Japanese Stocks Fall; Exporters Decline on U.S. Earnings, Stronger Yen

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese shares dropped, paced by
companies that rely on the U.S. market, after Caterpillar Inc.
said its profit fell on lower North American sales and the yen
strengthened against the dollar.

Exporters such as Honda Motor Co. and Sony Corp. declined
after the yen rose against the dollar to the highest in more than
six weeks.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Allianz, Norddeutsche Affinerie, Siemens May Move: German Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may rise or fall
in German markets. Stock symbols are in parentheses after the
company names and prices are from the previous Xetra close unless
otherwise stated.

DAX futures expiring in September added 10.50, or 0.1
percent, to 7943.50 at 8:15 a.m. in Frankfurt. The DAX dropped
1.5 percent to 7874.85 on the Xetra electronic-trading system.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Gulf Finance Sells Its First Islamic Bonds to Finance Banking Ventures

(Bloomberg) -- Gulf Finance House EC, a Bahraini
Islamic investment bank managing more than $10 billion of property
projects and assets, sold its first Islamic bonds to help finance
two regional banking ventures.

Manama-based Gulf Finance sold $200 million of five-year
bonds, known as sukuk, to investors in Asia and Europe, it said in
an e-mailed statement yesterday. HSBC Holdings Plc and Dresdner
Kleinwort Group Ltd. managed the sale with help from Emirates
Islamic Bank PJSC and Emirates Bank International PJSC.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Newcastle Coal Price Falls a Third Week as Demand From Asian Buyers Eases

(Bloomberg) -- The price of power-station coal at
Newcastle, the world's largest export harbor for the fuel, fell
for a third week after Asian customers bought sufficient
inventories to meet demand for the peak summer season.

Coal for immediate delivery dropped 70 cents to $66.30 a
metric ton in the week ended July 20 from the previous week,
according to the globalCOAL NEWC Index. Prices reached a record
$70.88 a ton for the week ended June 28 after storms along
Australia's east coast disrupted shipments.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Barclays Raises ABN Amro Offer to $93.4 Billion With Funding From China

(Bloomberg) -- Barclays Plc raised its offer for
ABN Amro Holding NV, the biggest Dutch bank, to 67.5 billion
euros ($93.4 billion) after securing funding from China's and
Singapore's governments.

ABN shareholders will receive 42.7 billion euros in stock
and 24.8 billion euros in cash, Barclays said in a statement
today.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

China Refined Copper Imports Fall 6.8 Percent in June From Previous Month

(Bloomberg) -- China's copper imports, the largest
in the world, fell 6.8 percent in June from May as rising prices
reduced the profitability of shipments.

Overall refined copper and alloy imports were 113,074
metric tons last month compared with 121,383 tons in May, the
Beijing-based customs office said today, citing revised data.
Compared with the previous year, imports rose 62 percent from
last June's 69,715 tons, according to Bloomberg data.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Westinghouse to buy IST Nuclear in S Africa move

(Reuters) - Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The sale is contingent on
approval from the South Africa Competition Commission.




Japan's Toshiba Corp. took a 77 percent stake in Westinghouse, the
U.S. power plant unit of British Nuclear Fuels, for $4.16 billion late last
year.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

India's Bonds Gain Most in Three Months as Central Bank Reduces Debt Sales

(Bloomberg) -- India's 10-year bonds gained the most
in three months, sending yields to the lowest in 5 1/2 months,
after the central bank cut debt sales aimed at draining spare
cash from the banking system this week.

The yield on the benchmark 7.49 percent note due April 2017
fell 10 basis points, or 0.1 percentage point, to 7.72 percent as
of 9:35 a.m. in Mumbai, according to the central bank's trading
system. The price rose 0.64, or 64 paise per 100 rupee face value,
to 98.45.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

More U.S. Companies See Economy Improving, Plan to Hire, NABE Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- More U.S. companies plan to increase
hiring and spending in coming months as they anticipate faster
economic growth, a survey by the National Association for
Business Economics found.

The number of businesses planning to boost employment
outstripped those planning to reduce staff by the most in more
than a year, the report from the Washington-based group showed.
A fifth of the companies grew more optimistic about the economy
as sales increased.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Electricite de France, Nexity and Sopra Group: French Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may rise or
fall on the Paris stock exchange. Symbols are in parentheses
after company names and prices are from the close on July 20.

France's benchmark CAC 40 Index lost 108.34 points, or 1.8
percent, to 5957.16 in Paris. The broader SBF 120 Index closed
down 1.6 percent.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Bank Loan Recovery Rates Declining as Financings Get Riskier, Moody's Says

(Bloomberg) -- Banks can expect to recover less
money when borrowers default than in the past, Moody's Investors
Service said.

