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• Wall Street treads water after losses, fear remains
• Factory orders post surprise fall in April
• Chesapeake to replace four directors after pressure
• MF Global trustee sees possible claims vs Corzine
• Europe mulls major step toward "fiscal union"
• Spain seeks direct EU bank aid, Germany resists
• Analysis: In failed JPMorgan hedge, lessons from past missed
• "No" votes jump against Wal-Mart's Duke, directors
• Closures, shortages loom as insurers exit Greece
• Russian court to hear $13 billion lawsuit against BP
• Lenders back Portugal's struggle to fend off crisis
• French rogue trader Kerviel launches appeal
• HP and Oracle set for court clash over Itanium
• Ford says studying indigenous brands for China market
• French rogue trader Kerviel launches appeal
• Debt, property risks curb China stimulus firepower
• Analysis: H&M on quest for growth with new fashion chains
• Acer says no plans to launch non-tablet devices on ARM
• Canon to buy back $640 million worth of own shares
• WellPoint To buy 1-800 Contacts for $900 million: WSJ
• Global slowdown fears hit shares and commodities
• BP is free to sell Russian TNK-BP stake: source
• Pianalto says jobs report hasn't changed her outlook: WSJ
• Buffett-backed BYD dealers put brakes on advance subsidies: report
• BP is free to sell TNK-BP stake: source
• Insight: Australia's coal bed LNG export expansion plans falter
• Wal-Mart's proxy vote shows dissent against execs
• News Summary: UAE sees growth slowing to 3 percent
• Obama win could cost Romney $5M in personal taxes
• World stocks extend fall on global growth fears
• Luxury dining on Somali beach as market matures
• MF Global trustee threatens suit against Corzine
• US stocks inch lower, calm returns to market
• News Summary: Independent booksellers' sales up
• Kids could someday get on Facebook, without lying
• Chesapeake to replace 4 directors in nod to Icahn

Wall Street treads water after losses, fear remains Posted: 04 Jun 2012 06:59 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was flat on Monday after a steep drop in the previous session that erased the Dow industrials' gain for the year, and analysts said there may be more declines after indexes fell below key technical support levels. Signs of economic weakness around the globe and Europe's intensifying debt crisis are unnerving investors, who have been piling out of riskier investments like commodities and equities for the perceived safety of higher-rated government bonds. Banking stocks are heading into a bear market as Europe's debt crisis pressures the sector. ...

Factory orders post surprise fall in April Posted: 04 Jun 2012 07:33 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for factory goods fell in April for the third time in four months as demand slipped for everything from cars and machinery to computers, the latest worrisome sign for the economy. The Commerce Department said on Monday orders for manufactured goods dropped 0.6 percent during the month. The government also revised its estimate for new orders in March to show a steeper decline. Economists had forecast orders rising 0.2 percent in April. ...

Chesapeake to replace four directors after pressure Posted: 04 Jun 2012 07:02 AM PDT (Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp agreed to replace four current board members, bowing to shareholder pressure to improve corporate governance just days ahead of the natural gas producer's annual meeting. The company's largest shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, will nominate three of the new directors, while billionaire investor Carl Icahn and his affiliates will pick the fourth, it said on Monday. ...

MF Global trustee sees possible claims vs Corzine Posted: 04 Jun 2012 07:27 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - The trustee liquidating MF Global Holdings Ltd issued a blistering report on Monday about how former Chief Executive Jon Corzine ran the broker-dealer and said he saw possible civil claims against top executives for breach of duties to customers. In a written report to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, trustee James Giddens said liquidity at the commodities firm had been a concern long before MF Global tumbled into bankruptcy last October. ...

Europe mulls major step toward "fiscal union" Posted: 04 Jun 2012 09:07 AM PDT BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - When Jean-Claude Trichet called last June for the creation of a European finance ministry with power over national budgets, the idea seemed fanciful, a distant dream that would take years or even decades to realize, if it ever came to be. One year later, with the euro zone's debt crisis threatening to tear the bloc apart, Germany is pushing its partners for precisely the kind of giant leap forward in fiscal integration that the now-departed European Central Bank president had in mind. ...

Spain seeks direct EU bank aid, Germany resists Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:33 AM PDT MADRID (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is pressing for a direct European rescue for Spain's banks with moral support from the European Commission, but Germany appeared to rule out such a "bailout lite" for the euro zone's fourth biggest member. A source with knowledge of the matter said Madrid is working along with European institutions to find a way to directly refinance banks using rescue funds without the government having to come under a full EU/IMF adjustment program. ...

