USDA to see global grain stocks on rise at last: analysts

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Global stockpiles of corn and soybeans are set to rise next autumn after years of thinning inventories, the U.S. Agriculture Department was expected to say on Thursday, offering hope for a break in the cycle of surging food prices. A breakneck start on planting the U.S. corn crop and timely rains in the drought-hit wheat fields of the southern Plains may encourage the USDA to estimate higher-than-average yields, analysts said ahead of the first USDA report to project crops and ending stockpiles for the 2012/13 crop year. ...

Sarkozy's chances fade two days before French runoff

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy's chances of holding on to power were fading two days before France's election runoff, with far-right and centrist leaders refusing to endorse him and his usually bland Socialist rival performing confidently in a TV debate. Opinion polls suggested Sarkozy could squeeze Socialist challenger Francois Hollande's lead down to around five percentage points from as much as 10 in the last few days. However, centrist Francois Bayrou effectively buried one of Sarkozy's last hopes of hauling himself higher on Sunday. ...

Hollande in winning position for French runoff

PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy faces defeat at the hands of Socialist Francois Hollande in a presidential runoff on Sunday, paving the way for a French push to temper austerity in stagnating euro zone economies with a new focus on growth. A slight narrowing in latest opinion polls suggests Sarkozy may manage a closer finish than Hollande's 6 to 10 point lead in the deciding vote, yet his failure to land a knockout punch in a televised debate may have doomed his re-election hopes. ...

Sarkozy fails to floor Hollande in French vote duel

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy made a last-ditch appeal to far-right voters on Thursday after failing to land a knockout blow in a heated televised debate with Socialist rival Francois Hollande before Sunday's presidential runoff. Hollande, ahead in opinion polls by six to 10 points, was calm and unflappable during the nearly three-hour debate on Wednesday while the conservative Sarkozy, struggling to catch up with the moderate social democrat, appeared agitated and tense. Commentators said the confrontation, watched by 17.8 million people out of an electorate of 44. ...