Siemens to buy Dade, fueling hopes for Beckman bid

(Reuters) - Shares of Beckman Coulter, the only major stand-alone company in the sector, were up nearly 8 percent.




Dade's deal with German industrial conglomerate Siemens is worth $77 per share, a 38 percent premium over Tuesday's closing price.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Chrysler loan delayed but deal said on track

(Reuters) - Market sources also told Reuters Loan Pricing Corp. that underwriters remained committed to providing the needed financing for the deal, which marks the first time that a buyout firm has taken over a major U.S. automaker.




The delay in the sale of the loan and wider pricing for other Chrysler-related loans underscored a new skittishness in the debt markets. It also threatened to complicate pending asset sales that are part of the restructuring of the struggling U.S. auto industry.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 2-Stelco posts loss on charges but revenue rises

(Reuters) - The Canadian steelmaker, which is on the auction block,
said it lost C$41 million in the second quarter, compared with
a loss of C$39 million in the first quarter. The company did
not provide a per-share figure.




Excluding the charges, and also factoring out a C$30
million foreign exchange gain on long-term debt, Stelco turned
a profit before income taxes of C$5 million, it said.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

ConocoPhillips cuts 07 production on Venezuela

(Reuters) - Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, pushed the company and
Exxon Mobil Corp. out of their oil operations there
after they failed to strike deals to stay in huge projects that
the country wanted to take over.




Speaking on a company conference call, ConocoPhillips Chief
Executive Jim Mulva also said its capital spending could be as
high as $15 billion in 2008, partly due to higher costs.



Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 2-AMG 2nd-qtr profit up 24 pct, raises outlook

(Reuters) - BOSTON, July 25 - Asset management firm
Affiliated Managers Group Inc. posted on Wednesday a 24
percent jump in second-quarter profit that exceeded consensus
estimates and the firm raised its full-year outlook.




The bullish outlook helped spark a rebound in AMG's shares,
which had slumped as much as 7.3 percent on concerns about
slowing investor flows into the group's funds and overall stock
market volatility.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Canadian Stocks Drop, Led by Barrick. Teck, on Signs of Slower U.S. Growth

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks dropped a fourth
straight day, led by metals producers Teck Cominco Ltd. and Barrick
Gold Corp., as falling U.S. home sales heightened concern that
demand for raw materials may cool.

Home resales fell for a fourth straight month in June as the
U.S. housing market remained in the worst slump in 16 years,
according to the National Association of Realtors. Yesterday,
Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage lender, cut
its profit forecast as a growing number of homeowners fell behind
on home-loan payments.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Brazil's air trouble due to politics, analysts say

(Reuters) - An air crash that killed at least 199 people in Sao Paulo
last week follows nearly a year of chaotic air travel in which
flight delays and cancellations became routine.




Critics say President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva appointed
friends and allies rather than career civil servants when he
created the new aviation authority ANAC last year. Previously,
the Air Force controlled civil aviation.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

TREASURIES-Bonds dip as stocks seen to rebound

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 25 - U.S. Treasury debt prices fell on
Wednesday, pulling benchmark yields back from seven-week lows as
investors prepared for a stock market rebound in the wake of
Tuesday's slide.




Stock futures pointed to a strong opening on Wall Street,
luring money away from safe-haven bonds, while the government's
upcoming auction of two-year notes later in the session could put
additional downward pressure on Treasury prices. Double-click on [.N]
for latest on stocks.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Fannie Mae sells $4.5 billion in bills

(Reuters) - Settlement is July 25.-26.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Continental AG joins industry elite with VDO buy

(Reuters) - Pulling off its biggest ever takeover and virtually doubling
in size, Continental joined the ranks of the five biggest global
automotive parts suppliers, within reach of domestic rival and
industry leader Robert Bosch [ROBG.UL].