Analysis: In failed JPMorgan hedge, lessons from past missed Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:27 AM PDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A well-regarded U.S. lender once lost a tidy sum on derivatives, and Jamie Dimon had to ride to the rescue. It wasn't JPMorgan. It was Banc One, a regional lender that piled into derivatives in the early 1990s. Banc One's shares tumbled as the trades went sour, eventually leading to the hire of Dimon as CEO in 2000 - and later, Banc One's acquisition by JPMorgan. The trades in a number of ways echoed those more recently under focus at JPMorgan . ...

"No" votes jump against Wal-Mart's Duke, directors Posted: 04 Jun 2012 07:40 AM PDT (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc Chief Executive Michael Duke, Chairman Rob Walton and former CEO Lee Scott received a far higher percentage of votes against re-election to the board of directors this year than last in the wake of Mexican bribery allegations. The officials were targeted by large pension funds and activist groups after allegations its Wal-Mart de Mexico unit bribed officials to expand quickly last decade and that management squelched an internal investigation. Scott, who was CEO of the world's largest retailer at the time, received the most votes against, 15. ...

Closures, shortages loom as insurers exit Greece Posted: 04 Jun 2012 07:59 AM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - Faced with the prospect of closing his family business and looking for work in Greece's sickly economy at the age of 65, Alkis Iliadis bemoans a decision by trade insurers to stop covering exports to his debt-choked country. "This may be the final blow to the Greek market," said Iliadis, chief executive of a small firm that distributes solar panels, materials for diamond tool makers and chemicals and machines for the marble processing industry across Greece. "We depend on imported goods. The future looks very dark and we're very afraid," he said. ...

Russian court to hear $13 billion lawsuit against BP Posted: 04 Jun 2012 02:44 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court has ordered a new hearing into a $13 billion lawsuit brought against BP by minority shareholders in its Russia's venture, TNK-BP , over a failed deal between BP and Rosneft , a BP lawyer said on Monday. The Federal Arbitration Court in the Siberian city of Tyumen has ordered a new hearing in a lower court, lawyer Konstantin Lukoyanov told Reuters. The original suit was thrown out last year. ...

Lenders back Portugal's struggle to fend off crisis Posted: 04 Jun 2012 06:23 AM PDT LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's bailout program is on track and it can hit its targets for 2012 despite some risks, its international lenders said on Monday, offering strong support as Lisbon struggles to avoid following Greece into a second rescue package. Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar said he would stick to the program after getting a thumbs-up in the latest inspection review by the European Union and IMF, and that the lenders would recommend payment of the next 4.1 billion euro ($5 billion) tranche from the rescue fund. ...

French rogue trader Kerviel launches appeal Posted: 04 Jun 2012 07:29 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - Ex-trader Jerome Kerviel began his appeal on Monday against a three-year prison sentence for his role in France's biggest rogue trading scandal, arguing he was not responsible for a 4.9 billion euro ($6.1 billion) loss at banking group Societe Generale . Wearing an open-necked white shirt for his court appearance and showing little emotion, Kerviel hit back at SocGen over the 2010 conviction that held him responsible for massive, risky bets uncovered in 2008. The 35-year-old trader claims his superiors knew what he was doing. SocGen denies any part in the trades. ...

HP and Oracle set for court clash over Itanium Posted: 04 Jun 2012 02:41 AM PDT (Reuters) - Lawyers for Hewlett-Packard Co and Oracle Corp will face off in court on Monday for opening statements in a bitter lawsuit over Oracle's decision to end support for HP's Itanium-based servers. The trial, in which HP seeks up to $4 billion in damages, comes just days after Oracle lost a separate high stakes case against Google over smartphone technology. Top personalities from both Oracle and HP - such as Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison, President Mark Hurd and HP board member Ann Livermore - could take the stand. ...

Ford says studying indigenous brands for China market Posted: 03 Jun 2012 10:33 PM PDT TAIPEI (Reuters) - Ford Motor is in talks with its partners to introduce indigenous brands in China, while it focuses on building up its own brand in the world's biggest auto market, its China chief said on Monday. Some foreign auto makers have launched so-called indigenous, or China-only, brands with their local partners, in part to comply with Chinese government regulations that allow global carmakers like Ford to manufacture cars in China. "We always are in discussions with our joint venture partners. ...

