(Updates prices, adds news from Mexico and Argentina)By Bruno FederowskiSAO PAULO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Latin American markets retreated on Friday after data showing U.S. job growth surged in January and wages increased, lifting expectations of faster U.S. interest rate hikes, which could dampen demand for risky emerging market assets.The robust employment report bolstered expectations of price press...Read More
(Updates with closing prices)By Luc CohenBUENOS AIRES, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Argentina power generation company Central Puerto SA's shares plunged on the Buenos Aires stock exchange on Friday as the weaker-than-expected debut price of its U.S.-listed stock took some air out of a two-year long rally.The underwhelming debut came a day after airport operator Corporacion America Airports also priced its...Read More
(Adds comments from Kaplan, additional comments from Williams)By Ann SaphirSAN FRANCISCO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A pickup in wage growth and inflation are signs of a healthy economy and at this point are not enough to force the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise rates much more this year than the three times it has been signaling, a top policymaker said on Friday. Faster economic growth, buoyed by strong f...Read More
US Equities In A Virtual Meltdown, Bonds & Dollar Higher, Gold Dramatically LowerAt its low today the Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading off by 642 points, and as of this writing at 3:15 PM Eastern standard time the Dow is off by a little over 550 points which is a net decline of 2.11% on the day. In fact, all of the major US indices are trading dramatically lower with the Standard & Poor's...Read More
(Adds details on week's drop in stocks)By Caroline ValetkevitchNEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main stock indexes suffered their worst week in two years as bond yields soared and renewed fears of inflation gripped investors. But amid the selloff, corporate earnings forecasts keep improving.Forecasts for earnings, one of the fundamental factors that drives stock prices, are rising fast a...Read More
* TSX down 254.89 points, or 1.61 percent, at 15,606.03* All of the TSX's 10 main groups were trading lower (Updates share prices)TORONTO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index slumped to a four-month low on Friday, with natural resource shares leading broad based declines as commodity prices dropped and higher bond yields pressured global equity markets.U.S. crude prices were down 1.1 perce...Read More
(Adds close of U.S. markets)* Robust U.S. labor market report boosts dollar, bond yields* Both Dow, S&P 500 post worst week since January 2016* Disappointing earnings also push stocks lower* Oil eases on strong dollar, gold prices fall By Herbert LashNEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Stock markets plunged and bond yields soared on Friday after U.S. data showing the strongest annual wage growth sin...Read More
The U.S. stock market suffered a major pullback today, as this morning's nonfarm payrolls report, which topped expectations, suggested another rate hike is on the way when the Fed meets next month -- though San Francisco Fed President John Williams said the central bank shouldn't have a "knee-jerk reaction" to strong economic data. Nevertheless, the Dow shed more than 650 points -- as Apple (AAPL)...Read More
* U.S. 10-year yield posts longest weekly losing streak* Year-over-year U.S. wage growth strongest since 2009* Fed's Williams calls for rate hikes as economy improves* U.S. 2-year yield dips on safe-haven bids as Wall St sags (Updates market action, adds quotes)By Richard LeongNEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A strong U.S. payrolls report on Friday raised concerns the Federal Reserve might hasten to in...Read More
(Adds comment, bitcoin futures, details, table, byline)By Gertrude Chavez-DreyfussNEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Speculators' net short U.S. dollar bets increased in the latest week to their highest since mid-October, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.The value of the net short dollar position, derived from net holdings of Internatio...Read More
(New throughout, adds analyst comment, background on company)By Liana B. Baker and Sonam RaiFeb 2 (Reuters) - Computer maker Dell Technologies Inc said on Friday it was considering a public offering of common stock or a combination with business software maker VMware Inc , its publicly held subsidiary.Dell, the world's largest privately held technology company, is under pressure to boost profitab...Read More
After reporting a fourth-quarter earnings beatlast Monday night, online streaming service Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) gapped higher, and hit a new record high of $286.81 one week later. But while the stock has since pared some post-earnings gains amid widespread selling pressure, data provided by Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White suggests outperforming NFLX might still be the be...Read More
TORONTO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index slumped to a four-month low on Friday, with resource and marijuana shares leading broad based declines as higher bond yields pressured global equity markets.The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index unofficially closed down 254.89 points, or 1.61 percent, at 15,606.03, its biggest drop since May. All of the index's 10 main groups...Read More
Metal falls to the lowest in two weeks. USD extends gains after upbeat NFP. The rally of the US dollar and rising US bond yields pushed gold sharply to the downside. The US official employment report triggered an appreciation of the greenback and boosted US bond yields. Labor market data showed that wages rose in January at the fastest rate since 2009. Those numbers could antic...Read More
NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Speculators' net short U.S. dollar bets increased in the latest week to their highest since around mid-October, according to calculations by Reuters and Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released on Friday.The value of the net short dollar position, derived from net holdings of International Monetary Market speculators in the yen, euro, British pound, Swiss fran...Read More
(Kitco News) - Sorry folks, PunxsutawneyPhil, the famous weather pontificating groundhog, saw his shadow, which meansthere is still six more weeks of winter left. And on the topic of loomingshadows, gold prices are looking to end the week in negative territory withanalysts saying that gold could be entering a consolidation phase, faced withan uncertain outlook. The price action is a suddentu...Read More
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve should continue to raise interest rates to prevent an overheating in an economy buoyed by strong financial conditions, global growth and the Trump administration's tax cuts, a top policymaker said Friday. But San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams, in his first public comments since the Fed left rates unchanged after its...Read More
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said on Friday that he has grown more confident the U.S. central bank will need to raise rates three times this year."I think I feel more strongly that it should be three," Kaplan told reporters in Austin, Texas, adding that employment data released earlier in the day was consistent with his views on the U.S....Read More
* U.S. dollar rises after jobs data, pares gains later* Euro falls against greenback* Yen inversely tracks with U.S. bond yields (Updates prices, market activity, adds commentary)By Stephanie KellyNEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose on Friday against a number of currencies including the Japanese yen and the euro after strong national jobs data, but the greenback later pared gains and...Read More
Continued dollar weakness is keeping gold's turnaround alive.Infrastructure spending would likely benefit gold as well.Other major factors remain supportive for the intermediate-term outlook. As the gold price continues its three-week-old lateral consolidation, sentiment remains mixed between those who believe the dollar is long overdue a relief rally and those who see the dollar's decline con...Read More