Entries from July 2009 ↓

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Friday scrambled to salvage major elements of its plan to overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system in the face of significant criticism from the financial services industry and its allies in Congress.

Earlier this week, senior Democrats in the House conceded that they would not be able to complete work on the proposal to create a new consumer protection agency for financial products like credit cards and mortgages before the lawmakers left for their August recess at the end of next week.

The Democrats had hoped to complete action on the legislation this month. But because of opposition to the proposal, Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who heads the House Financial Services Committee, said on Friday that the committee would work on the proposal in September.

A second major component of the Obama plan, to give the Federal Reserve more authority to supervise large companies for risks they may pose to the financial system, came under attack by senior Senate Republicans earlier this week. That proposal has also been questioned by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who heads the Senate Banking Committee.

Appearing this morning before the House Financial Services Committee, the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, tacitly acknowledged the criticism. He urged the lawmakers not to delay or bow to industry pressure, but to move swiftly.

“Over the past five weeks, in Congress and in the press, among legislators and business leaders, academics and advocates, the administration’s proposals have spurred an important and sometimes heated debate about how best to reform the financial regulatory system,” Mr. Geithner said in his prepared testimony. “We understand that on any issue this complex and this important there will be areas where parties genuinely disagree, and we look forward to refining our recommendations through the legislative process. But there should be no disagreement on the need to act.”

Mr. Geithner added in his written testimony: “As a country, we now know that our financial system failed in its most basic responsibility to be stable and resilient enough to provide credit while protecting consumers and investors cash advance no fax.”

“We now know that millions of Americans were left without adequate protection against financial predation, especially in the mortgage and consumer finance areas; and that many were unable to evaluate the risks associated with borrowing to support the purchase of a home, a car, or an education.”

Mr. Geithner methodically tried to make the case for a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency. He noted that mortgage brokers and large mortgage companies, which played a central role in the financial crisis, are now virtually unregulated by the federal government. He said that even though financial oversight exists in other areas involving consumer protection, companies have been able to select their regulators, a practice that had led to “the least restrictive oversight of consumer protection.”

And he noted that the banking agencies responsible for enforcing consumer protection have typically had higher priorities.

Large and small banks and their trade associations in Washington have waged a major lobbying effort to kill the proposal or least substantially water it down so that the new agency would not be able to write new regulations and also enforce them. The banks have maintained that the creation of a new agency would lead to burdensome and duplicative regulation of the banks.

The lawmakers will hear testimony this afternoon from Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, and from senior regulators, who have disagreed among themselves about several aspects of the plan. The new consumer financial product commission, for instance, would take over many of the functions that are now done by the Federal Reserve, a prospect that Mr. Bernanke has opposed.

And Sheila C. Bair, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, who will also be testifying this afternoon, has suggested a lesser role for the Federal Reserve as the systemic risk regulator and a greater role for an advisory council that includes the head of the F.D.I.C.

Geithner Defends Plan for Financial Oversight

Hot News: Danone Profit Up 44 Percent for the Quarter

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures rose on Thursday as quarterly results, including a brighter outlook from 3M Co(MMM.N), gave investors confidence that the earnings season will remain strong ahead of key jobs and housing market data.

The recent batch of corporate results has lifted stocks, with the Nasdaq closing on Wednesday at an 11-day winning streak, its longest such run since 1996.

"As earnings have been satisfying investors, the focus today will shift to existing home sales, another part of the economy that has weighed down in the past," said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey.

Bakhos added that investors have been looking to jobless claims for clues on the bottoming of the labor market and that strong jobs and existing home sales data would provide more solid footing to the recent market gains.

The Labor Department releases first-time claims for jobless benefits for last week at 8:30 a.m. EST (1230 GMT), while the National Association of Realtors is scheduled to post existing home sales for June at 10 a.m. EST (1400 GMT).

Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a total of 550,000 new jobless claims compared with 522,000 in the prior week and on the housing data, forecast a 4.84 million annualized unit total versus 4.77 million annualized units in May payday loans guaranteed no fax.

