on fraud and obstruction charges.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 2-OptionsXpress 2nd-qtr profit rises 29 pct

(Reuters) - OptionsXpress reported net income of $23.2 million, or 37
cents a share, up from $18 million, or 29 cents a share a year
earlier.




Analysts on average had expected the Chicago-based
brokerage to earn 35 cents per share, excluding items.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Broadcom, Verizon Wireless in licensing pact

(Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission has banned the
import or sale of certain phones with chips made by Qualcomm.
Verizon Wireless said it would cease efforts to overturn the
ITC ban under its agreement with Broadcom.




Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications and
Vodafone Group Plc.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Goldman to build second Jersey City tower

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 19 - Goldman Sachs Group , the world's largest investment bank, said on Thursday it is building a third office tower in the New York City area to accommodate rapid growth in its staff. Goldman on Wednesday received approval from Jersey City, New Jersey, to build a 30-story, $560 million office building on property directly across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan. The firm already has a 42-story, $1.3 billion Jersey City tower, and is building a new 42-story headquarters in the Battery Park City area of lower Manhattan.



Goldman has grown at an explosive rate since its 1999 initial public offering, and its need for space has increased. Total employees have nearly tripled to 26,000 from 9,000 in that time, with 13,000 based in the New York City region.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Fed's Moskow:one number won't determine inflation trend

(Reuters) - Moskow is a voting member of the Federal Open Market
Committee in 2007 but is scheduled to retire by the end of
August. A successor has not been named.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Bank of America leads higher profits at U.S. banks

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 19 - Bank of America Corp and other large U.S. banks on Thursday reported higher quarterly profits, as rising fees offset deteriorating credit quality.



Profit rose 5 percent at Bank of America, 24 percent at SunTrust Banks Inc , 7 percent at BB&T Corp and 11 percent at PNC Financial Services Group Inc . Earnings fell 2 percent at Fifth Third Bancorp . Results at all but PNC met or exceeded analysts' forecasts.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

New York City's traffic fee plan wins state OK

(Reuters) - The Democratic governor, at a news conference, said he believed the accord will give the federal government the "confidence" it needs to qualify the city for as much as $500 million in transportation aid.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Labor Ready shares soar after strong Q2 results

(Reuters) - BANGALORE, July 19 - Shares of Labor Ready Inc.
hit an all-time high on Thursday, a day after the
company reported a higher quarterly profit that also beat
market expectations.




Labor Ready, which provides workers to businesses in the
construction, warehouse and hospitality sectors, said its
recent move to increase sales staff helped reverse declines at
branches open for more than a year.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Citi Chile and Banco de Chile to merge

(Reuters) - Under the terms of the agreement, Citi will take a 32.96 percent stake in Banco de Chile's parent company, LQ Financial Investments , currently wholly owned by Chilean manufacturing conglomerate Quinenco .




Banco de Chile's assets in the Andean nation, valued at $6.015 billion, will be merged with those of Citi in Chile, valued at $701 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

PNC Financial profit falls short, shares fall

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 19 - PNC Financial Services Group Inc. , a fast-growing Northeast U.S. regional bank, said on Thursday that second-quarter profit rose, helped by acquisitions and growth in existing businesses. Net income for the Pittsburgh-based company rose to $423 million from $381 million. Earnings per share fell to $1.22 from $1.28 because PNC had more shares outstanding.



Adjusted earnings rose to $434 million from $386 million, and fell to $1.25 from $1.30 on a per-share basis.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Imperial, Exxon Mobil win Beaufort Sea acreage

(Reuters) - Under the license terms, Imperial must spend at least
C$73.1 million, it said.







Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

PPG in talks to buy Dutch SigmaKalon for $3 bln

(Reuters) - "This acquisition would give us a more balanced coatings business in Europe, approximately doubling our European sales," PPG Chief Executive Charles Bunch said in a statement.




Bain had put the company up for auction, and sources familiar with the matter earlier this week tipped PPG as a bidder along with Sherwin-Williams Co. and four private equity firms. Sherwin-Williams also confirmed on Thursday it took part in the auction.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

U.S. Stocks Advance on Earnings; Shares of IBM, Hewlett-Packard Lead Gain

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks gained, led by technology
companies, after International Business Machines Corp. reported
earnings that topped analysts' estimates.

