US STOCKS-Dow, S&P hit records on jobs and Wal-Mart

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 1 - U.S. stocks rose on Friday,
driving the Dow and the S&P 500 to record finishes, as strong
jobs and manufacturing data reassured investors about the
economy's health.




Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shares jumped 3.9 percent
after it announced plans for a $15 billion stock buyback and
trimmed its expansion plans. For details, see [ID:nN01324918]


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Storm kicks off Atlantic hurricane season

(Reuters) - Barry was bearing maximum sustained winds of about 45 miles per hour and heading north at about 12 mph .




No significant change in the storm's strength was expected before it reaches the coast, the hurricane center said.


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Washington Mutual says subprime loans fare better

(Reuters) - The biggest U.S. savings and loan is one of many mortgage providers to tighten their loan standards. Industrywide easing in 2005 and 2006 allowed many borrowers with weak credit to obtain home loans they couldn't afford.




A surge in the number of borrowers who missed their first or second payments made it tougher for many lenders to sell loans, and cut the value of loans they kept on their books.


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Key shareholder at Austria's RHI blocks dividend

(Reuters) - According to Chief Executive Andreas Meier, the cash to be
paid as a dividend was now earmarked for acquisitions.




"We believe that the window of opportunity is only open now
and that those firms would not be available in the future,"
Meier was quoted as saying by local news agency APA.


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U.S. auto sales rebound after weak spring

(Reuters) - Ford Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. bucked the trend by posting a decline of 10 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, in May sales. Ford also surrendered the industry's No. 2 spot to Toyota for the month.




GM , which beat Wall Street expectations with a nearly 5 percent sales gain, cut its forecast for industrywide sales in 2007 but said retail sales likely had stabilized after a weak spring that had raised concerns about a deepening slump tied to a slower U.S. housing market.


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TREASURIES-Prices fall as job growth shrinks chance of rate cuts

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 1 - U.S. government debt prices
slid on Friday after strong labor and manufacturing reports
all but quashed the market's remaining hopes for a Federal
Reserve interest-rate cut this year.




The retreat sent benchmark yields, which move inversely to
prices, to their highest levels in more than nine months.


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First rated microfinance bond sells to strong demand

(Reuters) - Microfinance aims to provide financial services to
low-income borrowers who have been excluded from traditional
commercial banking. The service offers loans, usually less than
$200, to individuals to start or expand small businesses.




Standard & Poor's rated the deal and expects to rate up to
three transactions in coming months. Issuance may reach $500
million by the end of 2007 and grow to $1 billion to $3 billion
a year over the next decade, S&P said last month.


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Chilectra may bid for PPL electricity distributor

(Reuters) - "The sale process opened this week and we are evaluating
the asset and will make a decision in coming days, in the
period of time stipulated," he told journalists in Santiago.




Emel has 575,000 clients in Chile, among them some of the
energy-hungry mines in the north that produce much of the
world's copper.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Germany's DAX Index Advances, Paced by Deutsche Telekom, Allianz, Metro

(Bloomberg) -- German stocks advanced for a second
day, led by Deutsche Telekom AG rose as investors speculated the
company may consider selling its U.S. mobile phone unit.

Allianz SE, Europe's largest insurer, gained after Goldman,
Sachs & Co. added the stock to its ``conviction buy'' list and
to its ``Pan-Europe buy'' list. SAP AG rose on speculation that
U.S. competitor Oracle Corp. bought a 12 percent stake in the
world's largest maker of business-management software,


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Coffee Rises to Seven-Week High; Brazil Farm Subsidies May Boost Prices

(Bloomberg) -- Coffee in New York rose to a
seven-week high after Brazil, the biggest producer,
announced a subsidy plan that may boost domestic prices for
arabica beans.

The government said it will pay farmers 40 reais ($21)
to ensure they get 300 reais a bag, and will hold auctions
twice a month, each for as many as 1 million bags. Arabica,
the mild-tasting bean preferred by coffeehouse operators
such as Starbucks Corp., is traded in New York.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Crude Oil, Gasoline Futures Rise on Signs Fuel-Supply Deficit Won't Narrow

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil and gasoline rose on
concern that U.S. refiners aren't increasing motor-fuel
production enough to replenish stockpiles.

U.S. gasoline supplies in the week ended May 25 were 6.7
percent lower than the five-year average for the period, the
Energy Department said yesterday. Refineries operated at 91.1
percent of capacity last week, unchanged from the week before.
U.S. gasoline consumption peaks during the summer driving season.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Glaxo, Leading Consumer-Ad Spender, Didn't Publicize Diabetes Drug's Risks

(Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc was the drug
industry's top advertiser last year, promoting its asthma and
diabetes treatments to patients and doctors. Information the
company didn't make well known is now drawing more attention.

London-based Glaxo knew its Avandia diabetes pill posed a
risk for heart and circulatory complications as early as 1999,
when the medicine won U.S. approval. The cardiovascular concern
wasn't widely disseminated until May 21 when a Cleveland Clinic
Foundation analysis reported that Avandia may cause a 43 percent
higher risk of heart attacks than other drugs.


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

Moody's may cut Consolidated Natural Gas's ratings

(Reuters) - Dominion will assume all obligations related to
Consolidated Gas's debt. The move is targeted for the second or
third quarter of the year.




The merger would most likely result in a one notch
downgrade of Consolidated Gas's ratings to the level of
Dominion's ratings, Moody's said in a release.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Eos helps lift U.S. VW brand car sales in May

(Reuters) - For the first five months through May, VW's sales fell 4.4
percent to 91,743 units.