S&P 500 futures were up 4 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 39

points and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 4.75 points.

Helping the Dow futures, 3M shares rose 2.5 percent to $66.27 in premarket trade after the diversified manufacturer handily beat Wall Street's profit expectations and lifted its revenue outlook for 2009.

Later on Thursday, other bellwethers including Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), American Express Co (AXP.N) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), are also expected to report quarterly earnings.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N) announced late Wednesday it will buy biotechnology company Medarex Inc (MEDX.O). Medarex shares soared 90 percent on the buyout news. Bristol-Myers shares also rose premarket, 3.5 percent to $20.98, after it reported second-quarter results on Thursday.

Shares of eBay Inc (EBAY.O) jumped more than 6 percent in premarket trading after the company reported on Wednesday results that beat market expectations.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Futures up on earnings; jobs, housing data on tap

Hot News: Bristol-Myers and Wyeth Report Big Gains in Profit

BOSTON (Reuters) – Diversified U.S. manufacturer 3M Co (MMM.N) reported a 17 percent drop in quarterly profit as the recession crimps demand for its Scotch tape, optical films for liquid crystal displays and other projects.

The company also said on Thursday it now expects organic sales for the year to drop by 10 percent to 13 percent, a more modest decline than its prior forecast for a fall of 11 percent to 15 percent. It now looks for 2009 profit of $4.10 to $4.30 per share, raising the low end of its forecast from $3.90.

3M said second-quarter net income came to $783 million, or $1 payday advance.12 per share, down from $945 million, or $1.33 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell 15 percent.

The breadth of its operations and geographic reach make the St. Paul, Minnesota-based company a bellwether of the U.S. economy.

3M shares are up about 11.6 percent this year, outpacing a 1.2 percent rise in the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI).

(Reporting by Scott Malone; editing by John Wallace)

3M profit down 17 percent, ups 2009 revenue forecast

Hot News: Futures hold gains after jobs data

Morgan Stanley reported its third consecutive quarterly loss on Wednesday, the latest indication of the challenges the Wall Street bank faces as it tries to pull itself out of the financial crisis.

The losses reflected continuing problems with real estate investments made in the run-up to last year’s financial setbacks and its decision not to take big trading risks since it pulled itself back from the brink of collapse last year.

But the bank said the results were heavily affected by one-time items tied to the repayment of government support and an improvement in its debt valuations. Without the one-time items, the bank said, its results showed the fruits of its turnaround efforts.

The bank reported a loss of $159 million, or $1.37 a share, in the second quarter, a bigger loss than analysts had expected. In the first quarter, Morgan Stanley lost $177 million.

Including the charge to repay $10 billion in government bailout money, the bank said that its net loss was $1.26 billion, or $1.10 a share. That compared with earnings of $1.06 billion, or $1.02 a share, in the quarter a year earlier. Morgan shares fell sharply after the open but recovered and were flat in afternoon trading.

The results were in sharp contrast to rivals Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, which both reported strong second-quarter profits last week. Those two banks in particular have rebounded more quickly, mostly by taking on more risk in trading for themselves and their customers. But Morgan Stanley, which was burned more severely by the crisis, has moved to reduce its risk taking and try to build a stable, less volatile firm.

While analysts say the approach may pay off in the long run, for now Morgan’s losses are raising questions about the strategy being pursued by its chief executive, John J. Mack.

In a statement, Mr. Mack said Morgan Stanley had “delivered improved performance across many of our businesses this quarter.” But, he said, “we are not satisfied with our performance in other key areas of fixed income trading and in asset management, and we are taking steps to deliver better results in those businesses.”

This week, it shook up its fixed-income trading business by hiring Jack DiMaio from Credit Suisse to be its global head of interest rate, credit and currency trading.

Despite the loss, Morgan showed that it was eager to compete for talent on Wall Street by setting aside $3.9 billion in the second quarter for compensation, a startling 72 percent of its total revenue. This was an even higher proportion of revenue than Goldman Sachs, which last week indicated it was returning to paying big bonuses and salaries. The average for the industry is about 49 percent.

