NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings said on Friday its top AAA debt rating for the United States would not be directly impacted by a possible federal shutdown, which will begin on Saturday if lawmakers fail to clinch a deal to fund the government.“Partial federal government shutdowns have occurred in the past and this shutdown does not have a direct impact on the sovereign’s ‘AAA&...Read More
(Adds detail, background)MILAN/ROME, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Italian airports and motorway operator Atlantia said on Friday it would call a shareholder meeting to vote on changes to its offer for Spanish rival Abertis , as it seeks to strengthen its hand in a bid battle. Atlantia said it proposed to shorten the lock-up period during which Abertis shareholders would not be able to sell new Atlantia sto...Read More
* Trump, Schumer meet to avert shutdown* 10-year Treasury yields highest since Sep 2014* Euro zone stock index hits 10-yr high (Updates with U.S. market open, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON)By Chuck MikolajczakNEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - World equity markets scaled to a record on Friday as the U.S. dollar languished near three-year lows and a U.S. government shutdown loomed, while U.S....Read More
After risingfive consecutive weeks, gold has paused at the $1340 level, which is the levelbullion reached just after Donald Trump was declared the 45th Presidentof the United States on November 8th, 2016. However,this shocking and gold bullish news was immediately “trumped” by India’s PrimeMinister Narendra Modi announcing the confiscation of the country’s largest currencyb...Read More
By Ann SaphirSAN FRANCISCO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is being lifted by tailwinds, including the recent U.S. tax cuts, growth in the global economy, and financial conditions, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said on Friday."In the U.S. we are now in a situation where the economy is actually doing well," Williams said, after years when the economy was...Read More
(Kitco News)- The U.S. dollar remains the key market gold investorsneed to watch in the near-term as further weakness will continue to support theyellow metal, according to analysts.Although gold is preparing to end the week in negativeterritory -- ending a five-week winning streak -- analysts see strong technicalmomentum in the marketplace that will continue to support prices.February gold future...Read More
The last couple of days have been tumultuous and this is reflected by the headlines in the media. In an article on the website of The Guardian, we read:Bitcoin has all the hallmarks of a classic speculative bubble and even after almost halving in value in a matter of weeks it still has further to fall, according to a leading team of economists.As regulators in South Korea again signalled on Thursd...Read More
MILAN, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Italian railway group Italo, which is planning an initial public offering, said on Friday shareholders had approved a buy back of up to 1 percent of share capital for up to 20 million euros ($24.5 million), implying a valuation of around 2 billion euros. The company, which is hoping to list in the first quarter by offering part of existing shares, said it could not commen...Read More
Sterling bears entered the scene on Friday after British retail sales tumbled sharply in December. U.K. retail sales slumped -1.5% in December as the unsavoury combination of rising inflation and tepid wage growth sapped consumers’ spending power. With wage growth consistently lagging behind inflation and putting the squeeze onhousehold incomes, concerns are likely to heighten over the susta...Read More
(Adds background)NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The New York Federal Reserve on Friday reduced its estimate on U.S. gross domestic product growth for the first quarter of 2018 as a steeper-than-forecast drop in homebuilding in December offset a stronger-than-expected increase in industrial production last month.The regional central bank's "Nowcast" model calculated the U.S. economy was ex...Read More
* Nike, Philip Morris up after stock upgrade* IBM lower after saying higher tax rates will hit profit* AmEx posts first loss in 26 years on tax charge* Dow off 0.21 pct, S&P up 0.16 pct, Nasdaq up 0.34 pct (Updates to early afternoon)By Sruthi ShankarJan 19 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged higher on Friday following positive brokerage recommendations on a bunch of consumer name...Read More
Black swans are very surprising and rare events. As they are beyond the realm of normal expectations, it is impossible to predict them. However, analysts do not care about such details and they outdo each other in forecasts. Our favorite is the list of ten outrageous predictions published by the Saxo Bank. The risk events include: the loss of Fed’s independence for the U.S. Treasury, the plu...Read More
The S&P 500 Index (SPX) has surged nearly 4.8% so far in January -- and there's still more than a week of trading left -- on pace for its best month since March 2016, and its 10th straight monthly gain. However, even as U.S. stocks assail record heights, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) -- or Wall Street's "fear gauge" -- is also on pace for a big month, currently up 4.3% in 2018. This rare occurre...Read More
By Saqib Iqbal AhmedNEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar took a harsh beating in 2017, on the way to its nearly 10 percent fall, its worst annual performance since 2003. The currency is still reeling this year. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, recently fell to a three-year low.Moves by central banks around the world toward monetary polic...Read More
(Kitco News) - Lack of clarity in Washington and weak U.S. dollar will continue to support gold prices next week, which are set to make more gains, according to precious metals experts and Kitco readers who participated in the weekly gold survey.Gold prices on Friday were regaining their lost ground, boosted by renewed weakness in the U.S. dollar, ahead of a possible government shutdown. Spot gold...Read More
WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. financial regulators have begun work to "streamline" the Volcker Rule banning banks from making risky bets with their own money, the country's top banking regulator said on Friday. Randal Quarles, vice chairman for supervision at the Federal Reserve, told a conference in Washington that the five agencies that oversee the rule were working on a proposal...Read More
By Marc JonesLONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them. 1/DRAIN THE SW...ISS SKI RESORT Donald Trump headlines the annual gathering of capitalism's finest at Switzerland's Davos ski resort next week. Davos always generates news for markets but the U.S. president's appearan...Read More
ANKARA, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Gold imports to Turkey hit a record 370 tonnes in 2017, more than trebling from 106.1 tonnes, data from Borsa Istanbul showed.This was the highest level of imports since the data was made available in 1995 and well above the previous record of 302 tonnes set in 2013.Imports in December alone reached 49.3 tonnes, up 34 percent year on year.Cagdas Kucukemiroglu, an Istanbu...Read More
BENGALURU/MUMBAI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Gold demand in China firmed this week as retailers stocked up ahead of the Chinese New Year while price discounts widened in India, partly on expectations of a reduction in import duty in next month's budget.Spot gold prices, up by more than 5 percent in the past month, rose on Friday, helped by a weaker dollar amid worries about a possible U.S. government shut...Read More
Earnings season is officially in full swing, with next week featuring off some high-profile names of its own. Among those slated to report is streaming giant Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), which is scheduled to unveil its fourth-quarter earnings after the stock market closes on Monday, Jan. 22. Ahead of the event, NFLX stock this morning received price-target hikes from Rosenblatt to $265 from $225,...Read More