U.S. stock futures slip after Intel's outlook

(MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures edged lower on Wednesday, with Intel's cautious outlook giving further ammunition for bears after two straight losses.
S&P 500 futures fell nine-tenths of a point to 839.20 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 9.5 points to 1,314.50. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 23 points.
U.S. stocks dropped on Tuesday after a surprising retail sales drop and as traders sold Goldman Sachs shares after a $5 billion stock offering. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 137 points, the S&P 500 dropped 17 points and the Nasdaq Composite lost 27 points.

Intel fell 4% in Frankfurt as the company projected sales to be roughly flat from the first quarter and gross margins in the mid-40s, which were disappointing to some analysts who were expecting a bounce in the second quarter.
The company's first-quarter profit fell 55%, which wasn't as steep as forecast.
Also on the tech front, Infosys Technologies dropped in Bombay trade as the software giant said it expects its first-ever decline in annual earnings and revenue.
EBay rose 2% in Frankfurt as the online auctioneer said it would spin off its Skype unit via an initial public offering.

Elsewhere, UBS dropped 3.7% in Zurich after the Swiss bank said it would lose $1.8 billion in the first quarter and cut its workforce by 8,700 after seeing outflows.
Sanofi-Aventis said it's going to buy privately held cancer drug maker BiPar Sciences for as much as $500 million. Abbott Labs is among the firms reporting results on Wednesday.

On the economics calendar, traders will be watching the release of March consumer price inflation data at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch produced a consensus forecast of a 0.1% drop following a 0.4% rise in February.

Read more at MarketWatch

ICICI Hires 10 Arrangers for Yen Loan in Biggest Borrowing by Indian Bank

(Bloomberg) -- ICICI Bank Ltd. hired Goldman Sachs
Group Inc. and Calyon among 10 firms to arrange the biggest
borrowing by an Indian bank.

ICICI, India's largest lender to consumers, is seeking a
yen-denominated loan equivalent to $1.5 billion, said Calyon, the
investment-banking unit of Credit Agricole SA, in an e-mailed
statement today. HSBC Holdings Plc and Natexis Banques Populaires
are also among the arrangers that will invite other banks to join
the financing, according to the statement.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

UPDATE 1-CCS Medical sees $14-$16/shr price range for IPO

(Reuters) - Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs & Co., Wachovia Securities
and Raymond James were underwriting the IPO, the medical supply
management company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission.




The company, which has applied for a Nasdaq listing under
the symbol "CCSM," has given the underwriters an option to buy
up to an additional 1.5 million shares to cover allotments.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

RLPC-UPDATE 1-Myers Industries postpones $950 mln LBO financing

(Reuters) - Already this week, CW Media, Integra Telecom and Stoneridge
have been forced to postpone their financings due to weak debt
market conditions.




The financing, which was being arranged by Goldman Sachs,
consisted of a $685 million bank loan and $265 million in
senior subordinated notes.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Goldman, JPMorgan Get Stuck With LBO Debt They Can't Sell to Investors

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan
Chase & Co. and the rest of Wall Street are stuck with at least
$11 billion of loans and bonds they can't readily sell.

The banks have had to dig into their own pockets to finance
parts of at least five leveraged buyouts over the past month
because of the worst bear market in high-yield debt in more than
two years, data compiled by Bloomberg show.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

MERGERS/DEALS

(Reuters) - ** A bidding war between two U.S. banks for an Italian real
estate fund intensified when Merrill Lynch raised its
offer price. Merrill Lynch said it would offer 770 euros per
share rather than 760 euros for 95 percent of the Berenice
fund, a day after rival Goldman Sachs upped its bid by 5
percent to 762 euros. [nL12227646]




** Lifetime Brands Inc. , a supplier of home
consumer products, said it intends to acquire certain sterling
silver and silver ornament businesses from Lenox Group Inc.
to expand its portfolio. [nWNAS5807]


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Visual Sciences to review potential sale; cuts Q2 view

(Reuters) - The provider of real-time analytics applications said it
has engaged Goldman Sachs & Co. as financial adviser to assist
in evaluating a potential transaction.




