Corn, Soybeans May Rise as U.S. Crops Fall Short of Demand, Survey Shows

(Bloomberg) -- Corn and soybeans may rise in Chicago
on speculation production in the U.S., the world's largest
grower and exporter, will fall short of record demand for
livestock feed and crop-based fuels.

Sixteen of 25 traders, farm advisers and merchants surveyed
on May 18 said to buy both commodities. Corn futures for July
delivery rose 0.5 percent last week to $3.7125 a bushel on the
Chicago Board of Trade, the third gain in four weeks. Soybeans
for July delivery rose 4 percent to $7.925 a bushel, the biggest
weekly gain in three months.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

UPDATE 1-Unibail makes formal offer for Rodamco Europe

(Reuters) - Unibail will offer 0.5223 of its common shares for each
Rodamco common share, adjusted from the originally announced
offer of 0.53 shares per Rodamco share on April 10 to reflect
Unibail and Rodamco's dividends, the companies said in a
statement.




Based on Unibail's latest closing price of 198.20 euros on
Friday, that would value Rodamco at 9.28 billion euros .


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Goldman Sachs Group and TPG Agree to Purchase Alltel for $27.5 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and TPG Inc.
agreed to acquire Alltel Corp. for $27.5 billion including debt
in the largest buyout of a telecommunications company.

Investors will receive $71.50 a share, the mobile-phone
company said in a statement yesterday. The offer is 9.6 percent
more than Little Rock, Arkansas-based Alltel's closing share
price on May 18 and exceeds the $70 a share expected by Michael
Nelson, an analyst at Stanford Group Co.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

TREASURIES-Pause after stocks-induced sell-off

(Reuters) - A climb in Asian stocks on Monday, even after China raised
rates while widening the yuan's trading band, only cemented the
belief that investors remained hungry for equities, keeping
upward pressure on Treasury yields.




"As global equities rise, it's tough to keep a rate-easing
path by the Fed priced into the front end of the market," said
Adam Mackillop, head of U.S. rates trading in Asia at Barclays
Capital in Tokyo.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

U.S. 10-Year Treasury Yields Hold Three-Month High; Inflation Restrained

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. notes may gain as 10-year yields
approached the highest this year, attracting investors who are
betting slowing economic growth will keep inflation in check.

Ten-year yields, which move in the opposite direction as
prices, rose to 4.81 percent at the end of last week, climbing
toward the 2007 high of 4.90 percent set Jan. 26. Home sales held
near a four-year low in April, evidence that housing is the
weakest part of the economy, a report this week may show.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Palm Oil Futures Little Changed After Malaysian Exports Decline on Month

(Bloomberg) -- Palm oil futures in Malaysia, the
world's largest grower last year, were little changed after an
estimate showed exports in the first 20 days of May were 3.7
percent lower than a month ago, meeting traders' expectations.

The Southeast Asian nation exported 775,979 tons of bulk
palm oil between May 1 and 20, compared with 806,154 tons in the
same period last month, Intertek Malaysia said in a report today.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

Platinum Futures Gain to Record in Tokyo on U.S. Economic Growth Outlook

(Bloomberg) -- Platinum futures climbed to a record
in Tokyo after U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly rose,
signaling demand for cars and metals used in emission control
devices may increase.

Sentiment among U.S. consumers improved in May for the first
time in four months as optimism about the jobs outlook and stock
market helped overcome record high gasoline prices. The
Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary index of consumer
sentiment released May 18 increased to 88.7 from 87.1 in April.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

MGM unveils Shanghai entertainment complex plan

(Reuters) - The MGM Studio World will be built around the MGM brand and
others that it owns, it said. MGM said it will not make any
finanical investments in the project or operate it, serving
instead as "the licensor and creative collaborator" for the
entire project.




Media and entertainment industries are highly regulated in
China and foreign investments are restricted in the two sectors.
But the entertainment industry is growing rapidly in the world's
fourth-largest economy.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

JGBs dip on Nikkei rise, falls in Treasuries

(Reuters) - There was little impact from a weekend meeting of Group of
Eight finance ministers, as the communique made no mention of
currencies and ministers said there was no discussion of foreign
exchange rates.




Instead, investors are likely to take their cues from
auctions of 15-year floating rate bonds and 20-year bonds later
this week, as well as Japanese economic data for April due
towards the end of the month.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Taiwan's Stocks Gain; Formosa Plastics Advances on Hong Kong IPO Report

(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan's stocks gained. Formosa
Plastics Corp. and Formosa Petrochemical Corp. rose after a
newspaper report said the Formosa Group may spin off China-based
divisions to bypass the island's restrictions on investing in
China.

``A listing in Hong Kong will give the Formosa Group
visibility in a vibrant international market and gateway to tap
China's growth,'' said Yin Nai-yun, who oversees $172 million at
Prudential Securities Investment Trust Enterprise in Taipei.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Yuan Gains to the Highest Since July 2005 as China Sets Wider Trading Band

(Bloomberg) -- The yuan rose to the highest since a
dollar link was scrapped in July 2005 after China widened the
currency's daily trading limit.

