IMF sharpens focus of forex monitoring - Rato

(Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund has approved changes that sharpen its monitoring of member countries' foreign exchange policies and warns governments against using tactics that may trigger external instability, IMF chief Rodrigo Rato said on Monday.

The changes, the first in 30 years to the IMF's guidelines for monitoring currencies, provides clearer guidance to IMF staff on currency surveillance and to member countries on how they should manage their exchange rate policies.


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Bayer to file liver cancer drug in US this month

(Reuters) - Liver cancer is one of the most common cancer types
worldwide.




Bayer said Nexavar has the potential to become the
therapeutic standard because there is currently no approved
treatment that can demonstrably increase overall survival in
patients suffering from this disease.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Lawmakers Urge U.K. Government to Cut $5.6 Billion Spending on Consultants

(Bloomberg) -- Lawmakers urged the U.K. government
to cut spending on consultants, which reached 2.8 billion pounds
($5.6 billion) last year, pointing out that almost half of civil
servants say money has been wasted.

The all-party Public Accounts Committee said 40 percent of
officials who had hired consultants admitted using them
inappropriately, sometimes to provide a scapegoat for failed
projects. Government departments didn't keep track of spending on
consultants or check whether they had the required skills in-
house before taking on help, the panel said in a report today.


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AIRSHOW-Latecoere says could buy French Airbus factory

(Reuters) - EADS wants to outsource a number of factories as part of its
Power 8 restructuring plan to trim costs and offset the impact
of a strong euro on its sales, made mostly in dollars.




Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - June 19

(Reuters) - * Delta Air Lines Inc. is likely to order as many
as 125 of Boeing Co.'s new 787 jets by the end of the
year, the airline's operating chief said.




* The Supreme Court threw out an investor lawsuit alleging
that broker syndicates colluded to drive up IPO prices during
the 1990s, a ruling that gives Wall Street a wide exception to
antitrust laws.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Home builder index lowest since Feb 1991: NAHB

(Reuters) - The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market index fell two points to 28 in June, the lowest since it hit 27 in February of 1991, the group said.




"It means that the housing market downturn has a long way to play out," said Matthew Moore, economic strategist at Banc of America Securities in New York.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

BP, ICI, Pearson, Tesco and Vodafone Group: U.K., Irish Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may rise or fall
in U.K. and Irish markets today. Stock symbols are in parentheses
and prices are from the June 15 close.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index fell 28.90, or 0.4 percent, to
6703.50 in London. The FTSE All-Share Index fell 13.87, or 0.4
percent, to 3465.12.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Asian Stocks Decline From a Record High, Led by Nissan; Woodside Advances

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell after a report
showed confidence in the U.S. homebuilding industry dropped to
a 16-year low and crude-oil prices jumped to the highest in
nine months.

Nissan Motor Co. and James Hardie Industries NV. led a
decline among companies that rely on U.S. sales on concern
growth in the world's largest economy will slow. Korea Electric
Power Corp. fell on speculation higher fuel costs will erode
profits, while Woodside Petroleum Ltd. gained.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Malaysia's Inflation Rate Probably Rose in May From Lowest in 2 1/2 Years

(Bloomberg) -- Malaysia's inflation probably
accelerated in May amid rising food and commodity prices, after
holding at a 2 1/2-year low the previous two months.

The consumer price index rose 1.6 percent from a year ago,
following 1.5 percent gains in March and April, according to the
median forecast of 20 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The
inflation report is due tomorrow at 5 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

New Yahoo CEO another Silicon Valley college dropout

(Reuters) - Yahoo, which Yang created as a graduate student at Stanford University to monitor his personal interests in the early days of the Web, is a far more complex business these days -- and one facing stiff challenges from arch-rival Google Inc.




