Swiss Franc Climbs to Two-Year High Versus Dollar as Carry Trades Unwound

(Bloomberg) -- The Swiss franc rose to its highest in
more than two years against the dollar as investors sold riskier
assets, such as equities, and repaid loans taken out in the Swiss
currency.

The franc advanced against 14 of the 16 most-traded
currencies as stocks in Europe and Asia fell, following a drop in
benchmark U.S. equity markets last week. Traders unwound so-
called carry trades, where they borrowed the franc to buy higher-
yielding assets, on concern U.S. subprime mortgage losses will
erode economic growth.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Court will wait to rule on CBOT rights

(Reuters) - CME Group Inc., the world's largest futures exchange, was created with the merger of CBOT Holdings Inc. and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. in July. The CBOE is the largest U.S. options market.




The exercise rights allow full members of the Chicago Board of Trade to trade options on CBOE without owning CBOE membership.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Treasury Yields Rise as Stocks Gain Amid Declining Fear of Subprime Losses

(Bloomberg) -- Treasury yields rose as gains in
stocks suggested less concern among investors that losses on
subprime loans in the U.S. will hurt the broader economy.

Traders said the rapid drop in 10-year yields from 5.327
percent on June 13 to 4.93 percent July 20 was unsustainable and
that an inability to push yields lower this morning led to
selling.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Argentina stocks down as US subprime worries weigh

(Reuters) - "On a bad day for international markets, the MerVal could
defend itself better, but it is always dependent on external
trends," said Ruben Pascuali, a trader at local brokerage
Mayoral.




Trade volume on the broad market was relatively heavy at
107.4 million pesos , 34 million pesos of which
involved trade of Banco Patagonia . Among active
shares, 46 advanced, 33 declined and 16 were unchanged.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Dollar Rebounds From Record Low Versus Euro as Consumer Prices Increase

(Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose from a record low
against the euro and the weakest in 26 years versus the pound as
a government report showed U.S. consumer prices rose last month
by more than analysts forecast, while housing starts increased.

Traders bought dollars as the report may feed speculation
the Federal Reserve will refrain from reducing its 5.25 percent
benchmark interest rate this year. The dollar slumped earlier as
losses on Bear Stearns Cos. hedge funds dimmed the allure of
U.S. assets.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Uranium Short Sellers Make Record Bets Against Cameco Shares, Market Mania

(Bloomberg) -- An unprecedented number of short
sellers are attempting to exploit the uranium mania that prompted
more than 12 mining companies to quintuple their share prices
during the past four years.

Demand from utilities to fuel nuclear reactors has plunged
72 percent from an April 6 peak, according to TradeTech LLC,
which has tracked uranium prices since 1968. In the second week
of July, 3.4 million pounds of the metal was available, more than
three times the amount purchased by power companies.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Yen May Extend Declines Versus Dollar, Euro Before Announcement on Rates

(Bloomberg) -- The yen may fall versus the dollar
and euro for a second day as the Bank of Japan is expected to
keep its benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent, the lowest
among major economies.

Traders may continue to borrow in yen to fund so-called
carry trade investments in higher-yielding assets. Japan's
consumers were the most pessimistic in more than two years last
month, a Cabinet Office report showed yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

JGB futures surge, tracking rally in Treasuries

(Reuters) - Standard & Poor's fanned these fears, saying it might cut its
ratings on $12.1 billion of subprime mortgage-related debt on
expectations of an 8 percent drop in U.S. home prices and more
mortgage defaults, rattling financial markets.




Traders also said that after five sessions of selling, yield
levels appear to be attracting investors to buy.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

ICE won't say if higher CBOT offer will be made

(Reuters) - ICE is in a battle with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to purchase the Chicago Board of Trade . The CME on Friday increased its takeover offer for CBOT to $11.9 billion, besting the ICE's current offer worth about $11.8 billion.



"I can't talk about it. Give me a break," ICE Chairman Jeffrey Sprecher told Reuters before testifying at a Senate hearing on excessive speculation in U.S. natural gas markets.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Uranium Prices Decline for a Second Week as Demand Drops, TradeTech Says

(Bloomberg) -- Uranium spot prices fell for a second
straight week as ``extremely weak'' demand from utilities forced
miners of the metal to settle for less, industry consulting
company TradeTech LLC said.

A decline by $2 to $133 a pound of uranium oxide concentrate
coincides with the volume of spot supply increasing by 28 percent
to 3.2 million pounds last week, while demand remained at 900,000
pounds, Denver-based TradeTech said July 6 in its weekly Nuclear
Market Review. The last time spot prices fell for two consecutive
weeks was in May 2001.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

CBOT Holdings, Genzyme, Ruth's Chris, Six Flags: U.S. Equity Movers

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares are having unusual price changes on U.S.
exchanges. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company
names. Share prices are as of 10:10 a.m. in New York.

