Gold Price Advances in Asia as Investors Bet Fall Overdone, Silver Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Gold gained in Asia as investors bet
yesterday's fall, its largest fall in four weeks, was overdone.
Silver also rose.

Gold generally moves in the opposite direction of the U.S.
dollar which yesterday advanced the most in three weeks versus
the euro on speculation the Federal Reserve will hold borrowing
costs steady. Gold yesterday fell $11.60, or 1.7 percent, its
biggest one-day fall since May 10.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

SocGen mulling merger or bid for BNP: paper

(Reuters) - A Societe Generale spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.




Les Echos said Societe General Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Bouton declined to comment on its story.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

SEC to fine Nortel over accounting fraud: report

(Reuters) - SEC attorneys received the commissioners' approval last month to seek a fine of less than $100 million from Nortel, the report said. The case may provide a sign of what penalties to expect from the SEC amid concerns that Chairman Christopher Cox is favoring companies at the expense of investors.




Neither Nortel nor the SEC immediately returned calls seeking comment.


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Growth in U.S. to Quicken, Fed Rate Cut Unlikely This Year, Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. economic growth will gradually
pick up through the end of this year, making the Federal Reserve
unlikely to cut interest rates before 2008, according to
economists surveyed by Bloomberg News this month.

Economists now forecast the economy this quarter will
expand at an annual rate of 2.6 percent, compared with 2.2
percent projected last month and a 0.6 percent pace in the first
quarter. The economy will expand at a 2.9 percent rate by the
final three months of 2007, according to the median of 69
estimates in a survey taken from May 30 to June 7.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Oil slips, holds $71 as OPEC says supplies ample

(Reuters) - London Brent crude , seen as currently more representative of the global market, was down 13 cents at $71.09 a barrel at 0309 GMT, after rising 20 cents on Thursday. U.S. crude fell 12 cents to $66.81 after a 97-cent rally.




OPEC President Mohammed al-Hamli said on Thursday oil supplies were sufficient and there was no need for an emergency meeting. Consumers have been urging the group to produce more oil to lower prices.


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`Magic Train' Throws a New Lifeline to India's 600 Million Village Folk

(Bloomberg) -- Inside a makeshift tent pitched on a
west Indian railway platform, Daji Mohite awaits an operation to
remove cataracts. He's about to board the Lifeline Express, the
world's oldest charity hospital on train tracks.

``I have waited for so many years for this surgery,'' says
Mohite, 66, a retired factory worker who survives on his one-time
150,000-rupee ($3,700) pension payout. ``One fine day the train
comes here and it is sheer magic. I will be able to see better.''


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

UPDATE 3-U.S. Senate deals major blow to immigration bill

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON, June 7 - A White House-backed bill to
revamp U.S. immigration laws stalled in the U.S. Senate on
Thursday, handing President George W. Bush a major legislative
setback.




The sharply divided Senate refused to limit debate on the
fragile compromise hammered out by a bipartisan group of
senators and the White House. The vote was 45-50, 15 short of
the 60 votes needed to advance significant legislation in the
100-member body toward a final vote.


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