Matsushita in talks with Kenwood on JVC stake-sources

(Reuters) - Kenwood, a maker of audio equipment and car electronics, is
in talks to buy 20 billion yen worth of new
shares from JVC and then merge operations with JVC under a
joint holding company, said several sources.




Matsushita would then sell part of its 52.4 percent stake
in JVC to the holding company. Matsushita is aiming to get
loss-making JVC off its consolidated accounts, but would likely
hold on to some of its shares, the sources said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Yingli Green Energy shares decline in market debut

(Reuters) - The 29 million-share offering was priced at $11 per American depositary share compared with a forecast range of $11 to $13, according to an underwriter. The offering raised $319 million.




Each ADS represents one common share in the IPO. Underwriters were led by Goldman Sachs and UBS Securities.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Atmel says files reports with SEC

(Reuters) - Atmel said it filed its quarterly reports for the quarters ended June 30, 2006 and Sept. 30, 2006. The San Jose, California-based company also said it expects to file its quarterly report for the quarter ended March 31 as soon as practicable and before June 30.



Atmel said that, now that it is current with its SEC filings, it expects to regain compliance with Nasdaq's continued listing requirements.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Large-cap stocks to outperform as economy slows

(Reuters) - Whether it's this week's turn higher in market interest rates, a harbinger of possibly higher inflation ahead, or expectations of slowing corporate earnings growth, investors sense a shift to large-cap stocks may be in order.




Small-cap stocks have outperformed the broad U.S. market after the technology bubble burst in 2000, and mid-caps have outperformed so far this year. But with the economy slowing, and higher growth more likely abroad, the traditional sweet spot at this point in the economic cycle is large caps.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

U.S. Stocks Advance After Bond Yields Retreat, Oil Falls; U.S. Steel Gains

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. stock market rebounded,
ending a three-day slump, after bond yields retreated from the
highest in five years and oil prices dropped.

U.S. Steel Corp., the largest U.S. steelmaker, jumped to a
record on speculation the company is a takeover target. National
Semiconductor Corp. rose the most since 2000 after the maker of
chips for electronic devices posted profit that beat analysts'
estimates.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Rate concerns cast cloud on global M&A boom

(Reuters) - Accommodating debt markets helped spur M&A to record levels in the past year, with more than $4 trillion of deals in 2006 alone.




Any increase in the cost of borrowing can make some deals, especially leveraged buyouts led by private equity firms, less affordable.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Cleveland-Cliffs earnings slip 14 percent

(Reuters) - Net income fell to $32.5 million, or 62 cents per share,
from $37.9 million a year, or 69 cents per share, a year ago,
the company said in a filing the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.




Analysts had, on average, expected the company to post
earnings 86 cents per share, according to data compiled by
Reuters Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Cleveland-Cliffs 1st-qtr earnings fall

(Reuters) - Revenues from product sales and services in the quarter
rose $19.1 million to $325.5 million.





Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Oil falls more than $2 on demand concerns

(Reuters) - London Brent crude, seen as more representative of the global market, was down $2.45 at $68.77 a barrel at 1705 GMT. U.S. crude fell $2.13 to $64.80.




Prices for base metals also fell sharply, as traders predicted demand across the global commodities complex could be eroded.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Interest rate concerns could cool down M&A boom

(Reuters) - Announced global M&A volume slowed to roughly $75 billion
this week, compared with weekly volume of between $100 billion
and $285 billion for most of April and May, according to
research firm Dealogic.




Accommodating debt markets helped spur M&A to record levels
in the past year, with more than $4 trillion of deals in 2006
alone.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Crude Oil Declines From a 9-Month High on Signs of Weaker Growth in Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell from a nine-month high
on concern that rising interest rates may lead to slower
growth in demand.

