Bond Risk Rises Worldwide on Concern Over Bear Stearns Hedge-Fund Losses

(Bloomberg) -- The perceived risk of owning
corporate bonds soared worldwide on concern over losses at hedge
funds run by Bear Stearns Cos.

Credit-default swaps based on 10 million euros ($13
million) of debt included in the iTraxx Crossover Series 7 Index
of 50 European companies jumped as much as 16,000 euros to
216,000 euros, the biggest one-day rise in three months,
according to Deutsche Bank AG. The CDX Crossover index in New
York surged as much as $10,000 to a nine-month high of $178,000.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

FMC to shut Baltimore agricultural chemicals plant

(Reuters) - The company said it will see benefits to its continuing
operations of between $5 million and $6 million in 2007 and
about $25 million to $30 million on an annualized basis in
2009.




The decision to close the plant was driven by FMC's efforts
to keep costs low by buying raw materials, intermediates and
finished products at lower-cost manufacturing locations.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

World needs rules for burying greenhouse gases: IEA

(Reuters) - The IEA said pilot projects for capturing gases -- emitted
mainly by burning fossil fuels in power plants, refineries, and
factories -- now accounted for just 0.05 percent of the
potential total by mid-century.




"There is a need...for a worldwide agreement on the legal
challenges," Claude Mandil, executive director of the IEA,
which advises 26 industrialized nations, told a news briefing
in Oslo during a conference on carbon capture and storage.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

U.K. Index Drops, Paced by Shares of Segro, Land Securities, DSG, Tesco

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks fell for a fourth day,
led by Segro Plc and Land Securities Group Plc among companies
that are most sensitive to higher interest rates. DSG
International Plc and Tesco Plc paced retailers lower.

Bradford & Bingley Plc led a decline by banks, while Vedanta
Resources Plc and Antofagasta Plc fell with the price of copper.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Competition to crimp Talanx profit growth in 2007

(Reuters) - Talanx has gotten out of some businesses, which will be
reflected in lower 2007 premiums, Haas said.




Talanx reinsurance unit Hannover Re sold its U.S.
specialty business, Praetorian, for example.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-S.Africa court to rule on police joining strike

(Reuters) - JOHANNESBURG, June 21 - South Africa's labour
court was expected to rule on Thursday on whether police,
prisons and traffic officers could join an already crippling
three-week public sector strike.




The court issued an interim interdict last Friday
prohibiting members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union
from taking part in the mass action, billed by unions
as the largest public strike in post-apartheid South Africa.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Bear Stearns Hedge Fund Collapse, Auction Send Shudder Through CDO Market

(Bloomberg) -- Merrill Lynch & Co.'s threat to sell
$800 million of mortgage securities seized from Bear Stearns Cos.
hedge funds is sending shudders across Wall Street.

A sale would give banks, brokerages and investors the one
thing they want to avoid: a real price on the bonds in the fund
that could serve as a benchmark. The securities are known as
collateralized debt obligations, which exceed $1 trillion and
comprise the fastest-growing part of the bond market.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News