Cautious consumers slow Tesco's UK sales in Q1

(Reuters) - Finance and Strategy Director Andrew Higginson told Reuters it was going to be "tougher year" because of growing caution among consumers after four interest rate hikes in 10 months.



The world's fifth-largest supermarket group, where a third of Britons buy their groceries, said its international sales rose 24.6 percent at constant exchange rates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Oil firm above $72, near 10-month high on Nigeria

(Reuters) - Oil prices ticked lower but held firm near 10-month highs on Tuesday after a general strike threat by Nigerian unions and further violence in the delta helped extend the market's gains to a fourth session.

London benchmark Brent crude edged 10 cents lower to $72.08 a barrel by 0214 GMT after touching intra-day peak of $72.25 on Monday, its highest since August 28.


Read more at Reuters Africa

India's Commodity Riches Rot in Dead Capital: Commentary by Andy Mukherjee

(Bloomberg) -- It has been several years since India
began talking about allowing the trading of receipts for goods
stored in warehouses, letting holders swap them like stocks and
bonds and use as security to raise money.

This one change might transform the country's fragmented
commodities markets by infusing life into what Peruvian economist
Hernando de Soto calls ``dead capital,'' or property that can't
be offered as collateral.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Newcastle Coal Exports May Be Disrupted by Third Storm Forecast This Month

(Bloomberg) -- Australia's Hunter region, the center
of the nation's thermal coal industry, is forecast to be hit by
storms for the third time this month, raising concerns about
renewed disruptions to exports of the fuel from Newcastle.

The Bureau of Meteorology today issued a severe weather
warning for New South Wales state, forecasting ``widespread
damaging and locally destructive winds, flash flooding and
damaging surf'' in areas including the Hunter coast, which
includes Newcastle, the world's biggest coal export harbor.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Yen hits record low against the euro

(Reuters) - The dollar remained weak against the euro on a slide in benchmark U.S. Treasury yields, which have retreated from five-year highs hit last week on data showing core inflation pressures easing. The yen has fallen across the board since Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said last week he had no preconceived ideas about a future rate rise, dousing expectations of a hike in July.




Most market players are looking for the BOJ to raise rates to a 12-year high in August, but such a move is not expected to dull the allure of carry trades -- borrowing cheap funds in the yen to buy higher-yielding currencies.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Investors Should Buy Japan's Bonds on Sluggish Growth, Morgan Stanley Says

(Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy Japan's 10-year
government bonds, and avoid two-year notes, because economic
growth isn't strong enough to spur inflation, according to Morgan
Stanley Japan Securities Co.

Ten-year securities will rise as companies refrain from
raising wages, giving consumers less to spend and crimping
economic expansion, said Atsushi Ito, a fixed-income strategist at
Morgan Stanley in Tokyo. The yield on benchmark 10-year bonds may
fall to 1.8 percent by the end of September, from 1.89 percent now,
Ito said. That would narrow the premium over two-year notes to 70
basis points from close to 90 basis points.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Copper Falls in Trading in Asia on U.S. Housing Concerns; Zinc Declines

(Bloomberg) -- Copper prices fell in Asia after a
report showed confidence among homebuilders in the U.S., the
second-largest consumer of the metal after China, dropped this
month to the lowest since February 1991.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index
of sentiment fell to 28 this month from 30 in May. Readings
below 50 mean most respondents view conditions as poor. Builders
are the biggest copper users in the U.S., with an average home
containing about 400 pounds of the metal.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Gold Rises on Decline in Dollar After Builders' Survey; Silver Also Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Gold in Asia rose for a fifth day as
a decline in the dollar boosted the appeal of the precious metal
as a hedge against the U.S. currency. Silver also gained.

Gold often moves in the opposite direction to the dollar,
which fell for a second day against the euro after a report
yesterday showed U.S. homebuilders' confidence fell, according
to traders including Osao Iizuka at Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Canon set to top half-year profit estimate: paper

(Reuters) - That would be 2.2 percent higher than the company's estimate and just less than half of the Reuters consensus full-year estimate of 807 billion yen, based on forecasts from 19 analysts.