U.S. Treasury 10-year notes are poised for their biggest
weekly decline in more than a year on concern economic growth and
inflation will encourage central banks to raise interest rates.
Gonu is dissipating after sweeping across coastal Oman and Iran.
Oman's ports, including its oil-export terminal at Mina al-Fahal,
opened today for partial operations, Gulf Agency Co. reported.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-AIG to take steps to assist nonprime borrowers

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 8 - American International Group, Inc. , the world's largest insurer, said on Friday that following discussions with the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision, three of its units have agreed to assist some sub-prime borrowers in remaining in their homes.



Sub-prime borrowers have been having difficulties making payments on their loans as interest rates rise, and AIG units have a large portfolio of subprime loans.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Freddie Mac to return to regular filings

(Reuters) - MCLEAN, Va, June 8 - Mortgage finance company
Freddie Mac said on Friday it is poised to return to
issuing regular quarterly financial statements next week.




"Next week, for the first time, we will return to timely
quarterly reporting," said Richard Syron, chairman and chief
executive of Freddie Mac, during a shareholder meeting.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

U.S. 10-Year Treasuries Head for Biggest Weekly Decline Since March 2006

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Treasury 10-year notes are poised
for their biggest weekly decline in more than a year on concern
accelerating economic growth and inflation will encourage central
banks to raise interest rates.

Ten-year notes, whose yields determine interest rates on
mortgages and corporate bonds, had their biggest slump in more
than three years yesterday. Debt markets in Japan, Germany,
Poland and South Africa also slid as investors, anticipating
faster expansion in the global economy, demanded greater yields
to compete with higher expected returns on riskier investments.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Gold hits week's low on broader market sell-off

(Reuters) - Gold extended losses on Friday to touch a fresh one-week low as a general sell-off across asset markets prompted bullion speculators to trim their positions.

Other precious metals also fell to their lowest in about one week, but physical buyers and bargain hunters were expected to prevent collapse, analysts and traders said.


Read more at Reuters Africa

SEC begins formal probe into Activision: filing

(Reuters) - The Santa Monica, California-based company said it was
cooperating with the investigation, and its representatives had
met with SEC staff on several occasions.




A representative of the U.S. Department of Justice has
attended some of these meetings and requested copies of
documents, Activision said.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Emerging Market Debt, Currencies Slump as Investors Turn More Risk Averse

(Bloomberg) -- Emerging market bonds and currencies
slumped as investors turned more risk averse on concern central
banks will raise interest rates to tame inflation.

Expectations of rising global borrowing costs are pushing
up yields on safer assets such as U.S. Treasuries, making
emerging-market bonds less attractive. An emerging market debt
index compiled by JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell to a four-month low.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Tsunami Survivor, Munich Re Scientist, Warns of Intense Hurricane Season

(Bloomberg) -- Peter Hoeppe, the chief scientist at
Munich Re, saw nature's destructive power up close. He found
himself in hip-deep water during the tsunami that left 229,000
people dead or missing in December 2004.

``It felt life-threatening,'' said Hoeppe, who was on
vacation in the Maldives when an underwater earthquake off
Sumatra sent waves as high as 30 meters (100 feet) crashing into
coastlines from southeast Asia to eastern Africa.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

UPDATE 1-Fed's Moskow says inflation still biggest risk

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, June 8 - U.S. economic growth should
return to trend levels this year, and with the job market still
surprisingly strong the biggest risk is still that inflation
will not fall as expected, Chicago Fed President Michael Moskow
said on Friday.




The overnight federal funds rate that the Federal Reserve
has maintained at 5.25 percent for the past year is
"appropriate" for now, Moskow told CNBC Television.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Selloff unabated, yields flirt with fed funds

(Reuters) - The latest bout of selling brought benchmark ten-year notes to within a whisker of 5.25 percent, the current federal funds rate on overnight loans set by the Federal Reserve.




Officials were long puzzled over the lack of reaction in long-term interest rates to two years of interest rate hikes from the central bank.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Dollar rides to 2-month peaks as Treasury yields soar

(Reuters) - The dollar hit a two-month high against a basket of major currencies on Friday as soaring U.S. government bond yields enticed foreign investors, while a rise in risk aversion supported the yen.

