UPDATE 1-SEC sues firm over alleged bogus takeover bids

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 29 - U.S. securities regulators on
Friday sued a partnership and one of its founders, alleging
they made bogus offers to buy such well-known entities as Sony
Corp. and Playboy Enterprises Inc. in an
effort to manipulate their stock prices.




Theodore Roxford, through Hollingsworth, Rothwell & Roxford
, publicized the offers on Internet message board
postings, news releases and in at least one case a regulatory
filing, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a
complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Wall St Week Ahead: Jobs, subprime mess to rule July 4th week

(Reuters) - At the same time, the potential for defaults in subprime
loans to spill over to the general economy remains a concern.
Nervousness over the availability of financing for buyouts
prompted investors to sell banks' and brokers' shares on
Friday, which helped cut short a morning rally.




In the holiday-shortened week, the most significant data,
the June payrolls report, comes on Friday. U.S. financial
markets will be closed on Wednesday, July 4, for the
Independence Day holiday.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News

RPT-UPDATE 1-SEC investigating Brookstreet collapse

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 29 - The U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission is investigating the collapse of
Brookstreet Securities, a California broker-dealer that was hit
by heavy losses in mortgage-backed securities this month, its
president said on Friday.




"The SEC is on site and they're reviewing it," Stanley
Brooks said in a telephone interview on Friday.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

GateHouse Media files to sell up to 17 mln shares

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs & Co., Wachovia Securities and Morgan Stanley
are the lead underwriters for the offering.




Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Fair Isaac, Fluor, Office Depot, Palm, Priceline: U.S. Equity Movers Final

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares had unusual price changes in U.S. exchanges today.
Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names. Share
prices are as of 4 p.m. New York time.

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. (AHM US) fell $2.53,
or 12 percent, to $18.38. The lender specializing in adjustable-
rate mortgages withdrew its fiscal 2007 earnings guidance and
said it will likely have a second-quarter loss.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 1-Shire seeks Vyvanse approval for adult ADHD

(Reuters) - A supplemental NDA is used to obtain an add-on approval for
a therapy already approved for another use. Vyvanse, a
once-a-day capsule, is already approved to treat ADHD in
children aged 6 years to 12 years.




"We are pleased with the results of Vyvanse studies
conducted in adults...", Chief Executive Matthew Emmens said in
a news release, adding that this drug is a priority in the
company's ADHD portfolio.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Gold climbs on dollar weakness, oil gains

(Reuters) - Spot gold was quoted at $648.70/650.20 an ounce at 3:19 p.m. , against $647.90/$649.40 in New York late on Thursday and a three-month low of $638.90 on Wednesday.




Most-active gold for August delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange settled up 50 cents at $650.90 an ounce, after dealing between $648.80 and $655.00.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Ex-CVS execs settle charges on toy accounting

(Reuters) - Philip Galbo, former treasurer at CVS, and Larry Solberg, former principal accounting officer, agreed to collectively pay $53,204 to settle claims that they helped CVS materially overstate its pretax earnings for the third quarter of 2000 by about $18.1 million.



They settled with the commission without admitting or denying the charges. Attorneys for the defendants could not immediately be reached.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Citigroup top H1 underwriter, Merrill tops in fees

(Reuters) - The volume of securities offerings totaled $4.53 trillion, up 15 percent from a year earlier. Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG retained their top three rankings, handling a respective $398.1 billion, $338.5 billion and $291.2 billion of volume.



Total disclosed fees edged up 2 percent to $7.7 billion. Merrill took in $869.7 million, followed by JPMorgan's $768.3 million and Citigroup's $654.1 million. Citigroup had ranked first a year earlier, while Merrill ranked fourth and JPMorgan fifth.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Wheat Falls From Record as Prices May Curb Demand for Feed, U.S. Exports

(Bloomberg) -- Wheat fell from a record in Chicago,
erasing a 4.2 percent gain, on speculation high prices for the
grain will curb its use in animal feed and damp overseas demand
for U.S. supplies.

A bushel of wheat now costs 74 percent more than a bushel
of corn, also used to feed livestock, dairy cows and poultry.
U.S. sales of wheat for delivery in the marketing year that
began June 1 have climbed 18 percent from last year after rains
damaged crops in the Great Plains and boosted early season
buying, Department of Agriculture data show.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

RLPC-Bombardier Recreational Products delays bank loan

(Reuters) - The loan was being led by Merrill Lynch and was expected to
pay lenders 250 basis points over Libor.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

U.S. regulators tighten subprime lending rules

(Reuters) - By Patrick Rucker



WASHINGTON, June 29 - U.S. bank regulators tightened standards for mortgage lending on Friday in a bid to curtail risky practices that have been blamed for a record level of foreclosures.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

WRAPUP 1-Canada rate hike seen despite stalled growth

(Reuters) - Economic growth stalled unexpectedly in April, coming in
flat from March due to a downturn in wholesale trade,
manufacturing and oil and natural gas exploration, Statistics
Canada said on Friday.




