(Reuters) – Stocks opened sharply lower on Monday on weak European data and renewed anxiety over how the region would tackle its debt crisis, while Wal-Mart slumped after a report it stymied a probe into bribery allegations.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI dropped 145.61 points, or 1.12 percent, to 12,883.65. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX lost 15.53 points, or 1.13 percent, to 1,363.00. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC fell 35.20 points, or 1.17 percent, to 2,965.25.

(Reporting By Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

(Reuters) – French President Nicolas Sarkozy appealed directly to far right voters on Monday with pledges to get tough on immigration and security, after a record showing in a first round election by the National Front made them potential kingmakers.

Hollande piped Sarkozy in Sunday’s 10-candidate first round by 28.6 percent to 27.2 percent, but National Front leader Marine Le Pen stole the show, surging to 17.9 percent, the biggest tally a far-right candidate has ever managed.

Her performance mirrored advances across the continent by anti-establishment Eurosceptical populists from Amsterdam and Vienna to Helsinki and Athens as the euro zone’s grinding debt crisis deepens anger over government spending cuts and unemployment.

“National Front voters must be respected,” Sarkozy told reporters as he left his campaign headquarters in Paris. “They voiced their view. It was a vote of suffering, a crisis vote. Why insult them? I have heard Mr. Hollande criticizing them.”

The unpopular Sarkozy, the first sitting president to be forced into second place in the first round of a re-election bid, now faces a difficult balancing act to attract both the far-right and centrist voters he needs to stay in office.

The weak showing by Sarkozy spooked investors already nervous about European governments’ ability to service their debts, helping to send French stocks and bonds lower.

Returning to the campaign trail on Monday, Sarkozy hammered home promises to toughen border controls, tighten security on the streets and keep industrial jobs in France – signature issues for Le Pen at a time of anger over immigration, violent crime and unemployment running at a 12-year high.

After five turbulent years leading the world’s fifth economy, Sarkozy could go the way of 10 othereuro zone leaders swept from office since the start of the crisis in late 2009.

Hollande has vowed to change the direction of Europe by tempering austerity measures with higher taxes on the rich and more social spending. Polls published on Sunday predicted he would win the run-off with between 53 and 56 percent of votes.

But the strong showing of Le Pen, gravel-voiced 43-year-old daughter of National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, offered Sarkozy a glimmer of hope by suggesting there are more votes up for grabs on the right than had been thought.

“Marine Le Pen’s breakthrough throws the second round wide open,” read the front page of right-leaning Le Figaro, while left-wing Liberation read: “Hollande leads. Le Pen the killjoy”.

HIGH TURNOUT

Hollande blamed Sarkozy for fuelling the rise in the far right and said he would make no attempt to seek National Front votes. “Since some voters supported them out of anger, I will listen to them…but I will not court the far right,” he said.

On a strong turnout of 80.2 percent, more than a third of voters cast ballots for protest candidates outside the mainstream, foreshadowing a possible reshaping of France’s political balance of power at parliamentary elections in June.

Le Pen’s focus is now on securing a strong National Front showing in the parliamentary vote, and she is keeping her distance from Sarkozy, describing him as doomed.

“Faced with an outgoing president who will leave a much weakened party, we are the only true opposition to the neo-liberal left,” she told cheering supporters on Sunday.

She said she would give her view on the runoff at a May Day rally in Paris next week. Leading National Front figures, including Le Pen’s partner and party vice-president Louis Aliot, suggested that she would not formally endorse either candidate.

It is hardly the first time Sarkozy has appealed to National Front voters before a runoff – the tactic him win his first mandate in 2007. Le Pen’s strategy director Florian Philippot said it would not work twice: “The French no longer fall for this electioneering game Sarkozy plays.”

Financial market analysts say whoever wins in two weeks’ time will have to impose tougher austerity measures than either candidate has admitted during the campaign, cutting public spending as well as raising taxes to cut the budget deficit.

