Bear Market Tightens Grip on Treasuries as Jobs, Inflation Trump Housing

(Bloomberg) -- The bear market in U.S. Treasuries
is just getting started as investors turn their attention to
the strengthening labor market and faster inflation instead of
the decline in home prices.

That's the conclusion of economists at Lehman Brothers
Holdings Inc., Morgan Stanley and RBS Greenwich Capital. They
estimate 10-year government notes will return 1.28 percent this
year, not even enough to cover inflation. The performance would
be the worst since 1999, when they lost 8.25 percent, Merrill
Lynch & Co. index data show.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Aramco, Dow to award Ras Tanura contracts soon

(Reuters) - Saudi Aramco and U.S. firm Dow Chemicals are expected to award the engineering, design and project management contracts for the giant Ras Tanura petrochemical plant by the end of July, industry sources said on Sunday.

Dow's investment in the plastics and chemicals plant would be the largest foreign investment to date in the Saudi energy sector.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Libya launches gas licencing round for 41 blocks

(Reuters) - Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) launched on Sunday a licencing round to award foreign energy companies gas exploration licences involving 41 contracts, it said in a statement.

All companies and/or consortia interested in taking part in the bidding process shall be required to apply to the NOC, with certain qualification documents, no later than August 22, 2007, it added.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Bristol, Pfizer anti-clot drug hits goals in trial

(Reuters) - Patients treated with apixaban, a pill, had comparable
rates in two main measures to those on the standard of care --
an injected therapy plus one drug from the class that includes
the widely used warfarin. The measures included rates of blood
clots and dangerous bleedings.




Though effective at alleviating clotting, many
anticoagulant therapies come with serious drawbacks. Heparin
drugs must be injected or given intravenously, and warfarin is
notoriously difficult to regulate properly because of its
interactions with food and other medicines.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Bronfman-held Isralom in talks to buy Olimpia stake

(Reuters) - Olimpia owns a 29 percent stake in Dutch Nanette Real
Estate Group , which has residential projects in
Hungary, Romania, and Poland.




The Bronfman-Fisher group, led by U.S.-Canadian businessman
Matthew Bronfman, owns 57.19 percent of Isralom and intends to
turn it into Bronfman-Fischer's real estate investment arm in
Israel.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Air Berlin orders 25 Boeing 787s, worth $4 bln

(Reuters) - Boeing said it now has 677 firm orders for 787s. The plane is scheduled for its first test flight in August or September and first delivery in May next year.




Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Swiss Government Isn't `Troubled' by Franc's Drop vs Euro, Leuthard Says

(Bloomberg) -- The Swiss government isn't
``troubled'' by the franc's decline against the euro over the
past year because a weaker currency has its advantages,
according to Economic Affairs Minister Doris Leuthard.

``There are pros and cons'' of a weaker currency, Leuthard
said today in an interview in Rostock, Germany, following trade
talks with German Economy Minister Michael Glos and Austrian
Economic and Labor Minister Martin Bartenstein. The Swiss
central bank ``has a long history of pursuing very good policy
and for that reason we're not troubled'' by the currency's value.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News