In the past, however, Canon's second-half earnings have tended to be slightly larger than its first-half earnings.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Asian Stocks Slide From Record, Led by Nissan; BHP Drops on Metals Prices

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell, dragging a
regional benchmark from a record high, after confidence in the
U.S. homebuilding industry dropped to a 16-year low and metals
prices declined.

Nissan Motor Co. and James Hardie Industries NV led a drop
among companies that rely on U.S. sales on speculation spending
in the world's largest economy will wane. BHP Billiton Ltd., the
world's largest mining company, ended a three-day climb, while
energy stocks including Inpex Holdings Inc. advanced after crude-
oil prices rose to the highest in nine months.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 4-Yahoo co-founder Yang to replace Semel as CEO

(Reuters) - SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 - Yahoo Inc. on
Monday tapped co-founder Jerry Yang to replace Chief Executive
Terry Semel, bowing to investor pressure as the Internet media
company has failed to keep up with rival Google Inc. .




Semel will take the role of the board's nonexecutive
chairman, and the company named Susan Decker, its former chief
financial officer, as president. She will head up the
advertising and media business operations.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

AT&T files FCC access complaint against Cablevision

(Reuters) - AT&T said it had filed a complaint with the Federal
Communications Commission against Cablevision and its Rainbow
Media Holdings subsidiary, owners of the Fox Sports Network New
York, Madison Square Garden Network and Fox Sports Network New
England.




"Access to this popular programming is essential to AT&T's
ability to present a fully competitive video service in
Connecticut," AT&T said in its complaint.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

UPDATE 1-AT&T files FCC access complaint against Cablevision

(Reuters) - AT&T said it had filed a complaint with the Federal
Communications Commission against Cablevision and its Rainbow
Media Holdings subsidiary, owners of the Fox Sports Network New
York, Madison Square Garden Network and Fox Sports Network New
England.




"Access to this popular programming is essential to AT&T's
ability to present a fully competitive video service in
Connecticut," AT&T said in its complaint.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Calpers OKs upping hedge, governance investments

(Reuters) - "The funds are doing really well," McKinley said. "We just
want to increase our opportunities."




Calpers currently has nearly $5 billion under management in
its hedge fund program and just over $5 billion in its
corporate governance program, which invests in underperforming
public companies to turn around their management.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Alcoa, Best Buy, Carnival, Harvest, Symantec: U.S. Equity Option Movers

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
with unusual options trading in U.S. exchanges today. Stock
symbols are in parentheses after company names. Options trading
and stock prices are as of 4 p.m. in New York.

Each call option gives investors the right, without the
obligation, to buy 100 shares of a company at a specified price
by a given date. A put conveys the right to sell 100 shares.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

TransAlta Power takes C$50 mln charge on tax change

(Reuters) - The tab relates to temporary differences between the
accounting and tax basis for the assets of TransAlta
Cogeneration LP, 49.9 percent owned by TransAlta Power.




TransAlta Corp. owns 50.1 percent of TransAlta
Power, a partnership that owns stakes in six generating
plants.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

State, county union backs private equity tax bill

(Reuters) - A Senate bill to tax these firms as corporations when they go public was introduced late last week as private equity firm Blackstone Group LP prepares for an offering worth about $4 billion.




Blackstone, the country's largest private equity firm, is expected to go public the last week in June.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

US CREDIT-Marsh & McLennan debt value depends on any LBO

(Reuters) - "As long as Marsh's operating performance and stock price
continue to underperform we think that the company will become
increasingly attractive to private equity firms," CreditSights
analyst Rob Haines said on Monday in a report.




"We think it is likely that several private equity firms
are already eyeing the company," Haines added.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Yen Drops to Record Low Against Euro as Interest Rate Spurs Carry Trades

(Bloomberg) -- The yen dropped to a record low
against the euro and sank to the weakest in more than four years
versus the dollar as investors sought higher-yielding assets
funded by loans in Japan.

