News from Reuters

CA-BUSINESS Summary

21/11/08

HudBay to buy Lundin for about C$800 million

TORONTO (Reuters) - HudBay Minerals has agreed to buy fellow Canadian base metals miner Lundin Mining for around C$800 million ($625 million) in stock, the companies said on Friday. HudBay, which like Lundin has been hit hard by tight credit markets and sliding commodity prices, will pay 0.3919 of a share for each Lundin common share. At C$2.08 a share, the offer is a steep premium on Lundin's price of C$1.12, before the stocks were halted on Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

GM to further cut Ontario production in '09: union

TORONTO (Reuters) - General Motors of Canada is going to cut a second week of production at its Oshawa, Ontario, car plant in January, and may move up the timeframe for shuttering its Oshawa truck plant to May from July, an official from the Canadian Auto Workers union said on Friday. "Our car assembly plant was scheduled to be on layoff the first week of January, but they notified us today that they're going to take a second week out of January as well, as the market continues to soften," said Chris Buckley, President of CAW Local 222 in Oshawa.

TSX bounces higher in volatile session

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index bounced back into positive territory late Friday morning as financial and resource issues played tug-of-war in a highly volatile market. The TSX opened strongly with an early gain of more than 4.6, then tumbled into negative territory as weak financial issues dragged the market lower after its opening surge.

Hundreds wait at Verizon stores for BlackBerry Storm

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of people lined up at Verizon Wireless stores on Friday to buy the BlackBerry Storm, the first touch-screen phone from Research In Motion that aims to compete with Apple's iPhone. More than 200 people had waited at a Verizon store in mid-town Manhattan early in the morning, many of whom were turned away after it ran out of the new phones less than an hour after opening at 8 a.m. The angry customers caused a ruckus and police came to restore order.

Oil rallies from 3-1/2-year low

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Friday, after falling more than 7 percent the day before, as stock markets recovered from early lows caused by continuing economic gloom. U.S. crude fell 13 cents to $49.29 a barrel at 12:08 p.m. EST, after earlier hitting $48.25, its lowest level in three and a half years. London Brent crude gained 53 cents to $48.61 a barrel.

Car dealers pitch for auto sector aid

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Car dealers are heading for near-record sales this year but asked the federal government on Friday to help auto manufacturers and to make it easier for dealerships to get financing. The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association told a news conference that their 3,500 dealers employ 140,000 people and they would bear the brunt of the economic impact if the big manufacturers were not provided bridge financing.

CN Rail awarded C$30 million in long insurance fight

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Canada's highest court ordered insurers to pay Canadian National Railway C$30 million ($23 million) on Friday, ending a 14-year fight over a problematic tunnel-boring machine. The Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, rejected the insurers' claim they were not liable for expenses caused by the complicated machine's breakdown in 1994 because it was caused by a faulty design.

Inflation eases sharply in October

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Consumer prices registered their sharpest decline in nearly 50 years in October, dropping 1 percent from September as gasoline prices plummeted from recent high levels, Statistics Canada said on Friday. As a result, the annual inflation rate in October eased more than expected to 2.6 percent from 3.4 percent in September. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a rate of 3.1 percent.

Sears Canada operating profit and revenue rise

TORONTO (Reuters) - Sears Canada Inc , Canada's second-biggest department store chain, reported higher operating earnings and revenue on Friday. Net profit declined from a year earlier, when earnings were boosted by big one-time gains from the sale of the company's corporate headquarters.

Citigroup shares drop as CEO plans to keep Smith Barney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc shares tumbled for a fifth straight day, as Chief Executive Vikram Pandit tried to downplay speculation the banking giant might sell major businesses to restore its health and investor confidence. Pandit told employees on Friday that Citigroup, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, does not want to change its business model and plans to keep its Smith Barney brokerage, according to two people who heard him.

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