The VDO acquisition is also a victory for Chief Executive
Manfred Wennemer, who publicly announced his interest in buying
VDO as soon as Siemens said it planned to float a minority stake
in the business on the stock exchange this year.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 2-Ecuador replaces economy minister after scandal

(Reuters) - QUITO, July 25 - Ecuador's leftist President
Rafael Correa replaced his hard-line economy minister with a
moderate less than two weeks after Congress censured him in a
scandal involving charges of debt market manipulation.




Deputy Economy Minister Fausto Ortiz told Reuters on
Wednesday he will take over from minister Ricardo Patino, who
had in concert with the president long threatened to suspend
foreign debt payments deemed illegitimate"


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Worst of Atlantic hurricane season still to come

(Reuters) - The peak of the six-month season is just around the corner and forecasters are still predicting a busy one.




"There's absolutely nothing out of the ordinary," Gerry Bell, a hurricane forecaster for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said of the Atlantic season's first two months. "It's not slow. It's not fast."


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE-1-Chile's CAP denies merger talks

(Reuters) - "There are no negotiations with anyone. There are no talks
with anyone ... We don't know who is behind this strange idea,"
CAP President Roberto De Andraca told Reuters. He said the
company had not been approached by anyone regarding a
takeover.




CAP shares were up 2.3 percent in morning trade after
rising as much as 5 percent earlier in the session.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

NY MTA seeks higher fare revenue, regular hikes

(Reuters) - The agency, which also runs buses and collects tolls for tunnels, will seek to raise the revenue by reducing discounts rather raising fares for the first time since 2005. However, it did recommend raising fares and tolls every two years to keep pace with inflation.




Thanks to discounts, New York City subway and bus riders now pay an average of $1.30 per ride -- 70 cents less than the base fare of $2.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

US STOCKS-Indexes rise on profits; credit worry weighs

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 25 - U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday
on strong profits from Boeing Co. and Amazon.com Inc.
, but gains were limited by concerns about financing
for takeovers.




Aircraft manufacturer Boeing's shares jumped to a record as
as the stock led advances on the Dow, while Internet retailer
Amazon.com shares climbed to a 7 1/2-year high, up more than 24
percent.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

CORRECTED-U.S. home builder woes reach into other industries

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 20 - The anemic U.S. housing
market has hurt various industries from makers of air
conditioners to earth movers, with several manufacturers
reporting their top lines have been bruised by the slowdown.




Still, several investors remain positive about the long-
term outlook for U.S. home builders, although a rebound may be
years away.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Coffee Falls as New Forecasts Ease Threat of Freeze Damage to Brazil Crop

(Bloomberg) -- Coffee fell from a four-week high in
New York as concerns eased that a crop-damaging frost may
develop in Brazil, the world's largest producer.

No freezing weather is forecast through July 28 in Brazil's
growing regions, said forecaster Meteorlogix LLC in Woburn,
Massachusetts. Northern Parana and western Sao Paulo states will
see temperatures as low as 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees
Celsius). Forecasts for colder-than-normal weather helped send
prices yesterday to their biggest gain in seven weeks.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

FTSE outperforms European markets on GSK, telecoms

(Reuters) - Britain's top share index crawled higher in choppy trade on Wednesday as GlaxoSmithKline and telecoms shares provided support, but worries about the U.S. supbrime market limited gains ahead of key housing data.

At 1150 GMT, Britain's FTSE was up 0.3 percent at 6,518.O after sliding 1.9 percent to a near one-month low in the previous session. The index outperformed benchmarks in Germany and France, which were down sharply.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Nigeria files criminal charges against Pfizer

(Reuters) - The Nigerian federal government has filed criminal charges against U.S. drugmaker Pfizer over a 1996 drug trial in the northern state of Kano in which 11 children died, a government lawyer said on Wednesday.

The federal government was already seeking $6.5 billion in a separate civil case. The government of Kano state is also seeking $2 billion in damages from Pfizer and has filed separate criminal charges too.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Zambia copper output to rise to 1.2 mln in 2009

(Reuters) - Zambia's total finished copper output will hit 1.2 million tonnes in 2009, against a previous forecast that said the country would produce 1 million tonnes in 2011, a senior industry official said.

