U.K. Pound May Decline as Industry Survey Shows House Prices Are Cooling

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. pound may decline after an
industry survey showed house-price inflation slowed this month,
easing pressure on the Bank of England to keep raising interest
rates this year.

The pound fell for a fourth week against the dollar, its
longest losing run in 15 months, as investors scaled back
expectations for rate increases this year. The pound extended its
drop after a report last week showed sales at U.K. retailers
unexpectedly fell in April.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Lack of big find keeps gold price up - Gold Fields

(Reuters) - A failure to find the next mother lode was helping prop up gold bullion prices, the head of South Africa's Gold Fields Ltd., the world's fourth-largest gold miner, said on Monday.

"There is a lack of exploration expenditure and a lack of discovery of any significant size," the company's chief executive, Ian Cockerill told a conference in the Australian city of Perth.


Read more at Reuters Africa

America Movil, Famsa, Tam, Tim, Vivo Participacoes: Latin Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may make
significant gains or losses in Brazil and Mexico today. Symbols
are in parentheses after the company name, and stock prices are
from the last session.

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


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Ahern's 10-Year Record Is Toasted by Investors as Ireland's Voters Grumble

(Bloomberg) -- Irish voters say Prime Minister
Bertie Ahern, facing a May 24 election, isn't doing enough to
improve hospitals, fix roads and cut class sizes. Investors in
Irish assets are much happier.

The nation's benchmark stock index has risen 180 percent
since Ahern, 55, took charge a decade ago. That compares with a
40 percent increase in the U.K.'s benchmark FTSE 100 Index and a
70 percent advance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

Axa, EADS, Eiffage, Eurotunnel, France Telecom: French Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- Shares of the following companies may
rise or fall on the Paris stock exchange. Symbols are in
parentheses after company names and prices are from the last
close.

The CAC 40 Index rose 74.15 points, or 1.2 percent, to
6101.14, the highest close since November 2000. The SBF 120
Index gained 51.15, or 1.2 percent, to 4452.20.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Housing to weigh more than expected on growth-forecast

(Reuters) - Real gross domestic product, the government's broadest measure of economic output, is expected to advance 2.3 percent in 2007. That is down from an earlier estimate in February for 2.8 percent growth, a survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economics found.




The lower forecast came after the government reported anemic 1.3 percent GDP growth during the first three months of this year.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News

TPG, Goldman unit, to buy Alltel in $25 billion deal

(Reuters) - Alltel's stock closed at $65.35 on Friday, with its shares steadily climbing throughout the year on speculation of a buyout.




Including the assumption of debt, the deal is worth around $27.5 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Goldman enters investment venture with Japan's SBI

(Reuters) - "Our goal is to provide the most advanced financial solutions
to a broad range of regional and mid-sized companies," SBI said.




The venture will seek to couple Goldman's money and financial
expertise with SBI's network of corporate contacts in Japan.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Japanese Shares Climb, Paced by Sony, Exporters on U.S. Confidence, Yen

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese shares advanced after U.S.
consumer confidence unexpectedly rose this month and the yen
weakened against the dollar and euro.

Sony Corp. surged 4.2 percent, the most in more than three
months, leading gains by exporters. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.
jumped 5.7 percent after Nomura Securities Co. began coverage of
shipping companies and said the brokerage is ``bullish'' on the
industry.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Shanghai Copper Rises From Eight-Week Low As Economic Growth Helps Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Shanghai copper futures rose by as
much as 4 percent from an eight-week low in early trading,
recovering following gains in overseas markets amid speculation
that global economic growth will support demand for the metal.

The contract for August delivery on the Shanghai Futures
Exchange reached 63,800 yuan ($8,325) a ton, up 2,440 yuan from
the previous close. It traded 1,970 yuan, or 3.2 percent higher,
at 63,330 yuan a ton at 9:49 a.m.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

China Stocks Decline After Central Bank Raises Interest Rates, Reserves

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese stocks, the world's best
performers this year, fell after the country's central bank
raised interest rates to cool an investment boom in the world's
fastest-growing major economy.

The CSI 300 Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares
listed on the country's two exchanges, dropped 52.13 points or
1.4 percent to 3724.50 at 9.36 a.m., after falling as much as 3.5
percent. The measure has climbed 88 percent in dollar terms this
year, leaving it valued at 35 times estimated earnings. It's the
most expensive of the world's 10 largest stock markets, according
to data compiled by Bloomberg.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Wall Street Fire Sale Looms for Emasculated Research Boutiques in the U.S.

