Benzinga

WTI Crude Oil is trading up nearly 1% around $96.80. Nymex Natural Gas is trading up over 0.40% near $4.57. RBOB Gasoline is trading up roughly 0.50% near $3.11. Copper is trading up over 1% near $4.45. Gold is trading down over 0.20% near $1600.90. Silver is trading down over 1.30% near $40. Platinum is trading nearly flat around $1773.

Synageva BioPharma Corp. and Trimeris, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRMS) announced today that Trimeris has filed a Form S-4 Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission pertaining to the previously announced merger of Trimeris and Synageva. The Registration Statement has not yet been declared effective, and the information contained therein is subject to change. Once the Registration Statement has been declared effective, Synageva and Trimeris intend to set a date for a special meeting of each of their respective stockholders to approve the merger and deliver the final joint proxy statement/prospectus to their respective stockholders.

China Shengda Packaging Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CPGI) today announced that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program for up to $5 million of its common stock over the next twelve months, subject to market and other conditions. Under this plan, the Company can repurchase shares from time to time for cash in open market purchases, block transactions, and privately negotiated transactions in accordance with applicable US federal securities laws. This share repurchase program may be modified, suspended, terminated or extended by the Company at any time without prior notice.

Book retailer Borders Group Inc. is facing a possible liquidation of its operations, as the bankrupt company received no offers before the Sunday bidding deadline, The Wall Street Journal is reporting. Citing people familiar, The Journal noted that no offers were received before the 5 p.m. EST Sunday deadline. A bankruptcy court auction is scheduled for Tuesday. Borders sells books, music, and movies online and in retail stores across the U.S. The company is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan and was founded in 1971. In February 2011, Borders filed for bankruptcy protection.

Once upon a time in a land far, far away the citizens of Neveria were in the midst of a very serious financial crisis. Many of the former manufacturing and factory jobs that the Neverians had once known were gone. A good number of the only jobs remaining were in the service industry. Neverians tended to not like jobs in the service industry because the jobs were demeaning, mindless, and paid little with few benefits. Neverians longed for their good-paying manufacturing jobs of the past, but the market dictated otherwise as many Neverian companies shipped jobs overseas for lower wages. There were many unemployed citizens in the land, so Neverians were extremely lucky to get even the lesser jobs in the Neverian service industry. Many of those service industry jobs were once occupied by younger Neverians, but now even older, experienced Neverians were competing for those same low-paying jobs. For those lucky Neverians that had jobs, in order to get to...

China just released its June numbers, with 3 separate official sources delivering banking and money stats, international trade stats, and the core economic data. The June GDP numbers were pretty strong in the scheme of things, and the rest of the data pointed to a high likelihood of persistence in economic strength, at least in the medium term. In this article we explore some of the key data points, and come to the conclusion that a hard landing/significant slow down is a not a 2011 story...   1. China GDP China managed to show year on year GDP growth of 9.5% in the June quarter, which was slightly lower than the 9.7% it showed in the previous quarter and 10.3% in June 2010, and compares to a 10-year average of about 9.4%. So in the scheme of things GDP growth does not show a significant degree of slowing. However, if you redefined recession for China as passing below the long term average growth...

NewStar Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq: NEWS) today announced that it has entered into an amended credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank to expand, extend and re-price its existing facility with Wells Fargo and support future loan growth. The financing provides nearly $200 million of lending capacity and flexibility to fund a wider range of lending activity. Advance rates under the credit facility range from 65% to 70% based on the type of loans pledged as collateral. It has a three and one-half year contractual term structured with an 18 month revolving, ramp-up period to support new lending activity, which is followed by a 24 month amortization period. The term structure provides the flexibility to refinance through securitization of the loan pool, extend the revolving period with the mutual consent of both parties, or amortize the facility through its contractual maturity, which reduces potential mis-matches in duration. In addition to favorable changes in those key terms, pricing for the new deal was reduced,...

The Kiwi and the Aussie moved separate ways on Thursday, following strong performance of New Zealand's economy in the March quarter. At around 6 am GMT, the U.S. dollar added 0.3% to its value against the Aussie to stand around 0.9323. At the same time, the greenback retreated against the Kiwi by 0.57% to 1.1875. The Kiwi was provided with a kick following better than expected GDP growth performance in the March quarter. According to official figures, New Zealand's GDP grew 0.8% in Q1, much above a revised 0.5% figure recorded in the last quarter of 2010 quarter and some way above 0.4% forecasted by most analysts. Strong growth came in spite of a devastating earthquake that has struck New Zealand's second biggest city – Christchurch. After the New Zealand economy showed surprising strength in the first quarter, most economists are now convinced New Zealand's central bank will raise its interest rates this year. New Zealand's economy has been performing strongly compared...

Genesee & Wyoming (NYSE: GWR) today reported traffic volumes for June 2011 and the second quarter of 2011. GWI's traffic in June 2011 was 84,999 carloads, an increase of 10,071 carloads, or 13.4 percent, compared with June 2010. GWI's traffic in the second quarter of 2011 was 249,508 carloads, an increase of 28,315 carloads, or 12.8 percent, compared to the second quarter of 2010. The table below sets forth consolidated carloading information for June 2011 and June 2010. Additional carload information for our North American and Australian operations is included as an exhibit to this press release.

Euro dollar is consolidating its recovery, partially enjoying the dollar's weakness across the board. The dollar suffers from the credit rating warning from Moody's as well as the stronger talk about QE3. A big bulk of economic data is expected from the US. It isn't too rosy in Europe, as yields are going once again. Here's a quick update on technicals, fundamentals and what's going on in the markets. EUR/USD Technicals Asian session: A very active session saw the pair storm higher, and bounce off the 1.4282 line. Exactly there. It slid lower since then. Current range 1.4160 to 1.4282. Further levels in both directions: Below  1.4160, 1.4120, 1.4070, 1.3950, 1.3838, 1.3750, 1.37, 1.3570, 1.3440. Above:   1.4220, 1.4282, 1.4375, 1.4450. The historic line of 1.4282 proved to be at its strength once again. 1.4220 is only minor resistance now. 1.4160 and 1.4030 are the main cushions below. Euro/Dollar pressured lower  - click on the graph to enlarge. EUR/USD Fundamentals 9:00 European CPI. Exp. +2.7%. Actual 2.7%. Core CPI. Exp. +1.5%. Actual...