Asian Stocks Rise in U.S. Trading, Paced by Santos on Oil; Solarfun Drops

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks gained in U.S. trading
for a third day as a rise in oil prices lifted some energy shares
including Santos Ltd.

Chinese solar shares slipped after Solarfun Power Holdings
Co. reported an unexpected loss.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Novell reports loss versus year earlier profit

(Reuters) - It had a fiscal second-quarter net loss of $2.2 million, or 1 cent a share, compared to net income of $3.2 million, or 1 cent per share, a year earlier.



Net revenue rose to $239 million from $233 million a year earlier.


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Chico's 1st-qtr profit falls

(Reuters) - The operator of the Chico's and White House Black Market chains said net income for the first quarter was $47.2 million, or 27 cents per share, compared with $52.5 million, or 29 cents per share, a year ago.



Income from continuing operations was 28 cents per share.


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UPDATE 1-Prosecution rests case in Conrad Black trial

(Reuters) - CHICAGO, May 30 - Prosecutors wrapped up their
case in Conrad Black's criminal fraud trial on Wednesday after
11 weeks of testimony designed to convince jurors the one-time
high-flying media mogul and his associates are thieves.




Black did get a bit of good news as the government rested
its case when prosecutors, without explanation, dropped a
single count of money laundering against him.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

U.S. Stocks Gain on Buyout Speculation; S&P 500 Rises Above Record Close

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose for a third day,
pushing the Standard & Poor's 500 Index above its record close,
after buyout speculation intensified in the real estate industry
and a jump in oil prices lifted shares of energy producers.

Simon Property Group, the largest U.S. real estate
investment trust, climbed after Deutsche Bank AG upgraded its
shares and seven other property companies following the $13.5
billion buyout of Archstone-Smith Trust. Energy shares, led by
Exxon Mobil Corp., contributed the most to the advance in the
S&P 500 Index after oil prices rose.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

S&P, Fitch may cut Archstone on leveraged buyout

(Reuters) - "The CreditWatch placements reflect the uncertainty
surrounding the ultimate operating profile and financing of
this transaction, as well as the potential that Archstone's
balance sheet will become more highly leveraged after the
merger," S&P said in a statement.




"It is unclear whether the rated senior notes will remain
outstanding in the longer term or if the partnership will
pursue a tender offer," S&P said. "We believe the partnership
will not want to operate under the restrictive covenants and
will most likely pursue a tender offer for the outstanding
senior notes."


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Archstone stock above offer price amid new bid talk

(Reuters) - The sales of at least two other big REITS in the past year have attracted interest from other bidders, and experts say Archstone-Smith could also attract a rival offer.




Archstone-Smith shares were trading around the $61 mark on Wednesday, above the $60.75 per share being offered by real estate firm Tishman Speyer and investment bank Lehman in their cash bid unveiled on Tuesday that values Archstone-Smith at about $13.5 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

UPDATE 1-Outback Steakhouse same-store sales fell in May

(Reuters) - Same-store sales, a key retail measure, also fell at OSI's
Carrabba's Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Roy's restaurants,
the company said in a statement.




OSI, which is in the process of being taken private, has
been hard-hit by sluggish sales at its flagship chain. Like
many casual dining companies, Outback Steakhouse has struggled
with a pullback in consumer spending and higher costs of beef
and other ingredients.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

OMX not in talks with rival suitors: sources

(Reuters) - Nasdaq is paying $3.7 billion for OMX, valuing the exchange owner at 206 crowns a share, but OMX shares have been trading higher than the offer since it was unveiled in expectation of another suitor.




The sources said, however, there are no discussions at the moment.


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Nigerian state sues drugmaker Pfizer over tests

(Reuters) - The attorney general of Kano, in northern Nigeria, filed five claims for damages totaling $2.075 billion before a state high court. The defendants are Pfizer, its Nigerian subsidiary and seven individuals who worked for the companies in 1996.




"The plaintiff contends that prior to the treatment by the first defendant , the children treated ... which children number 200, did not have the medical conditions or disorders which they suffered after being treated," the suit says.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index Falls, Led by Royal Bank, Barclays; BP, Shell Drop

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks declined, paced by Royal
Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Barclays Plc after the battle for
control of ABN Amro Holding NV picked up in the largest takeover
in the banking industry.

BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest energy
companies, led oil shares lower after crude tumbled yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Venezuela's Local Bonds Drop Amid Fifth Day of Street Protests in Caracas

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan government debt fell in
local markets as people took to the streets for a fifth day to
protest President Hugo Chavez's decision to pull the country's
most-watched television network off the air.

Concern that protests will turn violent again led investors
to sell dollar- and bolivar-denominated bonds in the local
market and move money out of the country, pushing down the
currency in the black market, traders said. Police have detained
more than 180 people since May 27, the day that Chavez let the
concession granted to Radio Caracas Television expire, Interior
Minister Pedro Carreno said last night.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

UPDATE 1-Hambrecht, Google exec to form rival to NFL-report

(Reuters) - The league -- to be named the United Football League --
already boasts billionaire Mark Cuban, who owns the National
Basketball Association's Dallas team, among its owners, the
paper said.




Hambrecht, Google and Cuban were not immediately available
to comment.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

S.Africa's NUM union rejects Angloplat wage offer

(Reuters) - South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers said on Wednesday it had rejected a 6 percent pay rise offer from Anglo Platinum Ltd and was sticking to its demand for 15 percent.

"We would like to remind the powers that be at Anglo that the NUM is in no way playing when it talks of double digits," the union said in a statement. "We stick to our 15 percent demand, and we invite Anglo to come to the party."


Read more at Reuters Africa

Copper Futures Decline in N.Y. on Concerns China Economic Growth Will Slow

(Bloomberg) -- Copper fell for a second day in New
York after equity markets in China tumbled, fueling speculation
that economic growth may slow in the world's largest consumer of
the metal.

China's benchmark CSI 300 Index dropped 6.8 percent, the
most in three months, after the government tripled the tax on
securities transactions to cool a rally that has doubled the
value of local stocks in 2007. Copper prices have tripled in the
past four years partly on a booming Chinese economy.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Greenspan's China Stock `Contraction' Unraveling Economy Gets Minimal Risk

(Bloomberg) -- Even if former Federal Reserve
Chairman Alan Greenspan is right, the ``dramatic contraction''
he predicts for Chinese stocks isn't likely to infect the
international economy.

That's the conclusion of a number of international
economists and former government officials around the globe.
They say China's economy shows little correlation with its stock
market, foreigners are mostly excluded from owning shares and
Chinese participation is limited to less than 10 percent of the
population, reducing the effect of a bursting bubble.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

US STOCKS-Futures fall on China stocks slide

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, May 30 - U.S. stock futures fell on
Wednesday, suggesting a lower market opening, after a 6.5
percent drop in Chinese stocks sparked worries that the selling
could spread to U.S. markets.




The slide in Chinese stocks followed an announcement from
China's Ministry of Finance during Tuesday's U.S. trading
session of an increase in a stock trading tax. European stocks
also declined on Wednesday.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Shell's Nigerian Venture Begins to Restore Lost Output Following Protests

(Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Nigerian
venture began to restore 150,000 barrels a day of Bonny light
crude oil today following an attack on pipelines yesterday.

Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said villagers yesterday
raided the Bomu Manifold, a gathering point for crude flowing to
the Bonny export terminal. Production was briefly halted.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Germany's DAX Declines; BMW, Volkswagen and TUI Shares Pace the Retreat

(Bloomberg) -- German stocks fell for the first time
in three days, led by Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Volkswagen
AG. Shares of TUI AG also dropped.

The DAX lost 87.63, or 1.1 percent, to 7693.41 at 3:53 p.m.
in Frankfurt, headed for the biggest one-day drop in three weeks.
DAX futures expiring in June retreated 1 percent to 7713. The
HDAX Index of the country's 110 biggest companies slid 1 percent.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Congo Katanga appoints LN Metals marketing agent

(Reuters) - Katanga Mining has appointed London-based trading firm LN Metals as sole marketing agent for copper and cobalt from its Kamoto project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, LN said on Tuesday.

The deal covers 2007 and 2008, LN Metals said in a statement.


