PRESS DIGEST - Washington Post Business - July 28

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON - Wall Street heard good news about the economy
but didn't pay it much heed: The Dow Jones industrial average
shed an additional 200 points to finish its worst week in more
than four years, potentially creating a snowball effect that
could continue next week.




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Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Soybeans Fall for Second Week as Demand Slows for Record U.S. Inventories

(Bloomberg) -- Soybeans fell in Chicago, capping
the biggest two-week drop in three years, on speculation U.S.
oilseed processors are shunning record reserves in anticipation
of cheaper supplies when a new crop is harvested in September.

Midwest supplies on cash markets are selling for $1 a
bushel less than futures traded in Chicago, and the price gap
has almost doubled in the past year, U.S. Department of
Agriculture data show. Cash bids at loading facilities in New
Orleans yesterday were 21.25 cents below futures, compared with
a 28.4-cent premium a year ago.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

UPDATE 1-Canfor posts loss, names Shepard new CEO

(Reuters) - The company cited low lumber prices and the stronger
Canadian dollar as driving it to a net loss of C$38.8 million
, or 27 Canadian cents a share, in the quarter.




That compared with a net profit of C$39.2 million, or 28
Canadian cents a share, in the same period last year. Those
results were boosted by one-time items.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

US STOCKS-Indexes drop more than 1 pct on credit concerns

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, July 27 - U.S. stocks plunged for a
second day on Friday, in the worst week for the S&P 500 in
nearly five years, as tightening credit conditions led to
concerns that takeovers would slow.




Losses accelerated in the final minutes of trading, taking
the Dow industrials down more than 200 points, a day after an
equities sell-off that wiped out more than $300 billion in the
value off the S&P 500.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Mexico's OMA net profit inches higher

(Reuters) - Revenue increased 13 percent to 460 million pesos.




Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Angola building hotels as oil boom fuels demand

(Reuters) - Booming Angola is building dozens of hotels and guesthouses to meet rising demand that has pushed the price of a room in the capital Luanda to $250 per night, the country's tourism minister said on Friday.

The southwestern African state also needs thousands of new hotel rooms to accommodate visitors to an international diamond summit in 2009 and the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament, which it will host in 2010. About 2,000 people have already registered for the summit.


Read more at Reuters Africa

UPDATE 1-Belo quarterly profit, revenue fall

(Reuters) - Second-quarter net income fell to $36.4 million, or 35
cents a share, from $42.7 million, or 41 cents a share, in the
quarter a year ago, when it also logged a $7.5 million pre-tax
gain from a "change-in-control" provision in one of Belo's
vendor contracts.




Revenue fell 3.2 percent to $391 million, short of Wall
Street estimates of $396.7 million, according to Reuters
Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Chevron Profit Rises on Wider Refining Margins, Gain on Dynegy Stake Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp., the second-largest
U.S. oil producer, posted its highest quarterly earnings ever
after gasoline prices rose to a record and the company sold its
stake in Dynegy Inc. at a profit.

Second-quarter net income climbed to $5.38 billion, or
$2.52 a share, from $4.35 billion, or $1.97, a year earlier, the
San Ramon, California-based company said today in a statement.
The profit increase, at 24 percent, was the biggest among the
world's five largest investor-owned oil companies.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

US STOCKS-Futures cut losses, point to flat open

(Reuters) - After steep losses earlier, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq index
futures briefly turned positive after the data on gross
domestic product in a volatile session.




S&P 500 futures were off 1.30 points, below fair
value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking
into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration
on the contract.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

European Bond Yields Hold Near Lowest in Two Months as Stocks Decline

(Bloomberg) -- European bond yields held near the
lowest in two months as stock markets across the region fell and
corporate-debt risk surged to a record

Bunds reversed earlier losses on speculation investors
switched to the safety of government securities. Benchmark 10-
year yields rose earlier after data showing consumer-price
inflation accelerated in Germany in July, adding to the case for
the European Central Bank to keep raising interest rates.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Scana 2nd-quarter earnings dip slightly

(Reuters) - Net earnings were $55 million, or 47 cents per share,
compared with $58 million, or 50 cents per share, a year
earlier.




Excluding the year-earlier gain of 4 cents per share from
the lawsuit settlement, earnings were up 1 cent per share.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Canadian Dollar Declines as Traders Speculate Subprime Losses Will Spread

(Bloomberg) -- The Canadian dollar fell for a third
straight day as stocks were poised to extend their losses and
investors unwound risky bets in commodity-linked currencies.

The Canadian currency fell 0.54 percent to 94.40 U.S. cents
at 8:20 a.m. in Toronto. The currency dropped 1.13 percent
yesterday, its biggest decline in 13 months. One U.S. dollar
buys C$1.0593. Canada's dollar dropped 0.34 percent to 112.25
yen.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

McDonald's sued in China for not using Chinese

(Reuters) - "McDonald's offers food service in China, but it does not use Chinese, which violates the consumers' right to know," the Beijing Youth Daily quoted Shan as saying.




Shan has asked McDonald's to apologize in newspapers and give him symbolic compensation of 1 yuan , the newspaper said. The case began on Thursday.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Ingersoll-Rand 2nd-quarter net profit triples

(Reuters) - Excluding the gain on the sale of a business, Ingersoll
earned 95 cents per share, matching Wall Street expectations.