IBM, the world's biggest provider of computer services,
jumped the most since 2003 after boosting its annual profit
forecast. Hewlett-Packard Co. climbed to the highest since 2000
after a research firm said the company widened its lead as the
largest personal-computer maker.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Crude Oil Rises 11-Month in New York as Total Curbs Shipments From Angola

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to an 11-month high
in New York after Total SA said it would curb exports from the
Dalia field in Angola because of a mechanical failure.

Total declared force majeure, a legal clause meaning
deliveries are suspended because of conditions beyond the
company's control, after production at the 240,000-barrel-a-day
field was cut by 50 percent. Prices also rose because a
government report yesterday showed that U.S. gasoline supplies
declined last week.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-HNI posts better-than-expected profit

(Reuters) - The company expects the office furniture sector to continue
to see moderate growth for the rest of the year, so it says it
is "actively" cutting structural and operating costs.




The U.S. office furniture industry has slowed recently,
with monthly orders in 2007 averaging about 5 percent growth
compared with the double-digit increases of the industry's peak
year in 2005.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 2-Manpower earnings double, shares fall on outlook

(Reuters) - Manpower's results, helped by the weak U.S. dollar and a
French accounting change, only met Wall Street expectations,
unlike in other recent quarters when they beat by several
cents.




Earnings rose to $160.4 million, or $1.86 per share, from
$80.4 million, or 91 cents per share, a year earlier. The 2007
quarter's earnings were boosted 66 cents per share by a change
in the calculation of French payroll taxes.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Celanese withdraws 2007 outlook, extends force majeure

(Reuters) - Shares of the Dallas-based company were down $1.72, or 4.2
percent, to $39.55 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock
Exchange after touching as low as $38.28.




The company said it will inform its acetic acid and
derivatives customers that the force majeure at the facility
announced on May 14 will continue, as repairs made to the plant
have been unsuccessful.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Gilead shares rise ahead of 2nd-quarter report

(Reuters) - The Swiss drugmaker earlier on Thursday reported stronger- than-expected second-quarter Tamiflu sales of $369 million as pandemic sales more than offset minimal seasonal flu sales.




"This translates into approximately $77 million in royalty revenue to Gilead in the third quarter of 2007, 26 percent higher than our estimate of $61 million," Jefferies & Co. analyst Eun Yang wrote in a research note.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

IBM at 5-year high after results beat forecasts

(Reuters) - IBM said on Wednesday that second-quarter net income rose 12 percent as revenue grew 8.6 percent to $23.8 billion, helped by about $5 billion of software-company acquisitions that strengthened the company's most profitable business.




The results, which beat analysts' average forecasts, led IBM to raise its 2007 earnings-per-share growth forecast to 14 percent to 15 percent from a May projection of 13 percent to 14 percent growth.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Bernanke says mulling mortgage affordability tests

(Reuters) - When it comes to matching borrowers with suitable loans he
said "another way of thinking about it is equating suitability
with affordability and essentially saying that there is some
presumption that the lender will appropriately take into
account the ability to pay in making the loan."




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

WRAPUP 1-Subprime losses could cost $100 billion-Bernanke

(Reuters) - "The credit losses associated with subprime have come to
light and they are fairly significant," Bernanke told the
Senate Banking Committee in a second day of testimony on the
Fed's twice-yearly economic report.




"Some estimates are in the order of between $50 billion and
$100 billion of losses associated with subprime credit
problems," he said, referring to a segment of the mortgage
market that caters to borrowers with shaky credit.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Foot Locker mulls selling itself - report

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 19 - Foot Locker Inc. is considering putting itself up for sale following disappointing performance at its U.S. shoe stores and the failure to buy Genesco Inc. , the New York Post reported on Thursday, sending the retailer's shares up nearly 12 percent.



