Clean tech becomes big business

(Reuters) - "Clean technology is everywhere," write Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder in "The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity" .




They describe clean tech as "any product, service, or process that delivers value using limited or zero nonrenewable resources and/or creates significantly less waste than conventional offerings."


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

At American Home, it's one last day at the office

(Reuters) - By Lynn Adler



MELVILLE, New York, Aug 3 - In some respects it was a normal summer Friday in this Long Island hamlet roughly 50 miles east of Wall Street. The weather was hot, a bit steamy. The weekend approached, and employees of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. awaited their paychecks.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Mortgage fallout weighs on Wall Street

(Reuters) - Standard & Poor's said it changed its ratings outlook on Bear Stearns, the biggest U.S. underwriter of mortgage bonds, to "negative" from "stable," indicating there is a better chance of a downgrade over the next two years.




"People are very concerned. They do not know how deep these loan problems are and how it will affect the economy," said William Lefkowitz, options strategist at brokerage firm vFinance Investments in New York.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Radian-Backed U.S. Municipal Bonds Face Possible Cut in Ratings by Fitch

(Bloomberg) -- Fitch Ratings put 934 municipal bond
issues insured by a Radian Asset Assurance Inc. under review for
a possible ratings cut following losses by its parent on an
investment in a subprime mortgage lender.

Radian Group Inc. and MGIC Investment Corp., which
announced plans in February to merge, yesterday said their
combined stakes of more than $1 billion in Credit-Based Asset
Servicing and Securitization may be worthless. Radian Asset
Assurance is rated AA, while Radian Group is ranked A.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

U.S. Stocks Retreat on Subprime Concern; American Home Mortgage Plummets

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks declined, erasing a
rally, on concern losses from subprime mortgages are worsening.

Banking shares fell after American Home Mortgage
Investment Corp. said it's unable to fund loans and may have to
liquidate assets. MGIC Investment Corp. and Radian Group Inc.
tumbled after the two home-loan insurers said their combined
stakes of more than $1 billion in a subprime mortgage company
may be worthless.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Dow Jones, Graham, Ingersoll and Rural Cellular: U.S. Equity Movers Final

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of companies
whose shares had unusual price changes in U.S. exchanges. Stock
symbols are in parentheses after company names. Share prices are
as of 4 p.m. in New York.

Some mortgage lenders fell after American Home Mortgage
Investment Corp. (AHM US) delayed its quarterly dividend and
raised doubts about whether it has enough cash to stay in
business. Shares of American Home were halted.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Platinum Gains in Asia Trade After UBS Report Says Swiss Stockpiles Drop

(Bloomberg) -- Platinum rose in Asian trading after
a report that stockpiles in Switzerland dropped by almost half
this year, and as wage talks in South Africa raised concerns that
a strike may disrupt supplies.

Inventories in Switzerland, the European storage hub, fell
to 14.7 tons in June from 29 tons in December, John Reade,
London-based head of metals strategy at UBS Investment Bank, a
unit of Zurich-based UBS, said in an e-mailed report yesterday.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Tyco Electronics Group S.A. to sell $1.5 bln notes

(Reuters) - The joint lead managers on the sale are UBS Investment Bank
and Goldman Sachs.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

UPDATE 1-Junk bonds plummet as Allison buyout faces hurdle

(Reuters) - The spread, or extra yield investors demand for the risk of
holding high-yield or junk bonds, widened by about 10 basis
points, market sources said.




"It's dropping like a rock," said Justin Monteith, a market
analyst at high-yield research firm KDP Investment Advisors,
referring to the high-yield bond market.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

LG Elec shares surge on strong earnings, Motorola loss

(Reuters) - "News of Motorola's loss certainly helped LG shares as it highlights its handset margin, which came in higher than competitors," said Kevin Lee, an analyst at Woori Investment and Securities.




The world's fifth-biggest mobile phone maker on Thursday posted a second-quarter net profit of 385 billion won , well above analysts' forecasts. LG had posted a loss of 9.7 billion won a year earlier and a 122.6-billion-won shortfall in the previous quarter.


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Citi Chile and Banco de Chile to merge

(Reuters) - Under the terms of the agreement, Citi will take a 32.96 percent stake in Banco de Chile's parent company, LQ Financial Investments , currently wholly owned by Chilean manufacturing conglomerate Quinenco .




Banco de Chile's assets in the Andean nation, valued at $6.015 billion, will be merged with those of Citi in Chile, valued at $701 million.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Citigroup to take stake in Banco de Chile parent

(Reuters) - Quinenco said it would retain control of the parent company, LQ Financial Investments.