For the second quarter, the company now sees earnings of
about 11 cents to 12 cents a share, excluding certain items, on
total revenue of about $19.5 million to $19.8 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Murdoch to be talk of Sun Valley media festival

(Reuters) - Participants will watch closely for any move by the 76-year-old chief executive of News Corp., including a sudden departure from the event, as a sign of a deal that would give him control of The Wall Street Journal, one of the world's most influential business media outlets.




News Corp. hired Allen & Co., the media industry's go-to bankers, to advise on the bid. Perhaps that is one reason why Dow Jones CEO Richard Zannino, a fixture at last year's Sun Valley but who hired Goldman Sachs, is not on the invitation list this year.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Yuan's Fastest Gains Fail to Quiet U.S. Lawmakers as Trade Deficit Widens

(Bloomberg) -- China's yuan is rising at the fastest
pace since the nation's central bank abandoned its link to the
dollar in 2005, and U.S. lawmakers still aren't satisfied.

The yuan appreciated 1.5 percent last quarter as prices for
items such as food, rent and transportation increased the most in
27 months. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
predict that inflation will force America's second-largest
trading partner to let its currency strengthen at least 7.5
percent in the next year, more than twice as much as in 2006.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Goldman,Morgan Stanley eye Allianz property-paper

(Reuters) - Bidders for the properties, Allianz offices the firm
intends to lease back, include German property company IVG
, Australian financial investor Babcock and Brown
and U.S. real estate investor Tishman Speyer. IVG is
seeking property for a real estate investment trust it aims to
list in 2008, the FTD added.




The second tranche of properties, around 2 billion euros of
German shops and offices that Allianz purchased as an
investment, is likely to be sold by August. Bidders include
Goldman Sachs's Whitehall real estate fund and a similar fund
operated by Morgan Stanley.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

ITW shares seen rising more than 20 pct: Barron's

(Reuters) - Shares in Illinois Tool Works, which have risen about 21 percent so far this year, closed on Friday at $55.81.




"It's exceptionally attractive," Barron's quotes Goldman Sachs analyst Deane Dray as saying. "It has had a nice pop, but has a lot more room to run."


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

Virgin Media buyout would wring profit from taxes

(Reuters) - The UK cable operator said on Monday it appointed long-time adviser Goldman Sachs to find a possible buyer after receiving a takeover approach.




Private equity firm Carlyle Group was behind the offer, people familiar with the situation say.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

UPDATE 1-Virgin Media seeks buyer, Carlyle bids -sources

(Reuters) - LONDON, July 1 - British cable operator Virgin
Media has appointed Goldman Sachs to seek a possible
buyer after it received approaches from various private equity
firms, people familiar with the situation said on Sunday.




Carlyle Group [CYL.UL], for one, offered in recent weeks to
buy the company, whose leading shareholder is the flamboyant
entrepreneur Richard Branson, the sources said, but they declined
to disclose the price put forward.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Spanish Realtor Colonial May Pledge Assets on $9.7 Billion Loan Amid Slump

(Bloomberg) -- Inmobiliaria Colonial SA, Spain's
second-biggest realtor, may put up collateral because its bankers
can't attract enough investors to a 7.2 billion-euro ($9.7
billion) loan for the company, people involved in the deal said.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc,
Calyon and Eurohypo AG, which have underwritten the sale, want
Colonial to pledge its 1.3 billion-euro stake in builder Fomento
de Construcciones & Contratas, said two people who declined to be
identified because the terms aren't set.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds 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

Road show planned to raise funds in Chrysler deal: WSJ

(Reuters) - J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bear Stearns Cos. , Goldman Sachs Group Inc. , Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley are helping Cerberus raise some $62 billion in debt for the deal, which includes Chrysler's finance arm, WSJ said.




On May 14, DaimlerChrysler AG announced that it was selling Chrysler to Cerberus in a $7.4 billion deal.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

UPDATE 2-Morgan Stanley profit rises, beats estimates

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 20 - Morgan Stanley on
Wednesday said its second-quarter profit rose 40 percent,
trouncing expectations as most of its trading and
investment-banking businesses achieved record results.




The blowout results come a week after Lehman Brothers'
strong earnings fueled optimism that Wall Street would
escape any harm from rising subprime mortgage losses. But
expectations were dampened after Goldman Sachs' and Bear
Stearns' fixed-income trading profits took hits.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News