French rogue trader Kerviel launches appeal Posted: 04 Jun 2012 04:32 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - Ex-trader Jerome Kerviel began his appeal on Monday against a three-year prison sentence for his role in France's biggest rogue trading scandal, arguing he was not responsible for a 4.9 billion euro ($6.1 billion) loss at banking group Societe Generale . Wearing an open-necked white shirt for his court appearance and showing little emotion, Kerviel hit back at SocGen over the 2010 conviction that held him responsible for massive, risky bets uncovered in 2008. The 35-year-old trader claims his superiors knew what he was doing. ...

Debt, property risks curb China stimulus firepower Posted: 04 Jun 2012 02:11 AM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - Investors counting on China to repeat its huge 2008-09 stimulus to backstop global economic growth are failing to recognize Beijing's limited scope to deliver another major spending surge. The 4 trillion yuan ($628 billion) stimulus package launched to counter the post-Lehman global crisis won worldwide applause but left a stellar bill - a 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion) mountain of local government debt, the risk of sour loans as growth slows and a super-heated property market. ...

Analysis: H&M on quest for growth with new fashion chains Posted: 04 Jun 2012 04:13 AM PDT STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Hennes & Mauritz , which pioneered global expansion in fashion retailing, now finds itself tailing Zara owner Inditex not just in size but in strategy as it trials separate fashion chains to attract new customers. Shares in both companies have outperformed the European retail index, which is down 8 percent this year as the continent's debt worries hit consumer spending, but while world number one clothes retailer Inditex is up 13 percent, H&M, now second biggest, is around 4 percent down. ...

Acer says no plans to launch non-tablet devices on ARM Posted: 03 Jun 2012 10:58 PM PDT TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's Acer Inc said on Monday it would remain closer to U.S. chipmaker Intel, even though Microsoft also embraces rival ARM for its new Windows 8 operating system. The world's No.4 PC vendor has given an upbeat outlook for the second half after delivering a quarterly net profit that lagged market expectations in April, betting on the launch of Microsoft's new Windows system and more slimline ultrabook computers. The company is recovering from two consecutive quarters of losses in April to September last year and a management shake-up. ...

Canon to buy back $640 million worth of own shares Posted: 03 Jun 2012 11:10 PM PDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Canon Inc said on Monday it plans to buy back up to 50 billion yen ($640 million) worth of its own shares, or 1.4 percent of its shares outstanding, between June 5 and July 27. ($1 = 78.1200 Japanese yen) (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi)

WellPoint To buy 1-800 Contacts for $900 million: WSJ Posted: 04 Jun 2012 12:34 AM PDT (Reuters) - Health insurer WellPoint Inc plans to buy contact-lens and eyewear retailer 1-800 Contacts Inc for a transaction value close to $900 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The deal will close in the third quarter and will start adding to the company's per-share earnings in 2014, the Journal said in its report. The deal will be financed with cash on hand, the report said. "We see a unique way of tying 1-800 Contacts into our product design," WellPoint Chief Financial Officer Wayne DeVeydt is quoted as saying in the report. ...

Global slowdown fears hit shares and commodities Posted: 04 Jun 2012 04:39 AM PDT Asian shares tumbled on Monday, pushing the broader Tokyo market to a 28-year low, as investors extended a rout of global stocks and worried about a nightmare scenario of euro-zone breakup, U.S. economic relapse and a sharp slowdown in China. Tokyo's broader Topix index lost 2.1 percent to 693.35, a level not seen since late 1983, as Asian markets plumbed new lows for 2012. Japan's Nikkei average fell 2 percent after last week marking its ninth straight week of losses, the longest such losing streak run in 20 years. ...

BP is free to sell Russian TNK-BP stake: source Posted: 04 Jun 2012 01:04 AM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - BP will press ahead and sell a stake in its Russian venture, a source close to the company said, despite a threat by its billionaire partners to block a deal that could pave the way for the Kremlin to cement its dominance over the country's vast energy sector. BP said on Friday it had received expressions of interest in its one-half stake in TNK-BP , Russia's third largest oil producer that analysts estimate is worth $30 billion, and would pursue a sale. ...