Citing sources, the newspaper said the athletic shoe retailer has hired Lehman Brothers to advise it on a potential sale.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

REFILE-S&P cuts 75 ABS CDOs after subprime review

(Reuters) - The rating cuts affected 93 tranches of the CDOS with
exposure to U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities backed
by subprime first-lien collateral, whose ratings were lowered
on July 12, S&P said.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Citigroup, Lehman receive IRS. requests

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
, in April received information document requests from
the IRS, which questioned the use of derivatives by offshore
investors. These clients may have sidestepped withholding taxes
on U.S. stock dividends, the people said.




The probe is focused on derivatives trades where securities
firms buy stocks from offshore hedge-fund clients. In return,
the banks pay them any principal return and dividends these
stocks generated.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Illinois Tool posts higher profit, raises outlook

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, July 19 - Diversified manufacturer Illinois Tool Works Inc. on Thursday posted a higher quarterly profit and raised its full-year financial forecast as demand overseas offset weakness in North America.



Net income in the second quarter rose almost 9 percent to $505.6 million, or 90 cents a share, compared with $465.9 million, or 81 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

U.S.-Icelandic consortium buys NewsEdge from Thomson

(Reuters) - Terms were not disclosed.



Acquire will merge NewsEdge's operations with its own, creating what the companies said were "significant" synergies.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Humble roots no hurdle for Mexico's Cemex

(Reuters) - For Mexico's Cemex , which this week
became the world's biggest building materials company by
revenue, the success is more unlikely given its roots in a
developing country with limited access to funds for growth.




But since 1906, when its Hidalgo plant opened, Cemex has
defied skeptical investors and weathered Mexico's financial
crises to buy more than 20 companies in the past two decades.
The latest, Australia's Rinker for $15.3 billion
including debt, was the biggest takeover by a Mexican company.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Bank of America profit up 5 pct, tops views

(Reuters) - Second-quarter net income for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company increased to $5.76 billion, or $1.28 per share, from $5.48 billion, or $1.19 a share, a year earlier.




Excluding items, profit was $1.30 per share, 10 cents above the average analyst forecast, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue rose 7 percent to $19.56 billion, topping the average $18.49 billion forecast. Fee income rose 17 percent while lending income fell 3 percent. Expenses rose 4 percent to $9.09 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Canadian Stock Index Holds at Record as Gold Price Rises, Barrick Advances

(Bloomberg) -- Canada's main stock index held at a
record as rising bullion prices lifted shares of Barrick Gold Corp.
and other gold mining companies.

Research In Motion Ltd, maker of the BlackBerry e-mail phone,
gained after rival Motorola Inc., posted its second straight
quarterly loss. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 5.55, or 0.04
percent, to 14,589.21.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 1-Malaysia's CIMB sees fewer banks in near term

(Reuters) - Malaysia, with nine local banking groups, wants its banks
to merge and become bigger as the government opens up its
financial sector to foreign lenders.




That number could shrink to as few as five lending groups
in the near future, CIMB Chief Executive Nazir Razak said.
CIMB, the operating arm of state-controlled financial group
Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd , acquired smaller
rival Southern Bank for $1.8 billion in May last year .


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-Dairy Crest sales, cost cuts on track

(Reuters) - LONDON, July 19 - Britain's Dairy Crest
said on Thursday that profit for the year would be in line with
its expectations, with sales of its milk, cheese, yoghurt and
butter brands and cost cuts in its milk business on track.




"Dairy Crest has had a strong trading performance in the
first three months of the current financial year. The group's
expectations for the full year ending 31 March 2008 remain
unchanged," the maker of Cathedral City cheeses and Yoplait
yoghurts said in a statement.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

JGB futures dip in sluggish trade, dented by stocks

(Reuters) - Trade was subdued with no major domestic events scheduled for
the rest of this week, leaving market players to take their cue
from the performance of stocks and Treasuries.




Investors are girding for the Bank of Japan to raise
overnight rates to 0.75 percent from the current 0.50 percent
next month and will be looking ahead to next week's data on
consumer prices to help confirm those expectations.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-SAfrica Vodacom Q1 customers up 7.5 pct on qtr

(Reuters) - Vodacom's revenue in its financial first quarter rose 18.6
percent while its total customers increased 28.4 percent from
the same period a year ago. Vodacom is jointly owned by Telkom
and Vodafone Plc .




"The growth in the customer base is a result of high gross
customer connections of 4.4 million for the quarter," Telkom
said.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News