It's a big step up for Yang. He has held the title of Chief Yahoo at the company for more than a decade, largely playing a role in managing key business development deals while leaving the top management powers to outside hires.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 2-Flash floods kill at least four in north Texas

(Reuters) - GAINESVILLE, Texas, June 18 - At least four
people were killed by flash floods in north Texas on Monday and
several were reported to be missing as the waters began to
recede and weather forecasters saw a drying spell ahead.




Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office said he had deployed three
helicopters and 38 national guardsmen to help with recovery
efforts in stricken areas after dozens of people were plucked
from the rooftops of their homes and even trees.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Japan Shares Slip on U.S. Housing Concerns; Exporters Drop, Inpex Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese stocks dropped for the
first time in four days after confidence among U.S. homebuilders
fell to a 16-year low, raising concern a slumping housing market
may curb growth in the world's biggest economy.

Exporters including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and
Advantest Corp. paced declines. Investors will also be looking
to data on new housing starts set to be released tonight, and
mortgage applications figures due tomorrow for clues on the U.S.
real estate market.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Muto Favorite to Replace Fukui as Bank of Japan Governor, Economists Say

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan Deputy Governor
Toshiro Muto is the most likely candidate to succeed Toshihiko
Fukui when his five-year term as governor ends next March.

Muto will head the central bank in the world's second-
largest economy, according to all 15 economists surveyed by
Bloomberg News. Kazumasa Iwata, Fukui's other deputy, Kazuo Ueda,
a former central bank board member, and Heizo Takenaka, who led
the privatization of the post office, are also candidates.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

GE/Pearson consider Dow Jones bid

(Reuters) - One possibility being considered could see the controlling
Bancrofts keep an interest in Dow Jones, which owns the Wall
Street Journal, that source said. That confirmed earlier
reports by the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.




General Electric owns the CNBC business television channel,
and faces competition from News Corp., which is
launching a business news channel of its own. Pearson owns the
pink-paged business paper the Financial Times and competes with
the Wall Street Journal.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Credit-Default Swap Index for Leveraged Loans Drops for Sixth Straight Day

(Bloomberg) -- The Chicago Mercantile Exchange
reported no trades on its first day offering credit derivatives,
which investors can use to bet on corporate creditworthiness.

The Merc became the first U.S. exchange to offer trading in
credit-default swaps, which have grown to cover more than $34.5
trillion in debt securities in the over-the-counter market and
is dominated by 16 banks.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Brazil currency gains on inflows, stocks rise

(Reuters) - The Bovespa index of the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange
rose 0.39 percent to 54,730.44 points, after trading as high as
54,999.98 points earlier. It closed at a record high of
54,518.63 points on Friday.




The real , strengthened 0.37 percent to 1.905 per
U.S. dollar.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Coffee in New York Declines as Concern of Imminent Frost Recedes in Brazil

(Bloomberg) -- Coffee fell in New York, erasing
earlier gains, after weather forecasters suggested there will be
no damaging cold this month in the main coffee-growing regions in
Brazil, the world's biggest producer.

Brazilian states including Parana, Minas Gerais and Sao
Paulo will receive no frost through the end of June, said
Drew Lerner, senior agricultural meteorologist for World Weather
Inc. in Overland Park, Kansas. Futures in New York have risen 13
percent since the start of May on concerns freezing temperatures
will affect Brazil's coffee crop.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

US STOCKS-Indexes dip as oil tops $69, home builders sag

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 18 - U.S. stocks slipped on Monday
as oil climbed toward a 10-month high near $70 a barrel, taking
a toll on energy-dependent sectors, while more worrisome data
from the housing sector weighed on home builders.




Adding to the wary mood, the Wall Street Journal said
Merrill Lynch & Co. took control of $400 million of
loan assets underlying a troubled hedge fund at Bear Stearns
Cos. Inc. Merrill was a chief lender to the fund, which
was heavily invested in subprime loans.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 2-Conrad Black called liar at trial

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, June 18 - Conrad Black is just as guilty
of a multimillion dollar theft, and of lying about it, as his
one-time business partner who already admitted guilt,
prosecutors told jurors in final arguments on Monday at the
former media baron's criminal fraud trial.