The gesture comes before Vice Premier Wu Yi meets U.S.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Washington on May 22-24 as
part of a dialogue aimed at reducing global trade imbalances. A
stronger yuan will increase export prices and lower import costs,
helping narrow China's record trade surplus and appease U.S.
lawmakers who say China's currency policy and the U.S. trade
deficit are losing American jobs.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Asian markets rise

(Reuters) - The steps come just days ahead of a key meeting with the United States to discuss trade tensions and are likely to be interpreted as both an olive branch to Washington and as a signal that China is serious about keeping its red-hot economy in check.




All eyes are on how China's stock market will react to the latest moves. It opens at 0130 GMT.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Euro Strengthens to Record Against Yen on Widening Interest-Rate Premium

(Bloomberg) -- The euro rose to a record high against
the yen as investors are attracted to Europe's interest-rate
premium over Japan, which is likely to widen.

The currency has gained 4.2 percent against the yen this
year on Europe's 3.25 percent rate advantage over Japan. European
Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet signaled he's likely
to raise the cost of borrowing next month, widening the rate
premium with Japan. The spread between German and Japanese bond
yields is close to the most in five years.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Japan's Government Bonds May Fall on Speculation Export Demand to Increase

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's government bonds may fall for a
second day after a U.S. report showing an unexpected gain in
consumer confidence tempered speculation exports will decline.

Bonds advanced last week after a Cabinet Office report showed
Japan's economic growth slowed as companies cut spending on
concerns U.S. demand will weaken. Debt in Japan may drop today
after U.S. Treasuries had the biggest weekly slump since January.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

China plans to invest $3 billion in Blackstone

(Reuters) - China's soon-to-be-established foreign exchange investment company would make the investment in the form of nonvoting common units of Blackstone, a firm that has been at the forefront of a global boom in mergers and acquisitions.




China announced in March it was setting up a vehicle to help diversify part of its $1.202 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, to improve returns and diversify risk.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Investec Bank, Allco ,Westpac, Citigroup, Macquarie: Australia Bond Alert

(Bloomberg) -- The following is a list of bond sales
in Australia expected in the coming days and weeks.

Kangaroo Bonds


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Hologic Inc. offers Cytyc $6.2 bln in cash and stock deal

(Reuters) - The combined entity would operate in more than 20 countries
and have more than 3,300 employees, the companies said in a
joint release.




Under the deal, Cytyc shareholders would receive 0.52
shares of Hologic common stock and $16.50 in cash for each
share of Cytyc stock they own. That represents $44.46 per
share, or a 33 percent premium to Cytyc's share price, based on
the closing stock prices on Friday of both companies, they
said.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Daimler's Mercedes to emulate BMW strategy: paper

(Reuters) - The Daimler chief, who just days ago sealed a deal to sell its loss-making U.S. unit Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus, sees little to gain from trying to diversify risks by balancing its brand portfolio with another leading marque.




"We are at the top of the industry with the Mercedes car brand - any integration of another brand would tend to drag us down ... There is nothing to win from it either for the brand or for the profitability," Zetsche said in another Sunday paper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Bill Gross vs Masataka Horii in Winner-Take-All Government Bond Slugfest

(Bloomberg) -- The world's two biggest bond fund
managers couldn't disagree more about the best market in 2007.

At stake is the $130 billion that Bill Gross, chief
investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., and
Masataka Horii, senior portfolio manager at Kokusai Asset
Management Co., have wagered on U.S. and European government
securities.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

U.A.E. Equity Indexes Advance, Paced by Amlak Finance, Sorouh: Gulf Stocks

(Bloomberg) -- Shares in the United Arab Emirates
gained, paced by Amlak Finance PJSC and Sorouh Real Estate Co.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index advanced 1.1
percent to 4170.71. The Abu Dhabi Securities Market Index rose
0.6 percent to 3324.65. The measure has gained 10 percent this
year. All seven benchmarks in the Persian Gulf advanced today.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Russian capital inflow seen at $40 bln in Jan-May

(Reuters) - "We had $13 billion of net capital inflows in the first quarter, then $17 billion in April alone," said the bank's first deputy chairman Alexei Ulyukayev.




"This is $30 billion in the first four months and the figure at the end of May is likely to be around $40 billion," he told reporters in Kazan on the sidelines of the European bank of Reconstruction and Development's annual conference.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

U.A.E. Equity Indexes Advance, Paced by Dubai Islamic Bank: Gulf Stocks

(Bloomberg) -- Shares in the United Arab Emirates
gained, paced by Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC and Abu Dhabi National
Insurance Co.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index advanced 1.2
percent to 4173.39 at 11:24 a.m. local time. The index's trading
session will be extended by one hour today after a delayed start
due to a technical failure.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News