Tim Henderson, the Chief Executive Officer of Mopani Copper Mines (MCM), said production of copper would rise faster than expected because the life of the vast copper and cobalt mines had risen due to exploration and modern mining technologies.


Read more at Reuters Africa

RTI says U.S. Customs investigating duty drawback claims

(Reuters) - RTI said it is voluntarily suspending filing of current
reimbursmemt claims during the investigation, resulting in an
expected quarterly impact of 4 cents per share for the last
three quarters of 2007.





Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

ConAgra to pay $45 mln to settle fraud charges-SEC

(Reuters) - The company settled without admitting or denying the SEC's
allegations, the agency said.




Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

German Stocks Decline, Led by MAN AG, Siemens; GPC Biotech Plummets

(Bloomberg) -- Germany's DAX Index dropped for a
second day, paced by Siemens AG after the engineering group
agreed to buy medical-scanners maker Dade Behring Holdings Inc.
for $7 billion ($9.6 billion) and sell its VDO automotive unit.

GPC Biotech AG plunged after a U.S. panel recommended
delaying a decision on its experimental prostate cancer drug by
at least a year. Fresenius Medical Care AG and DaimlerChrysler
AG paced rising shares.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Canadian Stocks Drop, Led by Barrick. Meridian, on Falling Metals Prices

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks dropped a fourth
straight day as Barrick Gold Corp. led raw-materials shares lower
on falling price for bullion and copper.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index declined 72.07, or
0.5 percent, to 13,996.09 as of 10:45 a.m. in Toronto, after
earlier climbing as much as 1 percent earlier on better-than-
expected earnings from natural-gas company EnCana Corp.. Yesterday,
the benchmark fell 400.17 points, or 2.8 percent, its worst drop
since April 2004.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 1-Nova Chemicals second-quarter profit dips

(Reuters) - The company, Canada's biggest manufacturer of raw plastics,
said profit in the quarter was $80 million, or 96 cents a
share, down from $106 million, or $1.27 cents a share, in the
year-earlier quarter.




Current quarter results include after-tax restructuring
charges of $9 million, or 11 cents a share, from Nova's ongoing
cost cutting while the year-prior period had a $60 million
benefit from tax rate reductions.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Genzyme 2nd-qtr profit rises, raises 2007 outlook

(Reuters) - The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company said net earnings rose to $139.9 million, or 51 cents a share, from $134.5 million, or 49 cents a share, a year before.



Excluding one-time items, the company posted a profit of 88 cents a share. Analysts had expected earnings of 81 cents a share.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Norfolk Southern quarterly profit rises

(Reuters) - Wall Street analysts had on average expected earnings per
share of 95 cents for the quarter, according to Reuters
Estimates.





Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Dade Behring quarterly net earnings rise

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, July 25 - Dade Behring Holdings Inc. , which has agreed to a bid from Siemens AG for $77 per share, said on Wednesday quarterly net earnings rose on demand for its laboratory equipment. Second-quarter net income was $50.3 million, or 61 cents per diluted share, compared with $37.6 million, or 43 cents per diluted share, a year before, the Deerfield, Illinois-based company said. Quarterly revenue rose 8.2 percent from a year ago to $481 million.



Wall Street analysts on average had forecast 47 cents a share, according to those polled by Reuters Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 2-Kennametal posts stronger-than-expected profit

(Reuters) - The company expects "moderation" in the North American
market will persist in the near term, while demand remains
favorable in Europe and robust in developing economies like
China and India.




Net income fell 62 percent to $62.1 million, or $1.57 a
share, in the fiscal fourth quarter from $164.2 million, or
$4.11 a share, a year earlier. However, results were 7 cents
better than analysts polled by Reuters Estimates had expected.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Diebold to delay Q2 results

(Reuters) - Diebold said it is looking for guidance from regulators
about whether it properly booked revenue for "bill and hold"
transactions, in which a company records a sale and gives
ownership of the product to the customer, but actual delivery
takes place in a later period.