By Daniel Flynn and Brian Love

 
The resort park operator said on Friday that it had agreed to yet another raised offer by from Apollo Global Management, worth $262.4 million. The bid of $7.85 a share again tops a proposal by KSL Capital Partners, which had raised its offer for Great Wolf only 24 hours before.

The bidding for Great Wolf Resorts is coming fast and furious.

Friday’s new bid continues Apollo’s jousting with KSL, in one of the few public bidding wars between twoprivate equity firms in recent memory.

Apollo’s new offer is 57 percent above its original bid of $5 a share. It is also 87 percent higher than Great Wolf’s stock price the day before that original offer.

As part of the new deal, Apollo now stands to receive up to $10.47 million in termination fees and expense reimbursements if Great Wolf terminates the merger agreement.

Shares of Great Wolf leaped 6.9 percent in premarket trading to $7.93, suggesting that investors believe an even higher bid may be in the offing.

LONDON – The private equity firm TPG Capital on Friday said it was abandoning its £508 million ($818 million) bid for GlobeOp Financial Services, a major provider of administrative services for hedge funds

The announcement leaves SS&C Technologies Holdings, a software development company, as the lead bidder. Last month, SS&C made a rival £572 million offer for GlobeOp, which is based in London.

“Over the past few weeks TPG had been pursuing a number of strategic alternatives in order to revise its offer,” TGP said in a statement. “However, after substantial investigation, TPG has determined that an improved offer could not be concluded on terms which would deliver sufficiently strong returns to all stakeholders.”

GlobeOp, founded in 2000, provides administrative services for hedge funds, including calculating the net asset values of those firms’ portfolios. It has about 200 clients and oversees $173 billion in assets, according to the company’s Web site.

In early afternoon trading in London, the company’s share price had fallen 1.5 percent.

(Reuters) – EBay Inc (EBAY.O) reported better-than-expected increases in quarterly sales and profit on Wednesday, driven by growth in the e-commerce company’s Marketplaces and PayPal businesses.

EBay also edged up its 2012 forecasts, helping propel the company’s shares 7.9 percent higher to $38.69 in after-hours trading – the highest level since late 2007.

“It’s one of their better reports that I’ve seen in several years,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co.

EBay shares have gained more than 15 percent so far this year, more than double the gain of rival Amazon.com (AMZN.O), on optimism about a growth recovery at its online Marketplaces business and an expansion of PayPal from its online roots into physical stores.

“Both PayPal and the Marketplaces were very healthy in the quarter,” Sebastian said. “It’s not every quarter that you see both doing well.”

That suggests management’s strategy of turning around its online Marketplaces while expanding PayPal is working.

“Marketplaces is improving and PayPal continues to gain market share and that’s without any contribution from the offline initiatives,” Sebastian said.

‘TURNED THE CORNER’

EBay’s online marketplaces, the largest in the world, have lagged the growth of e-commerce and Amazon.com for several years.

Under Chief Executive John Donahoe, eBay has invested a lot to improve the buying experience on the sites, partly by prodding sellers to provide more services such as free shipping and easier returns.

Donahoe said on Wednesday that these changes have paid off, announcing during a conference call with analysts that the Marketplaces business “has turned the corner.”

EBay said first-quarter gross merchandise volume on its U.S. Marketplace business was $6.37 billion, excluding vehicle sales. That was up 13 percent from a year earlier. Doug Anmuth, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, was expecting $6.13 billion in U.S. GMV, ex-autos.

EBay’s online marketplace added two million active users during the first quarter, the most in three years, Donahoe noted.

PAYPAL

PayPal’s Total Payment Volume was $34 billion in the first quarter, up 24 percent from a year earlier. J.P. Morgan’s Anmuth had forecast $33.28 billion.

PayPal’s transaction margin – a measure of the payment service’s profitability – was 65.6 percent in the first quarter, up from 64.8 percent in the previous quarter.

Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan said this was the highest margin level in five years.

