UPDATE 1-Mittal eyeing AK Steel deal -- FT Web site

(Reuters) - Shares of Ohio-based AK Steel rose to $39 before the closing bell in New York from a close at $32.06 on Monday.

FT Alphaville, which did not cite its sources or say how many people confirmed the report, said a deal could value AK at up to $40 per share, or just under $4.5 billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Norway Leads Declines in Western Europe; Volvo, UPM, Norske Skog Slump

(Bloomberg) -- Nordic stocks declined for the first time in three days, paced by Volvo AB, Europe's second-largest truckmaker, and UPM-Kymmene Oyi, the third-biggest papermaker.

Norske Skogindustrier ASA dropped to a 10-month low after Deutsche Bank AG reduced its projection for shares of the world's biggest maker of newsprint.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

McDonald's April same-store sales rise 4.8 pct

(Reuters) - Same-store sales rose 3.5 percent in both the United States, McDonald's biggest market, and Europe. In the company's Asia-Pacific business, same-store sales were up 10.3 percent.




Read more at Reuters.com Market News

UPDATE 1-ISTA's trial of eye drug has mixed results

(Reuters) - The company said the study showed statistical significance in the reduction of eye itching, but did not achieve statistical significance in the second main target, eye redness.

This news follows the company's announcement on Friday that U.S. health regulators rejected its treatment for eye inflammation, T-Pred. That day, ISTA lost almost a third of its market value.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

CVS/Caremark posts higher profit

(Reuters) - CVS, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, said revenue jumped 32.1 percent to $13.18 billion. As previously reported, sales at stores open more than one year rose 7.5 percent.

CVS has been opening new stores, adding in-store clinics to some locations and beefing up its operations with two large acquisitions in the past year. It bought the Osco and Sav-on chains from Albertsons last year and bought Caremark in March.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Banco Itau's First-Quarter Net Rises 30 Percent on Higher Consumer Lending

(Bloomberg) -- Banco Itau Holding Financeira SA, Brazil's biggest non-government bank, said first-quarter profit rose 30 percent as the company lent more to consumers.

Net income increased to 1.9 billion reais ($941 million), or 1.59 reais a share, from 1.46 billion reais, or 1.32 reais a share, a year earlier, the Sao Paulo-based company said in a statement today on the Brazilian securities regulator's Web site. That beat the 1.52 billion-reais estimate by Carlos Macedo, a bank analyst at Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros SA.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

UPDATE 1-Tyco quarterly profit falls

(Reuters) - Net earnings fell 6.7 percent to $835 million, or 41 cents per share, in Tyco's fiscal second quarter, from $895 million, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding discontinued operations and charges Tyco's separation and restructuring, earnings from continuing operations were 49 cents cents per share, beating analysts' average forecast by 2 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News