Mexico's president says "enough" to drug hitmen

Reuters: [2008-05-09 22:58:00]

MEXICO CITY, May 9 (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Friday the country was sick and tired of rampant drug violence after five high-ranking policemen were killed in less than a week.

"We have to come together to confront this evil, we Mexicans have to definitively and categorically say, 'That's enough!'," Calderon said. "We can't accept this situation, we have to take back our streets."

He spoke after attending the funeral of regional commissioner Edgar Millan, one of Mexico's top federal policemen, who was murdered on Thursday by hired killers waiting for him at his home.

Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police around the country to bring powerful drug cartels under control, but the army has failed to reduce spiraling violence.

More than 2,500 people were killed in drug related violence in Mexico last year. Another 1,100 people have died so far this year as the drug gangs battle each other and security forces.

The Mexican media said Millan was targeted by professional killers hired by the powerful Sinaloa gang because of his leading role in the arrests of the cartel's gunmen.

"I know that organized criminals are reacting like this because they see that we hurting their operations and breaking down their structures," Calderon said on Friday.

Hours before Millan's funeral, Esteban Robles, a senior detective in Mexico City, was gunned down in front of his apartment, shot seven times in the head, neck and chest.

Two other senior policemen were shot in the capital in recent days and drug hitmen killed Saul Pena, a top police officer in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. (Reporting by Mica Rosenberg and Miguel Angel Gutierrez; Editing by Kieran Murray) ((alistair.bell@reuters.net; +52 55 5282 7146; Reuters Messaging: alistair.bell.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MEXICO DRUGS/

Mexico bonds slide to 4-month low, stocks fall

Reuters: [2008-05-09 22:50:00]

(Recasts; adds quote, details)

MEXICO CITY, May 9 (Reuters) - Mexican bonds fell on Friday for a third straight day after inflation hit a three-year high, while stocks slipped, dragged down by losses in shares of miners as global metals prices fell.

The government's benchmark 10-year peso bond <MX10YT=RR> fell 0.462 of a point in price to bid 98.12, pushing its yield up 7 basis points to 8.03 percent, a four-month high.

The benchmark IPC stock index <.MXX> lost 0.25 percent to 30,674.36 points while the peso <MXN=> <MEX01> weakened slightly, down 0.04 percent to 10.5755 per dollar at the official central bank close.

Consumer prices rose 4.55 percent in the 12 months through April, well above the level the central bank says it can tolerate, and reinforced expectations this week that borrowing costs will not be coming down anytime soon.

"This is making people nervous that the central bank could raise its reference rate," said Miguel Gaytan, a fixed-income analyst at consultancy Bursametrica Management.

Mexico's central bank has held interest rates at 7.5 percent for six months since last hiking in October 2007.

In stock trading, miner Grupo Mexico <GMEXICOB.MX>, one of the world's biggest copper producers, lost 2.13 percent to 78.16 pesos as copper futures fell as inventories in London and Shanghai surged.

Miner Penoles <PENOLES.MX>, whose subsidiary Fresnillo Ltd is the world's biggest producer of refined silver, lost 3.36 percent to 299.76 pesos.

Penoles floated Frenillio on the London exchange on Friday, raising 905 million pounds ($1.77 billion), as part of a strategy to separate its precious metals from its base metals units.

Mexican airport operator GAP <GAPB.MX> plunged 8.18 percent to 39.07 pesos, the biggest drop the stock has seen since it was listed in April 2006, after it reported on Thursday that its April passenger traffic fell 5.3 percent.

Losses in the IPC index were offset by gains at top retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico <WALMEXV.MX>, which added 1.34 to 43.81 pesos.

Shares of petrochemical producer Mexichem <MEXCHEM.MX> jumped 5.68 percent 78.36 pesos, its biggest single day gain in four months, after Citigroup raised its one-year target price for the stock to 127 pesos from 80 pesos on the possibility of a joint venture in its fluorine business. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Lizbeth Salazar) ((michael.oboyle@reuters.com; +5255-5282-7160; Reuters Messaging: jason.lange.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS MEXICO/

US copper closes near 9-day low as stocks soar

Reuters: [2008-05-09 22:03:00]

NEW YORK, May 9 (Reuters) - U.S. copper futures finished sharply lower on Friday, sliding to a nine-day low after a surge in London Metal Exchange and weekly Shanghai Exchange warehouse stocks spooked investors, many of whom had already begun exiting positions this week, traders said.

NOTE: For detailed report, click on [MET/L].

* Copper for July delivery <HGN8> ended with losses of 7.10 cent at $3.7165 a lb on the COMEX metals division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

* July futures slid to a 9-day low at $3.6775 a lb, leaving support at the May 1 low of $3.6675 a lb intact.

* London Metal Exchange copper warehouse stocks surged 11,150 tonnes on Friday to 121,275 tonnes. COMEX warehouse copper stocks stood even at 10,827 short tons on Thursday.

* Shanghai Futures Exchange copper inventories jumped 10 percent to 51,119 tonnes in the week to Thursday.

* Talk circulated the Shanghai market that South Korean LME warehouses would also soon see around 10,000 tonnes of copper deliveries from China.

* Analysts said much of the material causing the stock surge came from China, and is often followed by additional rises in copper stocks.

* Traders said Chinese buyers have been absent from the market of late.

* Some players were already in the process this week of unwinding long copper positions hastily taken out in Monday's unusual spike up to the $4.2605 a lb record high.

* A breach of July copper's March low at $3.6070 per lb would open up the downside to a much steeper decline.

