Live Financial And Business News By SaneBull

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on Tuesday yielded to the wishes of President-elect Barack Obama and allowed Joe Lieberman to keep his committee chairmanship despite having backed Republican John McCain for the White House, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. auto executives were set to take their case for a $25 billion industry bailout to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday as they hope to overcome political opposition from influential congressional Republicans and the White House.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday said it opposed Congress "raiding" the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to bail out U.S. automakers.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Yahoo Inc soared nearly 15 percent on Tuesday on hopes that the departure of Jerry Yang, its embattled chief executive, would clear the way for a deal with Microsoft Corp.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Secretary and members of Congress locked horns on Tuesday over a $700 billion financial bailout fund, with lawmakers demanding money to stem foreclosures and Henry Paulson arguing it was meant for investing in financial companies.

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NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Entergy Corp reduced the1,266-megawatt Grand Gulf nuclear power station in Mississippi on Nov. 17due to a fire in a protected area, the company told the U.S. NuclearRegulatory Commission in a report.

* Ford up less than 1 pct, Mazda up 6 pct (Recasts first paragraph, adds Ford details)

(Corrects paragraphs two and five to clearly describecomparison drugs and to show that ViroPharma's oral vancomycinis used for a different purpose and is not a rival to theTarganta drug)

* U.S. capital inflows surge to near 3-year highs (Adds comment, updates prices)

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Oil major Exxon Mobil Corp is in the process of restarting a flexicoker unit atits 567,000 barrel-per-day Baytown, Texas, refinery afterplanned maintenance work delayed by Hurricane Ike.

BERLIN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Germany says its offer to helpOpel is a one-off and that no blanket aid for carmakersis needed, but politicians may have to reverse course, as theydid for the banking sector, if an auto industry slump worsens.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Banks funded on Tuesday the $55billion financing for InBev's acquisition ofAnheuser-Busch , banking sources said.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Two of the largest loans inrecent commercial mortgage-backed securities, including onefinancing two Westin hotels, are close to default, according toCredit Suisse analysts.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & GoldInc said on Tuesday it is cutting more than 600 jobs atits U.S. mining operations to lower costs at a time when copperand other metal prices have plummeted.

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IZHEVSK, Russia, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Russian President DmitryMedvedev said on Tuesday that the global financial crisis hasspread to the real economy, and that the many sectors that needstate aid will get it.

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Existing U.S. single-familyhomes prices in metro areas fell 9.0 percent in the thirdquarter compared with the same period last year, the NationalAssociation of Realtors said on Tuesday.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Investor confidence fell to itslowest level on record for the second month in a row in Novemberas a flight from riskier assets continued to grip financialmarkets, State Street said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK - Federal Reserve Bank of New York PresidentTimothy Geithner gives opening remarks before the"Inflation-Indexed Securities and Inflation Risk Management"conference co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New Yorkand Harvard University. Details TBA. Federal Reserve Bank ofNew York, 33 Liberty Street, 12th Floor Conference Center.Contact: Tobias Adrian, tobias.adrian@ny.frb.org or FrankKeane, frank.keane@ny.frb.org. Information:http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/conference/20

(Adds foreign purchases of securities, foreign holders ofTreasuries)

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. producer prices fell arecord 2.8 percent in October as energy prices slid, governmentdata on Tuesday showed, but a measure of core inflation at thefarm and factory gate rose more than forecast.

CHICAGO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Market expectations for FederalReserve rate policy were barely shaken as core producer pricesfor October rose more than expected while headline pricesposted a record monthly decline.

WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Treasury Departmentinternational capital (TIC) data release, in billions ofdollars except where noted. Figures are not seasonallyadjusted.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Redbook Research on Tuesdayreleased the following seasonally adjusted weekly data on U.S.chain store sales:Year-over-year: Week (w/e 11/15/08 vs year ago) -0.9 pctYear-over-year:Month (November 2008 vs November 2007) -0.9 pctMonth-over-month: (November 2008 vs October 2008) -1.1 pct

NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Staples Inc stock

slid 10.6 percent to $37.50 in after-hours trading

NEW YORK, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Shares of Hartford Financial

(Corrects in first paragraph to show shares fell instead ofrose)

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Shares of FlextronicsInternational Ltd jumped 5 percent to $3.93 inafter-hours trading on Thursday after the contract electronicsmanufacturer posted second-quarter results.

