China National, Reliance Win Australian Offshore Oil Exploration Permits

(Bloomberg) -- China National Offshore Oil Corp.,
Total SA and India's Reliance Industries Ltd. were among
companies that won offshore oil and gas exploration permits in
Australia.

Hess Corp., Santos Ltd. and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. also won
licenses in the bidding round, which will result in an investment
of more than A$800 million ($688 million) on exploration,
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said today in an e-mailed
statement.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-Anadarko Petroleum 2nd-qtr profit down, revenue up

(Reuters) - Profit in the second quarter was $652 million, or $1.39
cents a share, compared with $814 million, or $1.76 a share, in
the same quarter a year earlier.




Total revenue in the quarter surged to $3.31 billion, up
from $1.81 billion in the year-ago quarter, as gas sales nearly
doubled.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Build-A-Bear Workshop posts lower second-quarter profit

(Reuters) - Total revenue rose 7.2 percent to $100.4 million.




Analysts on average expected the company to earn 8 cents a
share, including stock-compensation expense but before other
exceptional items, on revenue of $104.3 million, according to
Reuters Estimates.



Read more at Reuters.com Market News

PepsiAmericas posts higher profit, shares rise

(Reuters) - Earnings rose 20 percent to 61 cents a share. Analysts on average were expecting a flat quarter at 50 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.




Total sales were up 12.6 percent at $1.20 billion, slightly ahead of analysts' average view of $1.17 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Anika Q2 profit rises slightly, revenue falls

(Reuters) - Total revenue for the quarter was $7.1 million, compared
with $7.8 million a year ago.





Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Crude Oil Falls From 11-Month High as Refiners Open Plants, Boost Output

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell from an 11-month high
in New York on speculation that U.S. fuel stockpiles will
increase because refineries are opening units.

Exxon Mobil Corp., BP Plc and Valero Energy Corp. started
units at refineries in Texas over the past week. Prices rose 2.2
percent this week after the Energy Department reported that U.S.
fuel stockpiles declined last week as gasoline demand increased.
Total SA said it restored normal output from an oil field in
Angola after cutting production to make repairs.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

European Stocks Fall for First Time in Four Days; Total, BHP Pace Declines

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks dropped for the first
time in four days, led by oil companies after ING Groep NV cut its
recommendation on shares of Repsol YPF, Statoil ASA and Total SA.

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest mining company,
dropped after Deutsche Bank AG downgraded the stock. Tate & Lyle
Plc, the maker of the sweetener Splenda, climbed after Goldman,
Sachs & Co. advised investors to buy the shares.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 1-AnnTaylor June same-store sales fall 8.4 pct

(Reuters) - Analysts, on average, expected the company to post a 4.8
percent decline in same-store sales, according to a Reuters
poll.




Total sales for the five weeks ended July 7 fell 1.4
percent to $232.4 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Total Picked to Develop Gazprom's Shtokman Gas Field, Own 25 Percent Stake

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, the world's largest
natural-gas producer, chose Total SA to help develop Shtokman, an
Arctic offshore field that may hold enough natural gas to supply
Europe for more than three years.

Paris-based Total will take 25 percent in an operating
company to develop the project, while the Russian company will
hold the rest, Gazprom Chief Executive Officer Alexei Miller said
in an e-mailed statement. Gazprom scrapped its original plan to
let foreign partners take an equity stake in the project in
October.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

France's Total Restarts Oil Refinery at Port Arthur, Texas, After Flaring

(Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil
company, restarted two units after they lost power at its plant
in Port Arthur, Texas, which lead to flaring and the release of
sulfur dioxide into the air.

The Paris-based company reported the loss of power to two
sour water stripper units, which prompted them to shut down, in a
filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Restarting each unit necessitated emergency flaring, during which
chemicals are burned off into the air.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Richards Bay Coal Prices Fall as Chinese Producers Step in to Supply Japan

(Bloomberg) -- The price of coal shipped from South
Africa's Richards Bay, site of the largest export terminal for
the fuel, fell to a four-week low after Chinese producers stepped
in to supply Japan after Australian shipments were halted.

The price dropped $2.30, or 3.9 percent, to $56.90 a metric
ton as of July 6, according to weekly data from McCloskey Group
Ltd. Total shipments from the port, the main source of coal for
European power plants, increased 18 percent last month to 5.45
million metric tons, even after a temporary closure because of
high waves that could be dangerous for ships.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Limited Brands to sell majority of namesake chain

(Reuters) - The company said it expects to post software license revenue of $86 million in the fourth quarter, compared with its previous outlook of $69 million to $73 million for the period.



Total fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be $158 million, above Tibco's prior outlook of $140 million to $144 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Walgreen June same-store sales up 5.1 percent

(Reuters) - Total sales rose 9.5 percent to $4.38 billion.



Same-store sales of general, or "front-end" merchandise such as candy and cosmetics rose 6.8 percent. Same-store pharmacy sales increased 4.2 percent and were pressured by the introduction of lower-priced generic drugs.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

CBOT says June average volume up 51 pct to record

(Reuters) - Total volume for the month was 102 million contracts, up 45
percent from June 2006.




A key element in the advance was the 57 percent increase in
interest rates derivatives trading, CBOT's largest segment, to
3.8 million contracts, also a record.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Teva to sell generic version of Pfizer's Norvasc

(Reuters) - Total annual sales of the drug are about $2.8 billion,
Israel-based Teva said. Once one of Pfizer's biggest selling
drugs, an incoming flood of generics is expected to eat
dramatically into sales.




Rival generic drugmaker Mylan Laboratories Inc. in
March launched a generic form of the medicine, known
generically as amlodipine, after a federal appeals court
declared some of Pfizer's patent claims invalid.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

WRAPUP 1-Chavez drives Exxon, ConocoPhillips from Venezuela

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips decided
to quit their oil operations in the OPEC nation after they
failed to strike a deal with the government to stay in
multibillion-dollar projects that the anti-U.S. leader decreed
should be taken over.




Four other oil majors -- Chevron Corp. , Norway's
Statoil , Britain's BP Plc and France's Total
-- signed pacts that allow Venezuela to increase its
stake to at least 60 percent in projects worth $30 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

European Commodity Stocks, Rio Tinto, Total May Advance; RWE May Decline

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks may gain for a third
day, led by mining and energy companies as prices for copper and
aluminum advanced and oil traded near a nine-month high.

Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-largest mining company,
rose in Australian trading. U.S.-traded securities of Total SA,
Europe's largest refiner, ended higher than their close in France.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

French Stocks Decline, Led by Sanofi-Aventis, Veolia Environnement, Total

(Bloomberg) -- French stocks declined, led by
Sanofi-Aventis SA and Veolia Environnement SA.

Total SA fell as the price of crude oil dropped.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Aeropostale posts May same-store sales

(Reuters) - Total sales rose 19.3 percent for the four-week period
ended May 27 to $88.1 million.




Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Subprime loan market may retrench in '08-WaMu exec

(Reuters) - But the market, stabilizing somewhat today, will likely be
"very strong" again by 2010 as a result of improvements made
across the industry, he said. Total subprime loan volume will
probably drop to about $350 billion this year from $640 billion
last year due to improved underwriting and other changes, he
said.




Profit at WaMu and other lenders who make subprime
loans, which are extended to borrowers with poor credit
histories, has been hit in recent quarters as surging
delinquencies and foreclosures on bad loans cause losses.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News