NYSE Hires SG Bank

Elena
08 Jun, 2006
New York City

Soci

[R]8:00AM NYSE Group hired Société Générale to help it finalize the merger with Euronext.[/R]
NYSE Group Inc ((NYX)) hired the large European investment bank Société Générale to help it finalize its planned merger deal with Dutch exchange operator Euronext NV. Société Générale joins Citigroup Inc., which has been advising NYSE on the deal for several months. According to Thomas Finanial Société Générale is also one of the largest shareholders in Euronext.

The move by the owner of the Nymex followed a statement made by French President Jacques Chirac in which he expressed his preferences that Euronext should do a deal with Deutsche Börse AG instead of merging with NYSE Group. NYSE shares moved to the downside in the past two days on that news, while Deutsche Börse''s rallied on Wednesday, which makes the primarily share-based NYSE deal look slightly less attractive financially than it did a few days ago.


[R]7:30AM Nikkei ends down on global growth fears.[/R]
Asian markets finished lower. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index shed 462.98 points, or 3.07%, to close at 14633.03 points. Toyota Motor also declined, shedding 2.9% while Daiwa Securities dived 4.1%. Taiwan''s key stock index plummeted 4.2% to 6331.81, its six-month low due to domestic political strife and slide in regional stock markets. Hong Kong''s Hang Seng Index dropped 366.44 points, or 2.32%, to 15450.11, with the downtrend led by China Mobile and property developers. Korea’s benchmark Kospi index settled down 3.5% at 1223.13, a seven-month low, struck by an unexpected rate hike by the Bank of Korea and losses on global markets. Mobile phone maker LG Electronics shed 1.8%. Australia''s S&P/ASX 200 Index finished 2.4% down, with oil company Woodside Petroleum losing 1%.


[R]6:30AM Europe sheds more than 2% on growth worries.[/R]
European markets were down in mid morning trading. The FTSE 100 in London lost 2.2% to settle at 5,583.3, while the Xetra Dax in Frankfurt was off 2.3% to 5,417.64 and the CAC-40 in Paris declined 2.5%, stand at 4,704.83. The biggest decliners among the broad based fall were London listed miners with Xstrata off 6.2% and Antofagasta shedding 3.9%. Growth concerns struck industrial groups with Atlas Copco edging 5% down and Thyssen Krupp plunging 4.9%. Auto stocks also performed badly with BMW, shedding 0.4%, Porsche dropping 2.3% , Volkswagen slipping 1% and DaimlerChrysler declining 1.9%.France’s Renault dived 2.8% and Italy’s Fiat lost 2.8%.

Light sweet crude oil for July delivery dropped $1.15 cents to $69.67 a barrel and July Brent crude futures on London''s ICE Futures exchange lost 28 cents to $68.91 a barrel. Gold bullion started trading Thursday at a bid price of $621.85 a troy ounce, higher than $621.25 late Wednesday. The dollar rose slightly against the euro. In morning European trading, the euro purchased $1.2772, down from $1.2794 in New York on Thursday. The British pound eased to $1.8549 from $1.8560 in New York, while the dollar advanced to buy 113.76 Japanese yen from 113.46 yen the day before.