Live Financial And Business News By SaneBull

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats on Tuesday cast doubt on their chances of meeting the White House's March 18 deadline for voting on a stalled healthcare overhaul, but said they are moving as fast as they can.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, making a final push for healthcare reform, will back bipartisan plans to stamp out waste in government-run medical programs for the old and needy, the White House said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A television producer pleaded guilty Tuesday to trying to extort $2 million from U.S. talk show host David Letterman by threatening to reveal his affairs with women who worked on his late-night program on CBS.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday condemned Israeli plans to build 1,600 more homes on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood, announced in the middle of his visit to help revive peace negotiations.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A television producer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to trying to extort $2 million from U.S. talk show host David Letterman by threatening to reveal his affairs with women who worked on his late-night program on CBS.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss Re said on Wednesday the insurance sector stood to lose $4-$7 billion from the earthquake in Chile, a sum unlikely to bring the long hoped-for increase in reinsurance prices.

(Reuters) - American International Group Inc has formulated a new "forced ranking" system to determine bonuses and rate employee performance, Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. economists raised their forecast for economic growth in 2010 in March, the third straight monthly rise, while trimming their growth forecast for 2011, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

NEW YORK/CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) - Bank of America said on Tuesday it will no longer charge overdraft fees on debit card purchases as of this summer, a move that may cost millions in fee income.

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota said on Tuesday it would fix all Tundra pickups sold in the United States for the 2000 to 2003 model years to address a risk that part of the truck's frame could corrode, causing spare tires or even the gas tank to drop to the road.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Greece, pressing for curbs on financial speculation it blames for worsening the country's debt crisis, said on Tuesday the idea would be examined by the Group of 20 leading powers at their next summit.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Chevron Corp , the second-largest U.S. oil company, put some of its downstream operations up for sale, including its Pembroke refinery in the UK, and said it would eliminate 2,000 jobs this year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Senate Democrats said they will propose on Wednesday placing new limits on proprietary trading by banks and nonbank financial firms, widening the 'Volcker rule' backed by the White House.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc introduced its first major new routers in six years and said they can be configured to handle Internet traffic up to 12 times faster than rival products.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apparel retailer J Crew Group Inc on Tuesday posted a net profit in its holiday quarter that beat Wall Street estimates, helped by tight inventory and double-digit sales growth.

BANGALORE, March 10 (Reuters) - The following corporatefinance-related stories were reported by media on Wednesday:

March 10 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity firm ApolloManagement LP [APOLO.UL] has agreed to buy Citigroup's real estate investment division, Bloomberg said, citing aperson with knowledge of the deal.

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Carlyle[CYL.UL] has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc to sellaerospace and defense company Arinc, a source familiar with thematter told Reuters.

* Adj. oper. profit $67.1 mln vs $32.6 mln loss year ago

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline hasstrengthened its ties with Anglo-German biotech company Cellzomeby signing a second drug discovery deal worth up to 508 millioneuros ($690 million).

LOS ANGELES, March 9 (Reuters) - Six companies are expectedto make binding offers for storied Hollywood studioMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGMYR.UL] by a newly set March 19deadline, a source familiar with the situation said onTuesday.

* Adj. oper. profit $67.1 mln vs $32.6 mln loss year ago

* Bids of up to 400 mln stg for Card Factory, sources say

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Private equity firmProvidence Equity Partners said on Tuesday it hired RobertHull, the chief financial officer of bailed out U.S. lenderGMAC Financial Services.

* Revised offer was below initial 135 pence/share approach

---------------------- RESOURCES -------------------------

* Sold 16.3 mln shares, raised about $228.2 mln (Adds detail on Baltic's ships, the Baltic Exchange index,Crude Carriers, byline)

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Money-losing dry bulk shipperBaltic Trading Ltd priced shares in its initial publicoffering at the bottom of the expected price range, anunderwriter said on Tuesday.

