Brazil won't cut bank reserve levels -finance min

(Reuters) - "The government isn't considering reducing reserve
requirements," he said at a banking event.




Currently, banks in Brazil must deposit 30 percent of total
savings account deposits with the central bank.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Verizon exec pay proxy approved in final vote count

(Reuters) - The proposal had sought the company's board of directors to adopt a policy giving shareholders an annual vote on senior executive pay packages.




Read more at Reuters.com Business News

US Congress, White House Iraq meeting sputters

(Reuters) - After more than an hour of talks with top White House
aides, Democrats told reporters they nonetheless would try
passing a bill next week to fund the U.S. troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan.




"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an
understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a
Nevada Democrat.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

TREASURIES-Bond prices fall as higher stock market draws cash

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, May 18 - U.S. Treasury debt prices
eased on Friday, taking benchmark yields to 3-month highs, as
more gains on Wall Street siphoned cash from the bond market.




The drop in bond prices extended a selloff that has
characterized the entire week, with bonds undermined by a
climbing stock market and economic data that has made traders
pare back expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest
rates later this year.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Money launderer backs Russia in Bank of NY suit

(Reuters) - On Thursday Russia's federal customs service said it was filing the suit to seek damages related to alleged money laundering in the late 1990s -- a swipe at the U.S. financial system amid growing tension between Russia and the West.




The Bank of New York, the oldest bank in the United States, said on Thursday it had not seen the complaint but any such lawsuit would be "totally without merit, if not frivolous".


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

TREASURIES-Bonds ease as higher stocks draw cash

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, May 18 - U.S. Treasury debt prices
eased on Friday as further gains on Wall Street siphoned cash
out of the bond market, while traders pared back expectations
the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this year.




Bond prices often move inversely to stocks as investors
allocate assets between lower-risk Treasuries and higher-risk
equities.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Brazil Real Falls on Speculation the Central Bank Will Move to Slow Rally

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's currency fell on speculation
the central bank may sell reverse currency swaps in addition to
its daily dollar purchases to slow a rally that has added more
than 3 percent to the currency this week.

``There' still some doubt about how strongly the bank will
act now that the real is trading beyond the 2-per-dollar
level,'' said Hideaki Iha, a currency trader at Fair Corretora
de Cambio in Sao Paulo.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Cicada Invasion Threatens to Swarm Chicago in 30-Day Bug-Breeding Frenzy

(Bloomberg) -- In the past 17 years, ``Friends''
came and went on television, another George Bush was elected
president and the Hubble telescope was launched. Seven billion
cicadas missed it all.

Now the cicadas are ready to emerge from their 17-year
sojourn underground and invade the Chicago area.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

Union asks Implats for 15 pct increase

(Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has demanded a 15 percent wage increase from Impala Platinum, the world's second-biggest platinum producer, an official said on Friday.

"We are asking for a 15 percent across-the-board increase from Implats," union spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told Reuters.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Saudi company in lead to buy GE Plastics-source

(Reuters) - GE placed the Plastics unit, where profit last year slipped
22 percent to $674 million, on the block in January.




GE and Sabic declined to comment.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Perini CEO sells 500,000 shares in open market

(Reuters) - Tutor continues to hold 1.4 million of Perini's shares
after the transaction.





Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Mexican Peso Bonds Due in Five Years or More Advance Ahead of CPI Report

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico's peso bonds due in five years
or more rose for a second day before a central bank report next
week that economists expect will show inflation is slowing.

The yield on the government's bond due in December 2024
fell to a one-week low. The inflation report for the first
fifteen days of May comes after policy makers unexpectedly
raised borrowing costs last month. Central bankers said the
quarter-point rate increase was aimed at heading off inflation.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Hurco Q2 results miss estimates; shares fall

(Reuters) - Shares of the industrial technology company fell more than
9 percent in morning trade.




The U.S. machine tool market softened during the second
quarter, but the markets in Europe and Asia were offsetting the
slowdown, Chief Executive Michael Doar said in a statement.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Microsoft deal cuts chances of Yahoo merger: analyst

(Reuters) - "Microsoft may be more interested in piecemealing together
the highest-quality franchises that replicate what Yahoo
already has," Devitt said in a phone interview.