The stripping away of traditional investor safeguards on so-
called covenant-lite loans, higher leverage and the sharing of
collateral between different types of creditor will reduce the
recovery rate in the U.S. and Europe, Moody's said in a summary
of a report to be released today.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Japan ready to accept IAEA inspectors after quake

(Reuters) - Japan's nuclear industry -- which supplies about one-third of
the country's electricity needs and is central to its efforts to
battle global warming -- has been tarnished by cover-ups of
accidents and fudged safety records.




The Japanese government had first told the International
Atomic Energy Agency that it did not need help for now,
but then came under pressure from local authorities to allow
inspections.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

UPDATE 1-Barclays seeks China, Singapore funds in ABN buy-report

(Reuters) - Citing unidentified banking sources, the BBC said on its
Web site www.bbcnews.com that if the talks succeeded, China
would hold a 7 percent stake in the merged bank, while
Singapore would own 3 percent through its investment holding
company, Temasek [TEM.UL].




The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the
matter, said Barclays was close to an agreement to sell what it
described as a large stake to Temasek and another investor to
help back its bid for ABN.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Turkish Markets May Rise After Erdogan's Justice Party Wins Re-Election

(Bloomberg) -- Turkish stocks, bonds and the lira
may gain after voters re-elected Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, giving him a mandate to extend policies that won Turkey
European Union membership talks and helped bring 21 straight
quarters of economic growth.

Erdogan's Justice and Development Party took 47 percent of
the vote with almost all ballots counted at 1 a.m. in the
capital Ankara, according to the state-run Anatolia News Agency.
That's likely to give the party 342 lawmakers in the 550-seat
parliament, CNN Turk television said.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Air China Plans to Add Routes, Staff to Accommodate Olympic Travel Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Air China Ltd., the nation's largest
international carrier, will add routes and staff as the 2008
Olympic Games fuel demand for travel to its hub, Beijing.

Air China will operate more flights to the U.K., France and
Russia, as well as to the U.S., Senior Vice President Zhang Lan
said in an interview in Beijing. It's also applying to add a
route to Pyongyang, capital of North Korea.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Oil falls on OPEC's concerns on world economy

(Reuters) - U.S. crude for September delivery was trading 31 cents lower at $75.48 a barrel in Globex electronic trading by 0009 GMT, extending Friday's decline.




The U.S. August crude oil contract settled down 35 cents at $75.57 a barrel on Friday, when it expired.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

U.S. Treasuries May Add to Last Week's Gain as Appetite for Risk Recedes

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries may add to last week's
biggest gain in more than four months on speculation investors
will seek the relative safety of government bonds as appetite for
risk diminishes.

Asian stocks headed lower in response to the slump in U.S.
subprime mortgages that drove U.S. shares down last week. Federal
Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said inflation will recede and
housing market weakness may slow the economy. The yield on 10-
year notes ended a week below 5 percent for the first time since
the start of June.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Seoul shares hit record, then fall

(Reuters) - Steel maker POSCO Co. Ltd. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. were among the day's leading decliners, sapping momentum in a main KOSPI that is still on the cusp of breaking 2,000 points for the first time.




"China's rate hike is having an impact, although the effects may not last, as the move had been widely expected and was tamer than market expectations," said Kim Jeong-hwan, a strategist at Woori Investment and Securities.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

JGB futures hit 6-week high, boosted by Treasuries

(Reuters) - Treasuries rallied on Friday after investors became
increasingly nervous that subprime mortgage losses would spread
to other markets and eventually shave economic growth.




Still, expectations remained that the Bank of Japan will
raise interest rates to a 12-year high of 0.75 percent from the
current 0.5 percent, and this was likely to limit further gains
in JGBs.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

U.K. Housing Prices Rise at Slowest Pace This Year; Prices in London Jump

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. house prices rose in July at the
slowest pace this year, evidence that interest rates at a six-
year high are damping demand for property, Rightmove Plc said. In
London, the rate of price increases accelerated.

The average asking price in England and Wales gained 0.3
percent to 240,001 pounds ($493,000) from a month earlier, the
U.K.'s biggest real-estate Web site said in a statement today.
That was the smallest increase since prices fell in December.
Values in London rose 1.8 percent, more than double June's pace.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Prosecutors seek medical records for Nacchio's son

(Reuters) - On July 6, Nacchio said in court filings in Denver federal
court that he deserves leniency because of his "prior good
works," and the health of two of his immediate family members,
including David Nacchio, his oldest son.




Assistant U.S. Attorney James Hearty said in the motion on
July 20 that Nacchio has submitted two letters from his son's
psychiatrist and the government should be allowed to review the
entire medical file to prepare a response at the sentencing.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Australian Stocks Drop From Record: BHP, Banks Fall on China, U.S. Concern

(Bloomberg) -- Australia's benchmark stock index,
the S&P/ASX 200 Index, fell 0.40 percent at 10:05 a.m.

