U.S. Treasuries Are Little Changed on Growth Concern as Stocks Decline

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries were little changed as
global stocks fell and speculation increased that losses tied to
subprime mortgages will slow economic growth.

Ten-year notes may extend their gains into a fifth week
after the risk of owning corporate bonds rose and a report showed
employers added fewer jobs than expected last month. Investors
increased bets the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates as
soon as October.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

India's Local Bond Rating to Be Kept at Non-Investment Grade, Moody's Says

(Bloomberg) -- India's local currency bonds will
keep a non-investment rating as the government isn't reducing
its budget deficit fast enough, Moody's Investors Service said.

The rating ``remains constrained'' at Ba2, two notches
below investment grade and the same level as Armenia and Jamaica,
as state debt equal to three-quarters of the economy ``leaves
public finances vulnerable,'' Moody's lead sovereign analyst for
India, Aninda Mitra, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

US STOCKS-Indexes flat after jobs data; ISM to come

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, Aug 3 - U S. stocks were little changed
on Friday after a report showing weaker-than-expected job
growth last month rattled investors already nervous about
losses in the mortgage industry.




Investors were bracing for data on the vast U.S. services
sector at 10 a.m. .


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Bond prices rise on subprime worries

(Reuters) - Signs of weakness in the economic data prompted investors to increase bets that the Federal Reserve may start cutting interest rates before the end of the year.




Investors also scurried for shelter in Treasuries due to a sell-off in stock markets on worries about banks' exposure to upheaval in the credit markets after a ratings agency gave investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. a negative outlook.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Union Investment Halts Bond Fund Withdrawals After $137 Million Pulled

(Bloomberg) -- Union Investment Asset Management
Holding AG, Germany's third-largest mutual fund manager, halted
redemptions from a fund holding subprime mortgages after clients
withdrew about 10 percent of the assets in the past month.

Investors redeemed 100 million euros ($137 million) from the
950 million-euro ABS-Invest Fund, spokesman Markus Temme said
today. The fund, sold to institutional investors across Europe,
has about 6 percent of its assets in securities related to
subprime mortgage loans, Temme said.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

IKB subprime shockwaves continue to rock Germany

(Reuters) - German commercial property financier Hypo Real Estate struggled to calm jittery investors by insisting it would be unaffected by the U.S. subprime fallout. Its shares still skidded more than 5 percent while Commerzbank -- which owns a property financier -- saw its stock fall 4 percent.




Investor confidence was further dented as it emerged that French insurer Axa had also temporarily closed two subprime funds after sudden losses.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Gold, Silver Little Changed After Drop on Concern Global Growth May Slow

(Bloomberg) -- Gold was little changed in Asia after
the biggest weekly decline in almost two months on concern that
global economic growth may slow, reducing the metal's appeal as a
hedge against inflation. Silver was also little changed.

Gold fell 3.3 percent last week amid a $2.1 trillion world
stock market rout and concern that U.S. subprime mortgage losses
may slow economic growth, reducing inflation. Investors usually
buy gold at time of rising raw material prices to preserve wealth.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Paulson's Yuan Appreciation Anticipated by Pictet, Western Asset's Trades

(Bloomberg) -- Investors from Switzerland to
California are banking on U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
convincing China to let its yuan appreciate more than 5 percent
in coming months.

Western Asset Management Co. in Pasadena and Pictet Asset
Management in Geneva are buying contracts tied to the future
value of the yuan, driving the price so high that the currency
must strengthen at least 5.5 percent in the next 12 months
before they see any profit. The so-called non-deliverable
forwards are rising at the fastest pace in two years.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Japan's Stocks Fall; Exporters Slip on U.S. Earnings, Tokyo Electric Drops

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese shares dropped, paced by
companies that rely on the U.S. market, after Caterpillar Inc.
said its profit dropped on lower North American sales. Exporters
such as Honda Motor Co. and Komatsu Ltd. declined.

Investors also refrained from betting heavily on stocks
before the upper house election, which will be held on July 29.
The Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday Japan's ruling coalition
may lose its majority in the election, citing its own poll.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Japan's Nikkei 225 Average, Topix Falls; Toyota, JFE Holdings Lead Decline

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese shares dropped, paced by
companies that rely on the U.S. market, after Caterpillar Inc.
said its profit dropped on lower North American sales. Exporters
such as Honda Motor Co. and Komatsu Ltd. led losses.

Investors also refrained from betting heavily on stocks
before the upper house election, which will be held on July 29.
The Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday Japan's ruling coalition
may lose its majority in the election, citing its own poll.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Moody's Excluded From Rating 70 Percent of New Commercial-Mortgage Bonds

(Bloomberg) -- Moody's Investors Service has been
excluded from rating 70 percent of new commercial mortgage-backed
securities after toughening its guidelines.

Moody's has been shut out of nine of the past 13 deals as
underwriters sought better ratings from rival companies, Tad
Philipp, a managing director at Moody's said today in a telephone
interview. The securities had a face value of more than $25
billion.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

KKR May Increase Interest on Alliance Boots LBO Debt, Default Swaps Show

(Bloomberg) -- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. may be
forced to offer higher interest to investors on 9 billion pounds
($18.5 billion) of loans to finance the buyout of U.K. pharmacist
Alliance Boots Plc, according to traders of credit-default swaps.

