WASHINGTON - Shares of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac tumbled Monday amid renewed fears that shareholders will wind up with nothing if the government intervenes to bail out the troubled companies.
WASHINGTON - The US Treasury swiftly played down a media report Monday that suggested the government could be poised to extend significant financial aid to the struggling mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
WASHINGTON - US federal regulators are working on a stronger label for a widely used diabetes drug marketed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc and Eli Lilly & Co after deaths continue to be reported despite earlier government warnings.
LOS ANGELES - Homebuilders are a little more optimistic about the prospects for home sales over the next six months, but an index reflecting the sector’s confidence overall remained at an all-time low, an industry trade association said Monday.
KERMIT - While most Americans are tightening their belts, scrapping vacation plans and getting rid of their SUVs, in oil-and-gas rich West Texas, folks are living large - again.
LONDON - The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may decide to cut the cartel’s oil output quota as the price of crude risks falling under 100 dollars a barrel, energy consultancy CGES said.
LONDON - Airports operator BAA Ltd says it has successfully completed the refinancing of some STG13.3 billion ($A28.72 billion) of debt just days before Britain’s antitrust regulator is expected to recommend the sale of one or more of its seven airports.
TOKYO - Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways on Monday announced plans to raise their air fares on some international routes as they struggle to cope with the soaring cost of jet fuel.
ISTANBUL - Turkey’s energy minister says oil flow in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline through Georgia might resume soon.
SANTIAGO - Chile’s Central Banks says the nation’s copper sales surged 8.8 per cent in the first seven months of the year over the same year-ago period.
BRUSSELS - Euro nations’ trade deficit with the rest of the world came close to balance in June, the EU statistics agency said.
WELLINGTON - Rising rental income helped the AMP NZ Office Trust (ANZO) lift full year operating profit after current tax 27 per cent to $NZ52.2 million ($A42.7 million).
LOCAL NEWS
CANBERRA - Analysts who expect the key cash rate to be cut next month will be watching with interest when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) releases its August 5 board meeting minutes today.
CANBERRA - Australia should allow East Timorese guest workers into the country, a Timorese government official says.
STOCKS TO WATCH ON THE aUSTRALIAN STOCK EXCHANGE TODAY:
BHP - BHP BILLITON LTD - up 62 cents to $38.60
BHP Billiton , the world’s largest mining company, has reported a record annual profit and says it expects demand for commodities to remain strong. The result was in line with analysts’ forecasts.
BNB - BABCOCK AND BROWN LTD - up six cents to $4.51
BBP - BABCOCK AND BROWN POWER - down 17.5 cents, or 41.18 per cent, to 25 cents
Debt-laden specialist fund Babcock & Brown Power Ltd will book writedowns in fiscal 2008 worth $452 million, sending its securities plunging. Babcock & Brown Power says it would consider options in the event of takeover offers for the entire business.
TLS - TELSTRA CORPORATION LTD - down four cents to $4.38
Telstra’s head of public policy and communications Phil Burgess is leaving the company and will return to the US, due to illness in his family.
IMD - IMDEX LTD - steady at $1.68
Drilling services and products provider Imdex has lifted annual profit by 73 per cent and says it expects revenue in the new year to grow by up to 20 per cent.
ANG - AUSTIN ENGINEERING LTD - up eleven cents to $2.40
Austin Engineering, which provides services to the resources sector, expects further earnings growth this year after delivering a significant rise in profit for 2007/08.
ANN - ANSELL LTD - up 17 cents to $11.40
Gloves and condoms maker Ansell expects higher earnings per share in 2008/09, in the range of 70 US cents to 74 US cents, despite global economic uncertainty and high costs of key inputs such as rubber.
COU - COUNT FINANCIAL LTD - down 0.5 cents to $1.69
Financial planning franchise Count Financial is confident it can improve its net profit in the current year after booking a six per cent dip in its annual bottom line.
SRL - STRAITS RESOURCES LTD - down eight cents to $4.92
Straits Resources will sell its coal interests in Madagascar and Brunei to its Asian subsidiary for $US100.3 million, as part of a previously announced restructure of the group.
SEK - SEEK LTD - up 14 cents to $5.23
Online employment agency Seek has lifted full year profit by 37 per cent, and says it’s confident of improving profitability further in the current year.
BSL - BLUESCOPE STEEL LTD - down 13 cents to $9.00
BlueScope has reported a fall in annual profit after booking one-off charges, but its underlying result lifted as strong global demand for steel raised prices and offset rising raw material costs.
AMP - AMP LTD - $6.75
Rising rental income helped the AMP NZ Office Trust lift full year operating profit after current tax 27 per cent to $NZ52.2 million ($A42.7 million).
MAP - MACQUARIE AIRPORTS - $2.90
Macquarie Airports has been identified by analysts as a potential bidder for airports in the UK should British authorities force current owner BAA Ltd to divest one or more of the seven airports it owns now. BAA owns Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports in Scotland, and Southampton in southern England.
