British Airways gets lift from S&P upgrade

(Reuters) - "The upgrade reflects the positive implications for BA's
capital structure, future cash flows, and business operations of
the proposed pension deficit solution and the debt reduction
achieved in recent years," S&P credit analyst Leigh Bailey said
in a statement.




Five-year credit default swaps on BA tightened around 14
basis points to 59.5 basis points after the announcement,
although the move was not totally unexpected for some traders.


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Quest Diagnostics prices $800 mln of senior notes

(Reuters) - The net proceeds are expected to be used, together with
cash on hand, to repay all borrowings under the bridge loan
facility incurred to pay a portion of the acquisition price for
AmeriPath Inc., the company said in a statement.





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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.


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Mexican 20-Year Peso Bond Falls on Speculation of Opposition to Tax Plan

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico's 20-year bond fell from a
two-week high on concerns President Felipe Calderon's tax
proposal released yesterday may face congressional opposition.

The yield on Mexico's bond due in December 2024, the
country's most-traded security, today fell for the first time in
five days. Mexican bonds had rallied after Calderon's success
getting the divided congress to approve a pension bill in March
raised expectations he would obtain opposition support for the
tax legislation.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

FedEx quarterly profit rises, misses expectations

(Reuters) - The Memphis, Tn.-based company said net income for its 2007 fiscal fourth quarter ending May 31 rose 7 percent to $610 million, or $1.96 a share, compared with $568 million, or $1.82, a year earlier.




FedEx said the results included a gain from a settlement with Airbus related to its A380 order cancellation of approximately 6 cents a share. Excluding that gain, FedEx's quarterly earnings came in below the $1.96 per share expected by Wall Street analysts, according to Reuters Estimates.


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Egypt benchmark Hermes index hits all-time high

(Reuters) - Egypt's benchmark Hermes stock index hit an all-time closing high on Wednesday led by investment bank EFG-Hermes, which rallied to a one-year high after breaking a key technical price level.

Shares in EFG-Hermes, the most heavily traded stock by turnover, closed 5 percent up at 47.30 Egyptian pounds, the highest since May 21, 2006 according to Reuters data.


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Gold hovers below 2-week high, sentiment positive

(Reuters) - Gold traded just below the previous day's two-week highs on Wednesday, but sentiment was friendly and traders said the precious metal had a good chance of adding to recent gains.

Spot gold was quoted at $657.90/658.50 an ounce by 1426 GMT, compared with $660.70/662.20 in New York late on Tuesday, when it rose to $661.40, its highest since June 7.


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