Mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley PLC said Friday it is revising its plans to raise new capital after U.S. private equity fund Texas Pacific Group pulled out of its agreement to invest. Fort Worth, Texas-based TPG withdrew after Moody's rating service downgraded Bradford & Bingley's long-term debt ratings from A3 to Baa1. TPG's agreement to invest $356 million in B&B included an escape clause in the event of downgrading.

via chron.com

* San Francisco Fed Reserve Bank President Yellen to speak about the U.S. economic outlook at the University of California/San Diego with a Q&A session. * Aracruz Cellulose (NYSE: ARA) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 11:00am. Tuesday, July 8 * Richmond Fed Reserve Bank President Lacker to speak about U.S. economic outlook to the National Economists Club in Washington with a Q&A session expected.

via bloggingstocks.com

General Motors Corp. is considering a new Chevrolet mini car for the United States as it reworks its product lineup to cope with a dramatic shift from trucks to cars linked to high gas prices, a spokesman said Thursday.
GM spokesman Dee Allen said bringing the Chevrolet Beat, which is about the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris mini car, to the U.S. is among the options the company is studying.

via businessweek.com

The former head of Refco Inc., blamed for the collapse of one of the world's largest commodities brokerages, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Thursday by a judge who decried the "staggeringly arrogant" greed of white collar criminals. Phillip Bennett, 59, a British citizen living in Gladstone, N.J., had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and other charges for the eight-year fraud.

via businessweek.com

After last week's highly-anticipated Federal Reserve rate decision, in which rates were expectedly left on hold, markets have shifted their attention to the upcoming European Central Bank rate decision on Thursday.
After remaining on hold since June of last year, markets are beginning to speculate over whether the ECB will in fact follow up with rate action following strong signals sent in recent weeks from bank president Jean-Claude Trichet.

via mortgagenewsdaily.com

Another update for you before we get to the main content for the day... The MBS market has picked up perhaps a tick or two since earlier this morning. Although jobless claims were over 400k, the level NFP number is buoying stocks still. Don't count out market psychology. We "want" to see the market make sense, and for stocks to realize just how crappy the outlook is, which would allow MBS to improve, but it's Independence day weekend.

via mortgagenewsdaily.com

General Motors, battered by the slowest U.S. sales market in 15 years, faces the possibility of bankruptcy and may need to raise as much as $15 billion, a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst said. The automaker's shares fell the most in 20 years. The “dramatic drop-off” in sales probably will continue through 2009, forcing GM to find additional funding, analyst John Murphy, who lowered the Detroit-based company's shares to “underperform” from “buy,” said in a report.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr

he European Central Bank raised interest rates to a seven-year high to fight inflation even as economic growth cools. The ECB's Governing Council, meeting in Frankfurt, increased the benchmark lending rate by a quarter point to 4.25 percent yesterday.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr

Oil soared to a record above $144 a barrel yesterday in Asia, fueled by concerns over a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. stockpiles and the threat of conflict with Iran. Early afternoon in Singapore, light, sweet crude for August delivery was up 78 cents at $144.35 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, it rose as high as $144.57 a barrel, a record.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr

Shares of General Motors Corp. plunged Wednesday to close below $10 for the first time in more than half a century, on worries about the company's cash needs and speculation about a possible bankruptcy protection filing down the road. GM shares fell $1.77, or 15.1 percent, to close at $9.98. Their session low of $9.96 marked their lowest point since Sept.

via chron.com

When consumers astonished the U.S. auto industry two months ago by quickly shunning trucks and going for gas mileage, the biggest beneficiary ended up being Honda Motor Co. The No. 2 Japanese automaker, with the most fuel-efficient model lineup in the industry, never put both feet into the U.S. truck market, instead focusing on slow-but-steady growth with popular cars like the Civic and Accord.

via chron.com

The worst news Wednesday regarding oil wasn't its record high close of $143.57 per barrel. It was the dollar. "There may be another record Thursday, and another Monday, and so on," energy trader Jim Dietz told BloggingStocks Wednesday. The reason? Concern that the already weak dollar will fall further, Dietz said. The European Central Bank meets Thursday to vote on interest rates.

via bloggingstocks.com

With a slowing economy and corporate layoffs being announced daily, look for online education companies to benefit. Many unemployed are and will be looking for a profession, and many employed people are always looking to make career changes. Online education companies are therefore enjoying higher enrollment rates. Shares in Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) are surging over 20% on a strong earnings report.

via bloggingstocks.com

As the airline industry tries to deal with sky-high fuel prices by cutting back on capacity, six Louisiana airports and two in Mississippi are on a list of airports most likely to lose flights, a business travel advocacy group says. A list of 150 airports that Business Travel Coalition recently identified as at risk for losing flights includes Baton Rouge Metro, Alexandria International, Lafayette Regional, Lake Charles Regional, Monroe Regional and Shreveport Regional.

via businessweek.com

Dish Network Corp.'s shares dropped Wednesday after the satellite television company reported that AT&T Inc. is ending an agreement to market its programming services, although analysts disagree on whether the partnership is truly over. Dish shares fell $2.20, or 7.6 percent, to $26.91. The stock has traded between $25.72 and $42.78 during the past 52 weeks.

via businessweek.com

Oil soared to a record above $144 a barrel Thursday in Asia, fueled by concerns over a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. stockpiles and the threat of conflict with Iran. Expectations that the European Central Bank will raise interest rates later Thursday was expected to weaken the U.S. dollar and drive oil prices even higher, as investors turn to commodities as a hedge against a falling greenback.

via businessweek.com

Analysts widely expect the European Central Bank to raise its main interest rate Thursday for the first time in a year in an effort to rein in escalating inflation, but whether such a move will help or hurt is still in question. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said at the bank's last monthly meeting June 5 that the bank is in a state of "heightened alertness" on inflation and could raise the main rate "by a small amount."

via businessweek.com

A group of 10 activists gathered in front of the Washington Mutual bank in Belmont Shore on Wednesday protesting alleged predatory lending practices against people of color. The protest, organized by the Long Beach Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was one of 20 such events staged as an NAACP national Day of Action.

via presstelegram.com

European producer prices jumped a record 7.1 percent in May as energy and food costs surged, adding to the European Central Bank's concerns that faster inflation will become embedded in the economy. The annual increase in factory-gate prices in the euro region was the biggest since the series began in 1990 and followed a 6.2 percent gain in April, the European Union statistics office in Luxembourg said yesterday.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr

The number of unemployed will jump by 1 million people in rich nations this year and double that in 2009 as global economic growth slows, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted. Rising joblessness will lift the average unemployment rate of the OECD's 30 nations to 6 percent next year, the same as in 2006, from 5.6 percent last year, the Paris-based organization said yesterday in an annual report. It predicts a rate of 5.7 percent this year.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr

JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank won a bigger share of merger advisory business in the past year while Citigroup held its ground as demand for deal financing gave banks an edge over most securities firms. JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank by market value, climbed three spots to second place among global merger advisers, after tightened credit markets snuffed out a boom in leveraged buyouts, according to Bloomberg data.

via turkishdailynews.com.tr