Pianalto says jobs report hasn't changed her outlook: WSJ Posted: 03 Jun 2012 08:40 PM PDT (Reuters) - The grim U.S. jobs report for May does not warrant further easing of monetary policy, Sandra Pianalto, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, was quoted as saying on Monday. Pianalto told the Wall Street Journal that even though the jobs report was disappointing, she was not yet convinced the economy was taking a turn for the worse. "I'd have to see a substantial change in my outlook," to be convinced the Fed should do more, Pianalto told the WSJ. "I don't think this employment report, in and of itself, is likely to lead to a substantial change in my outlook. ...

Buffett-backed BYD dealers put brakes on advance subsidies: report Posted: 03 Jun 2012 07:47 PM PDT HONG KONG (Reuters) - Two of the biggest dealers for the Warren Buffett-backed Chinese automaker BYD have stopped paying an advance subsidy of 120,000 yuan ($18,850) to buyers of its electric cars, a newspaper said, putting further pressure on BYD's shares after a recent accident involving one of its vehicles. The dealers in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen said buyers would have to pay the full price of around 369,700 yuan and then claim the subsidy from the government themselves, the South China Morning Post reported on Monday. Shares of BYD fell as much as 5. ...

BP is free to sell TNK-BP stake: source Posted: 03 Jun 2012 10:20 PM PDT MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian billionaire co-owners of TNK-BP , the Russian joint venture of oil major BP, are not in a position to block the possible sale of the British company's stake, a source close to BP said. "We can sell it if we want to," the source told Reuters in response to speculation that the billionaire quartet would seek to veto any deal. The Financial Times newspaper, citing a spokesman for Russian shareholder consortium AAR, on Monday reported that the TNK-BP shareholder agreement prevents BP from giving out any confidential information to a third party without its consent. ...

Insight: Australia's coal bed LNG export expansion plans falter Posted: 03 Jun 2012 01:23 PM PDT PERTH (Reuters) - Confidence in Australia's coal seam gas industry, one of the nation's brightest economic prospects, has begun to flicker. For the first time since energy firms kicked off $50 billion of projects to drill for gas in the region's rich coal deposits less than two years ago, there is a consensus emerging among industry executives and experts that plans are well off track. ...

Wal-Mart's proxy vote shows dissent against execs Posted: 04 Jun 2012 09:27 AM PDT Wal-Mart's final shareholder vote for its board of directors showed unprecedented dissent against key executives and board members, including CEO Mike Duke, in the wake of allegations of bribery in Mexico.

News Summary: UAE sees growth slowing to 3 percent Posted: 04 Jun 2012 09:25 AM PDT SLOWER GROWTH: The United Arab Emirates' top economic official says growth is likely to slow to about 3 percent this year as the UAE feels the effects of a sputtering global recovery. That compares with 4.2 percent growth last year.

Obama win could cost Romney $5M in personal taxes Posted: 04 Jun 2012 09:22 AM PDT To see where the presidential candidates stand on taxing the rich, just look at how they'd tax themselves. Under his own proposal, Mitt Romney would pay half what he would under President Barack Obama's tax plan. For a man of Romney's means, that could save almost $5 million a year.

World stocks extend fall on global growth fears Posted: 04 Jun 2012 09:20 AM PDT World markets dropped on Monday, extending heavy losses last week, as another setback for the U.S. economic recovery intensified fears that a global recession was in the making.

Luxury dining on Somali beach as market matures Posted: 04 Jun 2012 09:05 AM PDT Beachfront dining, fresh lobster, and a European clientele: Somalia's restaurant scene is quickly changing for the better.

MF Global trustee threatens suit against Corzine Posted: 04 Jun 2012 09:04 AM PDT The trustee overseeing the liquidation of the brokerage MF Global says he may sue former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine.

US stocks inch lower, calm returns to market Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:59 AM PDT U.S. stocks are trading modestly lower at midday as calm returns to the market after a spasm of fearful selling last week.

News Summary: Independent booksellers' sales up Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:54 AM PDT MEMBERSHIP GROWS: Core membership of the American Booksellers Association rose by 55 over the past year, to 1,567. It's the third straight increase for the independents' trade organization after years of heavy declines brought on by superstore chains and online sellers such as Amazon.com.

Kids could someday get on Facebook, without lying Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:48 AM PDT Though Facebook bans children under 13, millions of them have profiles on the site by lying about their age.

Chesapeake to replace 4 directors in nod to Icahn Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:45 AM PDT Just weeks after taking a stake in Chesapeake Energy Corp., activist shareholder Carl Icahn has helped orchestrate a shake-up at the nation's No. 2 natural gas producer.

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