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.


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Italy says Alitalia faces liquidation if not sold

(Reuters) - Italy scrapped its seven-month auction of the loss-making airline on Wednesday after the last bidders pulled out, and now faces dwindling options and growing political embarrassment over the sale's failure.




"Other than a sale, there is only liquidation," Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa told Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper, "Making Alitalia attractive to an investor seems more difficult than we thought."


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Miceli Resignation Amid Cash Probe May Hurt Kirchner in Argentine Election

(Bloomberg) -- Argentine Economy Minister Felisa
Miceli's resignation, sparked by a probe of cash found in her
ministry office, may further erode the government's popularity
less than four months before national elections.

Miceli, 54, said last night she left President Nestor
Kirchner's government to avoid tarnishing its image and to
``clarify'' her situation. Yesterday, a prosecutor sought to
question her about $31,000 in U.S. currency and 100,000 pesos
($32,300) discovered last month in a bag in her office bathroom.
She was replaced by Industry Secretary Miguel Peirano, 40.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Senate close to deal on auto fuel efficiency

(Reuters) - Negotiators haggled over final details of an agreement based on a bi-partisan proposal that still left automakers and their allies in Congress dissatisfied, according to lawmakers familiar with the talks.




Struggling General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group lobbied fiercely for compromise legislation that would reform the 30-year-old Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, program.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Mexico: Latin America Local-Currency Bond Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following events and economic
reports may influence trading in Latin American local bonds
today. Bond yields are from the previous session.

Argentina: The economy expanded 8.4 percent in April from a
year earlier, the Economy Ministry said in Buenos Aires. The
median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 11 economists
anticipated a 7.8 percent rise in the economic activity index.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News