European stocks extend losses on credit worries

(Reuters) - European stocks extended their losses late on Monday, dropping 1 percent in choppy trade on persistent worries over the crisis in the credit market while shares of oil giants dropped along with crude prices.

At 1503 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 1 percent, at 1,502.62, a level not seen since March.


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HEADLINE STOCKS - U.S. stocks to watch on Aug 6

(Reuters) - Co-President and co-Chief Operating Officer Warren Spector
resigned from Bear Stearns on Sunday, a casualty of the credit
risk crisis at the investment bank. [ID:nN05330619]




Bear Stearns closed at $108.35


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Spectra Energy earnings dip on Canada woes

(Reuters) - Excluding discontinued operations and one-time items,
earnings were $192 million, down from $264 million a year
earlier, when the company was helped by a $30 million tax
gain.





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Fortis wins initial approval for ABN purchase

(Reuters) - Fortis, Royal Bank of Scotland and Spain's Santander have offered 71 billion euros , mostly in cash, for the Netherlands' largest bank in a bidding war that has featured legal and stakeholder battles.




Approval by Fortis shareholders of its proposed purchase of ABN AMRO's Dutch operations and of a 13 billion euro rights issue needed to finance its part of the deal would give the RBS-led consortium a boost at a time when the rival Barclays bid is suffering from the decline of its share price.


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SkyePharma asthma drug may be delayed

(Reuters) - SkyePharma said the extra clinical work could delay the filing of Flutiform with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration until the second half of 2008 and could cost 3 million to 5 million pounds .




"We're talking to the FDA about how to address the particular point they've raised and it's going to depend on exactly what sort of clinical data they might need," Chief Operating Officer Ken Cunningham told Reuters.


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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

Putin Favors Ruble Speculators Over Oligarchs in Battle Against Inflation

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's plan
to keep inflation from accelerating depends on favoring foreign-
exchange traders over the country's oil and gas companies.

Putin will probably allow the central bank to double the
ruble's pace of appreciation this year because he has few options
outside the foreign exchange market to rein in consumer prices,
according to strategists at Bank of America Corp. and UBS AG.
Russia's 8.5 percent inflation rate is three times faster than
any other Group of Eight country.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News