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Dry bulk shipper BalticTrading Ltd priced shares in its initial publicoffering at the bottom of the expected price range on Tuesday,an underwriter said.

* Shares rally on upbeat tone for growth (Adds details on timing for IPOs, share prices, comments)

SAO PAULO, March 9 (Reuters) - CSN ,Brazil's biggest diversified steelmaking group, plans to hire afinancial adviser by April 2 to help it with the initial publicoffering of its massive Casa de Pedra iron ore mine, ChairmanBenjamin Steinbruch said on Tuesday.

* Developers turn to buyout funds as banks tighten loans

HONG KONG, March 9 (Reuters) - The following are some of themajor companies planning initial public offerings on the HongKong stock exchange.

March 8 - Indian conglomerate Essar Group plans to raise about $2.5 billionto $3 billion by listing its energy and power businesses on the London bourse inlate April, tapping new investors to fund ambitious expansion plans, sourcessaid. [ID:nSGE62706D]

* Says aiming for Hong Kong listing prior to rights issue

MOSCOW, March 10 (Reuters) - Alfa Bank, Russia's largestprivate lender, sold $600 million of five-year Eurobonds with acoupon of 8 percent, at the lower end of guidance, a tradingsource told Reuters on Wednesday.

BANGALORE, March 10 (Reuters) - The following corporatefinance-related stories were reported by media on Wednesday:

* Sees own losses from Chile quake at around $500 million

* Food and transport inflation, unemployment still challenge

JOHANNESBURG, March 10 (Reuters) - Metropolitan HoldingsLimited : * Metropolitan says FY diluted earnings per shareincreased to 188 cents * Metropolitan says FY dividend increased to 100 centsper share * Metropolitan says FY return on embedded valueincreased 12 percent * Metropolitan says FY embedded value increased 6% to1 811 cents per share * Metropolitan says FY diluted core headline earningsp

BRUSSELS, March 10 (Reuters) - Belgian-French financialservices group Dexia said it was disposing of most ofthe shares in Assured Guaranty Ltd it received for thesale of its U.S. bond insurer FSA.

TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average was flaton Wednesday, with gains for machine stocks afterbetter-than-expected machinery orders helping to offset a dropfor recall-hit Toyota Motor Corp after an incidentinvolving a Prius in the United States.

SEOUL, March 10 (Reuters) - Seoul shares ended relativelyflat on Wednesday with losses in financial issues including KBFinancial Group weighing on the market, but continuedbuying by foreign investors lent the market support.

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Year ended Year ended Year to Six months to

TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Showa Shell Sekiyu KK ,Japan's fifth-largest refiner, said on Wednesday it plans torefine 7.4 million kilolitres of crude oil between April andJune, compared with 6.3 million kilolitres in the same periodlast year.

TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) - Idemitsu Kosan Co ,Japan's third-largest refiner, said on Wednesday it plans torefine 26 million kilolitres of crude oil in the business yearstarting on April 1, down 4 percent from the current year.

* Gas a bridge between carbon-intensive fossil fuels andalternatives

* Targeting 1 pct oil/gas production growth through 2014

March 9 (Reuters) - Approach Resources Inc reported an adjusted fourth-quarter profit that missedanalysts' estimates, as oil and gas sales fell 19 percent. The company said it expects 2010 total production of 8.9billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent (bcfe) to 9.4bcfe.

NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - U.S.-listed shares ofoverseas companies fell on Tuesday as retreating globalcommodity prices hurt resources stocks.

HOUSTON, March 9 (Reuters) - A rebound in oil prices hasencouraged oil and gas companies to take more risks in theirquest for reserves, drilling deeper in more remote waters orfinding new sources of energy, top executives said on Tuesday.

HOUSTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The chief executive ofConocoPhillips said on Tuesday that his company plansto maintain its partnership with Russian oil major Lukoil .

* PBF, led by O'Malley's Petroplus, may buy Paulsboro too

* Raises 2010 capex view by 41 pct to $1.2 bln * Ups '10production sales growth view to 26 pct