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TOP STORIES
Sky pulls support for Murdoch bid as Comcast confirms offer
LONDON - Sky withdraws its recommendation of RupertMurdoch's contested bid for the European pay-TV group afterrival Comcast submitted a higher, 22 billion-pound ($31 billion)cash offer. (SKY-M&A/COMCAST (UPDATE 3, PIX), expect by 1400GMT, by Paul Sandle, 550 words)
Shire willing to back $64 bln Takeda bid, market signalsdoubts
LONDON/NEW YORK/TOKYO - Rare disease specialist Shire saysit is willing to recommend a sweetened $64 billion offer fromJapan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co to shareholders, in what wouldbe the biggest acquisition of a drug company this year.(SHIRE-M&A/TAKEDA PHARMA (UPDATE 9, PIX), moving shortly, by BenMartin, Carl O'Donnell and Sam Nussey, 898 words)
Twitter trounces estimates as growth moves overseas
Twitter Inc reports its second profitable quarter and topsWall Street estimates for revenue and monthly active users, asadvertisers in Asia and other markets outside the United Statesembraced its video ads. (TWITTER-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 2), moved, byDavid Ingram and Munsif Vengattil, 539 words)
New shingles vaccine shines as currency hits GSK earnings
LONDON - Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline reports a 2 percent fallin both sales and earnings in the first quarter as a strongerpound offset a promising start for its new shingles vaccineShingrix. (GSK-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 1), moved, by Ben Hirschler, 360words)
Credit Suisse delivers best quarter since Thiam's revamp
ZURICH - Credit Suisse reports a 16.4 percent year-on-yearrise in first-quarter net income, its best quarter since ChiefExecutive Tidjane Thiam launched a three-year restructuring planfor Switzerland's second-biggest bank. (CREDIT SUISSEGP-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 2), moved, by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi, 512words)
Costa Coffee to break from Whitbread after investor pressure
LONDON - Costa Coffee will be spun off from parent companyWhitbread, which yields to pressure from hedge funds who arguedits value was weighed down by the conglomerate's Premier Innhotel chain. (WHITBREAD-RESULTS/DEMERGER (UPDATE 4, TV, PIX),moving shortly, by Paul Sandle, Rahul B, Maiya Keidan andMartinne Geller, 785 words)
MARKETS
Stocks slide toward longest losing streak of the year
LONDON - Shares are on their way to the longest losingstreak of the year, as an advance in U.S. bond yields beyond 3percent and warnings from top global firms about rising costsfeed fears a boom in earnings may have peaked. (GLOBAL-MARKETS/(WRAPUP 4, PIX), updating throughout the day, by Marc Jones, 917words)
Firm bond yields push dollar to 4-month high; euro struggles
LONDON - The dollar hits a four-month high after a rise inbenchmark U.S. Treasury yields above 3 percent rattled somecurrency bears and leads investors to consider whether thegreenback was breaking out of a prolonged weak spell.(GLOBAL-FOREX/ (UPDATE 3), updating throughout the day, by TomFinn, 535 words)
Oil hovers near $74 a barrel, U.S. bonds, crude supply casta shadow
LONDON - Oil eases, but held in sight of three-year highsreached the previous day, as rising U.S. fuel inventories andproduction weigh on an otherwise bullish market. (GLOBAL-OIL/(UPDATE 6, PIX), updating throughout the day, by Amanda Cooper,439 words)
Gold falls on strong dollar and higher U.S. yields
LONDON - Gold falls as the dollar and U.S. Treasury yieldsjump on robust U.S. data and signs of an easing in theU.S.-China trade conflict. (GLOBAL-PRECIOUS/ (UPDATE 3),updating throughout the day, by Zandi Shabalala, 394 words)
ECONOMY
After Carney surprise, chance of May BoE rate hike down butnot out
LONDON - Bank of England Governor Mark Carney surprisedinvestors last week when he hinted that interest rates might notgo up next month - but economists say it would be wrong to ruleout an increase. (BRITAIN-BOE/ (ANALYSIS, GRAPHIC), moved, byDavid Milliken, 986 words)
Once it gets going, ECB may be more reliable rate hiker thanBoE: McGeever