Market operators had expected a 0.2 percent increase.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News

Mexico's Pemex not seeking risk-sharing alliances

(Reuters) - "We are not proposing anything that goes beyond that or
that implies that in the future we are going to have a change
in legislation," Morales said, in comments made available by
Pemex on Friday.




"We will continue, in all our activities, to respect the
law that we have today," he said.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

EU conditionally OKs Nestle buy of Novartis unit

(Reuters) - BRUSSELS, June 29 - Nestle has won permission, subject to conditions, from the European Commission on Friday to buy the medical nutrition business of Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis AG for $2.5 billion.



The European Union executive said on Friday it gave the green light after Nestle offered to divest overlapping activities in France and Spain.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Emerging-Market Bonds Gain After Report Shows U.S. Inflation Eased in May

(Bloomberg) -- Emerging-market bonds rose, led by
Brazil and Venezuela, after a U.S. government report showed the
inflation measure most watched by the Federal Reserve eased in
May.

Demand for riskier, higher-yielding securities picked up
after the Commerce Department reported the annual inflation rate,
as measured by the core price index for personal consumption
expenditures, fell to a three-year low of 1.9 percent. Slowing
inflation may prompt the Fed to cut borrowing costs, making it
less expensive for investors to finance purchases of emerging-
market assets.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Investors cut euro corp bonds in June -Citigroup

(Reuters) - Hedge funds, which had been increasing positions in May,
also reduced positions this month to return close to levels seen
in March following a sell-off in Chinese stocks and jump in
corporate credit spreads.
"The subprime fallout probably has more in store,"
Citigroup's credit strategists wrote in a note released late on
Friday.




"But the reduction in positions gives us some comfort that
most credit investors will no longer feel compelled to react as
severely to negative news going forward," they wrote.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

FACTBOX: Features of Apple's iPhone

(Reuters) - * Its main feature is a 3.5-inch touch-sensitive screen with one physical button. Programs are accessed by touching icons, and text is entered with an on-screen keyboard.




* It uses AT&T Inc.'s GSM network for voice calls and its EDGE network for data transmission. AT&T has exclusive rights to the phone for at least two years.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

UPDATE 1-S.Africa ANC opens door for Mbeki to remain leader

(Reuters) - MIDRAND, South Africa, June 29 - South Africa's
ruling African National Congress said on Friday it favoured
keeping the current rules for electing the party's leader,
opening the door for President Thabo Mbeki to seek a third term.




"There is no need to change the current procedures," ANC
General Secretary Kgalema Motlanthe told reporters after about
1,500 activists met outside Johannesburg to discuss the party's
policies and the process to elect a leader in December.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Soybean, Wheat Prices Soar as U.S. Farmers Cut Acreage to Plant More Corn

(Bloomberg) -- Soybeans surged the maximum amount
allowed by the Chicago Board of Trade after the government said
U.S. farmers planted less than analysts expected and the fewest
acres in 12 years. Wheat rose to a record.

Soybeans were planted on 64.08 million acres, a 12-year
low, the Agriculture Department said today. That's down 4.6
percent from a forecast in March and 15 percent below last
year. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting 67.84
million. U.S. production may fall 18 percent to a four-year
low, depleting global inventories already at record low levels.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Banco Pine, Cosan, Petroleo Brasileiro and Unibanco: Brazil Equity Movers

(Bloomberg) -- Brazil's main stock gained for a third
day, led by state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA.

The Bovespa Index of the most-traded stocks on the Sao Paulo
exchange rose 342.14, or 0.6 percent, to 54,488.73 as of 9:36 a.m.
New York time.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UAW expected to announce Delphi pact vote Friday

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, June 29 - The United Auto Workers is expected to announce results of a member vote on Friday on a deal that auto parts maker Delphi Corp. says it needs to exit bankruptcy, with initial results from the union's local voting units pointing toward support.



Voting on the agreement, which includes wage and benefit cuts and eventual plant closings, is cumulative among the eligible 17,000 UAW members, but results reported independently from some of the largest locals showed a majority in favor.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

U.S. construction spending up 0.9 percent in May

(Reuters) - Spending on private homebuilding, however, fell 0.8 percent
to a seasonally adjusted $549 billion annual rate, the 15th
consecutive monthly decrease as U.S. housing market troubles
continue.




On the non-residential side, private construction spending
was up 2.7 percent in May. Public spending was up 2.2 percent,
the department said.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News

Canadian Stocks Gain After Research In Motion Profit Rises; BCE Advances

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks rose the most in two
weeks after Research In Motion Ltd. announced a stock split and
first-quarter profit that exceeded analyst estimates.

Research In Motion, the maker of BlackBerry e-mail phones had
the biggest jump in nine months and reached a new high. BCE Inc.,
Canada's biggest phone company, gained after the Ontario Teachers'
Pension Plan said it made bids for all BCE shares it doesn't
already own.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Nasdaq to acquire privately held Directors Desk

(Reuters) - The deal is expected to close early in the third quarter,
Nasdaq said in a statement.





Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

U.S. Stocks Gain After Inflation Gauge Matches Forecast; Apple Shares Gain

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks advanced after a
government report showed a measure of inflation matched
forecasts last month, giving the Federal Reserve leeway to cut
interest rates should the economy slow.

