The Australian arm of Citigroup (C) recently priced a new 3-year bond issue at AUD 1.25 billion ($1 billion) guaranteed by the Australian Government. The bonds are priced at 43 basis points over swap and Bank Bill Swap (BBSW) reference rate.

The issue comprises fixed-rate notes worth AUD 450 million (sold mainly to asset managers) and floating-rate notes worth AUD 800 million (sold mostly to banks). Over 30 investors participated in the offer, pushing the final book size to AUD 1.5 billion which was later scaled back to AUD 1.25 billion. Citigroup had set the margin at 43 basis points, the bottom of an initial range of 43–47 basis points, based on strong demand.

About 85% of the notes were sold in Australia and the rest to investors in Europe. In June, Citigroup also sold AUD 1.3 billion of 3-year notes backed by the Government. It plans to

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China imported record amounts of copper and iron ore in April as its mammoth stimulus program stoked its foundries and mills.  But the nation’s exports remained weak, leaving some to wonder how much longer the country can keep its economic fires lit without an increase in global consumption.

China’s voracious appetite for commodities drove the second-biggest monthly haul of crude oil and tripled aluminum imports, but very little steel, aluminum and coal went the other way.

“Industrial production is coming online and demand is rising. But sentiment may be tempered by the view that some of the material is being stockpiled and… consumption hasn’t risen as quickly as imports,” Ben Westmore, commodities economist at National Australia Bank, told Reuters.

Copper imports jumped 6.6% from March to April, to 399,833 tons; iron ore imports soared 9.4% to 57 million tons, and crude oil imports hit 3.93 million barrels per day,

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New All-Select Sector SPDRs to offer twist on equal-weighting strategies of the S&P 500. 

 

Another equal-weight exchange-traded fund based on the S&P 500 is being proposed, this time using Select Sector SPDRs to carve up the index.

The ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF would track a Merrill Lynch benchmark that divvies up the broad U.S. stock market by its nine major sectors, according to a recent filing still under review by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Each would be represented by a Select Sector SPDR fund. 

"At all times, the Merrill Lynch Equal Sector Weight index will be comprised of the constituents in the S&P 500, albeit in different weights," said the registration statement. 

The fund-of-funds ETF is expected to come with an annual expense ratio of 0.55%. 

The proposed ETF would compete against equal-weight sector portfolios both  from Rydex and ProShares. But one other, the Rydex S&P Equal Weight (NYSE:

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Highlighted stocks include Boeing's (BA), Embraer (ERJ), B/E Aerospace (BEAV), Hexcel (HXL) and Ladish (LDSH).The Sky is Falling!  Really!The aviation financiers gathered together in Phoenix this week to commiserate -- with each other as well as the commercial aircraft manufacturers. Their message: "You can build 'em, but you can't get financing for 'em!" Uh oh!One attendee opined that we who live in the Pacific Northwest are about to see whitetails (vernacular for undeliverable aircraft) at Boeing's (BA) finishing plant in Seattle (as are the French at the Airbus plant in Toulouse). The ultimate consequence of this shortfall in funding is that Airbus and Boeing -- plus Bombardier and Embraer (ERJ) -- are about to encounter the same thing that has happened to the executive aircraft manufacturers (not to mention the automobile makers, et al): Too many ...

Adding fuel to the controversy that Amazon.com (AMZN) will evade paying royalties to authors from its Kindle device, Discovery Communications Inc. (DISCA) sued the online retailer for violating its patent on electronic book technology.

On Tuesday, the media company filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Delaware accusing Amazon's electronic reader Kindle of infringing intellectual property rights of a patent it had registered in November 2007.

Amazon introduced the second version of Kindle last month for a retail price of $359, calling it the future of book reading. The first model of the wireless device was released in November 2007.

Discovery sought a "fair compensation" through damages for "any future infringement" of the patent but did not seek an injunction preventing sales of the Kindle.

"AMZN" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"DISCA" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?...

Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (MRX) slumped the most in 12 years on Wednesday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected the company's appeal for banning generic versions of its acne drug Solodyn from entering the market before the patent expired.

Mylan Inc. (MYL), Barr Laboratories Inc. and Novartis AG (NVS) unit Sandoz Inc. have submitted abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) for Solodyn. Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) has already received a nod from federal health regulators to market its generic version of the oral antibiotic and began shipment of the product.

Medicis filed its petition for a 30-month stay on ANDAs of Solodyn, after suing all the generic makers. Solodyn, which is scheduled to lose patent protection in 2018, contributes nearly 50% of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company's total revenue.

Shares of the company are down more than 11% today.

"MRX" Free Stock ...

While downside risks remain, the overall outlook for the oil sector has improved in recent days, owing largely to the tentative signs of a supply response to anemic global demand. With demand falling sharply due to worldwide economic problems, inventories started building at a faster rate since last fall.In response, OPEC (which accounts for roughly 40% of all oil supplies) announced a number of production cuts. While there was ample skepticism early on regarding OPEC's ability to enforce the announced cuts, recent evidence suggests a significant level of compliance within the cartel.As such, while oil prices over the coming weeks will track the outlook for the global economy, the commodity's improved supply situation is expected to help prices consolidate around current levels.Natural gas, on the other hand, is a North American story and developments here over the coming months will determine its outlook....

Fidelity National Financial Inc (FNF) shares are experiencing unusually high trading volume. The Jacksonville-based company's stock jumped over 6% at noon.

Zacks Investment Research

The base metals were mixed on Tuesday. Copper rose and fell in small fits and starts yesterday, with the final move being to the downside as it finished at $1.702/lb., down 2¾ cents.

Nickel was in positive territory to start the New York day, but fell off sharply to mid-morning, after which it regained a little lost ground to close at $4.5185/lb., down just over a penny. Zinc ended modestly lower, at $0.5496/lb., down better than three-quarters of a cent. Aluminum had a modestly higher day, adding a third of a cent, to $0.6077/lb., while lead pushed higher, tacking on a penny and a third, to $0.6006/lb.

Copper eased off of the four-month high reached on Monday as investors decided to book profits from the recent runup, and despite the encouraging housing starts numbers that offered a smidgeon of hope to that embattled sector. There was some technical selling

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There's a lot of noise coming out from market pundits lately. Is this the bottom? Is it time to buy? To that I'd say "turn off the tv." These prognosticators predicted little to nothing of what has happened during the past year, so now is not the time to start listening to them. When the market bounces, as its doing now, there is often some easy money made in the first moves. But this is a dangerous game to play for individual investors. The market can shed these gains as quickly as they came. br /br /Also, most investors are in less stable financial positions that they were a year ago. Its not a time to take extra risk. Its a time to protect cash. There is one exception. If you have a decent amount of time until retirement, ...