Subprime takes toll on high-grade corporate bonds

(Reuters) - That was the biggest move since February 27, when Chinese stocks sold off sharply, hurting risk appetite worldwide and causing high-grade corporate spreads to widen by 3 basis points.




Average yields on investment-grade corporate bonds ended on Friday at their widest level since May 2005, when the downgrades of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. to junk status jarred the debt markets and curbed investor appetite for risk.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Treasuries Attract Cash-Flush Pension Funds Loaded With Stock Market Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries are getting an unexpected
boost from pension funds controlling more than $14 trillion.

Fund managers for companies including General Motors Corp.
and Alcatel-Lucent are shifting away from stocks to prepare for
accounting changes requiring them to more fully disclose the
value of their holdings. Bonds are gaining favor as funds seek
to avoid wider swings in prices that may accompany equities as
the new rules take effect, possibly later this year.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

UAW's Gettelfinger Stuck Between Reuther's Legacy, `Crashing' Car Industry

(Bloomberg) -- Ron Gettelfinger, chief of the United
Auto Workers, will sit at the bargaining table with the Big Three
automakers while holding one of the weakest hands in the 72-year-
old union's history. He'll also have the shadow of union icon
Walter Reuther looming over him.

Gettelfinger started negotiating today with companies that
lost a combined $15 billion last year -- a far cry from the era
when Reuther won health insurance and pensions for the rank-and-
file during two decades running the UAW until his death in 1970.
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler now are looking
to roll back those so-called legacy costs, which include retiree
health-care liabilities of $114 billion.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

GM's $1,000 Per Silverado Health-Care Tab Gives Advantage to Toyota Tundra

(Bloomberg) -- The $40,000 blue Chevy Silverado
pickup that Justin Crenshaw bought last month in Oklahoma City
had one built-in feature that Kent Hickman's new Toyota Tundra
lacked: the health-care tab for retired factory workers.

Paying the retiree health benefits adds about $1,000 to the
cost of each Silverado made by General Motors Corp. Toyota Motor
Corp., which will overtake GM this year as the world's largest
automaker and is boosting Tundra sales in the U.S., is spared
almost all such expenses, according to auto industry analysts.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

UAW chief says not in "concessionary mode"

(Reuters) - "It won't be an issue for us," Gettelfinger said, speaking on the sidelines of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People event in Detroit. "We are not going in to these negotiations in a concessionary mode."




General Motors Corp , Ford Motor Co and Chrysler Group face a crucial round of contract talks with the UAW beginning this month.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

U.S. Stocks Decline as Bond Yields Jump; GM, Financial Shares Lead Retreat

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell for the first time
this week, led by financial shares, after a rise in Treasury
yields raised concern investors will buy bonds to lock in an
improving rate of return.

General Motors Corp., the biggest U.S. automaker, slid after
reporting a drop in U.S. sales last month. Bank of America Corp.,
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led banks to
the steepest decline in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

WRAPUP 3-U.S. housing sector, factory orders sag in May

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON, July 3 - Pending sales of existing
U.S. homes hit the lowest level in more than five years in May
and factory orders dipped modestly, according to data on
Tuesday that suggested the economy was struggling.




In addition, Ford Motor Co. , Chrysler Group and
General Motors Corp. reported lower U.S. sales for June
as high gas costs, fierce competition and the housing slump
took a toll on the industry.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UAW expected to announce Delphi pact vote Friday

(Reuters) - Voting on the agreement, which includes wage and benefit
cuts and eventual plant closings, is cumulative among the
eligible 17,000 UAW members, but results reported independently
from some of the largest locals showed a majority in favor.




Delphi has said it must have the cuts in labors costs to
complete its reorganization. The deal would also remove the
threat of a strike that could cripple the company and former
parent General Motors Corp. , Delphi's biggest customer.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UAW May Hire Lazard for Health-Care Advice in U.S. Auto Talks, People Say

(Bloomberg) -- The United Auto Workers may hire
investment bank Lazard Ltd. to advise the union on health-care
concessions in contract talks with U.S. automakers, two people
with knowledge of the matter said.

The union told New York-based Lazard to be ready to assist
in negotiations that begin next month with General Motors Corp.,
Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler, said the
people, who asked not to be named because the plans are private.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

US STOCKS-Indexes rise as bond yields fall; GM up

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 25 - U.S. stocks advanced on
Monday as data on existing-home sales landed near analysts'
estimates and bond yields fell, easing worries about higher
borrowing costs and helping stocks recover from last week's
losses.




General Motors Corp. gave a boost to the Dow
industrials after Goldman Sachs lifted its rating on shares of
the largest U.S. automaker. Goldman, cited expectations GM may
win concessions from unionized workers. For details, see
[ID:nN25282960].


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Delphi Near Accord With Auto Workers to Emerge From Bankruptcy, People Say

(Bloomberg) -- Delphi Corp. and former parent
General Motors Corp. are close to an agreement with the United
Auto Workers union that would pave the way for the auto-parts
supplier to emerge from bankruptcy this year, people with
knowledge of the negotiations said.

UAW officials have summoned union plant leaders to Detroit
for a briefing today on the accord, which would provide Delphi
workers buyouts and job guarantees in exchange for plant
closings, the people said.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News