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CA-BUSINESS Summary

21/11/08

HudBay says to buy Lundin Mining, shares plunge

TORONTO (Reuters) - HudBay Minerals Inc said on Friday it will buy fellow Canadian base miner Lundin Mining Corp , triggering a 46 percent drop in its stock as shareholders worried about taking on Lundin's large, but riskier, metals portfolio. Under the friendly transaction, HudBay will pay 0.3919 of one of its shares for each Lundin share to create Canada's No. 2 base metals miner, trailing only Teck Cominco .

TSX rallies 5.5 pct, but still down on week

TORONTO (Reuters) - Surging commodity prices propelled gold and energy shares to a big win over weak financials on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday, as the volatile session ended with a gain of more than 5.5 percent. Every one of the 10 main subgroups of the S&P/TSX composite index <.GSPTSE> rose by the end of the day, despite earlier volatility that saw the benchmark wheeling wildly between positive and negative territory.

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.

Hundreds wait at Verizon stores for BlackBerry Storm

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of people lined up at some 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 as stocks rise

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil rose 1 percent on Friday as stock markets recovered from early lows caused by continuing economic gloom. U.S. crude rose 51 cents to $49.93 a barrel, after earlier dipping to $48.25, the lowest level in 3-1/2 years. London Brent crude settled up $1.11 at $49.19 a barrel.

Bailout debate simmers as GM pares output

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Detroit automakers began work on the turnaround plans demanded by Congress in return for a possible $25 billion rescue as General Motors Corp said it will cut production more deeply and drop two of its controversial corporate jets. Pushed to the brink of failure by a plunge in auto sales, GM said on Friday it would idle five North American plants for more time to cut production and keep inventories.

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.

Citigroup shares drop; CEO plans to keep Smith Barney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit tried to downplay speculation the banking giant might sell major businesses to restore its health and investor confidence, but shares still tumbled for a fifth straight day. Pandit told employees on Friday that 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.

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.

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