Morgan’s chief financial officer, Colm Kelleher, said that aside from the quarterly “accounting noise,” the results showed a “strong and good improvement.”

He said morale was good among employees and insisted that Morgan Stanley was keeping up with its rival Goldman Sachs on core businesses like mergers and acquisitions and underwriting.

Mr. Kelleher said the bank’s revenue of $973 million from trading in fixed income was disappointing, and in particular Morgan had missed opportunities in currencies and rates trading because of the unwillingness among some employees to take risks.

Goldman Sachs had revenue of $6.8 billion from fixed-income trading in the quarter. It achieved that by a big increase in risk taking — and is now more than double that at Morgan, executives say fast cash online.

Morgan Stanley’s value at risk, a statistic that estimates how much money a firm may lose on a single day, was $113 million in the second quarter, down from $115 million in the first. “We could have dialed risk up a bit,” Mr. Kelleher said. He indicated that the bank was becoming more comfortable with taking risk as markets stabilized, but he indicated there would be no sharp increase in overall risk-taking.

Revenue was $5.4 billion, down 11 percent from the $6.1 billion a year ago. The bank’s results were weighed down by a one-time charge of about $850 million incurred when it repaid $10 billion of taxpayer support.

It also reported $2.3 billion of losses because of improving credit spreads, a sign of improving health. As the financial system heals, banks must record losses as their credit spreads improve because they are deemed more likely to pay off all their debt.

“As Morgan Stanley is underperforming some peers for sure, we think the healing process is under way and the core earnings drivers look better once you get underneath some of the noise,” Glenn Shore, an analyst at UBS, said in a note.

The bank said its prime brokerage unit, which provides services for hedge funds and was hit hard, was showing improvements. But the bank continued to be troubled by its push into real estate just before the financial crisis, reporting a charge of about $730 million. There were also integration costs because of its Smith Barney acquisition.

Wednesday’s results included some bright spots, like investment banking, where Morgan is still among the leaders in equity underwriting, and mergers and acquisitions, according to Dealogic. The company’s executives have described 2009 as a transition year and have called for patience as the bank tries to refashion itself.

In particular, the bank — which sold a 21 percent stake to the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group in September for $9 billion — is trying to expand its footprint in wealth management. It entered a joint venture this year with Citigroup’s Smith Barney brokerage unit to expand its brokerage business.

The surge in trading profits recorded by Goldman Sachs in particular has prompted some analysts to question whether Morgan Stanley was being too cautious. But other experts say it is still too early to judge whether its business model will succeed. They say that risky trading could be reined in by regulations being considered in Washington, for example, requiring tougher capital requirements on the biggest firms, and that trading profits will be harder to come by once markets normalize.

Andrew Kuritzkes, a partner in the financial practice at the consultancy Oliver Wyman, said competitors like Morgan Stanley “are going to bounce back”

“A big new element,” he said, “will be regulation which is likely to be a game changer.”

Charles Calomiris, a finance professor at Columbia’s business school, said Morgan Stanley’s strategy of limiting risk might be wise given so much uncertainty about policy coming from Washington as well as the volatile markets.

“This is a good time to be conservative,” Mr. Calomiris said.

Morgan Stanley Posts Another Loss

Hot News: Amazon buying shoe seller Zappos

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) reported far better second quarter earnings on Wednesday on higher sales of its prescription drugs, and raised its 2009 earnings forecast

The Indianapolis drugmaker earned $1.16 billion, or $1.06 per share. That compared with $959 million, or 88 cents per share, in the year-earlier period, when Lilly had a favorable tax rate.

Excluding special items, Lilly earned $1.12 per share. Analysts on average expected $1.02 per share, according to Reuters Estimates payday loans with no fax.

Quarterly revenue rose 3 percent to $5.29 billion, matching the Reuters Estimates forecast.

