European Bonds Extend Losses as Central Banks Prepare to Raise Rates

(Bloomberg) -- European government bonds fell on
speculation that global interest rates are set to rise further.

The yield on the benchmark two-year note touched the highest
in more than six years yesterday as traders increased bets the
European Central Bank would lift rates twice more this year.
Yields on 10-year Treasury notes climbed to the highest in five
years yesterday as former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
predicted an increase in benchmark yields and greater premiums on
emerging-market debt.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Asian Stocks Fall to Two-Week Low on Rising Bond Yields; Samsung Declines

(Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks fell to a two-week low
on concern rising global interest rates will sap demand in the
world's largest economies.

Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Co. led declines among exporters after yields on
U.S. bonds climbed to the highest in five years. BHP Billiton Ltd.
led mining shares lower after metals prices dropped.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Lehman's `Gazillions' in Profit Show Firm Is No Longer Just a Bond Shop

(Bloomberg) -- Jim Claire was so concerned that
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was on the brink of failure in
1998 that he stopped trading with the firm.

``Everybody thought they couldn't finance themselves,''
said Claire, who at the time provided overnight loans to New
York-based Lehman as a trader with First Capital Group.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Retail Sales in the U.S. Probably Rose in May as Gasoline Purchases Jumped

(Bloomberg) -- Retail sales in the U.S. probably
rose in May as record gasoline prices lifted purchases at
service stations, economists said ahead of a report today.

Sales rose 0.6 percent after a 0.2 percent decline in
April, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News
survey of 76 economists. Excluding automobiles, purchases
probably increased 0.7 percent last month after no change.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Big employers propose health benefits overhaul

(Reuters) - The committee, which includes executives from IBM and Tyco International Ltd., spent more than a year studying how to overhaul corporate health and retirement benefits to rein in soaring employer costs.




"Deficiencies in the current system clearly are challenging employers and, in some cases, the viability of the benefits system in general," the committee said in its report.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

International Forest, Q9 Networks and Trinidad: Canadian Equity Preview

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares may have unusual price changes in Canadian markets.
This preview includes news that broke after markets closed.
Symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are
from the last close.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index fell 108.49, or
0.8 percent, to 13724.33.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Sugar Falls Most in a Week in New York on Swelling Surplus, India Exports

(Bloomberg) -- Sugar in New York fell the most in a
week as Brazil and India, the two largest sugarcane producers,
prepare to harvest record crops.

Brazil will collect 513.3 million tons of cane this year,
the government estimates. India may harvest 315.5 million tons,
according to the farm ministry. The global sugar surplus for the
year ending Sept. 30 may reach 9.2 million metric tons, the
London-based International Sugar Organization estimates.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Japan's Government Bonds Decline for Ninth Day on Slump in U.S. Treasuries

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's government bonds fell for a
ninth day, the longest slide in three years, after former Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan predicted declines in U.S. and
emerging market debt.

``Bond yields are rising globally and Japan is catching up,''
said Masuhisa Kobayashi, chief Japan bond strategist at Barclays
Capital Japan in Tokyo. ``Yields look like they are pricing in an
expectation for a rate increase, which gives a good excuse for the
central bank in Japan to raise rates in coming months.''


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

S.Africa data may understate growth - deputy president

(Reuters) - South Africa's economy may be growing faster than official statistics show, the country's deputy president said on Tuesday.

"Like the president, I find it hard to believe that our economy is not growing faster than the statistics indicate," Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka said in a speech to parliament.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Swiss Franc Falls to Three-Week-Low Against Euro on Interest Rate Outlook

(Bloomberg) -- The Swiss franc fell to a three-week
low versus the euro as speculation the central bank won't raise
interest rates after this week's meeting spurred the so-called
carry trade.

The franc fell for a fourth day as investors continued to
borrow in Switzerland's low-interest-rate currency to fund
purchases of other higher-yielding assets. The Swiss National
Bank will probably raise borrowing costs a quarter-point to 2.5
percent on June 14, according to a Bloomberg News survey.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

UPDATE 1-Canada Q1 productivity surges, outpaces U.S.

(Reuters) - The productivity gain was the largest since the third
quarter of 2005 and outpaced the 0.1-percent rate of the United
States as an economic slowdown took its toll.




Statscan revised the productivity figures back to the first
quarter of 2002, including a downward revision of the annual
2006 rate to 1.0 percent from 1.2 percent, compared with the
U.S. rate of 1.7 percent in the same period. The fourth-quarter
2006 figure was tweaked downward from 0.3 percent previously.
But the revisions had no impact on the average gap in
productivity between the two countries, the agency said.


