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Patrick Bennett, FX Strategist at CIBC discusses his outlook for monetary policy in Australia.
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May 24- News Corp said on Friday it will write down the value of its Australian and U.S. publishing assets by up to $1.4 billion, as the company prepares to split its business between its newspaper and entertainment operations. Analysts were expecting News Corp to report a pretax profit of $1.4 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
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May 24- News Corp set the distribution ratios for the spinoff of its publishing business, which may start buying back stock right away. The board of the publishing business, which will retain the News Corp name, authorized a $500 million stock repurchase program, the company said on Friday.
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*Corn, wheat decline in profit-taking setback. CHICAGO, May 24- U.S. soybean futures slipped lower on Friday for the first time in seven sessions and corn eased after two days of gains as investors squared ahead the long Memorial Day holiday weekend.
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*JA Solar, ReneSola shares hit 1- year highs. Manufacturers such as JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd and ReneSola Ltd, reliant on low-margin Chinese sales after trade wars with the United States and Europe, are pushing into Japan and emerging economies where solar panel demand is rising.
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May 24- News Corp set the distribution ratios for the spinoff of its publishing business and said the spinoff may start buying back stock right away.
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*Copper surplus forecast at 98,500 T in Reuters April poll. SINGAPORE/ LONDON, May 24- A series of copper mine shutdowns and supply logjams has prompted some analysts to scale down forecasts for a market surplus, but it would take more disruptions to swing the market into a deficit.
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May 24- News Corp set the distribution ratios for the spinoff of its publishing business and said the spinoff may start buying back stock right away. The board of the publishing business, which will retain the News Corp name, authorized a $500 million stock repurchase program, the company said on Friday.
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*Gold ignores fresh easing from Japan, Australia, Euro zone. LONDON, May 24- Gold prices are looking even more vulnerable after April's price crash, as rampant inflation expected from successive rounds of monetary easing fails to materialise.
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*Corn edges down, up 1 percent for the week. AMSTERDAM/ SYDNEY, May 24- Chicago Board of Trade soybeans edged lower ahead of a long U.S. weekend, following six sessions of gains, but were still up for the week as tight old-crop stocks and strong demand supported prices.
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HOUSTON-- InterOil and Pacific LNG Group are in exclusive talks with Exxon Mobil about the development of natural gas fields in Papua New Guinea. InterOil has petroleum licenses, an oil refinery and retail and commercial distribution facilities on the island nation just north of Australia.
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BERLIN- German business sentiment rises far more than expected in May, rebounding after two consecutive falls and suggesting Europe's largest economy is picking up steam after posting anaemic growth in the first quarter. ( GERMANY- ECONOMY/, expect by 0930 GMT/ 5.30 AM ET, by Sarah Marsh, 600 words).
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TOKYO May 24- This week's turbulence in Tokyo markets exposes a key risk of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's all-in strategy to revive Japan's economy- if investor confidence falters, the government and the Bank of Japan may be left with few options to turn the tide. Federal Reserve's massive stimulus- external risks that Tokyo could do little to overcome.
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*Asian stocks outside Japan dip to 1- month lows. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.4 percent and reached levels not seen since April 19, extending Thursday's 2.2 percent fall. "There's a lot of volatility... from Japan, which is not good for market stability or confidence," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG in Melbourne.
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*Asian stocks outside Japan dip to 1- month lows. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.6 percent, extending Thursday's 2.2 percent fall. "There's a lot of volatility... from Japan, which is jumping around 20 or 30 points at a time, which is not good for market stability or confidence," said Stan Shamu, market strategist at IG.
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PERTH, May 24- U.S. crude futures dropped to around $94 a barrel on Friday after disappointing China data and on lingering concerns the U.S. July oil futures contract had fallen 9 cents to $94.16 a barrel by 0038 GMT.
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*MSCI ex- Japan edges up. SYDNEY, May 24- Asian shares opened cautiously higher on Friday with Tokyo's Nikkei steadying from its biggest one-day drop in two years as investors breathed a sigh of relief when Wall Street cut losses on an upbeat outlook from Hewlett-Packard.
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*Pentagon report shows $4.5 bln drop in F-35 cost. WASHINGTON, May 23- The Pentagon on Thursday told Congress it expected a 1 percent drop in the cost of its biggest weapons program, the Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 fighter jet, while averting the huge cost increases seen on other weapons programs in recent years.
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SAN FRANCISCO-- Williams-Sonoma Inc. blew past market expectations for its fiscal first quarter as shoppers stepped up spending on housewares and furnishings both online and in stores.
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*Coal producers face too much supply through 2020. Prices have slumped around 30 percent since their peak two years ago as coal flooded global markets, especially from the United States where cheap gas has cut domestic demand and led to a nearly 50 percent jump in thermal coal exports last year.
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WASHINGTON, May 23- The Pentagon's annual report to Congress shows a decline of $4.5 billion, or just over 1 percent, in the projected development and acquisition cost of the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jet program, sources familiar with the data said on Thursday.