Read more at Reuters Africa

European shares lower on China and banks, data eyed

(Reuters) - European shares fell in early trade on Wednesday, following losses in Asian markets after China tripled a share-trading tax to cool its red-hot market, while banking stocks added to further losses.

Banking stocks weighed the most with the DJ Stoxx European banking sector index down 0.6 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland


Read more at Reuters Africa

S.Africa's NWK sees frost cutting maize yield

(Reuters) - NWK Ltd, a grain co-operative in South Africa's key North West province, expects frost to cut the yield from late plantings to about 50 percent of maize planted earlier, an NWK official said on Wednesday.

The comments are likely to heighten concerns about South Africa's maize output this season after severe drought slashed production and pushed prices to record highs.


Read more at Reuters Africa

China, Hong Kong Debt Ratings May be Raised, Moody's Says, Citing Reforms

(Bloomberg) -- China's debt rating may be increased,
Moody's Investors Service said, citing the country's swelling
foreign-exchange reserves and success in strengthening its
banking system.

China's A2 long-term foreign-currency rating is under
review for possible upgrade, Moody's said in a statement in New
York today. The rating is the sixth highest of Moody's 10
investment-grade levels. Hong Kong's Aa3 rating is also being
reviewed for a possible upgrade, Moody's said.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Taiwan Dollar Option Volatility to Rise as Central Bank Supports Currency

(Bloomberg) -- The volatility of options on the
Taiwan dollar may increase as speculation rises that the central
bank is supporting the currency in the foreign exchange market.

``The central bank has drawn a line in the sand,'' said
Claudio Piron, head of Asian currency research at JPMorgan Chase
in Singapore. ``The message from the central bank is that the
dollar-Taiwan exchange rate is capped, and they don't want to
see any progressive weakness in their currency.''


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Yen Rebounds From Record Low Against Euro as Chinese Stocks Slump

(Bloomberg) -- The yen rebounded from a record low
versus the euro after Chinese stocks slumped and investors sold
emerging-market assets bought with money borrowed in Japan.

Japan's yen rose against 14 of the 16 most actively traded
currencies after China increased a tax on securities transactions
to stem a rally in shares. The yen has fallen 4 percent versus the
euro and 2.2 percent against the dollar this year as investors
take advantage of the lowest interest rate of the major economies
to fund investment in higher-yielding assets elsewhere.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Bioenvision's key shareholder opposes deal with Genzyme

(Reuters) - SCO Capital Partners LLC owns 13.4 percent of the biotechnology company's outstanding common stock as of May 3, 2007 according to a regulatory filing. On Tuesday, Genzyme said it had offered to buy Bioenvision for $5.60 a share or about a total of $345 million in cash. The deal would give Genzyme exclusive rights to clofarabine, a cancer treatment for children.






Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Crude Oil Rises on Supply Concerns as Militants Attack Nigerian Pipeline

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil in New York pared gains after
production began to resume from a Nigerian pipeline that was
attacked and shut down yesterday.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's largest oil company by market
value, has begun restoring 150,000 barrels of lost output after an
attack on a pipeline yesterday, said spokesman Precious Okolobo.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Looming Crash Prompts Most Hires for Distressed-Debt Traders Since 2002

(Bloomberg) -- The biggest winners from the global
buyout boom are hiring distressed-debt bankers in Europe at the
fastest pace in five years.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the world's most profitable
securities firm, hired Andrew Wilkinson, the lawyer who advised
creditors in the bankruptcies of Eurotunnel Plc and Parmalat
Finanziaria SpA, to help lead its restructuring business in
London. Morgan Stanley, the third most-active merger adviser
this year behind Citigroup Inc. and Goldman, added seven bankers
in the past year, boosting its group to 61. Blackstone Group LP,
poised to become the world's largest publicly traded buyout
firm, is starting a corporate restructuring group in Europe.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Traders see 121,300 US May nonfarm job gain in auction

(Reuters) - The U.S. Labor Department will issue the May non-farm
payroll report on Friday at 8:30 a.m. .




Wednesday's derivatives auction was the second of five such
auctions on non-farm payrolls scheduled this week.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News