Read more at Reuters.com Economic News

Subprime Second-Mortgage Bond Downgrades Surging, Moody's Report Shows

(Bloomberg) -- Moody's Investors Service so far
this year has cut or considered lowering ratings on 139 classes
of securitizations in 2006 of U.S. subprime second mortgages.

The ratings actions, which compares with 29 for 2005
issues, comprise 14 percent of the classes of subprime second-
mortgage bonds sold last year, New York-based Moody's said in a
report last week. That compares with 1.5 percent for classes of
bonds backed by first-lien subprime mortgages from 2006.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Iberdrola to Sell $12 Billion of Debt to Finance Scottish Power Purchase

(Bloomberg) -- Iberdrola SA, Spain's second-biggest
power company, plans to borrow about $12 billion in bonds and
loans to refinance its purchase of Scottish Power Plc.

The Bilbao, Spain-based company will sell about $6 billion
of bonds in euros and pounds in October after presenting a
strategic plan to investors, chief financial officer Jose Sainz
Armada said in an interview. Iberdrola will also seek $6 billion
in loans, he said.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

S.Africa's Absa raises $3.85 mln in pref placement

(Reuters) - South Africa's Absa Bank, a unit of Absa Group Ltd, raised 27.9 million rand by placing 31,223 preference shares at a price of 894.19 rand a share, the bank said on Tuesday.

The preference shares have an effective dividend rate of 72.25 percent of prime, it said in a statement.


Read more at Reuters Africa

DRC cuts power supplies to Zimbabwe over debt - report

(Reuters) - The Democratic Republic of Congo has cut electricity to Zimbabwe over non payment of a $5 million debt, official media reported on Tuesday, as the country continues to suffer massive power blackouts.

Zimbabwe imports 35 percent of its electricity needs from South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo because it can not produce enough from its ageing local generating plants.


Read more at Reuters Africa

RBNZ battles Japan FX day-traders post-intervention

(Reuters) - Japanese day traders and other individual traders nearly
doubled their bets on a stronger New Zealand dollar on Monday
after the selling by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in its first
intervention since the NZ dollar was allowed to trade freely in
1985.




Data from the Tokyo Financial Exchange showed that Japanese
margin traders -- who use borrowed funds to boost the size of
their bets -- raised their positions in the New Zealand dollar to
$347 million from $180 million the previous day.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Saudi Aramco Starts Ras Tanura Asphalt Unit After May Maintenance Shutdown

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Aramco, the world's largest
state-owned oil company, started its Ras Tanura refinery's asphalt
unit after shutting it in May for maintenance.

``The start-up was yesterday,'' Fuad al-Therman, the
company's public relations department manager, said in an e-mailed
statement today.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Mauritius sees record trade deficit in 2007

(Reuters) - Mauritius expects its trade deficit to widen 3.9 percent to a record 43 billion Mauritius rupees in 2007 from 41.4 billion rupees in the previous year, the Central Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

"Based on trends for previous years, total exports for the year 2007 are expected to be of the order of 83,000 million rupees, against imports of 126,000 million rupees," the CSO said, noting the import of aircraft worth 2.9 billion rupees.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Deadline for Arcelor's China buy extended again

(Reuters) - "At present we are gradually implementing provisions of the
deal in accordance with the requests of the relevant national
authorities," it said, without elaborating.




Arcelor agreed in February 2006, when it was in the process
of merging with Mittal to form the world's largest steelmaker,
to buy 38.41 percent of Laiwu, China's eighth-biggest steel
firm, in a deal valued by Chinese sources at about $260 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Dollar Trades Near Two-Month High Against Euro Before Inflation Report

(Bloomberg) -- The dollar traded near a two-month
high against the euro before U.S. reports this week that will
probably signal economic growth is recovering.

The U.S. dollar gained for a fifth day versus the euro, the
longest winning run since October, as traders have pared bets
the Federal Reserve will lower borrowing costs this year. The
U.K. pound advanced after Bank of England Governor Mervyn King
suggested interest rates will rise from a six-year high.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

European Stocks Fall, Led by HBOS; Infineon, STMicroelectronics Decline

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell after HBOS Plc
said its market share of U.K. mortgage lending may decline and
Texas Instruments Inc. said sales will miss its highest
estimates, sending technology shares lower.

Infineon Technologies AG and STMicroelectronics NV, Europe's
biggest makers of semiconductors, declined.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Fortis chief rules out bid war for ABN: paper

(Reuters) - "As far as Fortis is concerned, we think that this price represents a good price and reflects the value of ABN Amro's assets. Fortis will not get into a bidding race."




Barclays has agreed to an all-share takeover of ABN worth about 65 billion euros .


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News