Egypt shares down on negative sentiment, profit taking

(Reuters) - Egypt's main stock indexes edged down on Monday, with a global downturn in equities leaving foreign investors wary of Egypt and retail investors reaping profits in the real estate and banking sectors, traders said.

"Foreign institutions are waiting till the bottom, and then they'll enter, and that's because of what's been happening in the U.S... right now it's not at that bottom," said Teymour el-Draini of Beltone Financial.


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US Congress recesses amid Democratic achievements

(Reuters) - WASHINGTON, Aug 6 - After months of being flogged
for accomplishing little, Democrats who control Congress headed
into a summer recess having passed several high-profile bills
from raising the minimum wage to bolstering U.S. security and
expanding children's health care.




Their top priority -- ending the Iraq war -- remains
frustratingly unfulfilled. But the Democrats who took over in
January were able to go home early on Sunday for a monthlong
break having won more support in the U.S. Senate and House of
Representatives for bringing combat troops home by early next
year, marking a significant turnaround from last year.


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S.Africa's 1time airline to list on local bourse

(Reuters) - South Africa's second largest low-cost airline, 1time, is set to list on Johannesburg's smaller bourse AltX and capitalise on strong growth in air travel, it said on Monday.

1time said it would list on AltX, operated by the Johannesburg Securities Exchange, on Aug 14 and would offer 30 million ordinary shares at an issue price of 100 cents per ordinary share, raising 30 million rand.


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American Home Mortgage files for bankruptcy

(Reuters) - The filing came after American Home closed most operations on Friday, laying off all but about 750 workers. It said it had started the year with more than 7,400 employees.







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Funai Q1 profit tumbles on higher LCD panel prices

(Reuters) - Consolidated operating profit came to 1.17 billion yen
in April-June, down 52 percent from 2.44 billion
yen a year earlier, when Funai compiled its group results using
its overseas subsidiaries' earnings in the previous quarter.




Funai changed the accounting practice starting this quarter
and the results for the latest quarter reflect the April-June
performance of its overseas units.


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Archstone-Smith sees merger to close around Oct 5

(Reuters) - In May, Archstone-Smith agreed to be acquired by Tishman
Speyer and investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
.





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Europe shares pare losses; M&A counters credit woes

(Reuters) - European shares pared losses in mid-morning trade on Monday as merger and acquisition news helped distract investors from credit market worries.

At 0940 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 of top European shares was down 0.6 percent at 1,507.81 points after earlier falling as low as 1,500.39.


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ABN, Barclays up as Fortis investors back ABN deal

(Reuters) - Shares in ABN were up 1.7 percent at 35.61 euros after the pivotal Fortis shareholder vote. In the first of two votes due on Monday, 94 percent of Fortis shareholders who voted were for its proposed rights issue, well above the 75 percent needed. Click on .




Barclays shares rose 1.4 percent. Shares in Fortis were down 1.7 percent and RBS and Santander shares were down 0.8 percent. Shares in the winning bank or banks are expected to come under pressure in the short term from concerns about the high price of the deal and execution risk.


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Stocks Retreat in Europe; UBS, BNP, Philips, BHP, Lafarge Lead the Drop

(Bloomberg) -- European stocks fell, following
declines in Asia and the U.S., on mounting concern that losses in
the U.S. mortgage market will erode economic growth and raise
financing costs for companies.

UBS AG and BNP Paribas SA led a drop by financial shares.
Royal Philips Electronics NV and Lafarge SA decreased as the
dollar traded near a record low against the euro. BHP Billiton
Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group slipped after copper fell in Shanghai.


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UPDATE 1-Fortis seeks shareholder approval for ABN buy

(Reuters) - BRUSSELS, Aug 6 - Belgian-Dutch financial services
group Fortis sought shareholder approval on Monday for
its part of a three-bank bid to buy ABN AMRO , a crucial
vote for the biggest ever bank takeover.




Fortis , Royal Bank of Scotland and Spain's
Santander have offered 71 billion euros
for the Netherlands' largest bank in a bidding war that has
featured legal and stakeholder battles.


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Munich Re -maximum subprime loss around 100 mln eur

(Reuters) - A slide presentation showed that about 600 million euros of
the company's 179 billion euros of invested assets were exposed
to the subprime market, or about 0.33 percent of the total.




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S.Africa's largest oil refinery shuts down due to strike

(Reuters) - SAPREF, South Africa's largest oil refinery, said on Monday it had shut down due to a strike that has crippled the industry and led to petrol shortages at filling stations.

"In response to CEPPAWU's call for a national strike, a safe shutdown has been completed at the SAPREF refinery," Prudence Mbatha said in a statement.


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U.S. Treasuries Are Little Changed Amid Asian Stock Slide, Slower Growth

(Bloomberg) -- Treasuries were little changed as
Asian stocks fell and speculation increased that losses tied to
subprime mortgages will prompt the Federal Reserve to cut
interest rates this year.

Ten-year notes may extend their gains into a fifth week
after reports showed employers added fewer jobs than expected
last month and bond investors are becoming less bearish.
Treasuries are on track to return 5.3 percent this year, the
most since 2002, according to a Merrill Lynch & Co. index.


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Cerberus taps Nardelli to run Chrysler

(Reuters) - Chrysler's current chief executive, Tom LaSorda, will stay on as president and vice-chairman and continue to lead ongoing talks with the United Auto Workers union as the automaker's No. 2 executive and a consultant to Cerberus.




In a further shake-up, Chrysler's current chief operating officer, Eric Ridenour, will leave and his post responsible for production and product planning will not be filled.


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UPDATE 1-Buyout group owns 99.54 pct of Endemol after offer

(Reuters) - The group, called Edam Acquisition said in a statement 99.54
percent of Endemol shares have been tendered or committed.




It bought 75 percent of Endemol shares from Spanish telecoms
group Telefonica for 2.63 billion euros
last month and about 6 percent of shares from a Cyrte investment
fund.


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