"These guys were on the same page. They did it together,"
prosecutor Julie Ruder said, referring to Black and long-time
partner David Radler, the government's star witness against him
and three co-defendants.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Billionaire Potanin Joins Russian Hunt for Uranium as Global Prices Surges

(Bloomberg) -- OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel billionaire
Vladimir Potanin is joining the hunt for uranium in Russia and
overseas to benefit from a 20-fold increase in prices for the metal
over the last six years.

Potanin's Interros Holding Co. signed an agreement today with
Russia's nuclear energy agency to explore for uranium in Russia and
abroad, both sides said in an e-mailed statement. Potanin joins
fellow billionaire Viktor Vekselberg in setting up a venture with
the state to find and mine a fuel vital for atomic power
generation.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

American Express names two card execs

(Reuters) - Williams began work at American Express in 1989, and has
been executive vice president of U.S. commercial cards since
2004. Soranno Keating joined the New York-based company in
1993, and has led its travelers cheques and prepaid services
business for five years.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Chevron Halts 42,000 Barrels of Daily Nigerian Oil Output After Armed Raid

(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp.'s Nigeria unit halted
42,000 barrels a day of crude-oil production after a raid yesterday
on one of its facilities, a spokesman said.

Armed youths attacked the Abiteye flow station, causing some
damage to the facility, Chevron spokesman Femi Odumabo said in an
interview. The station was also shut down for several days last
month following a dispute with a local community.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Former Enron broadband CEO gets 27-month sentence

(Reuters) - Rice could have received a penalty ranging from probation
to 10 years in prison.




U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore also ordered Rice to
forfeit more than $379,000 in cash and assorted cars, jewelry
and real estate found to have been ill-gotten gains.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

RPT-TREASURIES-Prices up on weak US housing index

(Reuters) - Sentiment among U.S. home builders slid in June to the
lowest level in more than 16 years as tighter lender practices
and rising mortgage rates crimped sales, the National
Association of Home Builders said on Monday. Economists had
predicted the index would be unchanged from May's 30 reading,
based on a Reuters survey. Readings below 50 mean more builders
view market conditions as poor rather than favorable.




The benchmark U.S. Treasury 10-year note rose
3/32 in price for a yield of 5.15 percent, compared with 5.17
percent late on Friday. Last week, 10-year yields reached a
five-year high of 5.33 percent. Bond prices and yields move
inversely.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

China,Egypt,Iran did not support IMF forex changes

(Reuters) - The sources said the biggest concern among developing
countries in Friday's board discussion was whether the onus
should be on the IMF to prove that a country's currency is
misaligned.




The sources said the United States wanted to make
fundamental exchange rate misalignment one of four core
principles for members' exchange rate policies.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

FTSE 100 Index Drop for First Time in Four Days, Led by Barratt, Liberty

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks fell for the first time
in four days as Barratt Developments Plc and Liberty
International Plc led declines among construction and property
shares.

Vodafone Group Plc, the world's largest mobile-phone
company, also decreased.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Brazil's Lula says low inflation as vital as growth

(Reuters) - "Obviously we could be growing more ... but distributing
income and controlling inflation are just as important."




Lula also said he expected growth to pick up in the second
half of the year.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Gold hits 1-week high, platinum up on supply concerns

(Reuters) - Gold prices rose to their highest in more than a week on Monday as recent declines attracted physical buyers and bargain hunters.

Spot gold hit a session high of $659.05 a troy ounce, its highest since June 8, before edging down to $656.20/656.80 by 1505 GMT, against $654.50/656.00 in New York late on Friday.


Read more at Reuters Africa

European Stocks Decline, Led by BA, Merck KGaA, Pearson; ICI Rallies

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell for the first
time in four days on speculation gains last week were overdone
given prospects for earnings growth.

