Morocco inflation up 2.1 pct in H1 - government body

(Reuters) - Moroccan consumer prices grew 2.1 percent in the first half of this year versus the same period in the previous year on higher food prices, the government's High Planning Commission said on Wednesday.

The inflation rise in the January-June period this year stemmed mainly from a 2.6 percent increase in food prices because of a severe drought that sharply cut farming output, the Commission said.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Gold near 6-week high, Tokyo platinum hits record high

(Reuters) - Gold extended gains on Thursday as the dollar hovered near a record low against the euro, while precious metals contracts in Tokyo futures firmed with platinum hitting another record high on fund buying.

"It's very like that there's been some contagion across the precious metals," said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia, who expected gold to trade between $671 and $676.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Citigroup, Lehman receive I.R.S. requests - WSJ

(Reuters) - At issue, the Journal said, are derivatives trades where
securities firms buy stocks from offshore hedge-fund clients,
and in return pay them the return of the stocks and any
dividends they generate.




If a $10 stock rises to $11 and pays a dividend of 15
cents, the securities firm pays the hedge fund $1.15,
representing the appreciation and the dividend, minus a small
fee. The trade could save the hedge fund from paying as much as
30 percent in taxes on the dividend, depending on the venue,
because the fund technically does not hold the stock, the
Journal said.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Climbs, Led by Macquarie Bank, Woodside Petroleum

(Bloomberg) -- Australian stocks gained. Macquarie
Bank Ltd. advanced after it said first-quarter profit rose
``substantially,'' and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. rose after it said
second-quarter sales increased 14 percent.

``Macquarie was more positive than they normally are and
Woodside got a bounce after production came in as forecast,'' said
Troy Angus, who helps manage the equivalent of $2.1 billion at
Paradice Investment Management Ltd. in Sydney. ``Corporate
Australia is doing so well. With the strong domestic economy we're
likely to see a pretty robust reporting season.''


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Sell Macquarie Bank Credit-Default Swaps on Earnings, JPMorgan Chase Says

(Bloomberg) -- Investors should sell credit-default
swaps based on bonds of Macquarie Bank Ltd., Australia's largest
securities firm, as increased market volatility is unlikely to
hurt its earnings, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Credit-default swaps based on $10 million of Macquarie's
subordinated debt have risen more than $24,000 in the last three
months to $42,000 today, the highest since Bloomberg started
recording prices in Jan. 2004. The five-year contracts allow
traders to bet on a company's ability to repay its debt. Higher
prices suggest deterioration in the perception of credit quality;
a decrease indicates the opposite.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

India Needs `Tight' Monetary Policy to Curb Price Rises, Chidambaram Says

(Bloomberg) -- India will maintain a ``fairly
tight'' monetary policy to curb inflation that may be stoked by
rising crude oil prices and consumer demand, Finance Minister
Palaniappan Chidambaram said.

``We have to do our best to keep inflation down in a world
where fuel prices are flaring up, commodity prices are
increasing and demand remains high in China and India,''
Chidambaram, 61, said in an interview yesterday in New Delhi.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Asian Stocks Rise for First Day in Four; Newcrest Advances on Metal Prices

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks rose for the first time
in four days. Newcrest Mining Ltd. and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co.
led an advance among commodity producers after copper, gold and
oil prices gained.

``Resources stocks generally trade off the back of macro
information and with commodities prices up, they're doing pretty
well,'' said Troy Angus, who helps manage the equivalent of $2.1
billion at Paradice Investment Management Ltd. in Sydney.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Philippine Peso Gains on Speculation Funds to Buy Stocks; Bonds May Slide

(Bloomberg) -- The Philippine peso rose on
speculation investors bought the currency to purchase stocks.
Government bonds may fall on deficit concerns.

The local currency rose 0.2 percent to 45.17 against the
dollar as of 9:31 a.m. in Manila, according to Tullett Prebon
Plc, the world's second-largest inter-dealer broker. The peso is
trading at its highest since September 2000.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Australian Stocks Advance, Led by BHP, Woodside Petroleum, Macquarie Bank

(Bloomberg) -- Australian stocks gained, led by BHP
Billiton Ltd. after metals prices such as copper and nickel rose.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. climbed after the oil producer said
second-quarter sales increased by 14 percent. Macquarie Bank Ltd.
surged after it said first-quarter profit rose ``substantially.''


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Freddie Mac Chief Syron Says U.S. Subprime Crisis Is `Going to Get Worse'

(Bloomberg) -- Freddie Mac Chief Executive Officer
Richard Syron predicted the subprime mortgage crisis may deepen
before housing prices improve in about 18 months.

``Unfortunately I don't think we have hit bottom,'' Syron
said today in an interview. ``I think things are going to get
worse.''


