Fort Myers & Naples Insurance | Site For Lease

By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Commodity firms were in the spotlight Monday, after mineral extractor Vedanta Resources and oil-exploration firm Cairn Energy signed a deal for Cairn’s Indian unit.

The U.K. FTSE 100 index
/quotes/comstock/23i!i:ukx
(UK:UKX
5,276,
+0.66,
+0.01%)
ended virtually unchanged, up 0.01% at 5,276.10 points.

Shares of Vedanta Resources
/quotes/comstock/23s!e:ved
(UK:VED
2,153,
+100.00,
+4.87%)
rose 4.9% after it announced it will acquire as much as 60% of Cairn Energy’s Indian unit. Shares of Cairn Energy
/quotes/comstock/23s!e:cne
(UK:CNE
493.20,
+24.90,
+5.32%)
jumped 5.3%.

Vedanta said it expected the deal to immediately enhance its earnings per share, and Scotland-headquartered Cairn Energy said it intends to return a substantial portion of the deal proceeds to its shareholders.

J.P. Morgan analysts said they believe Vedanta needs to move into new resource areas to keep its business growing beyond 2015.

Insurance group Aviva
/quotes/comstock/23s!a:av.
(UK:AV.
377.90,
-9.50,
-2.45%)
declined 2.5%, paring monthly gains to 5.7%.

It has received and rejected a 5 billion-pound ($7.8 billion) bid from RSA Insurance Group
/quotes/comstock/23s!a:rsa
(UK:RSA
124.50,
-2.90,
-2.28%)
— which was trading down 2.3% — for most of its general insurance businesses in the U.K., Ireland and Canada.

A combination of life and nonlife insurance operations allows the company to operate with substantially less capital than the two businesses would on a stand-alone basis, it added.

Banks were broadly weak, with Royal Bank of Scotland Group
/quotes/comstock/23s!a:rbs
(UK:RBS
45.92,
-1.05,
-2.24%)
shares ending down 2.2%.

Oil giant BP
/quotes/comstock/23s!a:bp.
(UK:BP.
409.75,
-6.65,
-1.60%)

/quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp
(BP
38.52,
-0.41,
-1.05%)
declined 1.6%.

Outside the top index, shares of recruitment firm Michael Page International
/quotes/comstock/23s!e:mpi
(UK:MPI
368.00,
-5.00,
-1.34%)
fell 1.3%.

The firm’s first-half net profit rose 46% to £41.5 million from £28.3 million in the year-earlier period, as revenue grew 7.9% to £393.5 million.

“Although this was an excellent set of results, we believe this is already priced in the shares and there are still some doubts over the outlook for the second half,” said analysts at Seymour Pierce.

Sarah Turner is a markets reporter for MarketWatch in London.

London Markets: Vedanta Resources outperforms flat FTSE

By MarketWatch

MARKETWATCH FRONT PAGE

The U.S. stock market is likely to continue pulling risk on and off the table in the days ahead, with another heavy round of earnings reports in store, along will a full slate of data on the economy, employment in particular.
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How short-selling sleuths spot accounting tricks

As the 2010 second-quarter earnings season wraps up, accounting sleuths are once again scouring the latest reports for disconnects between what company executives are telling investors and what the numbers are saying.
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Stocks in focus Monday: Humana, NRG, VeriSign

Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trading in Monday’s session are Humana Inc., NRG Energy Inc. and VeriSign Inc.
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Stocks cheer a benign July; gold, dollar suffer

A modicum of confidence returned to markets in July, as U.S. and European stocks erased losses inked in the frenzy of prior months and investors took heart that slow growth is better than none at all, dumping gold and the U.S. dollar in light of this more sanguine view.
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U.S. stocks end July with strong gains

Markets stage a late rally to push into the positive ahead of the close, bucking a slowdown in second-quarter economic growth.
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MARKETWATCH COMMENTARY

Rambus Inc. investors have been dancing a little jig lately because of some legal victories, but they’ve got a long way to go down litigation road, writes Therese Poletti.
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MARKETWATCH PERSONAL FINANCE

As the 2010 second-quarter earnings season wraps up, accounting sleuths are once again scouring the latest reports for disconnects between what company executives are telling investors and what the numbers are saying.
See full story.

NewsWatch: U.S. stock market to continue balancing act

By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) – Weatherford International led oil service shares on the plus side on Tuesday, as the company issued bullish comments on its outlook.

After starting the session in the negative column, oil service shares moved up as the broad energy sector drew strength from higher crude oil prices as well as the comments from Weatherford
/quotes/comstock/13*!wft/quotes/nls/wft
(WFT
15.55,
+0.49,
+3.24%)
.