Research In Motion Ltd. rallied after the maker of the
BlackBerry e-mail phone reported first-quarter earnings that
topped analysts' estimates. Apple Inc. climbed on the day its
iPhone goes on sale in the U.S.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

U.S. soldiers kill 4 Afghan civilians: rights group

(Reuters) - The soldiers also arrested 15 civilians during the pre-dawn raid in Khogiani district which lies in the foothills of the provincial capital Jalalabad, Lal Gul, the head of Afghanistan's Human Rights Group said.




Those killed in the raid were an 85-year-old man, Mohammada Jan, two of his sons and a grandson, Gul told Reuters.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

RPT-TREASURIES-Bonds add gains after U.S. core inflation data

(Reuters) - Benchmark 10-year notes were up 7/32 in price
for a 5.08 percent, versus 5.09 percent shortly before the core
PCE data and 5.11 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields
move inversely.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

European Stocks Fall, Led by Banks, Insurers; Segro Tumbles on Downgrade

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell on concern
government reports in the U.S. may show the world's largest
economy isn't expanding enough to fuel earnings growth.

Schroders Plc, London's biggest publicly traded money
manager, and Allianz SE, Europe's largest insurer, paced the
retreat. Segro Plc slid the most in four months after HSBC
Holdings Plc recommended selling shares of the U.K. property
company, saying the commercial real-estate boom is over.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Talbots names Liz Claiborne president as CEO

(Reuters) - Liz Claiborne, which is in the process of restructuring, said it plans to eliminate the position of president and that it is almost finished searching for an executive vice president for its newly formed "partnered brands" division, which includes the Liz Claiborne, Dana Buchman and Ellen Tracy brands.




The company's namesake, designer Liz Claiborne, died in New York on Tuesday at the age of 78.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Oil above $71 on drop in U.S. fuel stocks

(Reuters) - London Brent crude rose 80 cents to $71.32 a barrel by 1110 GMT. U.S. crude oil was up 69 cents at $70.26 after reaching its highest settlement since August 2006.




While nationwide U.S. crude stocks rose by 1.6 million barrels to a nine-year high, the drop at Cushing has supported gains for U.S. crude and helped narrow its discount to Brent to around $1 a barrel.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

U.K. Natural Gas for July Delivery Climbs to Highest Price Since June 11

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. natural gas for delivery next
month rose for a fourth day, narrowing its discount to prices for
immediate supplies of the fuel.

July natural gas rose 3.2 percent to 19.4 pence a therm at
8:20 a.m. in London, according to prices on Bloomberg from the
energy broker ICAP Plc. That's the highest since June 11.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-Finmeccanica mulls buying Japanese high-tech firms

(Reuters) - TOKYO, June 29 - Italy's Finmeccanica SpA
is interested in buying Japanese high-tech companies
to boost its presence in Japan, expecting growth in both the
economy and defence sector in one of its key Asian markets, its
chief executive officer said on Friday.




Finmeccanica, an Italian aerospace and defence company, also
said it would set up a branch in Tokyo next spring to help it
access the market for future opportunities. The company has
offices in other Asian countries, China, India and Malaysia, but
not yet in Japan.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Polish Zloty Set to Gain in Month Versus Euro After Interest Rate Increase

(Bloomberg) -- The Polish zloty is poised to advance
against the euro this month after the country's central bank
unexpectedly raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point.

Poland's currency also gained for a third week after Warsaw-
based rate-setters lifted borrowing costs to 4.5 percent on June
27 on concern wages increases spurred by quickening economic
growth could fuel inflation. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg
expected the bank to keep rates on hold after a 25-basis-point
cut in April, the first in almost three years.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Dollar up vs yen after Fed but flat vs Europe

(Reuters) - But the dollar struggled to gain ground against other major currencies as traders took the view that recent data showing an easing of inflation and signs of weakness in growth and housing market indicators will discourage the central bank from raising rates.




The Fed left key interest rates on hold at 5.25 percent on Thursday as expected, making it a year since rates have been stuck at that level.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Carphone Warehouse, Bancaja, Prologis to Sell Debt: European Bond Alert

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of bond
sales denominated in euros or pounds and expected in the coming
days and weeks.

Investment-Grade Sales


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Oil holds around $70 as U.S. benchmark catches up

(Reuters) - U.S. crude rose 23 cents to $70.75 a barrel by 0714 GMT, after closing at its highest settlement since late August 2006 and breaching the $70 mark during overnight trade in New York. London Brent crude oil rose 25 cents to $69.82.




Crude oil stockpiles in Cushing, Oklahoma -- the delivery point for U.S. crude futures -- fell by 1.4 million barrels last week, although nationwide stocks rose 1.6 million barrels to a fresh nine-year high.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

NBC CEO says fiscal discipline behind Dow decision

(Reuters) - He added: "I am not going to presume to know what's in Rupert's mind in terms of why he's bid what he's bid. But you have to remember, this has been a pattern he has always followed," Zucker said.




General Electric and Pearson Plc said on June 21 they would not pursue a joint offer for Dow Jones, removing a potential challenge to the bid by News Corp.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News