CBOT Holdings, Inc. (BOT US) rose $8.20, or 4 percent, to
$214.35. Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (CME US)
raised its offer for the Chicago Board of Trade for a third
time, to $11 billion, to fend off rival Intercontinental
Exchange Inc. (ICE US) and form the world's largest futures
exchange. Chicago Merc shares fell $6.94 to $548.75, and
Intercontinental shares gained $3.11 to $154.92.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

CBOT says CBOE trying to quash trading rights

(Reuters) - CBOE, the largest U.S. options mart, has been attempting to
end the historic right held by some Board of Trade members to
also trade options at CBOE, known as the exercise right.




The options mart contends that if CME absorbs CBOT to
create CME Group Inc., there will no longer be CBOT members who
qualify for CBOE trading rights.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

TREASURIES-Bonds rally on security fears

(Reuters) - Traders said attempted car-bomb attacks in London on
Friday, Saturday's attack on Glasgow's airport in Scotland, and
the killing of seven Spanish tourists and two Yemenis in a
blast in Yemen kept a constant bid in the Treasury market.




A BBC television report that Britain's Stansted airport,
near London, was on alert after a suspicious package had been
found, gave bonds their latest boost.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Coffee Falls in New York on Rising Stockpiles, Favorable Weather in Brazil

(Bloomberg) -- Coffee in New York fell as U.S.
inventories increased and favorable weather spread over growing
regions in Brazil, the world's largest producer.

Stockpiles in warehouses monitored by the New York Board of
Trade rose to 4.17 million bags as of June 28, a gain of almost
8,800 bags from the previous day. There were 4.06 million bags
stored at the exchange's delivery points in New York, New
Orleans, Antwerp, Hamburg and Miami at the end of May.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Bear Stearns Dismembers U.S. Treasury Bear Market; Demand Seen Rising

(Bloomberg) -- Treasury investors can thank Bear
Stearns Cos. for smothering the bear market.

Traders who cut their holdings of U.S. government debt just
a few weeks ago as retail sales increased and job growth
accelerated are now snapping up Treasuries. Demand is being
fueled by speculation that losses at hedge funds owning subprime
mortgage bonds such as those managed by New York-based Bear
Stearns and London-based Cambridge Place Investment Management
LLP will spread and slow the economy.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Wheat Futures Fall in Chicago After Reaching Record as Feed Use May Wane

(Bloomberg) -- Wheat futures fell, after rising to
a record in Chicago, as the premium above the price of corn
reached the biggest ever, spurring speculation that few
livestock producers will use wheat in feed.

Wheat's most-active contract is almost $2.60 more
expensive than corn on the Chicago Board of Trade, about double
the average difference of $1.30 for the past year. That would
make wheat too costly for cattle feedlot owners and hog
producers, analysts said.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Modest WTO free trade deal seen better than nothing

(Reuters) - Even a modest global trade pact may be better than nothing, according to economists and analysts who say the implosion of faltering World Trade Organisation talks would carry big costs.

Countries have missed deadline after deadline in their near six-year pursuit of a new WTO accord meant to give poorer nations a leg-up in world trade and reduce worldwide barriers to commerce in agriculture, manufacturing and services.


Read more at Reuters Africa

UPDATE 1-ICE urges CBOT members to vote against CME deal

(Reuters) - Energy exchange ICE, which has been pursuing the parent of
the Chicago Board of Trade, told CBOT shareholders and members
in a letter that the CBOT board has "endorsed a deal with CME
that undervalued the CBOT from the outset."




ICE Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Sprecher said in the
letter that CBOT's board has agreed to a "bargain-basement
sale" in a transaction that would leave $1.3 billion of
shareholders' money on the table, and urged them to vote
against the deal.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

G4 trade partners struggle to save Doha round

(Reuters) - Trade powers struggled on Thursday to salvage world trade talks, but gave few clues of how close they were to a breakthrough on agriculture and other sensitive concerns.

Without an agreement soon between the United States, the European Union, India and Brazil, the Doha round of talks could fail or go into the deep freeze for years.


Read more at Reuters Africa

ICE says it can speed up growth in Russell futures

(Reuters) - Sprecher's comments were monitored via Webcast.




On Monday ICE, which is staging a hostile takeover bid for
the parent of the Chicago Board of Trade , said it had
obtained the exclusive right to trade futures and options on
the family of stock indices produced by Tacoma, Washington,
based Russell.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News