COMPANIES

China National Petroleum Corp., the country's largest oil company, could pay up to $14.5 billion for 75 percent of Spanish oil major Repsol's Argentine unit YPF, sources said on Tuesday.

Earnings for Large Cap Firms this week, Earnings for Mid-Cap, Small-Cap firms today, June retail sales out July 9, Del Monte Foods Analyst and Investor Day

The Obama administration on Tuesday ordered tougher steps to curb salmonella and E.coli contamination in U.S. food processing plants and created a new deputy food commissioner post to coordinate safety in the wake of a salmonella outbreak.

A Seattle clinic for people fed up with insurance, started by doctors fed up with insurance, has gotten $4 million in private venture capital money to expand, it announced on Monday.

U.S. auto parts maker Lear Corp , which has been weighed down by heavy debts and a sharp decline in automobile demand, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday.

The U.S. office market vacancy rate reached 15.9 percent in the second quarter, its highest in four years and rent fell by the largest amount in more than seven as demand from companies and other office renters remained weak, real estate research firm Reis said Inc.

Dell Inc., the world's second-largest PC maker, will devote more resources to the small-and medium-sized business (SMB) market in China as it considers the segment will be the first to climb out of the recession, said a senior company executive.

U.S. air traffic fell in June as the tough economy continues to hit airlines hard, according to figures released by carriers today.

Egypt's state-owned Misr Insurance may launch an initial public offering of its life unit by July 2010, if conditions permit, but the state would keep a majority interest, the Insurance Holding Company chairman said on Monday.

A restructured General Motors Corp will get the remaining $20 billion in government bankruptcy financing over the rest of this year and could be ready to launch an initial public stock offering in early 2010, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.

Great Lakes Hydro Income Fund will pay C$945 million ($815 million) for its biggest shareholder's Canadian power operations in a deal aimed at positioning itself for a conversion into a corporation by 2011, it said on Monday.

U.S. tax authorities have discovered far fewer than the 52,000 accounts with Swiss bank UBS AG suspected of being used by Americans to avoid taxes, the U.S. government said in a court filing on Monday.

Discover Financial Services said on Monday it will offer $500 million of common stock and use the proceeds to help repay $1.2 billion the credit card issuer received in government bailout funds.

Bank of America Corp has promoted two senior mergers and acquisitions bankers as it reorganizes following its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co and looks to benefit from a possible pickup in deal flow.

Facebook will likely be posting billions of dollars in revenue in five years, up from about $500 million this year, according to Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mark Andreessen who sits on Facebook's board.

Less profitable skies as airlines report dropping June traffic, Judge approves sale to New GM, Rio Tinto sells food packaging division for $1.2 billion

Standard & Poor's on Monday boosted its expectations for losses on risky loans backing U.S. mortgage securities to as much as 40 percent, suggesting a darkened outlook for the troubled housing market.

Japan's Nomura Holdings plans to launch a global prime brokerage business by September as the financial crisis has created room for new players to serve hedge funds, a senior executive said on Monday.

The New York-New Jersey Port Authority on Monday said the World Trade Center developer, Larry Silverstein, had stopped negotiating over his demand for the agency to guarantee his loans for two office towers.

The survey is designed to provide REALTOR® members with an overview of the market performance, sales and rental transactions, current economic challenges and future expectations.

Audi AG, a German subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, said on Monday it sold 67,000 cars in the January-June period, the best first-half result ever in the country.

The Ricketts family has reached a deal to buy the storied Chicago Cubs baseball team from bankrupt media company Tribune Co for slightly less than the original $900 million bid, a source familiar with the deal said on Monday.

The American Institute of Architects recently released a study, AIA Home Design Trends Survey, showing there is a growing demand away from McMansions and towards homes that are smaller.

It was a good kick-off for the summer season. The pending home sales index figure that was released earlier this month marked a third straight month of rising pending sales. That is certainly welcome and encouraging news.

Global miner Rio Tinto further improved its cash position on Monday by selling a part of its food packaging business to Bemis Co for $1.2 billion in a deal that makes Bemis by far the largest North American player in a still fragmented industry.

The home remodeling history has taken a hit in recent months but finally may be starting to show signs of picking up, according to the Web site www.remodelormove.com and its latest Remodeling Permit Activity Report.

Glimmers of hope could not arrive soon enough for America's largest real estate businesses.

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