Chicago Wheat Declines as Kansas May Produce More; Corn Little Changed

(Bloomberg) -- Chicago wheat fell as participants in a U.S. wheat tour estimated Kansas, the largest wheat-growing state, will produce 35 percent more of the grain this year than last. Corn prices were little changed.

The hard-red winter wheat crop in Kansas will be about 392 million bushels, the average estimate of experts inspecting fields since April 30. The state harvested 291.2 million bushels last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in January.


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MSCI sets changes to new world, emerging indexes

(Reuters) - Index compiler MSCI Barra announced on Thursday the list of constituents of its new MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes, including benchmarks for world and emerging market stocks.

The largest constituents of the new MSCI Provisional World Standard Index that are not included in the widely emulated MSCI World Index are ConocoPhillips, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Schering-Plough Group, Standard Chartered, Colgate-Palmolive and BMW.


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Nigeria oil windfall savings at $9.57 bln - cenbank

(Reuters) - Nigeria's savings from high international oil prices stood at $9.57 billion on April 25, a month before President Olusegun Obasanjo is due to stand down, the central bank said on Thursday.

Oil prices have been consistently above the country's budgeted price since 2000, and Africa's top oil producer has been saving this excess since 2003 when Obasanjo introduced a series of IMF-backed budget reforms.


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Allstate unit to get subpoena on Katrina

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has told the company that its Allstate Insurance Co. unit will be served with a subpoena for documents with respect to homeowners' claims arising from the hurricane, Allstate said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

U.S. Congress authorised the department in 2006 to investigate insurers participating in the National Flood Insurance Program, Allstate said.


Read more at Reuters.com Government Filings News

U.K. Stocks Advance, Paced by Hanson, EMI, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks climbed, paced by Hanson Plc, BHP Billiton Ltd., Rio Tinto Plc and EMI Group Plc.

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index rallied 11.2, or 0.2 percent, to 6549.0 in London at 8:11 a.m. The FTSE All-Share Index added 6.8, or 0.2 percent, to 3405.03. Ireland's ISEQ Index climbed 0.2 percent to 9839.94.


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France's Publicis eyeing more acquisitions - report

(Reuters) - "We also have external growth projects, notably in marketing services and the digital sector. These purchases will not be of the same size as the Digitas acquisition, but they will allow us to complete our offer in France, Germany, Russia, and China," Maurice Levy told daily Le Figaro.

"Publicis will then have a chance to be the world's third-largest communications group in 2009," he added.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Bank Indonesia Sees Strong Possibility of Interest Rate Cut, Sarwono Says

(Bloomberg) -- Indonesia's central bank sees a ``strong possibility'' of an interest rate cut next week, after inflation unexpectedly slowed last month and the rupiah strengthened, Deputy Governor Hartadi Sarwono said.

Consumer prices rose 6.3 percent in April from a year ago, compared with 6.5 percent in March, and lower than the median 6.5 percent forecast of 21 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News