EARNINGS, FORECASTS

EBay said first-quarter profit was $725 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with $619 million, or 47 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue was $3.3 billion, up 29 percent from the same period in 2011.

EBay was expected to report earnings of 52 cents per share in the first quarter on revenue of $3.15 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

EBay forecast second-quarter profit of 53 cents to 55 cents per share and revenue of $3.25 billion to $3.35 billion. For the whole of 2012, the company expects earnings of $2.30 to $2.35 per share and revenue of $13.8 billion to $14.1 billion.

Wall Street was looking for earnings per share of 55 cents for the second quarter and $2.30 for the full year. Revenue was expected to be $3.36 billion in the second quarter and $13.85 billion for the whole of 2012.

Earlier this year, eBay forecast first-quarter earnings of 50 cents to 51 cents a share and revenue of $3.05 billion to $3.15 billion. For the whole of 2012, eBay previously forecast profit of $2.25 to $2.30 per share and revenue of $13.7 billion to $14 billion.

“They are doing a fantastic job for long-term shareholders,” said Bill Smead of Smead Capital Management, which owns eBay stock. “They consistently under-promise and over-deliver.”

EBay likely kept its full-year estimates restrained because the outlook for the economy is still uncertain, Sebastian noted.

By Alistair Barr; editing by Andre Grenon

(Reuters) – Stock index futures pared gains on Thursday after data showed new claims for weekly jobless benefits came in above forecasts and the figure for the previous week was revised higher, dampening hopes of a pick-up in job creation in April.

S&P 500 futures rose 1.5 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 21 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 9.75 points.

By Edward Krudy; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

(Reuters) – A Sony-led group is set to win approval from European antitrust regulators for its $2.2 billion purchase of EMI’s music publishing business, the Financial Times said, citing people involved in the negotiations.

Clearance from the EU Commission, the executive body which acts as the competition regulator for the 27-country European Union, would help Sony avoid the possibility of a longer review of the deal’s antitrust implications, the newspaper said.

Sony had earlier offered concessions to the EU in a bid to gain approval for the planned acquisition that would see it become the biggest player in the sector.

Sony will sell EMI Music Publishing catalogues that generate about 25 million euros ($33 million) in annual revenue from songwriters such as Ozzy Osbourne, Culture Club and Tears for Fears, the Financial Times said.

A Commission spokesperson declined to comment to the Financial Times.

A European Commission press officer had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

($1 = 0.7621 euros)

(Reporting by Ranjita Ganesan; Editing by Mark Potter)

(Reuters) – Apple Inc wants to go to trial to defend itself against U.S. government allegations that it conspired with publishers to raise prices of electronic books, a lawyer for the Silicon Valley giant said in court on Wednesday.

Two publishers took a similar stance in the first hearing in Manhattan federal court since the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice last week accused Apple and five publishers of colluding to break up Amazon.com’s low-cost dominance of the digital book market.

The publishers are Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH, and Pearson Plc’s Penguin Group.

“Our basic view is that we would like the case to be decided on the merits,” Apple lawyer, Daniel Floyd, told U.S. District Judge Denise Cote. “We believe that this is not an appropriate case against us and we would like to validate that.”

The judge scheduled the next hearing for June 22.

The court also heard that 15 U.S. states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico were in settlement talks with the three publishers. If all 50 states were ultimately to settle, it would have an impact on a separate class action brought by consumers, a HarperCollins lawyer, Shepard Goldfein, told the judge.

“There could be something left of the class, or nothing left of the class,” Goldfein said.

The government said the price-fixing took place in early 2010 as Apple was introducing its iPad.

E-book prices went up an average of $2 to $3 in a three-day period in early 2010, according to the complaint.

The settlement with three publishers will allow Amazon to resume discounting books, and will terminate the “most favored nation” contracts with Apple.

News Corp owns HarperCollins Publishers Inc, CBS Corp owns Simon & Schuster Inc and Hachette Book Group is a subsidiary of Lagardere SCA.

