Replies to post #885 on Trumping on a Pipe Dream

[BullNBear52]

US consumer prices steady in June, defying forecasts
Thu Jul 14, 2005 08:31 AM ET
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. consumer prices held steady in June as tumbling energy prices offset small gains in the cost of food and other items, according to a government report on Thursday showing little inflation pressure.
Energy prices fell 0.5 percent, while food costs edged up a mild 0.1 percent, the Labor Department said. Outside of those two volatile areas, the core consumer price index inched up 0.1 percent for a second straight month, suggesting underlying inflation may be waning.

The report was likely to bolster betting on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve may soon call a halt to its year-long campaign of interest-rate rises. Economists had expected consumer prices to move up 0.3 percent with core prices up 0.2 percent.

The unchanged reading in the overall CPI, which followed the first drop in 10 months in May, brought the year-on-year increase in consumer prices down to just 2.5 percent, well off the peak of 3.5 percent hit just two months ago. It was the lowest 12-month CPI reading since last September, before a big spike in oil prices.

Over the past 12 months, core inflation advanced 2 percent, the smallest year-on-year gain since October.

The drop in energy prices, the second straight monthly decrease, reflected a 1.2 percent plunge in gasoline prices and a 3.5 percent slide in the cost of natural gas.



http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh94335_2005-07-14_12-31-30_n13...

[Mattu]

Let's see what our favorite fiesty trader chica has to say.

[BullNBear52]

Bid by Chevron in Big Oil Deal Thwarts China
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
and JAD MOUAWAD
Chevron sweetened its offer for Unocal late yesterday in an 11th-hour move to thwart a rival offer from Cnooc, a government backed Chinese oil company, executives close to the negotiations said.

Unocal's board voted to accept Chevron's increased offer worth $17 billion, or $63 a share in cash and stock, and rejected a still higher all-cash offer from Cnooc worth $67 a share as too politically risky, the executives said.

The decision by Unocal's board could end the takeover battle that has stirred significant debate in Washington about national security concerns and trade policies with China. Still, it is possible that Cnooc could return to the negotiating table with a higher bid.

For the past month, Chevron and Cnooc have been locked in a battle of nerves over who will end up controlling Unocal, a mid-sized independent oil company based in El Segundo, Calif. Both bidders are racing against an Aug. 10 deadline, when the shareholders of Unocal will get the opportunity to approve or reject the offer.

The battle has turned into a source of tension between the United States and China, with some American lawmakers saying they would seek to pass legislation blocking the Chinese takeover.

Last Thursday, Unocal's board, which met at the company's headquarters, instructed its management to keep negotiating with Cnooc, which had put $18.5 billion on the table in cash. While still endorsing Chevron's cash-and-stock proposal, the board of Unocal decided then that it would consider an offer from Cnooc if several conditions were met. They include financial guarantees if Cnooc walked away from a deal or if the offer was blocked.

Chevron is betting that the opposition to a takeover by a Chinese company will scare Unocal's board away from the Chinese offer, while Cnooc is convinced that, ultimately, Unocal will consider the financial benefits of its bid.

At the heart of the battle lie Unocal's oil and gas fields in Asia, mainly in Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh, as well as a scattering of assets in North America, which hold a total of 1.7 billion barrels of proven oil and gas reserves.

Both companies see Unocal as an opportunity to raise their reserves and increase production at a time when access to oil and gas fields is getting increasingly difficult.

A Cnooc victory would bring the largest takeover by a Chinese company of a foreign company and the biggest step so far by one of China's three state-owned oil companies to break out of their country in the search for sources of energy. Chevron, meanwhile, is betting on Unocal's growth potential to help it increase production and add to its global reserves.

Unocal's shares have gained 9 percent since April 4, when the deal with Chevron was announced. They closed at $64.99 a share on Tuesday. Chevron closed at $57.30.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/20/international/asia/20unocal.html

[100lbStriper]

Yes, I like the ibox.