Finance news

• UPDATE 2-Stage set for lingering standoff over Illinois budget

  31-05-2015 23:59
  SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 31 (Reuters) - A standoff between Democrats who control the Illinois Legislature and the state's Republican governor may extend well into the summer after no deals emerged...
  
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• Intel reportedly will offer $17 B for chip designer Altera

  31-05-2015 23:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Semiconductor chip maker Intel Corp. is expected to announce plans Monday to buy chip designer Altera Corp. for about $17 billion, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
  
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• GE launches sales process for U.S. lending units

  31-05-2015 23:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  General Electric Co has launched the sales process for a roughly $40 billion portion of its U.S. commercial lending assets as a part of its broad retreat from its finance businesses, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday. The Wall Street Journal first reported this development on for GE's planned divestiture. The chunk of the operation involved represents more than half of the $74 billion U.S. commercial lending and leasing portfolio.
  
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• UPDATE 1-GE launches sales process for U.S. lending units

  31-05-2015 23:05
  NEW YORK, May 31 (Reuters) - General Electric Co has launched the sales process for a roughly $40 billion portion of its U.S. commercial lending assets as a part of its broad retreat from its finance...
  
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• UPDATE 1-Bill to ease Chicago pension payments gets final legislative OK

  31-05-2015 22:58
  SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 31 (Reuters) - A bill to restructure Chicago's payments to its public safety workers' retirement funds by lowering contributions in the near term won final legislative approval...
  
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• Bill to ease Chicago pension payments gets final OK from Illinois Senate

  31-05-2015 22:26
  SPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 31 (Reuters) - A bill to ease Chicago's payments to its public safety workers' retirement funds won final legislative approval on Sunday from the Illinois Senate.
  
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• WRAPUP 1-Greece, creditors agree on need for quick deal as talks continue

  31-05-2015 22:04
  ATHENS, May 31 (Reuters) - Greece and its European creditors agreed on the need to reach a cash-for-reforms deal quickly as Athens missed a self-imposed Sunday deadline for reaching an agreement to...
  
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• GE launches bidding process for U.S. lending operation: WSJ

  31-05-2015 21:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  General Electric Co launched the bidding process for a $40 billion portion of its U.S. commercial lending business, a critical step in its effort to avert regulation by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal said on its website on Sunday. The chunk of the operation represents more than half of the $74 billion U.S. commercial lending and leasing portfolio that includes loans for equipment purchases and financing and leases for midsize firms. The business units could all go to a single
  
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• Venezuela parliament chief: will sue in U.S., Spain over drugs reporting

  31-05-2015 20:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Venezuelan parliament chief Diosdado Cabello said in an interview on Sunday that he plans to file lawsuits in Spain and the United States following media reports that link him and other top officials to cocaine trafficking and money laundering. The Wall Street Journal two weeks ago reported that U.S. federal prosecutors were gathering evidence from former cocaine traffickers and military defectors as part of an investigation into Cabello, No. 2 of the ruling Socialist Party. Spanish newspaper AB
  
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• Disney shares may rise 50 percent in 3 years - Barron's

  31-05-2015 20:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Walt Disney Co could climb 50 percent over the next three years on its uncanny ability to generate profits from its businesses including movies, merchandise and parks and cruise lines, Barron's said in its latest edition published on Sunday. Wall Street analysts forecast the Burbank, California-based entertainment and media company will grow its earnings per share by 16 percent this year to $5.03 and 13 percent next year to $5.67. This put Disney's stock price at 18 times earnings, the
  
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• Disney shares may rise 50 percent in three years: Barron's

  31-05-2015 20:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Walt Disney Co could climb 50 percent over the next three years on its uncanny ability to generate profits from its businesses including movies, merchandise and parks and cruise lines, Barron's said in its latest edition published on Sunday. Wall Street analysts forecast the Burbank, California-based entertainment and media company will grow its earnings per share by 16 percent this year to $5.03 and 13 percent next year to $5.67. This put Disney's stock price at 18 times earnings, the
  
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• Greek PM agreed with Merkel, Hollande on need for quick deal- Greek official

  31-05-2015 20:02
  ATHENS, May 31 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras held a phone call on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande where the three leaders agreed...
  
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• UPDATE 1-Tsipras says Greece not intransigent, urges EU leaders to reach deal

  31-05-2015 18:53
  PARIS, May 31 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greece should not be blamed for not yet reaching a deal with its creditors and called on fellow European leaders to bypass technical...
  
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• Tsipras says Greece not intransigent, urges EU leaders to reach deal

  31-05-2015 16:52
  PARIS, May 31 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Greece should not be blamed for not yet reaching a deal with its creditors and called on fellow European leaders to bypass technical...
  