Revenue rose 9 percent to $2.23 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

RPT-ITT Corp. profit up on defense, water gear sales

(Reuters) - The manufacturing company, which makes night-vision
systems, military radios, sewage treatment equipment and a
range of other products, reported net profit of $213.7 million,
or $1.16 per share, compared with $140.9 million, or 75 cents
per share, a year earlier.




Excluding a tax gain and other special items, profit from
continuing operations was 92 cents per share.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

K12 Inc. files with US SEC for $172.5 million IPO

(Reuters) - The filing did not include how many shares the company
planned to offer or the expected price range.




K12 intends to list its shares on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol "LRN."



Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Cevian's Gardell-Volvo still long-term investment

(Reuters) - Cevian said earlier on Friday that partner fund Parvus was
leaving the joint venture set up by the two firms to hold a
stake in Volvo, leaving it with shares equal to 4.2 percent of
votes in the truck maker.




"There is nothing dramatic about this. They want to
have disposal of their shares directly so they are being
transferred to Parvus," Gardell said.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Risk aversion sends high yielders tumbling

(Reuters) - High yielding currencies fell sharply in volatile markets on Friday as an overnight sell-off in credit and stock markets led investors to pare risky carry trades.

The rise in risk aversion originally sent the low-yielding yen to a three-month high against the dollar and a six-week high versus the euro. But the Japanese currency's gains proved short-lived, in part due to soft retail sales data from Japan and also because of a recovery in European stock markets.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Real estate helps FTSE rally, but worries linger

(Reuters) - Britain's top share index rose on Friday in volatile trade as gains in real estate stocks and banks helped lift the FTSE 100 from four-month lows hit earlier on worries of a potential U.S. credit crunch.

The FTSE 100 index is on course for its biggest weekly fall since January 2003 but by mid-morning investors decided the sell-off had gone far enough for the time being.


Read more at Reuters Africa

European Stocks Advance, Led by Volkswagen on Profit; Nokia, Siemens Gain

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks rose for the first
time in four days after Volkswagen AG, the region's largest
carmaker, reported earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates and
investors speculated this week's sell-off was overdone.

Volkswagen paced gains by automakers. Nokia Oyj, the world's
biggest mobile-phone maker, rallied after a five-day decline, and
Siemens AG, Europe's largest engingeering company, rebounded from
a two-month low.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

UPDATE 1-EU says Intel made 3 kinds of antitrust violations

(Reuters) - BRUSSELS, July 27 - The European Union's top
antitrust regulator has charged that Intel tried to use
its huge market share to push smaller rival Advanced Micro
Devices out of the central processing unit business.




The two companies make all the CPU chips at the heart of the
world's 1 billion personal computers and servers, but Intel has
about 80 percent of the business.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Baker Hughes Q2 profit slips

(Reuters) - Analysts on average had forecast a profit of $1.11 a share,
according to Reuters Estimates. It was not immediately clear
whether estimates took into account the tax-related items.




On July 13, the Houston-based company warned a "significant
deterioration" of activity and profitability in Canada would
hurt its second-quarter profit.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

JGBs soar as market volatility stirs BOJ doubts

(Reuters) - The sell-off in U.S. markets drove the Nikkei share average
down 2.4 percent, sending investors fleeing to safer
government bonds from risky assets and driving most yields down 7
to 8 basis points to two-month lows.




Bond investors are wary that turbulence in global markets may
make the BOJ more cautious about raising rates, with the chance
of a rate rise in August falling to just 50 percent from above 90
percent earlier in the month.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Emap considers sale, break-up after approaches

(Reuters) - LONDON, July 27 - British magazines, radio and exhibitions group Emap Plc is considering a sale or break-up after receiving a number of unsolicited approaches for parts of the business, it said on Friday.



The media group, which owns magazines FHM and Grazia and radio stations Magic and Kiss, declined to name its suitors and did not say which businesses they wanted to buy.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Union cancels wage talks with Angloplat, row continues

(Reuters) - South Africa's biggest mining union cancelled wage talks due on Thursday with Anglo Platinum Ltd because the miner was apparently not prepared to substantially change its offer, a union official said.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) declared a dispute, the first legal step towards a strike, on July 11, but never officially filed it after Angloplat said it may raise its offer.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Japan's 10-Year Bonds Have Biggest Weekly Gain Since August as Stocks Drop

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's 10-year bonds had the
biggest weekly gain since August after a slump in global stocks
and corporate debt spurred demand for the relative safety of
government securities.

Benchmark bond yields fell to the lowest in eight weeks on
speculation a U.S. housing slump will slow growth in the biggest
market for Japanese exporters, making it harder for the Bank of
Japan to justify raising interest rates. A government report
today showed consumer prices declined for a fifth month.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

UPDATE 3-Chinese chip maker SMIC posts Q2 loss, sees tepid Q3

(Reuters) - SHANGHAI/SAN FRANCISCO, July 27 - China's biggest
chip maker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.
, swung to a second-quarter loss on weak computer chip
prices and gave a lacklustre sales forecast for the current
quarter, pushing its shares lower.




Shanghai-based SMIC, citing pricing pressure in the DRAM
memory chip market, said on Friday it expected third-quarter
revenue to increase by 2 to 5 percent from the second quarter's
$374.8 million, which was up 3.7 percent from a year ago.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

Solvay Q2 REBIT falls 4 pct, below forecasts

(Reuters) - Sales rose by 2 percent to 2.44 billion euros, compared with
the average forecast of 2.42 billion euros.




Read more at Reuters.com Market News