Oil rose 75 cents, or 1%, to $77.65 a barrel on contracts for September delivery, currently the most actively traded contract. Earlier in the morning, oil had traded down about 1%, reaching a low on the day of $76.05 a barrel.

The gains by oil and energy stocks came despite losses in the broad equity market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
/quotes/comstock/10w!i:dji/delayed
(DJIA
10,090,
-63.72,
-0.63%)
fell 87 points, or about 0.9% at midday.

Blue-chip energy components Exxon Mobil
/quotes/comstock/13*!xom/quotes/nls/xom
(XOM
58.22,
-0.21,
-0.36%)
and Chevron
/quotes/comstock/13*!cvx/quotes/nls/cvx
(CVX
71.72,
-0.28,
-0.39%)
both gave ground, down by 0.5% to $58.13 and by 0.6% to $71.54, respectively.

The NYSE Arca Oil Index
/quotes/comstock/10t!xoi.x
(XOI
942.45,
-0.36,
-0.04%)
dipped 0.3% to 940.

The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index
/quotes/comstock/10t!xng.x
(XNG
502.75,
+3.15,
+0.63%)
rose 0.3% to 501.

The Philadelphia Oil Service Index
/quotes/comstock/10y!i:osx
(OSX
178.29,
+2.61,
+1.49%)
rose 1.5% to $178.34.

Back in the spotlight over the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP PLC
/quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp
(BP
35.01,
-0.74,
-2.07%)
shares fell 2.5% to $34.87.

The company may be considering a new plan to kill off its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a Wall Street Journal report. BP may pump drilling mud into the well to clog it up, similar to a failed “top kill” operation attempted weeks ago. The newer method is being called a “static kill.”

With a containment cap now in place to stop the leak, BP may pursue the killing option as it works to complete relief wells. BP said the well pressure inside the casing rose to 6,825 pounds per square inch.

Weatherford jumped 3.4% to $15.57. The company reported a second-quarter loss of $26.6 million, or 4 cents a share, from income of $42 million, or 6 cents a share in the year-ago period. Excluding items, earnings in the latest quarter totaled 11 cents a share. Revenue climbed to $2.4 billion from $2 billion. The company beat the Wall Street earnings target of 7 cents a share. It also said its outlook for North America “appears constructive” and that it customers are “planning to accelerate activity in international markets.”

Weatherford also said it hasn’t laid anyone off despite a deepwater drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico.

Separately, El Paso Pipeline Partners L.P.
/quotes/comstock/13*!epb/quotes/nls/epb
(EPB
30.66,
+0.62,
+2.06%)
said it will pay a quarterly cash distribution of 40 cents a unit for the second quarter. El Paso Pipeline Partners added 1.4% to $30.46.

The payout will thus increase 5% from the first-quarter payment of 38 cents a unit, and 21% above 33 cents in the year-ago second quarter. The distribution will be paid Aug. 13 to holders of record as of the close of business on July 30.

On the earnings front, Peabody Energy Corp.
/quotes/comstock/13*!btu/quotes/nls/btu
(BTU
42.37,
+0.06,
+0.14%)
reported a higher second-quarter profit on 24% higher revenue.

Net income reached $206.2 million, or 76 cents a share, from $79.2 million, or 29 cents, in the year-earlier period. Revenue was $1.66 billion against $1.34 billion.

Earnings from continuing operations more than doubled for the St. Louis coal producer, reaching 76 cents a share from 32 cents. Adjusted earnings from operations also rose, climbing to 69 cents a share from 50 cents.

A survey of analysts by FactSet Research yielded consensus estimates of 64 cents a share for profit and $1.69 billion for revenue.

In addition, Peabody now expects to earn an adjusted 75 cents to $1 a share in the third quarter and $2.60 to $3.15 a share for the year. The FactSet-compiled consensus estimates show analysts looking for 94 cents and $3.09 a share, respectively.

Shares of Peabody Energy fell 0.2% to $42.21.

Steve Gelsi is a reporter for MarketWatch in New York.

Energy Stocks: BP mulls well kill, Weatherford up on results

By MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) — J.P. Morgan Chase said Thursday that its second-quarter profit jumped 76% as results were boosted by a $1.5 billion reduction in the group’s loan loss reserves.

The Wall Street giant posted earnings of $4.8 billion, or $1.09 cents a share for the quarter, compared to $2.7 billion, or 28 cents in the same period last year.