Lilly expects full-year 2009 earnings, excluding special items, of $4.20 to $4.30 per share. It had previously projected a profit of $4 to $4.25 per share.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Derek Caney)

Lilly profit beats forecasts, raises ‘09 outlook

Hot News: SunTrust posts 3rd straight loss; bad loans rise

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc posted a quarterly profit that blew past Wall Street forecasts thanks to strong sales of Mac computers and improved margins, sending its shares up more than 3 percent on Tuesday.

The company defied the global economic recession and reported a net profit of $1.23 billion, or $1.35 a share, for its fiscal third quarter ended June 27, up from $1.07 billion, or $1.19 a share, in the year-ago period.

Earnings per share beat by far the average Street forecast of $1.18, according to Reuters Estimates, and topped even the most bullish "whisper" numbers of $1.30 to $1.35.

"Obviously it's a phenomenal beat, particularly on the bottom line, printing $1.35. We were at $1.17," said Daniel Ernst, analyst at Hudson Square Research. "It demonstrates operating efficiencies. Most of the numbers were better than expected, particularly the Macs."

Revenue rose 12 percent to $8.3 billion, versus analysts' average estimate of $8.2 billion.

Analysts had some concern heading into the earnings about margin pressure, given price cuts on the iPhone and the trend of higher component costs.

But Apple posted a gross margin of 36.3 percent, which beat the 34 percent that some analysts had predicted. That compared with 36.4 percent in the last quarter and 34 guaranteed payday loan.8 percent a year ago.

The results demonstrated the consumer appeal of Apple's products despite a troubled world economy that has dented sales at competitors selling less expensive products. Investors have snapped up Apple's stock this year, pushing it up at a pace well ahead of other big technology issues.

Sales of Macs and iPhones beat expectations in the June quarter, while iPod sales were toward the low end of forecasts.

Apple said it sold 2.6 million Macs, up 4 percent from a year ago, benefiting from a refresh last quarter and lower prices on laptops.

It sold 5.2 million iPhones in the June quarter, during which it had launched its third-generation iPhone 3GS and cut the price on the second-generation model to $99.

It shipped 10.2 million iPods, down 7 percent year on year.

Apple issued a typically conservative outlook for the current quarter, forecasting earnings of $1.18 to $1.23 a share on revenue of $8.7 billion to $8.9 billion.

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple closed at $151.60 on Nasdaq and rose to $157.02 in extended trading.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway and Tiffany Wu; Editing by Richard Chang)

Apple’s profit tops forecasts; Mac sales strong

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures jumped on Tuesday after machinery maker and bellwether Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) shares jumped more than 9 percent in early trade following strong quarterly results.

S&P 500 futures were up 4 points and were slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract cash til payday loan. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 36 points and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 6.5 points.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Futures jump after strong Caterpillar results

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – CIT Group Inc clinched a $3 billion loan facility from its bondholders on Monday, warding off bankruptcy, and said it plans a comprehensive restructuring but gave few details of how it would resolve its problems.

The company, which lends to nearly one million small and mid-sized businesses, said as a first step in its recapitalization plan, it has started a cash tender offer for its outstanding floating rate senior notes due August 17.

The offer will be for $825 for each $1,000 principal amount of notes tendered on or before July 31.

The $3 billion secured term loan has a 2.5 year maturity, and it gives the bondholder group more say in the company's future. The term loan proceeds of $2 billion are committed and available now, with an additional $1 billion expected to be committed and available within 10 days.

CIT would pay interest of 10 percentage points above the three-month London Interbank Offered Rate, a source familiar with the matter said. This equates to an annual rate of about 10.5 percent.

This financing would be backed by unsecuritized CIT assets, which probably exceed $10 billion, another source previously told Reuters.

The rescue from several big bondholders, which sources have earlier said include Pacific Investment Management Co, was approved by CIT's board after negotiations over the weekend.

The loan gives the 101-year-old lender to small and mid-sized businesses more time to restructure its debt, and preserve the ability of thousands of businesses to obtain cash needed for day-to-day operations.

CIT said it and a bondholder committee will work on the "balance of the recapitalization plan, which is expected to include a comprehensive series of exchange offers designed to further enhance CIT's liquidity and capital."

