Gold futures notched a second straight gain on Thursday, finding support on the back of a weaker dollar even after the Federal Reserve said it expects inflation "to move up this year" in a sign it is likely to hike rates at its next meeting in March. Read: Fed takes step toward rate increase as baton set to pass to Powell Analysts said the March hike is likely widely priced in to trading. For n...Read More
The main U.S. stock market indexes gained 0.1-0.3% on Wednesday, as they fluctuated following recent move down. Investors were uncertain ahead of quarterly earnings, FOMC Rate Decision, economic data releases. The S&P 500 index remained below its Tuesday's relatively big daily gap down. It currently trades around 2.1% below its January 26 record high of 2,872.87. Yet, it remains 4.7% above its...Read More
By Sin?(C)ad CarewFeb 1 (Reuters) - One of the oldest Wall Street adages dictates: "So goes January, goes the year." After the S&P 500's gain of almost 6 percent in the first month of 2018, that should mean the rest of the year will follow suit.Since 1950, there have been only nine major contradictions to the so-called January Barometer, according to the Stock Traders Almanac whose f...Read More
MEXICO CITY, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Mexico's anti-trust agency on Thursday said in a statement that it is investigating "probable" monopoly practices in Mexico's e-commerce market.The Federal Commission for Economic Competition, or Cofece, said in a statement that it was investigating possible monopolistic practices, such as price discrimination, that was affecting free commerce.Cofece had pu...Read More
• Surging US bond yields prompts fresh selling. • Renewed USD weakness helps limit downside. • Reviving safe-haven demand lends additional support. Gold maintained its offered tone through the early NA session and was now seen consolidating daily losses around the $1340 level. A hawkish Fed outlook, signalling at least thr...Read More
By Heather SomervilleSAN FRANCISCO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Short-term home rental service Airbnb Inc will not go public this year, the company said on Thursday, and it appointed its first chief operating officer as it pursues global growth and tighter management of its finances as a more mature company."We're working on getting ready to go public and we will make decisions about going public on ou...Read More
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Argentina's tax revenue rose in January to 261.961 billion pesos ($13.54 billion), up 23.9 percent compared with a year earlier, the AFIP tax agency said on Thursday. Excluding one-time income from a tax amnesty program in January 2017, tax income was up 28.6 percent year-over-year, AFIP said.($1 = 19.3500 Argentine pesos) (Reporting by Eliana Raszewski, writing by...Read More
By Felipe IturrietaSANTIAGO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Chile iron ore and steel producer CAP SA more than doubled its earnings in 2017 over the previous year, the company said in a year-end earnings report on Thursday, boosted by rising iron prices even as its total exports of the metal dropped.CAP reported profits of $130.3 million in 2017, more than double its earnings of $60.3 million in 2016."Thi...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is on track to grow at a 5.4 percent annualized rate in the first quarter following the latest data on manufacturing and construction spending, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed on Thursday.The latest estimate on gross domestic product was faster than the 4.2 percent growth pace calculated on Monday, the Atlanta Fed said.Reportin...Read More
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Argentina's tax revenue rose in January to 261.961 billion pesos ($13.54 billion), up 28.6 percent compared with a year earlier, the AFIP tax agency said on Thursday. ($1 = 19.3500 Argentine pesos) (Reporting by Eliana Raszewski, writing by Luc Cohen, editing by G Crosse) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect th...Read More
(Kitco News)- The bottom continues to fall out of bitcoin as prices dropbelow key support levels but analysts don’t see the renewed weakness helpingthe gold price retest its recent highs.Thursday, bitcoin continued to make waves in financialmarkets as the price dropped below $10,000 with analysts expecting to see lowerprices in the near-term. Last trading at $9,129, bitcoin is down 54% from...Read More
(Recasts; adds background, expected appointment of new CEO)SAO PAULO, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Brazil's Banco Bradesco SA set a cautious tone with its guidance for the year just days before the long-anticipated announcement of its new chief executive officer, who is expected to take the helm next month. The second-largest private lender in the country disappointed analysts with modest targets for 2018 c...Read More
Feb 2 (Reuters) - Stock MarketsNet ChngStock MarketsNet ChngS&P/ASX 200** 6,090.10 52.40 NZX 50**8,383.87 -58.14DJIA26,293.82144.43NIKKEI**23,486.11387.82Nasdaq7,438.60227.12 FTSE**7,490.39 -43.16S&P 500 2,835.53 11.72 Hang Seng** 32,642.09-245.18SPI 200 Fut 6,032.0-4.0STI** 3,547.23 13.24SSEC**3,446.24 -34.59KOSPI** 2,568.54 2.08------------------------------------------------------------...Read More
(Adds comments from conference call)Feb 1 (Reuters) - U.S. health insurer Cigna Corp on Thursday weighed in on the debate on soaring U.S. healthcare prices, saying it had cut the medical cost growth rate for its corporate customers in 2017 to half that of rivals, but the pace was still unsustainable.The comments came during mounting concern about medical costs, whose growth typically runs several...Read More
(Adds more detail)By Huw JonesFeb 1 (Reuters) - The Bank of England said it has begun simulating stress scenarios in "stretched" bond markets to see if they risk undermining financial stability, though no proven problem has been uncovered so far.Alex Brazier, the BoE's executive director for financial stability strategy and risk, said market-based finance is a "next frontier"...Read More
(Adds details, background)NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is setting a torrid pace in the first three months of 2018, putting it on track to notch its best quarter since late 2009, a forecast model from the Atlanta Federal Reserve showed on Thursday. Gross domestic product, the government's broadest economic gauge, is on track to grow at a 5.4 percent annualized rate in the first qua...Read More
Ferrari N.V. (NYSE:RACE) is trading up 7.2% today at $128.15 after the company said 2017 was a record year, while announcing plans to double its core earnings by 2022. This brings the stock's one-year gain to 107% and it earlier traded at a record high of $129.87. In the meantime, RACE shares have been crushing short sellers, who've continued betting against the equity in recent months. Looking cl...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold Prices wereending the U.S. day session with scant gains Thursday. A continued erosion ofthe U.S. dollar in the foreign exchange markets worked to support the yellowmetal on this day. April Comex gold futures were last up $1.60 an ounce at$1,344.80. March Comex silver was last down $0.136 at $17.11 an ounce.Therewas a very heavy dose of U.S. economic data released Thursday. Howe...Read More
* Microsoft, Facebook gain after upbeat earnings reports* Bank stocks buoyed by hawkish Fed comments* UPS falls as higher costs hurt profit* Apple, Alphabet, Amazon to report after the bell* Indexes up: Dow 0.54 pct, S&P 0.35 pct, Nasdaq 0.25 pct (Updates to early afternoon)By Tanya AgrawalFeb 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street rose in early afternoon trading on Thursday, reversing from earlier losses,...Read More
By Karen BrettellNEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - An industry group representing the privately traded derivatives markets may challenge new rules requiring that more capital be used to back the trades, arguing that the requirements place them at a disadvantage to trading futures contracts.Capital rules adopted by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and U.S. bank regulators in 2015, which are being...Read More