(Bloomberg) -- For all of its success handling
investments in more than 700 locations since it was started 120
years ago in St. Louis, A.G. Edwards Inc. may not have time on
its side.

The so-called regional brokerages are confronting a trend
that may signal the end of their independence and give them one
more chance to reward their shareholders in a bull market:
Equity-trading revenue at the biggest regional brokerages fell
during the first quarter even as their larger competitors led by
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. earned more money than ever from buying
and selling stocks.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Australian Stocks Gain, Led by CSL, Aristocrat on Rise in U.S. Confidence

(Bloomberg) -- Australian stocks rose, led by
companies with U.S. earnings after consumer confidence in the
world's biggest economy unexpectedly rose this month. CSL Ltd.
and Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. led gains.

BHP Billiton Ltd. led mining shares higher along with prices
of copper and nickel.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Australian Dollar May Strengthen on Lure of Higher-Yielding Currencies

(Bloomberg) -- The Australian dollar may gain on
demand for so-called carry trades, where investors buy higher-
yielding assets with money borrowed in countries where interest
rates are lower.

The currency traded near a 15-year high against the yen as
Australia's 6.25 percent rate compares with the 0.5 percent cost
of borrowing in Japan. Australia's dollar may gain support after
China, the nation's second-largest export market, on May 18
widened the yuan's daily trading limit and raised rates in a move
aimed at sustaining its pace of economic growth.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

BP, Rio Tinto to Study $1.65 Billion Clean Coal Power Plant in Australia

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc and Rio Tinto Group said they
will start studying a potential A$2 billion ($1.65 billion) coal-
fired power plant in Western Australia that will use a system to
capture and store carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The plant will be the first new project for Hydrogen Energy,
a new venture company started up by the partners last week, BP
and Rio Tinto said today in a statement to the Australian Stock
Exchange.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

China's State Investment Company to Buy $3 Billion of Blackstone Shares

(Bloomberg) -- The Chinese government agreed to buy
a $3 billion stake in New York-based buyout firm Blackstone
Group LP, the first step in a plan aimed at diversifying its
overseas investments.

The soon-to-be-formed State Investment Co. will buy an
undisclosed number of nonvoting Blackstone shares at
95.5 percent of the price set in its planned initial public
offering. The stake will be reduced if necessary to keep it
below 10 percent after the IPO, the government and Blackstone
said today in a statement.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Merck's Loescher to be Siemens' first outsider CEO

(Reuters) - Siemens hopes Austrian-born Peter Loescher, a top U.S. healthcare executive who is relatively unknown in Germany, will restore the tarnished reputation of Siemens, which is battling multiple investigations into suspected bribery and corruption.




Current CEO Klaus Kleinfeld tendered his resignation last month after failing to receive clear backing from the supervisory board, which feared Kleinfeld could yet become implicated in the course of the investigations.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

UPDATE 4-Kuwait drops dollar peg in blow to Gulf currency union

(Reuters) - KUWAIT, May 20 - Kuwait unshackled its dinar from
the tumbling U.S. dollar on Sunday and switched the exchange
rate mechanism to a basket of currencies, throwing plans for
currency union with other Gulf Arab oil producers into disarray.




Kuwait's central bank, which battled speculators for weeks
to defend the peg, said the dollar's slide against other
currencies had forced it to break ranks with fellow Gulf states
to contain inflation from the rising cost of some imports.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News

Lawmakers ready trade bills as U.S., China talk

(Reuters) - With little to show after four years of U.S. pressure on China to revalue its yuan currency, lawmakers in both the House of Representatives and the Senate are crafting bills aimed at forcing the administration to take a stronger stand on the issue and giving it the tools to do that.




"I'm pretty sure there will be legislation. The only question is what it would look like," said Frank Vargo, vice president for international economic affairs at the National Association of Manufacturers.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

FACTBOX-The deadliest, costliest hurricanes

(Reuters) - NAME YEAR CATEGORY DAMAGE




1. Katrina 2005 3 $81 billion


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Markets on China vigil as G8 avoids FX, surprises

(Reuters) - The two-day meeting, which ended on Saturday, was
overshadowed by Friday's surprise move by China to widen the
yuan's trading band and raise interest rates ahead of key
U.S.-China talks on trade tensions next week.




U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was absent from the
meeting in Potsdam and no minister attended from France -- where
President Nicolas Sarkozy had appointed a new cabinet only on
Friday -- making the meeting a low-key affair.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News