* COMEX estimated final copper volume at 16,299 lots compared with Thursday's total volume of 14,749 lots.

* Open interest was down 783 lots at 98,360 contracts as of May 8.

* LME copper for delivery in three months <MCU3> finished Friday at $8,100 per tonne, down from $8,300 per tonne on Thursday.

(Reporting by Carole Vaporean; Editing by David Gregorio) ((carole.vaporean@reuters.com; 1-646-223-6044; Reuters Messaging: carole.vaporean.reuters.com@reuters.net; nyc.commods.newsroom@reuters.com))

For the latest news and prices, click on the codes in brackets:

LME overview <RING>

LME Warehouse stocks <LME/STX1>

Spot gold/silver <XAU=><XAG=>

COMEX copper futures <0#HG:>

COMEX metals warehouse stocks <CMWST>-<CMWSV>

N.Y. metals hourly volumes <IZQI>

Vols/open interest <MTXM>

RELATED NEWS AND OTHER TOPICS Precious metals news [GOL] All metals news [MTL] All commodities news [C] Metals diary [MTL/DIARY] Ldn Bullion Mkt Assoc <LBMA01> Foreign exchange rates <FX=S> Keywords: MARKETS COPPER/COMEX

IMM-Speculators increase bets against U.S. dollar-CFTC

Reuters: [2008-05-09 21:56:00]

    NEW YORK, May 9 (Reuters) - Currency speculators increased 
bets against the U.S. dollar in the latest period, weekly data 
from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed on 
Friday. 
    The value of the net short U.S. dollar position rose to 
$8.58 billion in the week to May 6, up from $5.76 billion in  
the previous week. 
    The aggregate U.S. dollar position is derived from the net 
positions of International Monetary Market speculators in yen, 
euro, British pound, Swiss franc, Canadian and Australian 
dollars. 
    
 JAPANESE YEN (Contracts of 12,500,000 yen) 
             5/06/08 week         4/29/08 week 
   Long          69,355               73,485 
   Short         20,620               18,035 
   Net           48,735               55,450 
 
    EURO (Contracts of 125,000 euros) 
             5/06/08 week         4/29/08 week 
   Long          54,383               48,319 
   Short         66,895               69,634 
   Net          -12,512              -21,315 
 
    POUND STERLING (Contracts of 62,000 pounds sterling) 
             5/06/08 week         4/29/08 week 
   Long          13,874               21,296 
   Short         44,311               46,144 
   Net          -30,437              -24,848 
 
    SWISS FRANC (Contracts of 125,000 Swiss francs) 
             5/06/08 week         4/29/08 week 
   Long          19,125               26,625 
   Short         23,262               19,624 
   Net           -4,137                7,001 
 
    CANADIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Canadian dollars) 
             5/06/08 week         4/29/08 week 
   Long          48,104               31,816 
   Short         16,392               24,388 
   Net           31,712                7,428 
 
    AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR (Contracts of 100,000 Aussie dollars) 
             5/06/08 week         4/29/08 week 
   Long          75,627               60,245 
   Short         10,206                9,780 
   Net           65,421               50,465 
 (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Dan Grebler) 
 ((lucia.mutikani@thomsonreuters.com; 1 646 223 6314; Reuters 
Messaging: lucia.mutikani.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
Keywords: MARKETS FOREX IMM 
    

Mexico stocks fall on AIG; bonds drop on inflation

Reuters: [2008-05-09 18:36:00]

MEXICO CITY, May 9 (Reuters) - Mexican stocks fell on Friday after a record loss at U.S. insurance firm AIG stoked concerns about the credit crisis, while bonds fell for a third straight day after inflation hit a three-year high.

The benchmark IPC stock index <.MXX> lost 0.67 percent to 30,544 points, with miners down on lower metals prices.

The government's benchmark 10-year peso bond <MX10YT=RR> fell 0.396 of a point in price to bid 98.186, pushing its yield up 6 basis points to 8.02 percent, a four-month high.

A report on Thursday saying that consumer prices rose 4.55 percent in the 12 months through April, well above the level the central bank says it can tolerate, reinforced expectations the central bank will not cut interest rates this year.

In stock trading, analysts and traders said that American International Group's <AIG.N> $7.8 billion loss in the first quarter, as it wrote down assets linked to subprime mortgages, sparked fears that the worst of the credit crisis had yet to pass.

The crisis in world credit markets has hit investor appetite for risky assets, like Mexican stocks.

"Banks still have a lot to say that they haven't told us yet," said Rodolfo Navarrete, head of analysis at Vector brokerage in Mexico City.

Shares of top retailer Wal-Mart de Mexico <WALMEXV.MX> shed 1.02 percent to 42.79 peso.

Miner Grupo Mexico <GMEXICOB.MX> lost 2.97 percent to 77.49 pesos as copper futures fell as inventories in London and Shanghai surged.

Mexican airport operator GAP <GAPB.MX> dropped 6.82 percent to 39.65 pesos after it reported on Thursday that its April passenger traffic fell 5.3 percent.

Among gainers, shares of petrochemical producer Mexichem <MEXCHEM.MX> jumped 5.87 percent to 78.50 pesos after Citigroup raised its target price for the stock from 80 pesos to 127 pesos on the possibility of a joint venture in its fluorine business. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Vanessa Padilla; editing by Leslie Adler) ((michael.oboyle@reuters.com; +5255-5282-7160; Reuters Messaging: jason.lange.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: MARKETS MEXICO/