Hachette and HarperCollins also settled with a group of U.S. states, agreeing to pay $51 million in restitution to consumers who bought e-books. Simon & Schuster is in negotiations with the states to join that settlement, a lawyer for the company said in court on Wednesday.

The European Commission is also probing Apple and publishers in a similar antitrust probe. It said on Wednesday that it had received settlement proposals from Apple and four publishers – Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, Hachette Livre and Macmillan’s parent.

The case is USA v Apple Inc et al in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 12-2826 and No. 11-md-02293.

(Additional reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by David Gregorio)

(Reuters) – France and Spain sold all the bonds they wanted at auction on Thursday, though for Spain the cost was rising yields, indicating growing concerns the government will not be able to tame its deficit.

After a brief respite fuelled by a trillion euros of cash the European Central Bank (ECB) lent Europe’s banks in December and February, markets are becoming nervous again about euro zone debt loads, with fears that Spain might follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal in needing a bailout from international lenders.

That has put pressure on bond yields in the region, notably for Spain and Italy.

The Spanish treasury said it sold 2.5 billion euros ($3.3 billion) of two bonds, taking its issuance to half its gross target for the year.

It received bids for 3.3 times the offer on the shorter of the two bonds, and 2.4 times the longer, both up on previous auctions, suggesting Spanish banks were making the most of the ECB’s bounty.

France shifted 7.97 billion euros of medium and long-term bonds, with investors bidding for nearly three times the amount on offer, despite jitters on the secondary market before a presidential election that polls suggest will be won by Socialist Francois Hollande in the second round on May 6.

Spain, which has seen debt costs jump since early March, when Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy abandoned the deficit target previously agreed with its European partners, sold 1.1 billion euros of a bond maturing October 31, 2014, at an average yield of 3.463 percent.

It also tested market appetite for a longer-term benchmark bond, due January 31, 2022, selling 1.4 billion euros at a yield of 5.743 percent, up from 5.403 percent at the last primary auction in January.

Yields on the 10-year bond also rose after the auction, suggesting investors remain concerned about the country’s long-term fiscal sustainability.

“A reasonable set of results, which will go some way to allaying fears the domestic bid for Spanish bonds has dried up. That said, as evidenced by the accepted yield on the 10-year, this support does come at a price,” rate strategist at Rabobank Richard McGuire said.

The yield on 10-year Spanish bonds rose briefly above 6 percent on the secondary market on Monday for the first time since the end of November, sparking concern it could soon become impossible for the government to affordably refinance itself.

France auctioned for the first time a 0.75 percent medium-term note, known as a BTAN, due in September 2014, at a yield of 0.85 percent. The yield on its 3.50 percent long-term OAT bond, which matures in April 2015, was 1.06 percent. No recent yield comparison is available for that bond.

Its 1.75 percent BTAN due in February 2017 sold at an average yield of 1.83 percent, slightly up from a yield of 1.78 percent when it was last auctioned on March 15.

“It went smoothly, decent demand, they’ve reached their target,” said RIA Capital Markets strategist Nick Stamenkovic in Edinburgh. “We’ve seen a bit of a concession in the past few weeks as investors fret about a shift in policy under the helm of Hollande if he gets into power.

With half its annual target raised so far this year, Spain now has some leeway to issue debt at a slower pace later in the year if borrowing costs remain high.

Spain’s banks, virtually closed off from international wholesale debt markets with investors spooked by the property-related assets on their books, have used large chunks of the ECB’s loans to buy domestic government paper.

Meanwhile, non-residents have been dumping it; investors residing outside of Spain have cut their holdings to 42 percent of the country’s sovereign debt in February, down from 50 percent just two months before.

Spain entered its second recession since 2009 in the first quarter after more than four years of contraction or minimal growth In the aftermath of a collapse in its property market.

“The Treasury can afford to ease off the gas … but Spain remains under the cosh and locked in a negative feedback loop,” said Jo Tomkins, strategist at 4Cast.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn in Paris; Writing by Will Waterman; Editing by Elizabeth Piper)