The Japanese currency also declined to a 15-year low versus
the British pound as the nation's lowest interest rates among
major economies encouraged the so-called carry trades. The Bank
of Japan kept borrowing costs at 0.5 percent last week and
signaled further increases will be gradual.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Discover trade shows Morgan Stanley shares cheap

(Reuters) - On June 30 Morgan Stanley plans to spin off its Discover
Financial Services business to shareholders, issuing one
Discover share for every two Morgan shares held on Monday. As
the separation date approaches, investors are scrutinizing
Discover's prospects and finding Morgan Stanley's flagship
advisory and trading activities may be undervalued.




"The spin-off is getting people to look more closely at
Morgan Stanley and Discover," Sandler O'Neill brokerage analyst
Jeff Harte said on Monday. "If they look at Morgan Stanley
without Discover, they'll find it's not getting value enough
for what it's worth."


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

IMF Strengthens Monitoring of Exchange-Rate Policies to Avoid Instability

(Bloomberg) -- The International Monetary Fund
will start insisting that its 185 members reject currency
policies that create instability for other countries, Managing
Director Rodrigo de Rato said.

The new stance represents the first change to the fund's
system of monitoring its members' economic policies since 1977,
at the dawn of the current period of floating exchange rates, de
Rato said in a speech in Montreal.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Alcoa stock hits 6-year high

(Reuters) - The difference now is that Alcoa is in the middle of a hostile takeover battle for Canada's Alcan , which has rejected its U.S. rival's $28.4 billion offer.




Sources familiar with Alcoa's hostile offer for Alcan and the strategies of other mining companies that may mount a bid for either aluminum company said that Alcan was a more likely target.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Sugar Rises Most in Eight Months as Higher Energy Prices May Boost Demand

(Bloomberg) -- Sugar rose the most in eight months
on speculation that short U.S. gasoline supplies will increase
demand for the sweetener, which is used to make the alternative
fuel ethanol.

U.S. gasoline supplies in the week ended June 8 were
5.2 percent below the five-year average, the Energy Department
said last week. Crude oil rose to a nine-month high in New York
today.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

U.S. Energy Stocks Rally as Oil Rises; S&P 500 Index Is Little Changed

(Bloomberg) -- Energy producers rallied after the
price of crude oil climbed, while utilities retreated as bond
yields remained near five-year highs.

Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. rose after oil advanced
on concern U.S. refiners aren't keeping up with increased gasoline
demand. Exelon Corp. and Dominion Resources Inc. led shares of
utilities lower as higher returns on bonds make their dividends
less appealing.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Merrill delays selling Bear Stearns assets - CNBC

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 18 - Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. plans to delay selling off some $400 million of assets seized from a hedge fund managed by Bear Stearns, CNBC said on Monday.



Merrill is delaying selling the assets until it hears the troubled hedge fund's plan to recapitalize, the network reported. Merrill and Bear are expected to discuss the plan on Monday or Tuesday, CNBC said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

LUKOIL to swap shares for assets, but not yet

(Reuters) - "We hope to make a few serious deals in the next few years.
However, those shares can be used only if all of our directors,
including independent directors, agree with such a transaction,"
Fedun said.




"These shares won't be placed on the market. These shares
are purely for M&A activities."


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Mexico's Bolsa Advances on Tax Bill's Prospects, Led by America Movil, ICA

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico's Bolsa index rose for a fourth
day on expectations that President Felipe Calderon has the support
to pass legislation that will boost tax collection and spur
government spending.

