Europe Bonds Fall on Concern Recent Gains Aren't Justified By Rising Rates

(Bloomberg) -- European bonds fell on speculation
the longest run of weekly gains in five months isn't justified
by expectations for higher interest rates in the euro region.

The yield on the German 10-year bund, Europe's benchmark,
rose 2 basis points to 4.33 percent as of 7:21 a.m. in London,
after reaching 4.30 percent last week, its lowest since mid-May.
The price of the 4.25 percent security due July 2017 fell 0.16,
or 1.6 euros per 1,000-euro ($1,364) face amount, to 99.34.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Statoil Q2 tops fcast, keeps 2007 production target

(Reuters) - The result beat a 27.4 billion crown average forecast in a
Reuters poll of 19 analysts, whose estimates had ranged from
22.4 billion to 31.7 billion crowns.




"The 11 percent increase in net income from the second
quarter of 2006 to the second quarter of 2007 was mainly due to
lower income taxes and higher sales volumes of natural gas,"
Statoil ASA said in a statement.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

European Bank Stocks May Decline, Led by ING, Credit Suisse, IKB Deutsche

(Bloomberg) -- European bank stocks may drop after
IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG, a German lender that invested in
U.S. subprime mortgages, said profit will be ``significantly''
lower than forecast.

``The subprime crisis has reached Germany,'' said Klaus
Stabel, head of research at ICF Kursmakler AG in Frankfurt.
``It's bad for sentiment. We haven't seen the bottom yet.''


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

ABN withdraws backing for Barclays bid

(Reuters) - ABN originally backed Barclays when announcing a deal to merge with it in April.




But it has now effectively withdrawn its recommendation even after Barclays sweetened its offer to buy ABN last week to include more cash.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Dow Jones family owners face deadline on bid: source

(Reuters) - Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., owner of Fox News, the New York Post and a sprawling global media empire, made its $60 a share bid for Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, on May 1.




The board of Dow Jones endorsed the offer two weeks ago, sending the deal to the Bancroft family for approval.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Credit Suisse Fees Are Likely to Fall Most as LBO Market Slows, S&P Says

(Bloomberg) -- Investment banking fees are likely to
fall or stop growing as buyout firms purchase fewer companies,
and Credit Suisse Group would probably be the most affected
Standard & Poor's said in a report published today.

Group revenue at Switzerland's second-largest bank could
fall by 3.8 percent were leveraged buyout fees to fall by half,
S&P said. Earnings at Credit Suisse and UBS AG could plunge up to
19 percent as buyouts slow, Deutsche Bank AG analyst Matt Spick
said on July 26.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Japan's Bonds Decline as Investors Avoid Yields Near Lowest in Eight Weeks

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's government bonds fell on
speculation investors will avoid buying 10-year securities with
the lowest yields in eight weeks.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rose 2 basis points
to 1.8 percent as of 12:48 p.m. in Tokyo at Japan Bond
Trading Co., the nation's largest interdealer debt broker.
Yields earlier touched 1.78 percent, matching the lowest since
June 1.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Japan's JBIC Plans Islamic Debt Backed by London Metal Exchange Contracts

(Bloomberg) -- Japan Bank for International
Cooperation, the government's main overseas lender, plans to sell
Islamic bonds backed by products traded on the London Metal
Exchange, an official said.

The Tokyo-based bank, known as JBIC, plans to sell Islamic
debt for the first time as early as in October, said Tadashi
Maeda, director general of the bank's energy and natural
resources finance department. JBIC will sell $200 million to $300
million of such securities, to be denominated in Malaysian
ringgit or dollars, in Malaysia, he said.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Barclays China Deal Spurs U.S., Europe to Limit Government-Fund Investment

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S., France and Germany are
racing to draw up rules to govern developing nations' secretive
state-controlled investment funds, spurred in part by Barclays
Plc's use of Chinese and Singaporean money in its takeover bid
for ABN Amro Holding NV.

With no international body such as the World Trade
Organization to oversee such investment, officials in the U.S.
are pushing the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to set
guidelines. Germany and France, meanwhile, are urging a joint
European response.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

PetroChina slides on fears Buffett will sell more

(Reuters) - Analysts said further sales were not impossible, pressuring
the shares in the short term.




For a story on Buffett's share sale, please click on
[ID:nHKG303146].


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

China Yangtze Power Profit Jumps 72 Percent on Output, Sale of Bank Stake

(Bloomberg) -- China Yangtze Power Co., operator of
the world's biggest hydropower project, said first-half profit
jumped 72 percent after the company sold shares in a bank and as
electricity output rose.

Net income surged to 2.25 billion yuan ($298 million), or
0.268 yuan a share, from 1.31 billion yuan, or 0.16 yuan, a year
earlier, Yangtze Power said in a statement to Shanghai's stock
exchange today. Sales rose 12 percent to 3.4 billion yuan.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

New Zealand June Home-Building Approvals Surge 15.8 Percent on Apartments

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand's home-building
approvals posted the biggest gain in more than 18 months in June,
buoyed by consents for apartments, as record-high interest rates
failed to curb demand for new property.

Approvals to build new houses and apartments increased 15.8
percent from May, according to seasonally adjusted figures
released by Statistics New Zealand in Wellington today. The
increase was the most since December 2005. The number of
approvals was the highest since March 2005.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Japan's Stocks May Drop on U.S. Subprime Concern, Stronger Yen, LDP Defeat

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks may drop after a
report on economic growth in the U.S. showed residential
investment slumping as the subprime problem worsens, pointing to a
weaker outlook for Japan's largest overseas market.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. may lead exporters lower
after the yen advanced to the highest against the dollar in more
than three months, reducing the value of their overseas sales.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Italy says has one less option to save Alitalia

(Reuters) - The Italian Treasury, which has a 49.9 percent stake in Alitalia, is struggling to decide its next move to salvage the money-losing carrier after its seven-month auction collapsed earlier this month.




Economy Minister Tomasso Padoa-Schioppa last week said Rome was debating whether to start a new bidding process from scratch or begin direct talks with potential suitors, but backed away from the latter option on Sunday.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

UPDATE 1-American Home Mortgage says faces margin calls

(Reuters) - The company said in a statement released late Friday that
as a result of the margin calls from lenders, it has delayed
paying dividends on its common stock, and plans to delay
payments on its preferred shares.




Margin calls can create severe difficulty for a company
that depends on funds from its lenders to finance loans, and
can force the company to sell assets or seek other financing.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

RPT-Bay Street Week Ahead - Offshore sirens beckon

(Reuters) - VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 29 - As foreign
takeovers and private equity buyouts strip the Toronto Stock
Exchange of some of its biggest names, institutional investors
are increasingly shifting their gaze outside Canada.




Those investors with mandates to invest domestically, such
as "pure" Canadian mutual funds, say they might at some point
ask their fundholders to let them rejig their limits so that
they too can follow their peers to greater choice offshore.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News