SAO PAULO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank on Wednesday blamed a record food harvest for dragging the 2017 inflation rate below the official target range for the first time ever.In an open letter, central bank chief Ilan Goldfajn said supply shocks stemming mostly from food prices accounted for over four-fifths of the difference between the 2.95 percent inflation rate in 2017 and the 4.5...Read More
LISBON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Portugal's recently delisted small bank Caixa Economica Montepio Geral said on Wednesday its capital ratio was higher than new regulatory requirements to be applied from July 2018.The bank, whose bad loans made it a cause for market concerns after the collapse of two bigger lenders in Portugal in 2014-15, said in a statement it had received the new requirements from the...Read More
The Democratic Republic of Congo may soon more than double the tax mining companies operating in the country pay on exports of cobalt, a key component in the lithium-ion batteries that power electric cars and mobile phones.The African nation, responsible for about two thirds of global cobalt output, has been evaluating the measure since last month, when a major revision to the 2002 Mining Code was...Read More
NEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday sold $20 billion of 10-year government notes to strong demand at a yield of 2.579 percent, which was the highest since July 2014, Treasury data showed.The ratio of bids to the amount of 10-year notes offered was 2.69, which was the strongest since June 2016. The gauge of overall auction demand was 2.37 at the previous 10-year n...Read More
(Adds Q4 GDP estimate, analyst comments, updates markets)* Import prices increase 0.1 percent in December* Import prices rise 3.0 percent year-on-year* Import prices excluding petroleum fall 0.2 percent* Wholesale inventories rebound 0.8 percent in November By Lucia MutikaniWASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - U.S. import prices recorded their smallest increase in five months in December and underlyin...Read More
(Adds Jeffrey Gundlach investment call, Bill Gross' main fund taking short bet against U.S. Treasuries)By Jennifer Ablan and Richard LeongNEW YORK, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Pimco, one of the world's biggest money managers, sees this week's U.S. bond market selloff as a buying opportunity and is not ready to call the spike in 10-year Treasury yield to a nine-month high a bear market precursor.Dan Ivascy...Read More
* Retailers look to bypass cards for online purchases* Tougher competition could reshape Europe's retail banking* Establishing consumer trust in data protection a hurdle By Huw JonesLONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - New European rules on online payments and banking due to go into effect on Saturday mark the start of a "slow burn" revolution that will prise open traditional retail banking and m...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. import prices recorded their smallest increase in five months in December and underlying imported price pressures were muted amid declining costs for food and consumer goods.The Labor Department said on Wednesday import prices edged up 0.1 percent last month after an upwardly revised 0.8 percent rise in November. That was the smallest gain since July and was well below...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. lawmakers accused Russia on Wednesday of a “relentless assault” on democratic institutions worldwide, and called on President Donald Trump to treat election interference as a national crisis.Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a report detailing what they described as nearly two decades of Russian efforts to tilt politics...Read More
OSLO, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Hexagon's chief executive, Ola Rollen, has been found not guilty of insider share trading, an Oslo court said on Wednesday.Prosecutors had asked for an 18-month prison term for Rollen's 2015 purchase of shares in Norway's Next Biometrics , a transaction which did not involve Hexagon. One of Sweden's best known business leaders, Rollen had maintained his innocence throughou...Read More
WASHINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would like to see action on helping undocumented young people who moved to the United States as children, but he said any immigration bill also would have to improve jobs, wealth and security for U.S. citizens.Trump, speaking at the start of a cabinet meeting, said he wanted to see action to help those affected by his decis...Read More
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela’s opposition-run parliament on Tuesday outlawed a “petro” cryptocurrency promoted by socialist President Nicolas Maduro, calling it an effort to illegally mortgage the cash-strapped country’s oil reserves.Maduro on Friday said his government would issue nearly $6 billion of petros as a way to raise hard currency and to evade financial sanctions...Read More
U.S. stocks are off their early morning lows, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is still trading firmly in negative territory. Investors continue to react to reports China may be rethinking its long-held strategy of buying U.S. debt, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury holding above the closely watched 2.5% level at last check. With the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) f...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude oil prices rose but backed away from multi-year highs on Wednesday after U.S. government data showed an increase in fuel inventories and a falloff in refining activity.U.S. crude inventories fell 4.9 million barrels last week, more than the 3.9-million decline forecast, but bigger-than-expected builds in gasoline and fuel stocks offset that drawdown, the Energy Informati...Read More
(Kitco News)- The world’s most famous investor doubled down on hisnegative view of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies Wednesday.In an interview with CNBC, Warren Buffett, from Omaha,Neb., said that he will have nothing to do with cryptocurrencies. In a harshrebuke of the asset class, Buffett said, “I can say almost with certainty thatthey will come to a bad ending.”He explained that he...Read More
• Gains strong traction on heavy USD supply. • Comments by Chinese officials weigh heavily on the USD. • Reviving safe-haven demand lends additional support. After an initial dip to one-week lows, gold gained some fresh traction and spiked to near 4-month tops in the past hour. The precious metal touched an intraday high level o...Read More
The U.S. stock market closed out last year with impressive gains -- a trend that was echoed in our Top Stocks for 2017. On the list of 10 names we recommended was Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM), which proceeded to rack up a 35.62% return after our bullish recommendation -- thanks largely to a high-profile takeover by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN). Here's a closer look at what put WFM on our radar, and how...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that its remittances to the U.S. Treasury for 2017 are expected to fall to $80.2 billion in part because of a rise in the interest paid by the central bank to financial institutions.In its preliminary estimate of its 2017 results, the Fed also said the interest paid by the Fed to major banks last year rose to $13.8 billion.For 2016,...Read More
The government of Boungaville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, has set an indefinite freeze on plans to restart mining at one of the world's biggest open-pit copper operations, shut by a civil war in 1989.Authorities fear the reopening of Panguna mine, donated by Rio Tinto in 2016, could open old wounds, as landowners voted last month on whether or not Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) -...Read More
Mr. Peter Tallman reportsKLONDIKE GOLD CONFIRMS 1 KM CONTINUITY, THREE MINERALIZED SUB-ZONES AT LONE STAR TARGET, YUKON Klondike Gold Corp. has released drill assay results from 22 new holes at the Lone Star target located 20 kilometres from Dawson, Yukon, within the company's 553-square-kilometre property spanning the entirety of the Klondike alluvial gold placer district.Klondike Gold's chief e...Read More