Quinenco said it aimed to complete the Citigroup operation by the start of next year, and it would involve a merger of Banco de Chile and Citigroup's banking assets in Chile.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Basis Capital Suffered Subprime Losses as Early as February, Letter Says

(Bloomberg) -- Basis Capital Fund Management Ltd.,
an Australian hedge fund caught up in the rout in U.S. subprime
mortgages, suffered losses as early as February.

In a letter sent to investors July 6, Basis Capital said its
investments in collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, had been
tarnished by ``guilt by association.'' Less than a week later,
the Sydney-based hedge fund, which had assets of $1 billion in
May, said its two funds lost 9 percent and 14 percent last month.
Withdrawals from the funds have been frozen and some margin calls
have been missed, research firm Zenith Investment Partners Ltd.
said in an e-mailed note today.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Sakhalin Energy Sells Vityaz Crude Oil to GS Caltex for September Loading

(Bloomberg) -- Sakhalin Energy Investment Co. sold a
cargo of Vityaz crude oil for loading in September, said traders
who submitted bids to buy cargoes.

GS Caltex Corp., South Korea's second-biggest refiner,
bought the cargo, said the traders who asked not to be identified
because of company policy.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Pimco's Masanao Favors Japanese Mortgage-Backed, Inflation-Linked Bonds

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese bonds backed by commercial
property loans or protected for inflation are ``attractive'' as
prices may rise at a faster pace in the next three to five years,
according to Pimco Japan Ltd.

Inflation-linked debt is appealing because of rising global
commodity prices, said Tomoya Masanao, executive vice president
at the unit of Pacific Investment Management Co., manager of the
world's largest bond fund. Land prices rose for the first time
in 16 years in Japan, reducing the risk that mortgages for
offices, apartments and hotels will default.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Stocks in U.S. Poised to Decline at Least 10 Percent, Options Betting Show

(Bloomberg) -- Bets in the options market against
the Standard & Poor's 500 Index have exceeded wagers it will
rise by a 2-to-1 margin for a month, the longest since Bloomberg
began compiling the data in 1995.

That's seen as a warning sign the market is due for a
decline of 5 to 10 percent after the S&P 500 rose to two records
last week, say managers of almost $1 trillion at Morgan Stanley
Global Wealth Management, National City Private Client Group and
Russell Investment Group. The Leuthold Group, whose flagship
fund has beaten 99 percent of similar funds over the last five
years, expects the S&P 500 to slide as much as 19 percent by the
end of the year.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Auckland Airport, Goodman Property Viking: New Zealand Equity Movers

(Bloomberg) -- New Zealand's NZX 50 Index rose 1.72
point to 4245.38 at 10:41 a.m. in Wellington. The following shares
rose or fell. Stock symbols are in brackets after company names.

Auckland International Airport Ltd. (AIA NZ), the nation's
busiest gateway, rose 1 cent, or 0.3 percent, to NZ$3.31. The
shares have gained 17 percent from their level before June 18,
when the airport company said it was in talks with Canada Pension
Plan Investment Board and other parties that may result in an
offer.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Gold Rises as U.S. Dollar's Decline Revives Investor Demand; Silver Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Gold rose, heading for a second
consecutive weekly advance, on signs declines in the dollar have
helped to revive demand for the precious metal as an alternative
investment. Silver advanced.

Investment in the StreetTracks Gold Trust, the biggest
exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, has climbed 4.4 percent
this month, heading for the first monthly gain since April,
figures from the World Gold Council show. Gold has climbed 4.3
percent from a four-month low on June 27 as the dollar has
fallen to a record low against the euro.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Didata sells Britehouse stake to black investors

(Reuters) - South African technology firm Dimension Data has agreed to sell 60 percent of its Britehouse Group IT consulting and services business to black investors to help it expand in Africa.

Didata, which is listed in London and Johannesburg, said on Thursday it had won approval to sell the stake to a consortium comprising black empowerment groups Convergence Partners Investments and Safika Holdings, and investment firm VenFin.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Global asset management M&A jumped in 1st half '07

(Reuters) - The value of asset management merger and acquisition
transactions more than doubled January-June to $32.3 billion,
from $13.7 billion in the year-ago period, the firm said.




Recent M&A deals in the industry include the $5.75 billion
bid for Nuveen Investments by an investor group led by
private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, and
BlackRock Inc.'s . purchase of Quellos Group's fund of
funds business for up to $1.7 billion to expand its hedge
funds.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News