British Airways Plc led airlines lower as oil jumped to a
nine-month high. Merck KGaA dropped the most in two months before
GlaxoSmithKline Plc releases details on a lung-cancer vaccine.
Imperial Chemical Industries Plc surged 16 percent, sending the
Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Chemicals Index to a record, after Akzo Nobel
NV made an offer for the company.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Bioenvision shareholder urges board to reduce Soros' influence

(Reuters) - Rouhandeh, chairman of SCO Capital Partners LLC, owns about
13.4 percent stake in the company.




According to the filing, two board members are employed by
Perseus-Soros/Aisling and two others work for companies in
which the Soros fund has or has had an investment. This
represents 67 percent of the board, while Perseus-Soros/Aisling
owns only 12 percent of the company, the letter said.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Crude Oil Climbs to Nine-Month High on U.S. Gasoline Inventory Concerns

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a nine-month high
in New York on concern that U.S. refiners aren't keeping up with
increased gasoline demand.

U.S. gasoline supplies in the week ended June 8 were 5.2
percent below the five-year average for the period, the Energy
Department said last week. Crude-oil prices often follow gasoline
during the driving season, which lasts from Memorial Day weekend
in late May to Labor Day in early September.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

US STOCKS-Indexes flat as subprime worries offset takeovers

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 18 - U.S. stocks were little
changed on Monday as lingering worries about the subprime
mortgage market offset optimism about corporate takeovers.




Shares of Bear Stearns fell 1.5 percent after the Wall
Street Journal reported that investment bank Merrill Lynch
has seized $400 million in assets of a troubled hedge
fund at Bear Stearns Cos. Inc. . For details see
[ID:nN16314376].


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

European Energy Exchange Plans to Publish Daily Data About Trading Actions

(Bloomberg) -- European Energy Exchange AG,
continental Europe's largest market for electricity, plans to
publish more information about its participants' power-trading
activities each day to boost market transparency.

The EEX intends to provide information about the traders
that are active on its day-ahead and derivatives platforms on a
daily basis. It will show how many are buying power and how many
are selling, the exchange said today in a statement on its
Web site.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

IMF approves changes to currency surveillance-Rato

(Reuters) - He said that, while IMF's surveillance will continue to
focus on members' exchange rate policies relating to currency
manipulation and intervention in the currency markets, it will
now also ensure that "a member should avoid exchange rate
policies that result in external instability."




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

BC Partners near deal to buy Intelsat: source

(Reuters) - It would be the largest solo deal in the firm's 18-year history and its first acquisition of a company with U.S. headquarters.




BC Partners was locked in an auction with a bidding duo consisting of Liberty Media Holding Corp. and EchoStarCommunications Corp. , which could make a fresh offer, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Finish Line to buy Genesco for $1.5 bln in cash

(Reuters) - June 18 - Finish Line Inc. said it agreed to acquire larger rival Genesco Inc. for $54.50 per share, or about $1.5 billion, in cash to enhance its footwear and apparel portfolio.



The offer price represents a premium of about 9.9 percent over Genesco's Friday stock closing price of $49.60 on the New York Stock Exchange.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Nordic Stocks Including Ericsson Advance; Oil Shares Decline

(Bloomberg) -- Nordic stocks including Ericsson AB
rose after the world's largest maker of wireless phone networks
received a contract from AT&T Inc.

Statoil ASA and Norsk Hydro ASA, the region's biggest oil
and gas producers, paced falling shares as oil retreated in New
York.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Trade powers set for last-ditch WTO push

(Reuters) - Top trade officials from the United States, the European Union, Brazil and India on Tuesday launch an 11th-hour attempt at a breakthrough in world trade talks that have long teetered on the brink of collapse.