Yet several analysts and bankers said earlier in the day that the rescue financing might only delay a bankruptcy filing, in light of skittishness among CIT customers and the New York-based company's inability to readily tap capital markets.

"The deal is a negative for bondholders as it does not fix the underlying problem and layers in more secured debt," wrote CreditSights Inc analysts Adam Steer and David Hendler. "Without a viable funding model, we believe CIT may still be at risk of filing for bankruptcy."

CIT's shares, which closed up 78.6 percent at $1.25 on the New York Stock Exchange, were up another 9 cents, or 7.2 percent, to $1.34 in aftermarket trading.

RETAILER HOPES

Restructuring experts said CIT has some valuable businesses that could be acquired or survive as part of a scaled-down CIT, including its factoring business.

Factors buy receivables, or the right to receive money owed, from suppliers at a discount so that those suppliers can continue to have working capital cash advance payday loans. CIT gets paid back when retailers sell goods, typically within 90 days.

Retail industry groups last week urged U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to act to ensure CIT's survival.

CIT had sought emergency federal funding, but talks with the government broke down last week. The Obama administration appeared to draw a line as to how readily it would bail out troubled companies, following several big corporate bailouts over the last year.

The bondholder rescue could preserve the government's $2.33 billion investment in CIT from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. CIT became eligible for such financing when it became a bank holding company in December.

A rescue "comes as a great relief" for retailers preparing for the back-to-school and holiday shopping seasons, said Tracy Mullin, chief executive of the National Retail Federation.

"CIT could not be allowed to fail at a time when retailers are already struggling to survive," she said in a statement.

CEO SURPRISED

Problems at CIT mushroomed two years ago in the wake of Chief Executive Jeffrey Peek's decision earlier in the decade to expand into subprime mortgages and student loans.

Last week's government decision not to provide aid surprised Peek, leading him to seek help from private investors, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

A bankruptcy would have made CIT, with $75.7 billion of reported assets, the largest U.S. financial company to go bankrupt since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc last September.

CIT has about $40 billion of long-term debt, CreditSights said. It has lost close to $3.3 billion since the end of 2007.

The cost of insuring CIT debt against default declined with news of the rescue. On Monday, it cost $4.3 million upfront plus $500,000 annually to insure $10 million of CIT debt for five years, down from $4.45 million upfront on Friday, according to Phoenix Partners Group.

CIT debt maturing in three to five years yielded in the mid-20s to mid-30s percent, according to bond pricing service Trace.

Evercore Partners and Morgan Stanley are CIT's financial advisors, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are legal counsel for the financing and restructuring plan. Barclays Capital is arranger and administrative agent for the term loan financing. Latham & Watkins is legal counsel to Barclays.

(Reporting by Jennifer Ablan, Paritosh Bansal, Megan Davies, Chelsea Emery, Michael Erman, Joseph A. Giannone, Jessica Hall, John Parry, Ransdell Pierson and Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)

CIT gets $3 bln lifeline from bondholders

Hot News: CIT clinches $3 billion rescue

Women farm in Central African Republic CARE, a leading international aid organization fighting poverty, praises the Obama Administration’s $20 billion food initiative for targeting world hunger by recognizing the needs of women.

The plan, adopted by G8 leaders at their recent summit in L’Aquila, Italy, aims to provide poor farmers in developing countries with seeds, fertilizers, infrastructure and other tools to help them boost local food production, a shift from previous policy that emphasized sending food aid from abroad.

At a post-G8 press conference on 10 July, President Obama said the summit leaders did not view the assistance as an end in itself. “We believe that the purpose of aid must be to create the conditions where it’s no longer needed — to help people become self-sufficient, provide for their families and lift their standards of living,” the president said.

“I think the $20 billion investment is going to be a wonderful start,” said Dan Mullins, a CARE spokesman based in Johannesburg, South Africa fast payday loan no faxing. “We just need to make sure that the money is used in ways that will ensure that the assistance reaches the poorest of the poor, who usually are women and girls.”