The sharp rise in Treasury yields -- Thursday's move was the biggest one day jump in 10-year yields in over three years -- marked the first time since July 2006 that the entire yield curve was above 5 percent.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Norilsk profit up 154 pct on metals, one-off sale

(Reuters) - Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel and palladium miner, said on Friday 2006 net profit more than doubled on record prices and the sale of a stake in South African miner Gold Fields Ltd..

Norilsk, owned by Russian billionaires Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov, said net profit rose 154 percent last year to $5.965 billion, beating analysts' forecasts.


Read more at Reuters Africa

UPDATE 1-Namibia delays U.S. millionaire extradition case

(Reuters) - WINDHOEK, June 8 - A Namibian court on Friday
postponed until June 25 an extradition case involving fugitive
U.S. millionaire Jacob "Kobi" Alexander, who is wanted in the
United States on charges of stock manipulation.




The Namibian magistrate's court approved a defence request
for the delay after lawyers said they had not been informed in
advance as required by law of the appointment of a new
magistrate in the case, Petrus Unengu.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Germany's DAX Index Falls for Fifth Day; Munich Re, Allianz Shares Slide

(Bloomberg) -- Germany's DAX Index dropped, set to
complete a full week of losses, on concern that interest rates
may keep rising. Shares of Munich Re, Allianz SE and Siemens AG
paced the retreat.

The DAX Index slid 83.51, or 1.1 percent, to 7535.10 as of
11:35 a.m. in Frankfurt. The measure has tumbled 5.8 percent in
the past five days, heading for the biggest weekly loss since
September 2003. The HDAX Index of the country's 110 biggest
companies decreased 1.2 percent today. DAX futures expiring in
June lost 95.5, or 1.3 percent, to 7520.5.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

IMF's Rato says vigilance needed on inflation

(Reuters) - "Central banks are right to act in a preventive manner" he
told reporters.




"Centrals banks should be vigilant to inflation pressures."


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Gold Falls in London Trading as Weaker Equities Spur Selling; Silver Drops

(Bloomberg) -- Gold fell for a second day in London,
heading for the biggest weekly decline in four weeks, after
equities dropped worldwide and on speculation that U.S. interest
rates may rise.

European stocks fell for a fifth day, the longest rout in
three months. That may be spurring some speculators to sell gold
to fund their losses. Some investors expect higher U.S. interest
rates to strengthen the dollar and weaken the price of gold in
U.S. dollar terms.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

U.K. Natural Gas Price Falls After Grid Manager Slashes Demand Forecast

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural gas for same-day delivery
had its biggest decline this week after the nation's gas-network
manager cut its forecast for demand in the coming day by more
than 10 percent.

Gas for delivery today at the National Balancing Point, the
U.K. trading hub, fell 6.3 percent to 21.55 pence a therm at 8:30
a.m. in London, according to the broker ICAP Plc. That equals
$4.25 a million British thermal units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

China Money: Minor flows to bonds as stocks cool

(Reuters) - But if it becomes clear the stock market has temporarily stalled, some traders estimate mutual funds, which control about 700 billion yuan , could divert as much as 10 percent of that amount into government bonds by the end of 2007.




Insurers could also step up investment in longer-term bonds, while banks could have more funds to put into bonds as disillusioned stock investors returned some of their money to longer-term savings deposits.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Emerging equities, bonds fall on global rate fears

(Reuters) - On bond markets, high-beta credits like Turkey were taking a
beating, its benchmark bond falling over a point to see yields
surge about 7 basis points derivatives that
hedge against default and restructuring had gaped wider.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Cascade, Medco, National Semiconductor, Monster Worldwide: U.S. Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares may have unusual price changes in U.S. exchanges
today. This preview includes news that broke after exchanges
closed yesterday. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company
names.

Cascade Corp. (CAE US) rose $4.20, or 6.4 percent, to
$69.90 in trading after the official close of U.S. exchanges.
The maker of lift attachments for trucks, based in Fairview,
Oregon, reported sales of $135.5 million and net income of $23.8
million for the quarter ended April 30. Both surpassed average
analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News