Industrials

·         TDG Transdigm to acquire Semco Instruments for ~$73.5M in cash

·         RTN Raytheon awarded $492.4M contract

·         ITT ITT Corporation agrees to sell CAS Inc for $235M
ITT announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell CAS, Inc., its systems engineering and technical assistance services business, to Wyle Inc for $235M. The sale is expected to close by the end of this year, subject to customary regulatory approvals

·         Obama administration plans to sell $30B of F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia - WSJ
Diplomats and officials report the ten-year deal for 84 Boeing (BA) jets, which will seemingly be modified to assuage concerns from Israel, though the claim is that changes are not being made on Israel's behalf. The article says Washington would like to see Israel step up to purchase Lockheed Martin (LMT)'s F-35. Congress may be formally notified of the planned sale to Saudi Arabia in September.

Transports

·         AERL.ID Aer Lingus reports July traffic statistics (€0.90)

·         Passengers 1.02M vs year ago 1.12M

·         Load factor +3.5 percentage points to 85.8% vs year ago 82.3%

·         PTHR Panther Expedited Services files $100M IPO through JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs
PTHR is a transportation provider with an expanding platform in premium freight logistics. The company offers single-source ground, air and ocean shipping solutions for time-sensitive, high-value and service-critical freight. Panther Expedited previously had filed for a $250M IPO on 2-Jun-06 but withdrew that filing on 2-Aug-10. Proposed symbol is PTHR; a proposed exchange was not disclosed.

Materials

o    Steel: China steelmakers likely to raise prices in September amid recent recovery in steel market - China Securities Journal

o    Wheat Slumps as Much as 4%, Extending Drop From 23-Month High- BBG

§  December-delivery wheat fell 3.5 percent to $7.285 a bushel at 9:13 a.m. Melbourne time. Corn futures fell 0.5 percent to $4.18 and soybeans for November delivery on the Chicago Board of Trade declined 0.1 percent to $10.33 a bushel

o    Drought doubles price of barley in six weeks- FT link

§  The price of barley, an important feed grain for the European livestock industry, has more than doubled in six weeks in response to the drought affecting Russia and Ukraine, prompting fears of increases in the cost of meat and poultry

o    Russia’s grain ban is the wrong response- FT link

§  Two years ago, rocketing prices for agricultural commodities sparked food riots in the streets of some developing countries

o    Russia prepares to set up large fertilizer company - FT

§  People close to the purchase say 25% owner Suleiman Kerimov will buy an additional 30-52.4% of Silvinit (SILV.RU) and merge it with Uralkali (URKA.RU), possibly this week. An investment bank says the combination would have an annual capacity of 11.5M tonnes of potash, making it the second-biggest producer behind Potash (POT). Russia supports the idea, which will be carried out through a consortium so as to avoid needing anti-monopoly approval.

o    USG Corp files mixed securities shelf of indeterminate amount

Autos

§  China July Car Sales Growth to Dealers Slowest Since March 2009- BBG

o    TTM Economic Times lists possible candidates to replace Ratan Tata as head of Tata

o    TRW TRW Automotive credit rating upgraded to BB from BB- by S&P; outlook remains stable.

o    Toyota: To begin offering sound-making devices for Hybrid models to better alert pedestrians of approaching vehicle - Japanese press

o   F Ford aims to get investment-grade credit rating back in 2012 at the latest - WSJ

§  Government loan guarantees have been helping the company get cheaper loans and thus pay back its privately issued debt faster. But five straight quarterly profits have meant that governments are suddenly less willing to help; earlier this month, Germany turned down a loan-guarantee request that Ford wanted to use to improve a Cologne factory.