» ** MORNING WRAP ** dealingfloor.com

20 Nov 2006, 8:17am
Market Wrap
by webmaster

MORNING WRAP

** US MARKETS **
Dow 0,3%; Nasdaq -0,13%; S&P 0,1%; Soxx -0,55%; Russel2k -0,29%; DJAIG 0,31%;
10yr Bond 0,12%; 10yr Yield 4,59%; Crude future 58,32; Gold 623,8

- Freeport-McMoRan to Buy Phelps Dodge for $25.9 Billion in Cash and Stock
- Blackstone Buys Zell’s Trust for $20 Billion in Record Real Estate Deal
- Rising Labor Costs Mean Central Bankers May Keep Rates Higher for Longer
- Treasuries May Gain as Housing Slowdown Points to 2007 Interest-Rate Cut

- Ford Motor Co.: The second-biggest U.S. automaker restated results from the
first half to correct its accounting for derivative transactions. First-quarter
net loss was revised to $1.42 billion from $1.19 billion, the company said in a
regulatory filing. Second-quarter loss was revised to $317 million from $254
million.

- Leading Indicators are published at 16:00 CET.

** ASIAN MARKETS **
Nikkei -2,27%; Kospi -0,71%; HSI -0,7%; Taiwan 0,03%; China 1,45%; India -1,04%;
Thailand -0,54%; Australia -1,63%

- Zhou Says Pressure for Higher Interest Rates in China `Has Eased a Bit’
- Asian Stocks Head for Biggest Drop in 10 Weeks; Sanyo Slides, China Gains
- South Korea’s Kwon `Concerned’ by Won Strength, Expects Currency to Fall
- Yen Declines as G-20 Meeting Made No Comment on Slide in Japan’s Currency
- Japanese stocks tumbled the most in four months, leading declines in Asia.
Sanyo Electric Co. fell after a report said it may post a loss, missing a
forecast for its first profit in three years. Investors are afraid of any
negative news and are selling their holdings ahead of the earnings reports. Also
last Friday’s weak US housing data caused weakness amongst Asian exporters.

** EUROPE: IN PLAY TODAY **

- G20: Group of 20 economic leaders said the outlook for world growth
remains positive but called for continuing adjustments to monetary and
fiscal policies and appropriate exchange rate flexibility. “Maintaining
strong world growth and containing inflation will require ongoing
adjustment to monetary and fiscal policies while ensuring appropriate
exchange rate flexibility,” the G20 finance ministers and central bank
chiefs said in a communique.

- Alcatel SA: U.S. President George W. Bush approved the company’s $11.8 billion
purchase of Lucent Technologies Inc., removing the final hurdle to the
transaction.

- ASM International NV: Chief Financial Officer Naud Van der Ven said he expects
shareholders won’t back a minority investor’s proposal to break up the company,
Europe’s second-largest semiconductor-equipment maker.

- BP Plc: The world’s third-largest publicly traded oil company plans to invest
$500 million in a research program to develop crops that can be converted into
fuel, BP’s chief executive officer said on Nov. 17.

- Continental AG: Chief Executive Officer Manfred Wennemer said higher
raw-material prices will swell costs by 300 million euros ($385 million) this
year at the world’s fourth- largest tiremaker, Automobilwoche reported, citing
an interview.

- Corus Group Plc: Tata Steel Ltd. may raise its 4.3 billion pound ($8 billion)
offer for Corus, countering a rival bid by Brazil’s Cia. Siderurgica Nacional SA
to become the world’s fifth-biggest steelmaker.

- Credit Suisse Group: The second-biggest Swiss bank will need to lower its
capital base by about 2 billion francs ($1.6 billion) to take account of
deficits in its pension funds, SonntagsZeitung reported, citing spokesman Andres
Luther. The shortfall in the lender’s pension provisions was revealed in a
study by Standard & Poor’s into Credit Suisse’s adoption of generally accepted
accounting principles in the U.S., the paper said, citing Luther.

- Deutsche Telekom AG: Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov may still try
to buy a stake of as much as 10 percent in Deutsche Telekom AG in 2007 after
talks with the German government failed earlier this year, Focus said, citing an
unidentified person familiar with the situation.

- Endesa SA: Manuel Jove may buy a stake of between 5 percent and 10 percent in
Endesa, the Spanish power company that’s the target of a bid by Germany’s E.ON
AG, El Pais newspaper reported. Jove will have 2.8 billion euros to invest
after selling his family’s stake in real estate company Fadesa Inmobiliaria SA
and a 5 percent stake in utility Union Fenosa SA, the paper said.

- GlaxoSmithKline Plc: Europe’s largest drug maker is facing demands from
investors that the company use its 2.3 billion-pound ($4.4 billion) cash pile or
face a shareholder revolt, the Independent on Sunday reported. Institutional
investors are urging the company to use the money for acquisitions and to
bolster its upcoming new drugs, the newspaper said, citing shareholders.

- Iberdrola SA: Spain’s second-largest electricity company may seal an accord
before Nov. 25 to combine with Scottish Power Plc, a British utility, El Mundo
newspaper reported, citing unidentified people close to the transaction.

- Porsche AG: Germany’s BaFin financial services regulator has reported insider
trading of Porsche AG shares last year to prosecutors, WirtschaftsWoche said.
Separately, Focus magazine reported that Porsche supervisory board member and
shareholder Ferdinand Piech told executives at Volkswagen AG on Nov. 17 the
luxury carmaker has no plans to buy Volkswagen.

- Royal Dutch Shell Plc: Europe’s largest oil company may sell its French oil
business for as much as $4 billion, The Business reported on Saturday, without
saying where it got the information. Shell hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. or
Citigroup Inc. to advise on the possible sale of one or more of its three
refineries, the magazine said in its Nov. 18 edition.

- Siemens AG: Managers at Siemens AG’s communications unit may have embezzled
100 million euros ($128 million) in company funds, five times more than the sum
estimated by authorities, Spiegel magazine said, citing no one.

- Suez SA and Gaz de France SA: The merger of Suez and former French gas
monopoly Gaz de France SA will put the new company in pole position to take
advantage of future demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG), the Times reported,
citing an interview with Suez Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet.

- Telecom Italia SpA: Italy’s biggest telephone company rejected a $7.7 billion
bid from America Movil SA for its Brazilian unit because it was too low, la
Repubblica reported, without saying where it got the information. Telecom Italia
Executive Vice Chairman Carlo Buora met yesterday with a Brasil Telecom SA
official in London, to discuss another possible bid, the newspaper said.

- Volvo AB: Europe’s second-largest truck maker will almost double car sales in
China this year and sees the same rate of growth in 2007, Volvo Car Corp. Chief
Executive Officer Fredrik Arp told reporters at a trade fair in Beijing, Dagens
Nyheter said yesterday.