LONDON - As the global shift towards higher interest ratesmoves up a gear, attention is turning to Europe's two majorcentral banks. (EUROPE-MARKETS/CENBANKS (COLUMN), moved, byJamie McGeever, 784 words)
China unveils fresh measures to boost rental housing, paveway for REITs
BEIJING - China unveils fresh measures to support the rentalhousing market, making it easier for companies in the sector toraise money and paving way for retail investors to buy intosecurities such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).(CHINA-ECONOMY/RENTAL-SECURITIZATION (UPDATE 3), moved, by YawenChen and Ryan Woo, 520 words)
Turkey's central bank hikes top rate by a more-than-expected75 basis points
ISTANBUL - Turkey's central bank raises the highest of thefour interest rates it uses to set policy by 75 basis points,making its first rate hike in four months after President TayyipErdogan called snap elections for June. (TURKEY-CENBANK/RATES(UPDATE 3), moved, by Ezgi Erkoyun, 503 words)
COMPANIES
Lloyds Bank reassures investors on future of preferenceshares
LONDON - Britain's Lloyds Banking Group says it will notcancel its preference shares following investor complaints aboutthe possibility after insurer Aviva abandoned its plans to scrapthe high-yielding stocks. (LLOYDS-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 2, PIX),moving shortly, by Emma Rumney and Lawrence White, 531 words)
BMW mulls China electric car exports amid U.S.-China tradespat
BEIJING - BMW is reviewing whether to make its factory inShenyang, China, an export hub for electric cars, its chieffinancial officer says at the Beijing Auto Show on Wednesday.(AUTOSHOW-BEIJING/BMW-EXPORTS (PIX), moved, 348 words)
Amazon.com plays catch-up in Brazil as local rivals thrive
SAO PAULO - Amazon may struggle to dominate retail in Brazilas it has elsewhere, according to a dozen executives, analystsand investors interviewed by Reuters. They compare the state ofBrazilian e-commerce to that of the U.S. market 10 years ago —only Amazon's slow rollout here gave rivals a chance to prepare.(AMAZON.COM-BRAZIL/RIVALS (REPEAT, INSIGHT, PIX), moved, byBrad Haynes, 1306 words)
GM banks on low-cost vehicles in Brazil as auto sales rise
DETROIT/SAO PAULO - General Motors is planning for long-termprofitability in South America built on the back of draconiancost cutting during Brazil's recession and the same low-costvehicles it is developing for Chinese consumers, which are dueto hit dealerships in 2019. (GM-BRAZIL/ (PIX), moved, by NickCarey and Brad Haynes, 793 words)
Bharti Infratel to merge with Indus, form $14.6 bln telecomtower giant
BENGALURU/MUMBAI - India's Bharti Infratel says it hasagreed to merge with Indus Towers, in a deal that creates theworld's No. 2 telecom tower company with an estimated equityvalue of $14.6 billion. (INDUS TOWERS-BHARTI INFRATEL/ (UPDATE3, PIX), moved, by Vishal Sridhar and Devidutta Tripathy, 453words)
Gucci fuels booming sales at luxury firm Kering
PARIS - Booming sales growth at French luxury group Keringgot even faster in the first quarter, sending its shares torecord highs, as red-hot demand for its Gucci clothing andhandbags was joined by other labels such as Balenciaga.(KERING-RESULTS/ (UPDATE 2, PIX), moved, by Sarah White andPascale Denis, 495 words)
COMMODITIES
LME to reassess Rusal's aluminium after U.S. extendssanctions deadline
LONDON - The London Metal Exchange says it will analyse theimplications of U.S. sanctions in relation to Rusal's metalafter the Treasury Department gave customers of the aluminiumproducer more time to comply. (USA-SANCTIONS/RUSAL-LME (UPDATE1), moved, 259 words)
Shipping's Baltic Exchange turns to grains, gas and even airfreight
LONDON - The Baltic Exchange, owned by Singapore Exchange,plans to launch new indexes for grains, gas and potentially airfreight in its biggest shake-up for more than a decade,according to executives and two sources familiar with thematter. (SHIPPING-BALTICEXCHANGE/ (PIX), moved, by JonathanSaul, 787 words)
Total says interested in exploring Saudi petrol stationmarket with Aramco
PARIS/RIYADH - French oil and gas major Total says it isinterested in Saudi Arabia's petrol station market and hadsigned a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Aramco to lookat options. (TOTAL-ARAMCO/ (UPDATE 1), moving shortly, 226words)