World Trade Organization members pledged two months after the 2001 attacks on the United States to cut barriers to trade in the name of lifting poor countries out of poverty.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Wall St. set for higher open on M&A

(Reuters) - Shares of Alcoa rose 3 percent in Europe after the Times newspaper in London reported BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc , the world's biggest mining group, has revived plans for a $40 billion takeover of the aluminum producer.




In other deal news, General Electric Co. and Pearson Plc may challenge News Corp.'s $5 billion bid for Dow Jones & Co. with a plan that could let Dow Jones's controlling Bancroft family keep an interest in the company, the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal reported on their Web sites.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

European Chemical Stocks, ICI Gain; Anglo American Falls, Tullow Oil Rises

(Bloomberg) -- European chemical stocks gained after
Akzo Nobel NV made an offer for Imperial Chemical Industries Plc.
Shares of ICI surged 16 percent.

Anglo American Plc, the world's second-biggest mining
company, led declines by basic-resource stocks, the region's best
performers so far this quarter.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Tullow, Anadarko make big Ghana oil find

(Reuters) - London-based Tullow Oil Plc announced the discovery of up to 600 million barrels of high-quality oil at a block in Ghana owned with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., sending Tullow shares up over 10 percent.

Tullow also said in a statement on Monday the structure it successfully drilled in the West Cape Three Points Block extended into an adjacent exploration block, which Tullow also co-owns with Texas-based Anadarko, suggesting further potential upside for the partners.


Read more at Reuters Africa

German DAX Benchmark Gains for a Fourth Day, Led by Volkswagen, BASF

(Bloomberg) -- Germany's benchmark DAX Index gained
for a fourth day. Volkswagen AG paced the advance after the
carmaker said it will raise the number of workers in its Auto
5000 plant in Wolfsburg, Germany. BASF AG, Henkel KGaA and SAP AG
also increased.

The DAX added 54.51, or 0.7 percent, to 8085.15 at 11:39
a.m. in Frankfurt, heading for a record close. DAX futures
expiring in September climbed 0.8 percent to 8173. The HDAX Index
of the country's 110 biggest companies increased 0.7 percent.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Anglo to buy more mine assets

(Reuters) - The world's third biggest mining group Anglo American will expand production and buy more assets to meet strong demand for raw materials from China and India, its chairman said on Monday.

Anglo, traditionally more conservative than sector peers such as Xstrata, said that in a rapidly consolidating mining sector, it would be a buyer rather than one of the companies that is bought.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Shanghai copper up 2.9 percent, supply woes support

(Reuters) - Shanghai copper rose almost 3 percent on Monday, with the market shrugging off warnings from China that it will take further steps to cool the economy, and instead focused on threats to supply and limited world stocks.

The most-active August copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 2.9 percent to 64,930 yuan a tonne at the close, from 63,130 yuan on Friday.


Read more at Reuters Africa

U.K. Natural Gas Gains on Forecast for Rising Demand, Decline in Supplies

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural gas for intraday
delivery rose as forecasts showed demand may increase today and
supplies of the fuel may decline. The higher within-day costs
boosted day-ahead and next-month prices.

Gas for delivery within day at the National Balancing
Point, the U.K. trading hub, added 0.7 percent to 22.4 pence a
therm at 8:29 a.m. in London, according to energy broker
Spectron Group Plc. That equals $4.44 a million British thermal
units. A therm is 100,000 Btus.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Rival bidders for CBOT mull higher offers-report

(Reuters) - Atlanta-based energy exchange IntercontinentalExchange Inc.
, which has been pursuing a hostile bid for CBOT since
March, is also considering whether to raise its offer a third
time, Bloomberg said.




Each bidder has already raised its offer twice for the
parent of the Chicago Board of Trade.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

BHP Billiton to take more action on climate change

(Reuters) - BHP Billiton Ltd./Plc., the world's biggest mining group, said on Monday it plans to step up action to help tackle levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

BHP said it would commit US$300 million over the next five years to support the development of low emissions technology and to encourage emissions abatement.


Read more at Reuters Africa