Friday, July 18, 2008

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
- The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the largest U.S. public pension fund, said it lost 2.4 percent during the year ended June 30, as stock losses caused its worst performance in six years. In the past year, the fund's board agreed to invest in commodities for the first time, to let investment managers take short positions in U.S. stocks betting on their decline, to buy stocks in emerging markets such as China and India and to expand private-equity investments
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Copper declined, heading for a second straight weekly drop, as supplies rose in China, the world's largest consumer of the metal. Stockpiles monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 13 percent this week to 42,935 metric tons. That's the highest level since May 29. Chinese production in the six months through June rose 19 percent from a year earlier, the country's statistics bureau said today.
- Corn and soybeans fell for the fourth time this week on speculation that favorable weather in the U.S. Midwest will boost crop prospects. Rain may help crops from Nebraska to Illinois, Minneapolis- based DTN Meteorlogix LLC said in a report today. Before today, corn dropped 19 percent from a record in late June, and soybeans were down 8.5 percent from the all-time high on July 3 after hot weather dried fields flooded in Iowa and Illinois, the biggest growers of both crops.
- Citigroup Inc.(C) rose in New York trading after reporting a smaller-than-estimated loss on fewer mortgage-bond writedowns, lower borrowing costs and job cuts.
- Republican presidential candidate John McCain warned that al-Qaeda will step up terrorist attacks in Iraq leading up to the November election in the U.S.
- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.(TEVA), the world's biggest maker of generic drugs, agreed to buy Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.(BRL) for $7.46 billion to add markets in Eastern Europe and sales of the Plan B contraceptive pill.
- Israeli police said they arrested six Arabs on suspicion they formed a cell tied to al-Qaeda and planned to target a helicopter, possibly that of President George W. Bush during his January visit. The six were indicted today in Jerusalem District Court on terrorism charges, Israel's Shin Bet security service said in an e-mailed statement
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- Freddie Mac(FRE), the second-largest U.S. mortgage-finance provider, came a step closer to removing the biggest obstacle to selling common stock and increasing its holdings of mortgages and securities backed by home loans.
- Mexico's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the second straight month to curb the highest inflation rate in more than three years. The bank's five-member board, led by Governor Guillermo Ortiz, raised the key lending rate by a quarter percentage point to 8 percent today, the highest since December 2005.
- Schlumberger Ltd.(SLB), the world's largest oilfield-services provider, said second-quarter profit rose 13 percent as record crude prices prompted customers to boost exploration and production spending.
- China's stockpile of unsold new vehicles rose about 50 percent in the six months ended June, hitting a four-year high, as automakers expanded production and sales growth slowed. The backlog reached 170,000 vehicles from about 110,000 at the end of last year. The rising competition and slower economic growth caused average vehicle prices to fall about 3 percent in the first half from a year earlier, Cheng said. China's auto production capacity may increase 17 percent this year, according to an estimate by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Wall Street Journal:
- US Export Boom Fuels Factory Town’s Revival.
- Congress Relaxes New Rules on Lobbyist Disclosures. Congress has relaxed rules that would have required public disclosure of contributions and parties paid for by lobbyists, narrowing the scope of new ethics rules intended to draw back the veil on Washington's influence game.

- The nation's frantic search for crude-oil sources is leading to one of the oldest, richest and most-elusive prizes in the petroleum industry: oil shale. The U.S. has the largest known reserves of the coal-like rock, 80% of which lie beneath federal lands. By some estimates, U.S. oil-shale reserves could yield 800 billion barrels of oil, triple the current proven reserves of Saudi Arabia.
- JPMorgan Chase(JPM) may be a good investment if investors are willing to bet that the Wall Street bank will be able to reduce the amount set aside in a reserve that shields it against future losses. So-called loan-loss provisions are damaging banks’ earning statements now, yet when loan quality recovers, banks such as JPMorgan could get an earnings boost.
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Now that an executive-branch ban on offshore oil exploration has been lifted, the time has come for Democrats in Washington to lift their own ban on increased domestic supply. Americans are demanding that Congress do something about record-high gas prices. They recognize that prices will not go down unless supplies go up. And they also know that the only thing now standing in the way of more domestic supply is the Democratic refusal to allow it.
- Hedge-fund inflows tumbled 79% in the second quarter from a year earlier, hitting a 2 1/2-year low as investors shied away from putting new money into the investment vehicles.

USA Today:
- Roadside bombings in Iraq that are linked to Iran have plunged 70% in the last three months, the US military says. Experts say Iran has lost influence in Iraq after the Iraqi government had a run of successes against Shiite militia strongholds. Iran had funded the militias, but those groups abused their power and lost popular support.

San Francisco Chronicle:
- San Francisco residents will vote in November on whether to name a local sewage plant for President Bush, citing the volunteer group that crafted the measure.

TradeWinds:
- The OECD will develop a cost-escalation index to protect shipbuilders fro soaring steel prices, citing Reinhard Luken, head of the Community of European Shipyards Assoc.

Reuters:
- Iran said on Friday it did not expect an attack from Israel or the United States triggered by the long-running dispute over its nuclear program. Diplomats from Iran and world powers will meet in Geneva on Saturday to discuss the nuclear issue. Washington will attend the talks for the first time, a notable shift in policy which has raised hopes of progress.

Interfax:
- Russian oil production will not drop below 2007 levels this year, citing Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko. Output will “definitely” be greater in 2009 than this year, Shmatko said.

IrishTimes.com:
- THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) will not change the course of its monetary policy to assist those euro area members such as Ireland, Spain or Portugal that are currently experiencing economic difficulties, the president of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, has told The Irish Times.

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