Excluding the reserve release and a $550 million charge to cover the U.K. tax on banker bonuses, J.P. Morgan
/quotes/comstock/13*!jpm/quotes/nls/jpm
(JPM
40.35,
-0.13,
-0.32%)
earned 87 cents a share in the latest quarter.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research had, on average, been expecting earnings of 74 cents a share. Net revenue on a managed basis fell 8% to $25.61 billion. Analysts had expected the group to report revenue of $25.81 billion.

Shares of the bulge-bracket bank gained 0.7% in pre-market trade. The stock is up 21% over the last twelve months, from the height of the financial crisis, but down 2.5% year-to-date.

Total provisions for credit losses declined 65% on a managed basis to $3.36 billion from $9.7 billion.

“Although we are gratified to see consumer-lending net charge-offs and delinquencies decline, they remain at extremely high levels and therefore returns in our consumer-lending businesses are still unacceptable,” said Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon.

As a result, these businesses did not meet expectations nor generate satisfactory returns on capital for our shareholders. It is too early to say how much improvement we will see from here,” he added.

Provisions were down 55% in retail financial services and 52% in the group’s card services division.

Dimon said the story was better in the wholesale business, where loss reserves shrank and customers are in an “increasingly healthy condition.”

Net income for the investment banking business, however, fell 6% to $1.4 billion, reflecting a sharp drop in fees and higher noninterest expenses.

J.P. Morgan ranked second among bookrunners in global equity offerings for the quarter, but collected the most fees for its services during the first half of the year, according to Dealogic, an independent research firm. The bank also came in second in debt underwriting for the quarter.

In the three months, the bank was hired to underwrite key deals such as Essar Energy’s
/quotes/comstock/23s!e:essr
(UK:ESSR
443.80,
+14.80,
+3.45%)
$1.9 billion initial public offering in the U.K. and Synovus Financial Corp.’s
/quotes/comstock/13*!snv/quotes/nls/snv
(SNV
2.71,
-0.07,
-2.52%)
$806 million follow-on.

Still, the group said equity underwriting fees fell 68% and debt underwriting fees dropped 6%.

J.P. Morgan was one of several big Wall Street banks that received government funds during the financial crisis, but repaid taxpayers ahead of its major rivals.

The bank’s tier 1 ratio, a measure of the its capital cushion, improved to 12.1% at the end of June from 11.5% at the end of March.

J.P. Morgan Chase earnings surge 76%

By Claudia Assis and Kate Gibson, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures pared their losses on Wednesday after a government report showed a larger-than-expected decline in inventories.

Crude oil for August delivery declined 19 cents, or 0.2%, to $76.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported a decline of 5.1 million barrels in crude inventories in the week ended July 9.

Analysts polled by Platts expected a drop of 2.6 million barrels.

The EIA also reported an increase of 1.6 million barrels for gasoline stocks and a rise of 2.9 million barrels for stocks of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel.

The analysts surveyed by Platts had projected increases of 950,000 barrels in gasoline supplies and 800,000 barrels in distillate supplies.

Refineries operated at 90.5% of their operable capacity last week, the EIA said. Analysts had forecast a drop by 0.4 of a percentage point to 89.4%.

On Tuesday, crude for August delivery rallied $2.20, or 2.9%, to $77.15 a barrel, closing above the $77-a-barrel level for the first time since June 28.

But the weaker retail sales figures took the bullish edge off the market, said Tim Evans, an analyst with Citigroup’s Citi Futures Perspective unit, in a note to clients. Also weighing on the market are prospects of an increase in supplies.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that sales at U.S. retailers dropped 0.5% in June, joining other evidence in recent weeks that has pointed to the economic recovery slowing down.

The American Petroleum Institute, a Washington-based trade group, on Tuesday reported that oil inventories had climbed 1.74 million barrels last week.

The front-month contract has traded between $70 and $80 a barrel since late May amid mixed economic reports and relatively few changes in overall supply and demand.

The dollar offered some support to crude and other commodities, with the dollar index
/quotes/comstock/11j!i:dxy0
(DXY
83.29,
-0.36,
-0.43%)
, which compares the U.S. unit to a basket of six currencies, off 0.3% at 83.32.

A weaker dollar usually bolsters commodities as it makes them less expensive to holders of other currencies.

U.S.-listed shares of BP PLC
/quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp
(BP
36.62,
-0.26,
-0.70%)
fell 1.9% after the oil giant announced further delays in an effort to stem the flow of crude in the Gulf.
Read more about BP’s efforts.

Claudia Assis is a San Francisco-based reporter for MarketWatch.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in New York.

Futures Movers: Oil trims losses after supply report