Shares set to open little changed, GE in focus

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks surged on Thursday, with the Dow hitting a record on its biggest point gain since 2002 after healthy sales from retailers reassured investors about consumer spending and miner Rio Tinto's bid for Alcan raised the prospect of more consolidation.




On Thursday, the S&P 500 gained 1.9 percent, the Dow Jones put on 2.1 percent and the Nasdaq rose 1.9 percent.


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U.S. Stock-Index Futures Are Little Changed; GE Declines, Alcoa Advances

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures were little
changed before General Electric Co. posts second-quarter
earnings, and the government releases a report that may show how
the consumer is coping with the housing crisis.

GE fell in Germany after announcing it will sell its
subprime mortgage unit. Separately, the world's second-biggest
company by market value may say profit increased.


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Oil Rises as IEA Says World Crude Demand Will Gain 2.5 Percent Next Year

(Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose after the International
Energy Agency said world oil demand will increase ``a robust'' 2.5
percent next year.

Demand will rise to 88.2 million barrels a day in 2008
``largely due to a weather-related rebound in the OECD and strong
demand in non-OECD countries,'' the agency, an adviser to oil-
consuming nations, said today in its monthly report.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

IEA Expects Greater Global Flexibility to Refine Heavy Crude Oil From 2008

(Bloomberg) -- The International Energy Agency, an
adviser to 26 oil-consuming nations, said refinery upgrades next
year will boost the potential to process heavier crude grades,
easing market tightness.

During the next five years, investment in equipment will
mean refiners will be better able to turn increasing quantities
of heavy crude and fuel oils into lighter products such as
diesel, the Paris-based IEA said in a report today. Global oil
demand will jump 2.5 percent next year to 88.21 million barrels
a day, it said.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Zambia's Konkola agrees to wage deal with miners

(Reuters) - Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) has signed a new labour deal that will give its unionised workers a 20-percent salary increase, a union official said on Friday.

Albert Mando, the general secretary of the National Union of Allied and Mining Workers (Numaw), said workers agreed to the deal after the company, majority-owned by London-based Vedanta Resources, raised its wage offer from 16 percent.


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Blackstone Founders, Schwarzman May Avoid Paying Taxes on Gains From IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP's founders
including Stephen Schwarzman will eventually get back some, if
not all, of the taxes they pay on $3.7 billion in gains from the
management company's initial public offering last month.

Blackstone said in filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission that it would apply a commonly used strategy that
requires a firm's new shareholders to return to the founders most
of the value of tax benefits created when the original partners
sold a portion of their interest in the company.


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Tunisia aluminium firm plans $15.6 mln share sale

(Reuters) - Tunisian shaped aluminium maker Tunisie Profiles Aluminium (TPR) aims to raise 20.16 million dinars by floating 16.1 percent of its capital on the local stock market, a brokerage said.

TPR is offering 4.8 million new shares, 70 percent of them for foreign investors, at 4.20 dinars each, Amen Invest said on its Web site. Subscriptions will be open from July 18 to 24.


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