Questions about the company's use of "bill and hold" arose
during a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation
into the company's revenue recognition policies, Diebold said.
That probe was first announced last year.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Convergys posts lower quarterly profit; stock down

(Reuters) - Earnings fell to $38.8 million, or 28 cents per share, from
$39.8 million, or 28 cents per share, a year earlier.




Revenue rose 2 percent to $707 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 3-Reynolds American profit falls short

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, July 25 - Tobacco company Reynolds
American Inc. posted a 13.6 percent drop in quarterly
profit on Wednesday, falling short of Wall Street forecasts due
to lower U.S. cigarette shipments.




Like other tobacco companies, Reynolds has seen its U.S.
cigarette business hit by higher taxes and payments to states
as part of the 1998 tobacco settlement. The company bought the
Conwood smokeless tobacco company last year to tap into the
smokeless tobacco market, which is growing while the U.S.
cigarette market shrinks.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Temple-Inland, Louisiana-Pacific beat expectations

(Reuters) - Temple-Inland said its net profit fell to $66 million, or
62 cents a share, from $191 million, or $1.70 a share, a year
earlier.




Excluding one-time items the company posted earnings of 59
cents a share, down from 97 cents a year earlier. Analysts, on
average, had forecast earnings of 57 cents a share, according
to Reuters Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

General Dynamics profit falls, but beats Wall St

(Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. strongly raised full-year profit forecasts this week, while Northrop Grumman Corp. nudged up the bottom end of its forecast range.




General Dynamics, which makes Abrams tanks and Gulfstream aircraft, reported quarterly net profit of $513 million, or $1.26 per share, compared with $636 million, or $1.56 per share, in the year-ago quarter when its earnings were boosted by a gain from the sale of its aggregates business.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

U.S. Treasuries Fall as 10-Year Yield Near Two-Month Low Deters Investors

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries declined as yields near
the lowest in almost two months deterred investors from buying
the debt as U.S. stocks rose.

Bonds also fell before the Treasury sells $18 billion of
two-year notes today and $13 billion of five-year debt tomorrow.
Two-year notes yield 0.5 percentage points below the Federal
Reserve's target rate, indicating an investor would have to
expect borrowing costs to fall that much before the debt matures.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Freeport-McMoRan's quarterly profit triples

(Reuters) - Net earnings rose to $1.1 billion, or $2.62 per share, from
$367 million, or $1.74 per share, a year earlier, the
Phoenix-based company said.




Revenue quadrupled to $5.81 billion from $1.42 billion.
This was the first full quarter that included earnings and
production from Phelps Dodge, which Freeport acquired in
March.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Florida East Coast shareholders approve buy by Fortress

(Reuters) - The deal is expected to close on or about July 26, the
company said in a statement.





Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-AMG profit rises 24 percent on asset growth

(Reuters) - AMG, which owns stakes in more than two dozen investment
managers, including value equities firm Third Avenue Management
and quantitative manager AQR Capital Management, said the
earnings growth was led by the strong performance of group
firms focused on hedge funds and international equities.




The firm also said it was considering the purchase of
stakes in alternative investment managers and traditional
managers.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Crude Oil Trades Little Changed on Signs U.S. Supplies of Fuel Are Rising

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose in New York before the
release of a U.S. government report that will probably show
declines in the country's gasoline and oil inventories.

U.S. gasoline supplies probably fell 125,000 barrels last
week while oil inventories declined 1.38 million barrels,
according to the median of 16 estimates in a Bloomberg News
survey of analysts. The Energy Department report is scheduled to
be released today at 10:30 a.m. in Washington.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-P.F. Chang's 2nd-quarter earnings rise

(Reuters) - Net income for the Asian-themed restaurant operator was
$9.3 million, or 36 cents per share, compared with $8.1
million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier.