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• MIDEAST STOCKS-Qatar rebounds as World Cup fears ease; other markets weak

  31-05-2015 15:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  * Qatar defends winning 2022 cup bid, FIFA's Blatter re-elected * Gulf stocks hurt by MSCI index adjustments bounce back * Dubai's Emaar Malls pulls back after surging on index inclusion * Saudi Arabia slips after negative security, macro developments * Egypt extends losses on fund outflows, gas shortage By Olzhas Auyezov DUBAI, May 31 (Reuters) - Qatar's stock market rebounded on Sunday after dropping at the end of last week on MSCI index adjustments and news of arrests and criminal probes at w
  
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• Greece continues talks on aid, deal unlikely on Sunday-sources

  31-05-2015 15:33
  ATHENS, May 31 (Reuters) - Greece and its creditors were continuing talks on a cash-for-reforms deal but are expected to miss a self-imposed Sunday deadline for reaching an agreement to unlock aid,...
  
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• Germany's Schaeuble offers Varoufakis chocolate euros for his nerves

  31-05-2015 15:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has offered to give his Greek counterpart some chocolate euro coins as "nourishment for his nerves." Schaeuble has clashed repeatedly with Yanis Varoufakis over Greece's debt and economic reforms since the leftist Syriza party took power in January, pledging to end austerity and renegotiate the bailout terms. In an interview with the children's television program "Logo" on German broadcaster ZDF last week
  
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• Ex-Tanzanian prime minister Lowassa launches presidential bid

  31-05-2015 14:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Former Tanzanian prime minister Edward Lowassa, seen as frontrunner to become the East African nation's next leader, has launched his campaign for the ruling party's presidential nomination. "I have decided to run for president to tackle poverty," Lowassa told hundreds of supporters at a stadium in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha on Saturday. President Jakaya Kikwete has overseen rapid economic growth averaging 7 percent over the past decade in Tanzania, but his adminis
  
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• Tanzania awards $9 bln rail projects to Chinese companies

  31-05-2015 14:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania has awarded contracts to build new railway lines worth about $9 billion to Chinese firms, its transport minister said, expanding Beijing’s presence in East Africa's second-biggest economy. Transport Minister Samuel Sitta told parliament on Saturday a Chinese consortium had been awarded a contract to build a 2,561 km (1,536 miles) standard gauge railway connecting Dar es Salaam port to land-locked neighbours at a cost of $7.6 billion. ...
  
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• Tunisia's phosphate production to resume after protests end

  31-05-2015 14:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Phosphate production at Tunisia's Metaloui partially resumed on Sunday and shipments restarted after protesters agreed to temporarily end their sit-in over job demands, the company said. Metaloui, which produces around 60 percent of Tunisia's phosphate output, has been closed by weeks of protests by local youths demanding employment and economic opportunities. "Today production restarted at Metaloui after the ending of the sit-in by youths," Ali Houchati, a spokesman for Phosphate Gafsa said.
  
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• UPDATE 2-Jordan to issue $1.5 bln US backed bonds in June - finance minister

  31-05-2015 12:57
  * The deal part of stepped up aid to Middle East ally (Adds quotes and further details)
  
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• MIDEAST STOCKS-Egypt extends losses, Saudi Arabia flat

  31-05-2015 11:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Updates with Saudi Arabia, Egypt open) DUBAI, May 31 (Reuters) - Egypt's bourse extended losses on Sunday in a broad decline, while Saudi Arabia's stock market moved very little. The Cairo index fell 1.2 percent as most stocks traded lower, continuing a decline which began last week as Egypt's weighting in MSCI's emerging markets index was reduced with Telecom Egypt's exclusion from the benchmark. ...
  
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• Crunch time for Greece; U.S. and Chinese data in focus

  31-05-2015 10:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Andy Bruce LONDON (Reuters) - Years of uncertainty and economic pain spent keeping Greece in the euro zone boils down in June to a handful of make-or-break debt repayments, while a raft of key data in the next few days will point to the progress of the global economy. The threat posed to the wider world by an eventual Greek exit from the euro may have diminished over the last few years, but last week the United States warned of an "accident" for the world economy if Greece and its c
  
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• Middle East funds negative on Saudi after oil slides

  31-05-2015 10:49
  * No respondent plans to increase overall equity allocations * Oil headed for monthly loss after rallying in April * Saudi Arabia's strict foreign investment rules to limit inflows * Managers...
  
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• Tough road ahead as Macau gambles on mass tourism

  31-05-2015 08:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  With casino revenues in Macau in freefall due to Beijing's anti-corruption crackdown and a slowing Chinese economy, the gambling hub is hoping to reinvent itself as a family-friendly mass market destination. Macau's creaking infrastructure is already struggling to cope with visitor numbers and analysts and residents question how the city can accommodate the influx necessary to make up for the loss of VIP gamblers. "Casino operators cannot expect the return of the good old days,&qu
  
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