The index of 201 companies traded on the Australian Stock
Exchange fell 25.50 to 6,396.30. Among the stocks in the index,
57 rose, 123 fell and 21 were unchanged.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Japan's Government Bonds May Gain on Speculation Consumer Prices Dropped

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese bonds may gain on
speculation consumer price data this week will reduce pressure on
the central bank to raise interest rates in August.

The inflation rate excluding fresh food slowed for a fifth
month in June, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News
before the July 27 release. Ten-year notes last week posted the
first gain since June as investors sought the relative safety of
government debt because of losses on securities tied to U.S.
mortgages.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Is that a fake in your pocket? Quite possibly...

(Reuters) - "The most dramatic change in attitudes towards fakes is that
they have reached their tipping point. They have become socially
acceptable," the study said.




Two-thirds of Britons readily admit to peers that they have
bought a counterfeit product, it showed.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

New Zealand Dollar May Advance to 80 U.S. Cents on Rate Rise Speculation

(Bloomberg) -- The New Zealand dollar may rise
above 80 U.S. cents to a 22-year high as the prospect of another
increase in interest rate this week lures investors to the
nation's higher-yielding assets.

The currency has gained 13 percent this year as the central
bank raised the benchmark rate three times in a bid to subdue
consumer demand, which it says is boosting inflation. There is a
67 percent chance bank Governor Alan Bollard will raise the
official cash rate by a quarter-percentage point for a fourth
time at his monetary policy review on July 26, according to a
Credit Suisse index based on trading in interest-rate swaps.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Crude Oil Falls a Second Day on Expectations of Rising U.S. Fuel Supplies

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell a second day in New
York on signs U.S. fuel stockpiles will increase as refiners
increase output.

Gasoline futures fell 2.7 percent last week as U.S. refiners
raised operating rates and Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Valero
Energy Corp. restarted units in Texas. Full oil output was
restored at Angola's Dalia field on July 19 after a generator
fault, Total SA said July 20.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

New York Times coverage tiptoes around owner - NYT editor

(Reuters) - Hoyt said today's New York Times is caught in unprecedented
changes in an industry where readers are flocking to the Internet
and advertising revenue is tumbling for print editions across the
country. The Bancroft family, owners of Wall Street Journal
publisher Dow Jones & Co. Inc. , likely will sell to
Murdoch, even though some members think he'll bring his tabloid
heart to the pages of the financial news icon.




Hoyt said the Times has covered the Bancroft-Murdoch saga
aggressively.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Gold May Gain for 4th Week on Demand for Dollar Alternative, Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- Gold may rise, topping $700 an ounce
for the first time since May 2006, on speculation the dollar
will weaken further against the euro and boost the appeal of the
precious metal as an alternative investment.

Twenty-three of 27 traders, investors and analysts surveyed
by Bloomberg from Sydney to Chicago on July 19 and July 20
advised buying gold, which rose 2.6 percent last week to $684.70
an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile
Exchange. Three said to sell, and one was neutral.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Harry Potter book breaks global record at Borders

(Reuters) - Fans have lined up outside book stores around the globe for a copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" -- the seventh and final volume of the series written by J.K. Rowling.




The sixth book in the series -- "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" -- sold 850,000 copies worldwide by Borders in 2005 during its first day of sales, Borders said.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Pret a Manger may drop IPO for private buyer -paper

(Reuters) - But the company has received unsolicited approaches from
Lion Capital, Bridgepoint and PPM, and bankers have held early
stage talks, the paper said. Pret has more than 150 outlets,
most in Britain and a few in the United States.




Pret could not immediately be reached to comment.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

RPT-Wall St Week Ahead: Home sales, earnings on stocks' radar

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 22 - Home sales and a report on
economic growth may help investors decide this week if they
want to keep riding a bull market in stocks, while a torrent of
earnings reports will no doubt cause some anxious moments.




A sharp drop in the shares of equipment-maker Caterpillar
Inc. on Friday showed just how badly a stock can be
hurt when there is an earnings shortfall. The company reported
an earnings decline that was greater than expected. The stock
fell 4.4 percent and spoiled the Dow's day.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

TRW guarantees most jobs should it buy VDO: report

(Reuters) - A stumbling block for any potential buyer is organized labor, however, as unions fear a sale of VDO may result in major job cuts.




The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported, citing sources familiar with the negotiations, that TRW had tried to assuage those fears by making assurances it would keep VDO's administration and "practically cut no jobs".


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Roche unlikely to raise Ventana bid price - paper

(Reuters) - Roche last week also said it did not intend to increase its
$3 billion hostile bid for Ventana. But earlier this month, the
Swiss company appeared to suggest it might be ready to improve
its offer, in a letter from Humer to the U.S. company.




"I hope that he will
be ready to negotiate," Humer said.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News