Wall Street analysts, on average, had been expecting
earnings of 36 cents per share, according to Reuters
Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Applied Biosystems Q4 earnings rise

(Reuters) - Net income for the latest quarter included an after-tax
benefit of $8.5 million for discontinued operations related to
the settlement of German tax audits.




Excluding items, the Foster City, California-based company
earned 38 cents a share from continuing operations.



Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Boeing reports profit, raises outlook; shares up

(Reuters) - Its shares jumped as much as 6 percent to an all-time high
of $110 in electronic trading before the bell, later paring
those gains to $106.63.




Boeing, which vies with Airbus for the title of
world's biggest plane maker and is the Pentagon's No. 2
supplier, reported quarterly profit of $1.1 billion, or $1.35
per share, compared with a loss of $160 million, or 21 cents
per share, in the year-ago quarter.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Stelco widens loss in second-quarter on charges

(Reuters) - Excluding the impact of income taxes, Stelco lost C$19
million.





Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Reynolds American profit falls short

(Reuters) - The maker of Camel cigarettes and Grizzly smokeless tobacco
said second-quarter profit was $325 million, or $1.10 a share,
compared with $376 million, or $1.27 a share, a year earlier.




Excluding costs related to debt refinancing, earnings were
$1.14 a share. On that basis, analysts on average forecast
$1.21 a share, according to Reuters Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

T. Rowe Price posts higher quarterly profit

(Reuters) - Wall Street analysts had expected earnings of 58 cents a share.




T. Rowe Price, which has been managing money in Baltimore since 1937, said revenue rose 18 percent to $551 million as assets under management, used to calculate fees in the money-management industry, climbed to a record $379.8 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-Celera posts wider 4th-quarter loss

(Reuters) - The company, a unit of Applera Corp., reported a net loss
of $7.8 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with a loss of
$5.3 million, or 7 cents a share, a year ago.




The latest-quarter results included pre-tax restructuring
charges of $3.8 million and $0.5 million of employee-related,
primarily severance, costs. The year-ago results included $5.3
million of restructuring costs before tax.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Futures jump on Boeing, Amazon.com optimism

(Reuters) - The recovery followed stocks' worst one-day performance in four months on Tuesday after disappointing earnings and increased concern about the impact of housing losses on the economy.




Shares of Boeing, a Dow component, rose 6 percent to a record in electronic trading before the bell, while Amazon.com shot up 23.8 percent as several brokerages raised their ratings on the stock.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

European Stocks Pare Declines; GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca Shares Advance

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks pared declines as
shares of GlaxoSmithKline Plc and AstraZeneca Plc advanced.

Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index was little changed at
389.03 at 12:30 p.m. in London, after losing as much as 0.9
percent. The Stoxx 50 added 0.1 percent, while the Euro Stoxx 50,
a measure for the euro region, fell 0.2 percent.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

South African Rand Gains on Speculation Yield Advantage Over U.S. to Stay

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa's rand gained versus the
dollar on speculation the central bank will keep raising interest
rates, improving the appeal of the country's assets.

The rand was the third best performer today as the spread,
or yield gap, between 10-year South African bonds and equivalent
U.S. Treasuries rose to near the highest in six months. This and
the Reserve Bank's 9.5 percent main lending rate makes local
assets attractive for so-called carry trade investors who fund
their purchases by borrowing other currencies more cheaply.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Ambac Second-Quarter Profit Falls on Losses From Subprime Bond Investments

(Bloomberg) -- Ambac Financial Group Inc., the
world's second-largest bond insurer, said second-quarter profit
dropped 27 percent after a slump in the value of subprime
mortgage securities.

Net income declined to $173 million, or $1.67 a share, from
$238.6 million, or $2.22, a year earlier, the New York-based
company said today in a statement. Unrealized mark-to-market
losses on collateralized debt obligations containing subprime
mortgage bonds cost $56.9 million, or 36 cents a share, Ambac
said.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News