Read more at Reuters.com Market News

TREASURIES-Bond prices down on strong jobs, manufacturing

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 1 - U.S. government debt prices
slid on Friday, sending benchmark yields to 9-1/2-month highs,
after strong jobs and manufacturing reports all but
extinguished market expectations for a Federal Reserve interest
rate cut this year.




In see-saw trade, the market initially posted small gains
as a muted core inflation reading briefly helped offset the
negative impact on bonds of higher-than-expected job creation
in the nonfarm payrolls report.


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Nymex Natural Gas Falls; Needs Push to Leap Narrow Range, Chartists Say

(Bloomberg) -- Natural gas fell in New York as
traders absorb a U.S. government report showing stockpiles of the
fuel remain above a five-year average and look toward the
market's technical aspects.

With normal weather and no hurricanes yet in the Atlantic
storm season, analysts say much of today's trading will be based
on technical indicators, measures used by traders who rely on
chart patterns to predict price movements.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

New Credit Rules Threaten to Derail South African Consumer Spending Spree

(Bloomberg) -- South Africa implemented credit laws
today that may slow a spending boom that has fueled the longest
stretch of economic expansion since World War II.

The National Credit Act will force banks and retailers to
better assess consumers' ability to pay before granting them
credit and restricts their ability to market loans to new
customers and take legal action against defaulters.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

TREASURIES-Bond prices sag on strong jobs report

(Reuters) - NEW YORK, June 1 - U.S. government debt prices
fell on Friday, sending benchmark yields to fresh nine-month
highs, after a strong jobs report all but dashed market
expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut this
year.




In see-saw trade, the market initially posted small gains
as a muted core inflation reading briefly helped offset the
negative impact on bonds of higher-than-expected job creation
in the nonfarm payrolls report.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

AstraZeneca gets mixed news from US Prilosec trial

(Reuters) - The rulings by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York represented the second wave of patent disputes over Prilosec.



In 2002, the court ruled that Andrx, Cheminor, and Genpharm had infringed AstraZeneca's patents, but that KUDCo/Schwarz Pharma had not.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

Schwab, Mandelson Try to Jump-Start Stalled Talks for World Trade Accord

(Bloomberg) -- Trade chiefs from the European Union
and the U.S. are meeting today in Brussels amid new signs of
progress in efforts to revive long-stalled global trade talks.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and U.S. Trade
Representative Susan Schwab are trying to capitalize on the
desire of leaders such as British Prime Minister Tony Blair and
German Chancellor Angela Merkel to conclude a deal, as well as
U.S. willingness to ease a demand to slash agricultural tariffs
by as much as 85 percent.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Dollar Rises to Three-Month High Against Yen After U.S. Employment Report

(Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose to a more than three-
month high against the yen as a government report showed U.S.
employers added more jobs last month than economists forecast.

The U.S. currency strengthened on speculation the data may
reduce the likelihood of a cut in borrowing costs by the Federal
Reserve. The central bank said in minutes of its May 9 meeting
released this week that it still expects a pickup in the economy
this year and views inflation as its main concern.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

TREASURIES-Bonds edge lower in wait for US payrolls

(Reuters) - "The market is braced for pretty strong data, given the
move that we've had and a lot of long positions have been
liquidated," said Wan Chong Kung, senior fixed-income portfolio
manager at First American Funds in Minneapolis.




The benchmark 10-year Treasury note's yield hit a
nine-month high on Thursday above 4.92 percent after an
surprisingly strong reading of Midwest business activity for
May slashed the chance of even a single Federal Reserve rate
cut in 2007.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Slovak Economy Expanded 9 Percent in First Quarter, Final Report Shows

(Bloomberg) -- Slovakia's economy expanded an annual 9
percent in the first quarter as growing wages fueled consumer
spending and exports continued to rise.

Gross domestic product growth in the first three months of
2007 slowed from 9.6 percent in the fourth quarter, the
Bratislava-based Slovak Statistical Office said today in an e-
mailed statement from Bratislava. The final figure was little
changed from the preliminary 8.9 percent rate issued on May 15.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Taiwan Dollar Has Best Week Since December; Philippine Peso Strengthens

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan's dollar completed the biggest
five-day rally since Dec. 1 on speculation the central bank
stemmed a descent that last week reached a 17-month.

The currency rose for a second week after the central bank
yesterday said mutual funds should invest more in local stocks
rather than sending money abroad. The island's dollar yesterday
touched the strongest since March 2.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

European shares rise early, wary of US jobs data

(Reuters) - European shares rose early on Friday, echoing gains in global equities, although investors were cautious ahead of a key read on the U.S. labour market later in the session.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.3 percent to 1,616.72 points, having hit an early six-and-a-half year high of 1,616.98 points.


Read more at Reuters Africa

French Shares Gain, Paced by Veolia Environnement; Groupe Danone Increases

(Bloomberg) -- French stocks advanced, led by Veolia
Environnement SA and Groupe Danone.

The CAC 40 Index added 6.65, or 0.1 percent, to 6110.65 at
9:15 a.m. in Paris, as 21 stocks rose, 16 fell and two were
unchanged. The broader SBF 120 Index added 2.7, or 0.1 percent,
to 4467.33.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

S&P 500 ends at record, Dell jumps after hours

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed at a record on Thursday as plans for a $6.8 billion takeover in the financial sector and data pointing to strength in industrial activity underpinned demand for equities.

Wachovia Corp.'s proposed buyout of A.G. Edwards Inc. sent shares of brokerages higher, while strong Midwest manufacturing data boosted shares of industrials, including United Technologies Corp. and DuPont.


Read more at Reuters Africa