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Australian Dollar Advances, Nears 18-Year High in Early Sydney Trading

(Bloomberg) -- The Australian dollar rose to 87.76
U.S. cents at 7:24 a.m. in Sydney from 87.53 cents late in Asia
yesterday. It earlier reached 87.89 cents, the highest since
February 1989.

To contact the reporter on this story:
David McIntyre in Sydney at
dmcintyre2@bloomberg.net


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

AptarGroup second-quarter profit rises

(Reuters) - The company said net income for the latest second quarter was $37.0 million, or 52 cents a share, compared with $27.7 million, or 39 cents a share, a year ago. Sales rose 19 percent to $472.9 million for the quarter.



For the latest second quarter, analysts had on average expected the company to earn 51 cents a share, excluding special items, on revenue of $461.6 million, according to Reuters Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Alliance Data quarterly profit flat

(Reuters) - The Dallas-based company reported second-quarter net income of $44.1 million, or 55 cents a share, compared with $44.8 million, or 55 cents a share, a year-ago.



Cash earnings for the quarter rose to 86 cents a share, from 77 cents a share in the year-ago period.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Political giving by private equity chiefs soars

(Reuters) - The so-called new kings of Wall Street are giving more money to Democrats than Republicans, but both parties are raking it in, according to campaign finance records collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.




Twenty senior managers have given about $360,000 to party campaign committees and individual candidates in the first half of 2007. At that rate, giving this year will easily top 2006's full-year level of $470,000; 2005's $260,000; and 2004's $560,00 donated during a presidential election year.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

U.S. deportation of criminal immigrants harsh-group

(Reuters) - The study said deportees included immigrants who had come
to the United States as children and who had committed crimes
such as narcotics possession and petty shoplifting.




"It may be reasonable, for example, to deport a newcomer to
the U.S. who engages in terrible crimes after he has served his
sentence. But many immigrants who are being deported from the
United States are a far cry from the worst and most violent
offenders," the report said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 3-Bernanke: US inflation main worry, housing a risk

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON, July 18 - Federal Reserve Chairman
Ben Bernanke told Congress on Wednesday housing market woes
could dampen an expected pickup in U.S. economic growth, but he
restated that the central bank's main worry is inflation.




"Overall, the U.S. economy appears likely to expand at a
moderate pace over the second half of 2007, with growth then
strengthening a bit in 2008 to a rate close to the economy's
underlying trend," he said in semiannual testimony to the House
of Representatives Financial Services Committee.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Ex-SEC officials back 3rd-party shareholder suits

(Reuters) - Arthur Levitt, SEC chairman under President Bill Clinton
and William Donaldson, chairman under President George W. Bush,
are asking the court to accept a brief backing the reversal of
a lower court decision that could have ramifications for
shareholders in an Enron Corp. case.




Also joining in the brief was Harvey Goldschmid, a former
Democratic commissioner.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Shoppers profit jumps 19 pct, same-store sales up

(Reuters) - OTTAWA, July 18 - Shoppers Drug Mart , Canada's biggest drug store chain, said on Wednesday that second-quarter profit jumped 19 percent on revenue growth and healthy sales of more profitable products.



In the quarter ended June 16, Shoppers said it earned C$112 million , or 52 Canadian cents a share. That is up from a profit of C$94 million, or 44 Canadian cents a share, in the same period last year.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

S.Africa bourse slips on global economy, rates woes

(Reuters) - Mining groups Anglo American and BHP Billiton led South African shares lower on Wednesday over jitters of economic slowdown in the U.S. and China, but gold shares soared on the metal's price.

Traders said the bourse was spooked into profit taking as U.S. stocks fell after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed expects the U.S. economy to expand one-quarter percentage point below its estimate six months ago.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Tam, Gol Shares Tumble After Airplane Crash in Brazil Kills as Many as 200

(Bloomberg) -- The shares of Tam SA and Gol Linhas
Aereas Inteligentes SA, Brazil's biggest two airlines, fell after a
crash in Sao Paulo's city airport claimed the lives of as many as
200 people in the country's worst air disaster.

The A320 plane, built by Airbus SAS and operated by Tam, slid
off the runway, crossed a highway and slammed into a gas station
and building last night. Rescue workers pulled 102 bodies from the
debris. Survivors probably won't be found on the plane, which was
carrying 186 people when it crashed and burst into flames, Sao
Paulo State Governor Jose Serra said.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Nymex Gas Rises on Forecasts for Hot Weather in U.S. Midwest, Northeast

(Bloomberg) -- Natural gas futures rose in New York
on forecasts for a prolonged heat wave for the large population
regions of the Midwest and Northeast starting early next week.

Above-normal temperatures are expected in the Midwest on
July 23 and will expand to much above for the northern half of
the country by July 26, according to MDA Federal Inc.'s Earthsat
Energy Weather. The warm weather is likely to remain in place
until Aug. 1, the forecaster said in a report today.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Dollar Is Little Changed Versus Euro After Bernanke Says Growth to Pick Up

(Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell against the yen and
euro as the Federal Reserve lowered its forecasts for U.S.
economic growth for this year and next as home building is
weaker than anticipated.