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Shares of Microsoft Corp rose 5.3 percent to $23.50 in extended trade onThursday after the software maker's quarterly earnings beat theaverage Wall Street estimate. For details see [ID:nWNAB1062]

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Shares of Juniper Networks Inc rose 2.4 percent after the company postedthird-quarter results and expressed cautious optimism aboutnear-term opportunities.

NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Shares of Allstate Corp fell 7.1 percent to $26.23 in extended trade onWednesday after the insurer reported its quarterly results. Fordetails, see [ID:nWNAB0122]

NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Shares of Amazon.com fell 13.4 percent in extended trading on Wednesday after theonline retailer's fourth-quarter revenue expectations fellshort of analyst expectations.

NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Shares of iPhone-maker Apple rose 2.7 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday,after reporting quarterly results.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Two of the largest loans inrecent commercial mortgage-backed securities, including onefinancing two Westin hotels, are close to default, according toCredit Suisse analysts.

* Market turns higher on short-covering, tracking equities

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NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The following list shows the arbitrage spread forproposed mergers and acquisitions of U.S. companies.

STRASBOURG, France, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The EuropeanCommission will make proposals on hedge funds and private equitynext month, the EU executive's president said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures seesawed near unchangedon Tuesday in choppy trading, having bounced from another near-22 month lowunder $55 a barrel after some reassuring preliminary quarterly results fromcomputer maker Hewlett-Packard .

BOSTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Massachusetts' top securitiesregulator sued the small investment bank Oppenheimer & Co forfraud on Tuesday, accusing it of deceiving customers in itssales of auction-rate securities.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Investor confidence fell to itslowest level on record for the second month in a row in Novemberas a flight from riskier assets continued to grip financialmarkets, State Street said on Tuesday.

Nov 18 (Reuters) - The following bids, mergers,acquisitions and disposals involving European, North Americanand Asian companies were reported by 1430 GMT on Tuesday.

Nov 18 (Reuters) - The following financial servicesindustry appointments were announced on Tuesday. To inform usof other job changes, please e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Banks funded on Tuesday the $55billion financing for InBev's acquisition ofAnheuser-Busch , banking sources said.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Two of the largest loans inrecent commercial mortgage-backed securities, including onefinancing two Westin hotels, are close to default, according toCredit Suisse analysts.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & GoldInc said on Tuesday it is cutting more than 600 jobs atits U.S. mining operations to lower costs at a time when copperand other metal prices have plummeted.

- Paulson: U.S. turned corner, bailout prevented collapse

(Corrects brokerage name in headline) (Recasts, adds analyst comments)

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Bank-to-bank dollar, euro andsterling interest rates fell on Tuesday, while spreads weremixed, following a spate of central bank operations in Europeearlier in the session.

SANTIAGO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Chilean state copper giantCodelco is evaluating joint venture exploration prospects withMinmetals, the massive metals trader for No. 1 copper consumerChina, Chile Mine Minister Santiago Gonzalez said on Tuesday.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Short-dated euro zone governmentbonds marked new three-year lows on Tuesday on firmingexpectations for further interest rate cuts as investors frettedover an accelerating global slowdown.

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SAO PAULO, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank soldabout $1.4 billion in a second auction of currency swapcontracts on Tuesday, rolling over a similar batch ofsecurities due next month.

* U.S. capital inflows surge to near 3-year highs (Adds comment, updates prices)

BERLIN, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Germany says its offer to helpOpel is a one-off and that no blanket aid for carmakersis needed, but politicians may have to reverse course, as theydid for the banking sector, if an auto industry slump worsens.

NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Freeport-McMoRan Copper & GoldInc said on Tuesday it is cutting more than 600 jobs atits U.S. mining operations to lower costs at a time when copperand other metal prices have plummeted.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The value of Ineos Group's[INEOSP.UL] senior loans and high-yield bonds fell sharply onTuesday on continued fears about the highly leveraged company'sability to manage its huge debt.

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Short-dated euro zone governmentbonds marked new three-year lows on Tuesday on firmingexpectations for further interest rate cuts as investors frettedover an accelerating global slowdown.

* TransCanada among big net loss decliners, down 5 percent

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters Life!) - The latest James Bond film "Quantum of Solace" took another five million pounds ($7.52 million) over its third weekend in Britain as it maintained its iron grip on the British box office top spot.

BRUSSELS, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A Belgian court has rejected achallenge by shareholders to the state-backed rescue offinancial giant Fortis , ruling that procedureshad been correctly followed.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co posted stronger-than-expected results and forecast full-year profit above Wall Street estimates, underscoring its resilience to an economic crisis that has dragged down other tech companies.

* FY 09 profit forecast beats, but revenue outlook misses