``The fact that there's growing consensus that a fiscal reform
is going to be submitted has investors optimistic,'' said analyst
Mauricio Brocado at Actinver SA in Mexico City, after El Economista
reported that Calderon will propose a flat 15 percent tax rate and
a 2 percent fee on cash deposits as part of a bill to be presented
this week.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 1-Merrill delays selling Bear Stearns assets - CNBC

(Reuters) - Merrill is delaying selling the assets until it hears the
troubled hedge fund's plan to recapitalize, the network
reported. Merrill and Bear are expected to discuss the plan on
Monday or Tuesday, CNBC said.




The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Merrill,
which is one of the fund's biggest lenders, had seized $400
million of assets from the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured
Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund. That fund was down 23
percent through April after suffering losses in investments in
subprime mortgages, or home loans made to people with weak
credit, the newspaper said.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Copper Futures Rise to One-Month High as Labor Disputes Threaten Supplies

(Bloomberg) -- Copper futures rose to a one-month
high in New York as miners threatened strikes in major producers
including Chile, the world's biggest source of the metal.

Contract workers at Codelco, the world's biggest copper
producer, plan to walk off the job on June 20 and employees at
the company's largest division may set up blockades to pressure
management to boost bonuses. Copper rose to a record in May 2006,
partly because labor unrest disrupted supplies.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Treasury 10-Year Yield Trades Near Five-Year High Before Housing Reports

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries were little changed, with
yields near the highest in five years, before U.S. reports
forecast to show the housing market is slowing down.

An industry report today will show sentiment among home
builders matched the lowest since 1991, and a separate report
tomorrow will signal housing construction fell to a four-month
low, according to Bloomberg surveys of economists.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Marvel in deal with Fruit of the Loom, Crocs

(Reuters) - The company signed a new multi-year licensing agreement with Fruit of the Loom, a unit of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. , to make children's underwear lines based on its popular characters.




Fruit of the Loom will initially create products based on upcoming Marvel Studios feature films 'Iron Man' and 'The Incredible Hulk.'


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Alcoa stock up 2 percent on M&A report

(Reuters) - Analysts discounted the story from the Times of London newspaper.




"This is the same rumor that's been around for six months," said Charles Bradford, an analyst at Bradford Research/Soleil. "The current story makes very little sense."


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Wendy's to consider sale

(Reuters) - JP Morgan, as lead adviser, and Lehman Brothers Inc. as co-adviser, will conduct the sale exploration process, the company said, adding no specific timetable for the process was set.




Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Nigerian unions to begin general strike Weds

(Reuters) - Nigerian unions will start an indefinite general strike in Africa's top oil producer on Wednesday to protest against rising prices and privatisations, the umbrella union body said on Monday.

The Nigeria Labour Congress's (NLC) top committee set the strike start after the expiry on Monday of an ultimatum to the government to reverse a fuel price increase, a doubling of value-added tax and the sale of two big oil refineries.


Read more at Reuters Africa

JP Morgan says Boeing 787 up to 4 months late

(Reuters) - The head of Boeing's commercial airplane unit, Scott
Carson, said earlier on Monday that the plane was still on
schedule for roll out in July and test flight in August or
September. He said it would be delivered on time to the first
customer in May 2008.




Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Italy's S&P/MIB Index Falls for First Time in Four Days, Paced by Alitalia

(Bloomberg) -- Italian stocks dropped for the first
day in four, led by shares of Unione di Banche Italiane Scpa and
Alitalia SpA.

The S&P/MIB dropped 185, or 0.4 percent, to 42914 at
10:44 a.m. in Milan, as 23 of its 40 members fell. Futures expiring
in September rose 111, or 0.3 percent, to 43,360.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Oil falls from 10-month high, supply risks support

(Reuters) - Oil fell below $71 a barrel on Monday after rising to a 10-month high last week on concern about low fuel supplies in top fuel consumer the United States.

Threats to oil supplies in Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, were likely to limit the decline for prices, analysts said. A general strike is due to start in Nigeria on Wednesday.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Finish Line to acquire Genesco for $1.5 billion in cash

(Reuters) - The deal is expected to generate about $15 million to $20 million in annual cost savings beginning in the first full year of operations, the company added.




Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Embraer Wins $3.1 Billion in MId-Size Jet Orders From Lufthansa, Japan Air

(Bloomberg) -- Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA,
a maker of jetliners for regional airlines, won orders worth as
much as $3.1 billion from Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Japan Airlines
Corp.

Lufthansa, Europe's second-largest carrier, ordered 30
Embraer 190 E-Jets and Japan Airlines ordered 10 170 E-Jets with
options on an additional five, the Sao Jose Dos Campos, Brazil-
based airline said today at the Paris Air Show.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Persian Gulf Crude Oil Tanker Rates May Rise as Producers Reveal Programs

(Bloomberg) -- The cost of shipping Middle East
crude to Asia on supertankers may extend four days of gains as
oil-producing nations tell companies when to have vessels in
place to load at Persian Gulf ports.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil producer, Iran, and
the United Arab Emirates this week may release port-loading
schedules for July crude shipments, stoking demand for tankers,
said Per Mansson, a tanker broker for Nor Ocean Stockholm AB, in
an e-mailed note today.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BHP, Teck, Newmont May Have Reduced Copper Processing Fees, Macquarie Says

(Bloomberg) -- Mining companies, including the
world's largest BHP Billiton Ltd., may have reduced fees paid to
smelters for processing raw material into refined copper under
mid-year contracts, according to Macquarie Bank Ltd.

Some agreements on so-called treatment and refining charges,
or TC/RCs, have been reached by miners, including BHP, Teck
Cominco Ltd. and Newmont Mining Corp., the bank said in a report
today. Miners may have lowered fees from previous settlements,
and either excluded or limited ``price-participation'' clauses
allowing smelters to benefit from copper price gains, it said.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Emirates orders 8 more A380 from Airbus

(Reuters) - Emirates said it had not yet made a decision on its requirement for 100 aircraft in the middle of the market, which pits the Airbus A350 XWB against the faster-selling Boeing 787.




"For the 350 we have to make a decision in the next few months," Emirates Group Chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum told a news conference.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

European Note Yields Hold Near Six-Year High on Outlook for Key ECB Rates

(Bloomberg) -- European two-year government note
yields held near the highest in more than six years on
speculation accelerating growth in the euro region economy will
prompt central bank officials to keep raising interest rates.

The drop in benchmark debt has also sent 10-year bund yields
to near their strongest since August 2002 as traders add to bets
the European Central Bank will lift borrowing costs twice more
this year. Bonds may extend losses before a report tomorrow
that's expected to show German investor confidence rose to the
highest in a year this month.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

House Prices in London Gain at Slowest Pace in Five Months, Rightmove Says

(Bloomberg) -- London house prices rose at the
slowest pace in five months in June as the cost of a home fell in
more than half of the U.K. capital's boroughs, Rightmove Plc said.

Asking prices increased 0.7 percent from a month earlier to
387,898 pounds ($764,000), half the pace of May, as values fell in
17 of the city's 32 districts, the U.K.'s biggest real-estate Web
site said in a statement today. Gains across the U.K. outpaced
London for the first time since January, with a 0.8 percent
increase in June.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Yield search takes yen to record low vs euro

(Reuters) - The New Zealand dollar stayed firm despite suspected fresh central bank intervention. The bank entered the market a week ago to knock the kiwi off 22-year peaks versus the U.S. dollar.




Risk appetite was supported by gains in global equities. In currency markets this boosted demand for carry trade investments funded by borrowing in low-yielders like the yen and the Swiss franc. The franc also hit a record low versus the euro.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

South Korean Department Store Sales Fall for Second Month on Lending Clam

(Bloomberg) -- South Korea's department store sales
declined for a second month in May as a clampdown on the housing
market reduced home sales and sapped demand for home appliances
and furniture.

Sales at the nation's three biggest department store chains
dropped 0.1 percent from a year earlier after shedding 2.3
percent in April, the Commerce Ministry said today in Gwacheon,
South Korea.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News