Investors are shunning high-yield debt as losses in U.S.
subprime mortgages roil corporate bonds and loans. The tougher
conditions forced KKR to cancel this week a 1 billion-euro ($1.4
billion) financing for Dutch retailer Maxeda NV. The New York-
based buyout firm delayed a $3 billion sale of debt last month to
acquire catering company U.S. Foodservice in Columbia, Maryland.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Yen Approaches Record Low Versus Euro as Rising Stocks Spur Carry Trades

(Bloomberg) -- The yen dropped to near a record low
versus the euro and the weakest since 1992 against the pound as
concern eased that losses will mount in securities backed by
subprime mortgage loans.

Investors pushed the yen lower as U.S. stocks advanced on a
better-than-expected earnings report from Merrill Lynch & Co.,
the third-biggest U.S. securities firm, cooling speculation that
U.S. financial companies would be hurt by losses in subprime
debt. Rallying stocks encouraged buying of risky assets funded
by loans in Japan, a strategy known as the carry trade. The yen
also fell versus the dollar.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index Drops, Led by Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton

(Bloomberg) -- Australian stocks fell. Rio Tinto
Group dropped for a second day on concern its $38.1 billion bid
for Alcan Inc. will increase its debt, while BHP Billion Ltd.
declined on concerns recent gains have outstripped earnings.

``With Rio, there's no doubt takeovers are generally more
positive for the acquired stock than the acquirer,'' said Shane
Oliver, who helps manage the equivalent of $83 billion at AMP
Capital Investors in Sydney. ``The market may be concerned about
the increased debt factor.''


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

U.K. Pound Gains for Fifth Week Versus Dollar on Outlook for Interest Rate

(Bloomberg) -- The pound posted its longest winning
run against the dollar in more than a year on speculation Bank of
England policy makers will keep raising interest rates while the
U.S. Federal Reserve stays on hold.

The U.K. currency gained for a fifth week as futures traders
bet the central bank will raise rates a quarter-point and start
pricing in a further move to 6.25 percent by year-end. The pound
touched a 26-year high after Moody's Investors Service cut
ratings on bonds backed by U.S. subprime mortgages and Standard &
Poor's threatened to do the same.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Egyptian shares edge down on profit taking

(Reuters) - Egypt's two main indexes dipped on Thursday for the second consecutive session as investors harvested the week's earlier gains in blue-chips led by Orascom Construction Industries, traders said.

"Investors were tempted to collect their money after the record highs witnessed by the market lately. On top of the list of this profit taking wave came Orascom Construction, which led the market up before and now took it down," said Mohamed Choukri of Trust Group for Securities.


Read more at Reuters Africa

New Zealand Dollar Strengthens as Investors Return to the Carry Trade

(Bloomberg) -- The New Zealand dollar rose the most
in two weeks as concern about the impact of the U.S. subprime
mortgage market on the global economy diminished, prompting
traders to return to riskier assets.

So-called carry trades, where investors borrow cheaply in
yen to buy higher-yielding assets elsewhere, have boosted the
New Zealand dollar 27 percent in the past 12 months. The
currency, known as the kiwi, slid yesterday after Moody's
Investors Service cut ratings on $5.2 billion of U.S. subprime
home mortgage bonds.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Treasuries Decline First Time in Three Days on Stock Advance, Fed Comment

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries declined for the first
time in three days as stocks advanced and Federal Reserve Bank
of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said the housing slump
is unlikely to derail economic growth.

The drop in government bonds suggested investors' demand
for the safest debt prompted by the rout in subprime mortgages
may ease. Ten-year note yields earlier fell to the lowest in
more than a month after Moody's Investors Service and Standard &
Poor's warned about the credit quality of billions of dollars in
bonds backed by subprime loans.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Yen Drops Versus Euro as Advance in Stocks Signals Return to Risky Assets

(Bloomberg) -- The yen fell versus the euro, dollar
and a dozen other major currencies as strength in U.S. stocks
signaled investors are returning to risky assets.

Investors sold the yen as they resumed so-called carry
trade bets, where they borrow in Japan to purchase securities in
countries where interest rates are higher. The yen gave up gains
posted earlier today and yesterday when investors fled risky
trades following Moody's Investors Service's move to cut ratings
on $5.2 billion of bonds backed by U.S. subprime mortgages.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

RLPC-UPDATE 1-Swift & Co. pulls $600 mln junk bond deal--sources

(Reuters) - J.P. Morgan was leading the Rule 144A private placement
deal with a "Caa2" rating by Moody's Investors Service and
"B-minus" rating by Standard & Poor's, according to KDP
Investment Advisors. The bond offering is backed by a $600
million bridge loan.




The offer consisted of a $200 million senior cash-pay
tranche due 2015; a $200 million senior toggle tranche due
2015; and a $200 million senior floating-rate tranche due
2014.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News