Earlier this month, several newspapers reported that
Microsoft was considering a deal worth an estimated $40 billion
to $50 billion to acquire Yahoo. A source close to the
situation subsequently said that any talks had cooled.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

DaimlerChrysler sells stake in China bus venture

(Reuters) - He gave no financial terms for the sale.



DaimlerChrysler had to revamp its Chinese plans after Beijing limited foreign companies to two joint-venture projects.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Canada's Dollar Reaches Highest in 30 Years on Interest-Rate Speculation

(Bloomberg) -- Canada's dollar climbed to the highest
level in almost 30 years as the nation's economy strengthened,
fueling speculation the Bank of Canada will raise borrowing costs
in 2007.

The Canadian dollar is the second-best performer this year
among most-actively traded currencies as prices of the nation's
main commodity exports have surged. Data on inflation and
manufacturing this week exceeded economists' forecasts.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

China widens yuan band, raises interest rates

(Reuters) - The steps, which prompted the yen to jump sharply against the euro and dollar, are likely to be interpreted as both an olive branch to Washington and as a signal that it is serious about keeping the world's fourth-largest economy in check.




The yuan will now be permitted to rise or fall by 0.5 percent each day, up from a 0.3 percent margin. The central bank also raised its one-year lending rate by 0.18 percentage point and the one-year deposit rate by 0.27.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Buffalo Wild Wings says plans to buy 9 franchised restaurants

(Reuters) - Buffalo Wild Wings also said its board declared a 2-for-1
stock split to be effected in the form of a 100 percent stock
dividend to shareholders of record as of June 1.





Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Oil dips after surge on US gasoline anxiety

(Reuters) - Oil held just below $70 on Friday, near an eight-month high set the previous session on fears new problems at U.S. refineries could squeeze gasoline supplies already at unusually low pre-summer levels.

China, the world's second biggest oil consumer, raised interest rates to cool its fast-growing economy. But analysts said it could take time to produce any noticeable impact on its oil demand.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Tupras of Turkey May Enter Chemicals Business With Bid for Petkim

(Bloomberg) -- Tupras Turkiye Petrol Rafinerileri AS,
Turkey's biggest energy company, may expand into petrochemicals by
buying a state-run chemical maker that's one of its main customers.

The state asset-sales agency said yesterday Tupras, the
country's sole refiner, was among 18 bidders for a 51 percent stake
in Petkim, worth $700 million at current market prices. Final bids
are due by June 15.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Microsoft pays 85 pct premium to buy aQuantive

(Reuters) - Microsoft of Redmond, Washington said it would acquire
aQuantive based in nearby Seattle to expand the software
giant's push into Internet advertising through its tools for
managing the buying and selling of online ads.




Aquantive shares closed at $35.87 on Thursday on Nasdaq.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Iomed says agrees to be acquired by ReAble Therapeutics

(Reuters) - The deal is valued at about $22 million and represents a premium of about 38 percent over Iomed's Thursday closing price of $1.99.



Following the acquisition, Iomed will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of ReAble, the statement added.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Ford Motor Credit, Dynegy Lead Companies Selling $28.2 Billion of Bonds

(Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Credit Co., the profitable
financing arm of the second-largest U.S. automaker, and power-
plant owner Dynegy Inc. led borrowers in selling $28.2 billion of
bonds this week as yield premiums reached the lowest in 12 weeks.

Sales compare with $30.3 billion in all of last week, and
exceed the 2007 weekly average of $23.8 billion, according to
data compiled by Bloomberg. Ford Motor Co.'s unit issued $1.5
billion of debt as its bonds rallied, and Dynegy sold $1.65
billion of high-yield, high-risk, or junk, securities.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

China Lets Yuan Rise Faster, Raises Interest Rates Before Paulson Talks

(Bloomberg) -- China widened the yuan's daily
trading limit against the U.S. dollar, allowing faster gains in
the currency to cool the economy and cut a record trade surplus
that has strained ties with the U.S. and Europe.

``Widening the band is to further improve the yuan's
mechanism, but it doesn't mean the yuan will fluctuate by a lot
or appreciate by a large magnitude,'' the People's Bank of China
said in a statement in Beijing. The yuan will be allowed to move
as much as 0.5 percent either side of a daily fixing rate
against the dollar, up from 0.3 percent, the central bank said.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

S.Africa's 3-month T-Bill rate up at 8.64 pct

(Reuters) - The average discount rate for South African three-month Treasury Bills rose to 8.64 percent on Friday from 8.38 percent last week.