The revisions came as Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, in
semiannual testimony to the House Financial Services Committee,
predicted U.S. economic growth will pick up slightly next year
and inflation will gradually recede. He also said he expects a
slump in construction to continue to ``weigh'' on growth.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Alfa, CIT Group, Gol, I2 Technologies, TAM, Yahoo: U.S. Equity Movers

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares are having unusual price changes in U.S. exchanges
today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names.
Share prices are as of 9:35 a.m. New York time.

Brazilian airline American depositary receipts fell after a
passenger plane owned by Tam SA crashed on landing at Sao Paulo's
domestic airport, killing as many as 200 people in the country's
worst air disaster. Tam's ADRs (TAM US), each worth one share,
fell $3.04, or 8.5 percent, to $32.79. Gol Linhas Aereas
Inteligentes SA's ADRs (GOL US), each worth one share, fell
$1.23, or 4 percent, to $29.18.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

WRAPUP 1-Food boosts U.S. inflation, housing data weak

(Reuters) - The pace of U.S. home construction rose 2.3 percent in June
but building permit activity, a sign of future construction
plans, sank to its lowest rate in 10 years according to
government data, flagging further weakness in the lackluster
housing market.




"Home builders have hardened to the fact that housing will
not recover soon," said Christopher Low, chief economist with
FTN Financial in New York.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Alfa, CIT Group, Gol, I2 Technologies, TAM, Yahoo: U.S. Equity 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. Share prices are as of 8:50 a.m. New York time.

Brazilian airline American depositary receipts fell after a
passenger plane owned by Tam SA crashed on landing at Sao Paulo's
domestic airport, killing as many as 200 people in the country's
worst air disaster. Tam's ADRs (TAM US), each worth one share,
fell $2.60, or 7.3 percent, to $33.25 in trading before U.S.
exchanges opened. Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA's ADRs (GOL
US), each worth one share, fell 90 cents, or 3 percent, to
$29.51.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Dollar Gains Versus Euro After Consumer Prices, Housing Starts Increase

(Bloomberg) -- The dollar gained against the euro
after a government report showed U.S. consumer prices rose last
month by more than analysts forecast, while housing starts
increased.

Traders bought the dollar as the report fed speculation the
Federal Reserve will refrain from reducing its 5.25 percent
benchmark interest rate this year.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

CIT Group posts quarterly loss, cuts outlook

(Reuters) - CIT said it incurred a loss of $2.58 per share on the exit from its home lending and construction business.




The latest quarter's results included several charges.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Brazil Central Bank May Cut Rate by Half-Point for Second Time This Year

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's central bank today will
probably lower the benchmark interest rate for a 17th straight
time as the strongest exchange rate in almost seven years keeps
inflation in check.

The seven-member board will lower the overnight rate today
by a half-point to 11.5 percent at its almost monthly meeting in
Brasilia, matching the biggest cut of 2007, according to all 32
economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The bank has slashed the rate
7.75 percentage points from 19.75 percent in September 2005.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Singapore's Stocks Slide Most in Three Months; CapitaLand, DBS Decline

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore's stocks fell the most in
three months after the government increased the fee builders
have to pay to redevelop sites.

CapitaLand Ltd., the city-state's biggest developer, and
DBS Group Holdings Ltd., the largest lender, paced the decline.
Yongnam Holdings Ltd., the best-performing construction stock
this year, tumbled the most in more than four months.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Shanghai copper higher, demand worries cap gains

(Reuters) - Shanghai copper nudged 0.5 percent higher on Wednesday due to a slight pick-up in the spot market, although concerns about continued oversupply in China were seen capping gains.

The most active Shanghai September copper futures contract rose 310 yuan to 64,470 yuan a tonne by the close.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Woolworths sees profit jump but bad debt rises

(Reuters) - South African fashion, food and homeware group Woolworths Holdings Ltd expects full-year headline earnings per share to increase by 15-25 percent, the group said on Wednesday.

But the company said its provision for bad debt rose as higher interest rates made for a tougher debt collection environment, and its shares fell.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Indonesia Rupiah Falls to 3-Week Low on Oil Prices: World's Biggest Mover

(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia's rupiah fell by the most
in four weeks, the biggest fluctuation of any currency today, as
higher crude oil prices fueled speculation importers will need
more dollars to pay for their purchases. Bonds dropped.

The local currency has fallen 2.5 percent in the past month
as crude prices reached an 11-month high. Indonesia, the only
member of OPEC that is a net importer of the fuel, needs to
import a third of its oil product needs because its refining
capacity isn't enough to meet consumption.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News