Reuter Before The Bell News Mail on June 27, 2008

Reuter, through the professional news mail editor Lisa Von Ahn told that Oil crude has made its new record price, upper to $142 per barrel. FED has been launching that 2 percent of benchmark interest rate is normal and still run.

Welcome to the Reuters Before the Bell news mail.

After oil prices and concerns about the banking sector drove the equities market off a cliff yesterday, stocks now look set to stay where they landed. Futures are pointing sideways.

But talk about a vicious circle: With stocks under pressure, investors are parking their money in commodities … like yellow - and black - gold. U.S. crude is around $141 a barrel after exceeding $142.

The brokerage write-down guessing game isn’t helping matters. A Lehman analyst now expects Merrill Lynch to take down the value of its assets by $5.4 billion in the second quarter. Until now, the highest estimate was $4.2 billion.

In data, we’ve got the Fed’s favorite inflation measure — core personal consumption expenditures - and a report on consumer sentiment.

The dollar is down against an index of major currencies. U.S. Treasuries are mostly higher.

General Ford Motor Co.? Business Week reports that GM management discussed, but shot down the idea of a Ford merger, which it said would end up combining the problems of the two automakers.

Until Monday,

Lisa Von Ahn

News Mail Editor

Business Highlight on Reuters Before The Bell on June 27, 2008

U.S. crude, Brent surge to new record above $142

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. crude and Brent crude surged to new record highs above $142 a barrel on Friday, extending gains from the previous session.

Merrill may take $5.4 bln in Q2 writeoffs: Lehman

(Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co will likely incur $5.4 billion of write-downs in the second quarter, mainly from its exposure to monolines, said an analyst at Lehman Brothers, who also saw higher quarterly losses at the world’s largest brokerage.

Bill Gates says does not think Yahoo deal likely: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) — Microsoft’s Bill Gates told journalist Tom Brokaw he does not think a deal with Yahoo Inc was likely, CNBC reported on Friday.

U.S. M&A slumps, but strategic deals help fill void

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Merger activity in the United States dropped 29 percent in the second quarter, faring better than the 40 percent global slump, as corporations filled the void left by buyout firms and targeted big consumer brands such as Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc and Wm. Wrigley Jr Co .

AIG to lose up to $5 billion from investments: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc said it planned to absorb up to $5 billion on losses of sales of investments from a dozen insurance units hit by the subprime meltdown, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

Yahoo reorganizes businesses under Decker

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc unveiled on Thursday the third phase of an extended reorganization, bolstering the operational control of President Sue Decker, as the company hones its independent strategy after rebuffing Microsoft Corp.

Taken from the source : Reuters Mail News Letter.

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