The average yield was 8.83 percent from 8.56 percent, the Reserve Bank said.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Moody's Ratings Double Talk May Cost U.S. Taxpayers $3.6 Billion on Bonds

(Bloomberg) -- When California sells taxable bonds
to foreigners, Moody's Investors Service says the state's credit
is Aaa, the highest possible. When the state sells tax-free debt
to U.S. citizens, its creditworthiness is four levels lower.

The discrepancy may cost taxpayers as much as $3.6 billion
in extra interest on bonds sold during 2006, said Matt Fabian,
an analyst at Municipal Market Advisors, a research firm in
Concord, Massachusetts. New York-based Moody's doesn't allow
towns and cities to apply the higher rankings to tax-exempt
financings that make up 90 percent of the $2.4 trillion in
outstanding municipal bonds.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Deadlock at climate talks mars Kyoto hopes

(Reuters) - Deadlock over how to bring the United States and big developing nations to the climate negotiating table frustrated U.N.-hosted talks this week, meant to lay the groundwork for a conference in Indonesia in December.

The talks among 166 nations conclude on Friday, three weeks before a G8 summit where global warming will feature.


Read more at Reuters Africa

U.S. Treasuries Snap Five-Day Loss as Higher Yields Spur Investor Demand

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasuries snapped a five-day decline on speculation 10-year yields at their highest in a month will lure some investors.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year securities climbed to 4.76 percent yesterday, a level seen only three times in the past three months. Two-year yields rose to 4.78 percent, the highest since February.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Simmers to spend $43 mln to expand gold operations

(Reuters) - South Africa's Simmer & Jack Mines Ltd have approved plans to spend 300 million rand to expand two gold operations, the company said on Friday.

The firm plans a private placement of shares and the process would be launched next week, it added in a statement.


Read more at Reuters Africa

European Stocks Advance, Led by Cairn Energy, Cadbury; British Air Drops

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks gained for a second day after a rally in oil prices and continued takeover speculation lifted energy companies.

Cairn Energy Plc climbed after Citigroup Inc. advised buying the shares, citing speculation it will be bought. Cadbury Schweppes Plc jumped to a record after the Daily Telegraph said private-equity groups may bid for the company's U.S. drinks unit. British Airways Plc led airlines lower after it reported a loss.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

JGBs slip on BOJ rate view in GDP, Fukui aftermath

(Reuters) - JGBs reversed gains from the last two days, after data on Thursday showing that the economy grew largely as expected solidified the market's view that the BOJ may lift rates to 0.75 percent in July-September.

After keeping the central bank's overnight rate unchanged at 0.5 percent, Fukui told reporters on Thursday that raising rates was a possibility even amid sluggish consumer prices, if strength in the rest of the economy warranted such a move.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Indian Government Bonds Extend Loss as Inflation Slows Less Than Forecast

(Bloomberg) -- India's 10-year bonds extended losses, sending yields to the highest this week, after a government report showed inflation slowed less than forecast.

The yield on the benchmark 8.07 percent note due January 2017 rose 3 basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 8.15 percent as of 12:25 p.m. in Mumbai, according to the central bank's trading system. The price fell 0.22, or 22 paise per 100 rupee face value, to 99.43.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Korean KEPCO bids $280 mln for Nigeria power stake

(Reuters) - A consortium led by state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. has offered $280 million for a 51 percent stake in Nigeria's 1,320 Megawatts (MW) Egbin power plant, the privatisation agency said on Thursday.

The South Korean-led consortium, which includes Energy Resources Ltd, was the sole bidder at an auction in the capital Abuja for the gas-fired plant located near the commercial city Lagos.


Read more at Reuters Africa

British Airways profit down 13 pct, makes provision

(Reuters) - Operating profit was 602 million pounds in the year to March 31, compared to 694 million a year earlier.

"Policy requires all staff to comply with the law at all times," it said in a statement about anti-competitive activity. "It has become apparent that there have been breaches of this policy in relation to discussions about these surcharges with competitors."


Read more at Reuters.com Market News