CARE says helping women is the key to helping Africa’s poorest families. “Women do the bulk of the agricultural production in most of Africa,” Mullins said.

“We need to make sure that the investment is developed in ways that are appropriate to women’s needs and to their ability to make use of that investment.”

Mullins called the G8’s focus on long-term investment in sustainable agriculture in developing nations a “great beginning.” But he cautions the initiative alone will not solve the problem of widespread hunger. “There has been disinvestment in agriculture, globally, for the last 25 years or so. It’s not something that is going to be turned around with a two-year package.”

Aid Group Hails G8 Food Initiative Focus on Women

Hot News: Security Tight for ASEAN Meetings

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Asian stocks rose on Monday to their highest level since the dark days following Lehman Brothers' collapse last September while the U.S. dollar fell, as a solid outlook for corporate earnings lured investors to riskier, higher-yielding assets and commodities.

European stock futures were up 1.25 percent, U.S. equity futures also pointed to a higher open and crude rose above $64 a barrel as the global recovery trade accelerated after sputtering in June.

Sentiment was also helped after CIT Group Inc (CIT.N) clinched a last-minute $3 billion rescue by a group of bondholders and probably escaped bankruptcy. CIT lends to nearly one million small and mid-sized U.S. businesses.

Aside from more company earnings reports, the highlight for global markets this week will be Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially any comments he makes on exit strategies from extraordinary actions taken to support the economy.

"We expect him to boost market confidence that the U.S. central bank will do so in a way minimizing negative impact on price stability and the U.S. dollar," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief investment strategist with SJS Markets in Hong Kong.

"We expect consolidation of equity markets after last weeks rally, modest correction in commodities, some narrowing of corporate CDS spreads, modest rebound in Treasuries, and a small gain in the dollar," he said in a note.

Japan's markets were shut for a public holiday.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose 2 percent to its highest level since September 29, putting it on track for a fifth consecutive session of gains.

Gains were spread fairly evenly across the sectors, with materials, technology and financials leading.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng (.HSI) jumped 2.4 percent, supported by bank stocks.

South Korea's KOSPI (.KS11) closed 2.7 percent higher, a near 10-month high, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index ( payday advance loans.AXJO) was up 1.3 percent, boosted by higher commodity prices.

Strong earnings and positive economic reports such as a surprising rise in U.S. housing starts in June helped U.S. stocks close out their best week in four months on Friday. (.N)

Of the S&P 500 firms that have reported quarterly results so far, 71 percent have beat analysts' expectations, 20 percent were below estimates and 9 percent were in line, according to Thomson Reuters data.

While this positive momentum has lifted equity markets, large credit-related losses at Bank of America (BAC.N) and an unexpected drop in revenue at General Electric Co (GE.N) were stark reminders of corporate America's struggle.

The U.S. dollar and yen slid in choppy trade, as investors leaned toward higher-yielding currencies.

The Australian dollar rose 1.1 percent on the day to 76.52 yen, though it has been darting around in 70 yen to 80 yen range for the last month.

The euro climbed 0.8 percent to 134.25 yen, while the dollar rose 0.4 percent to 94.73 yen.

The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index edged down 0.2 percent (.DXY), locked in a steep downward trend channel.

The soft U.S. dollar had traders pushing up commodity prices. The benchmark third-month copper contract in Shanghai jumped 3.8 percent to the highest in nine months.

U.S. crude for August delivery, rose 1.1 percent to $64.26 a barrel, after rising 2.5 percent on Friday on positive U.S. housing data that revived hopes of a global economic recovery.

After failing twice in June to make much progress above $71 a barrel, the front-month contract fell a week ago to a two-month low of $58.32.

The September Brent crude contract rose 0.9 percent to $65.98 a barrel.

(Additional reporting by Jungyoun Park in SEOUL; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

Asia stocks rally to 2009 high on earnings, CIT

Hot News: CIT Is Near Deal for $3 Billion Loan to Avert Bankruptcy