Haines of SEC Says Connecticut, Texas Seek to Avoid Health Care Accounting

(Bloomberg) -- The Securities and Exchange
Commission's lead municipal bond regulator today criticized bids
by Texas and Connecticut to bypass accounting rules forcing them
to disclose how much they will need to pay for retiree health
care.

Efforts by those states to reject common, national
accounting standards would leave investors without the
information they need to assess the risk of purchasing bonds,
Martha Haines, head of the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities,
told a meeting of the Government Finance Officers Association in
Anaheim, California.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Most Gulf businessmen see '07 profit over 5 pct: survey

(Reuters) - HSBC, which conducted the business confidence survey with polling company YouGov Siraj, said 52 percent of the respondents were planning to increase investment in their businesses in 2007 and 55 percent said they will hire more staff in the next 12 months.




HSBC's Gulf business confidence index eased to 99 from 100 in the first quarter, with Qatar, at 114, reporting the strongest growth in confidence and Kuwait, at 95, the weakest. A score greater than 100 indicates a positive shift in confidence and below 100 a negative shift.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Base metals down on inflation, demand worries

(Reuters) - Base metal prices fell on Friday and were seen holding lower levels on fears of inflation and a slowdown in demand from China, analysts said.

"We remain neutral on the commodities asset class as a whole as the global business cycle continues to mature and demand is set to slow," investment bank UBS said in a note.


Read more at Reuters Africa