By Hilary RussNEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. municipal bond market shrank slightly to $3.8233 trillion in the first quarter of 2017 from a revised $3.8374 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to a quarterly report from the Federal Reserve released on Thursday.For the first time in five years, foreign buyers shed muni bonds, knocking their total holdings off a record high of $94...Read More
By Anna IrreraNEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. exchange group Nasdaq Inc has joined a 7 million-euro ($7.9 million) investment round in Stratumn, which helps companies develop applications using blockchain technology, the Paris-based startup said on Thursday. The investment was led by Open CNP, the corporate venture arm of French insurer CNP Assurance SA , with participation from the Digital Curr...Read More
SAO PAULO, June 8 (Reuters) - Loan disbursements at Banco do Brasil SA remain unfazed despite heightening political and economic turmoil in recent weeks, an indication that Brazil's No. 2 lender will keep originating new credit in coming months, Chief Executive Officer Paulo Rogerio Caffarelli said on Thursday.Caffarelli, who spoke at the sidelines of a banking industry event in S??o Paulo, said B...Read More
(Updates with latest prices throughout)JOHANNESBURG, June 8 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand weakened against the dollar on Thursday as manufacturing and mining data added to a gloomy economic outlook and global events weighed on emerging markets, while stocks fell to a three-month low as gold and platinum mining shares slumped.At 1507 GMT, the rand traded at 12.9050 per dollar, 0.64 percent weake...Read More
PORT LOUIS, June 8 (Reuters) - Mauritius expects its fiscal deficit to narrow in 2017/18 (July-June), while the economy is predicted to grow 4.1 percent in the same period, up from 3.9 percent this year, the finance minister said in his budget speech on Thursday.The Indian Ocean island, which markets itself as a link between Africa and Asia, is striving to move from an economy mostly focused on su...Read More
Editor's Note: Kitco News & Kitco Insider collaborated with Northern Miner to offer you exclusive access the Canadian Mining Symposium. The one-day event included panels and discussions from some of the biggest names in mining. You can catch coverage of talks by Robert Friedland, Lukas Lundin, Rob McEwen, David Garofalo & Kelvin Dushnisky here. (Kitco News) -- Ever wonder what it would be like t...Read More
By Claire RuckinLONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Private equity firms are increasingly shunning banks to pre-place second-lien loans directly with cash-rich funds, which is reducing banks' returns as they lose out on the most profitable part of an underwriting fee. Four buyouts, backed with loans yet to be syndicated in Europe's leveraged loan market, are expected to include pre-placed second-lien loans...Read More
Thursdaycould be a big day for markets, especially gold. Starting out this morningmarkets will hear from Mario Draghi and the ECB. Will the ECB keep the nuclearoption or drop a news bomb on markets? Comey testifies on the hill, his openingstatement on Wednesday caused a quick selloff and a quicker recovery. TheElection and Theresa May has turned from prohibitive favorite to a TV Thriller All that...Read More
Stocks moved back into the green on Thursday as former FBI director James Comey delivered public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. The S&P 500 was flat, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.12%. The Nasdaq hit an intraday high in early trading Thursday. Trading volume on the S&P 500 sat at 671 million shares having traded hands as of late...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are still trading with solid losseson the day, in late-morning action Thursday. However, the market has beenlifted off its daily lows by the perception of the marketplace that whileformer FBI director James Comey has not directly implicated President Trump inillegal obstruction during his testimony to the Senate, Comey certainly has notput Trump in a positive light. Augu...Read More
(Kitco News) - Goldfutures fell hard Thursday on an apparent exodus by some of the "fast funds"that previously had been buying into the market, traders said.Asof 10:48 a.m. EDT, Comex August gold was $15 lower to $1,278.20 an ounce. JustTuesday, the contract had hit its highest level since mid-April, peaking at$1,298.80 an ounce, and a break of $1,300 had been seen as imminent.Acouple of New York...Read More
(Kitco News)- Thegold market has shown some resilience Thursday in the face of a weaker euroafter the European Central Bank removed its lower rates bias following amonetary policy meeting. However,gold has seen renewed weakness following the North American equity open.Inhis press conference following the central bank's monetary-policy decision thatleft interest rates unchanged, ECB President Mario...Read More
The EU regulation on mineral sourcing that comes into force today is a good but small first step. Additionally, due to its limited scope and delay in implementation, it will not be effective enough, says the GoodElectronics Network. The extraction and trade of minerals, including those that end up in our electronics, has been widely linked to serious human rights violations and environmental pol...Read More
"Massive demand" forgold exchange-traded funds lately reflects a surge in safe-haven buying of themetal, says Commerzbank. Global ETFs posted inflows of 14.6 tonnes Wednesday,the most in 11 months, analyst point out. Almost 10 tonnes were attributable tothe world's largest gold ETF, the SPDR Gold Trust. "Clearly investors areseeking to hedge against the numerous risks," Commerzbank says. These ris...Read More
(Kitco News)-Gold prices remain under pressure and relatively unchangedon the day as initial weekly U.S. jobless claims dropped by 10,000 a seasonallyadjusted 245,000 in the week to Saturday, the government said. This was lessthan consensus forecasts.Consensus expectations compiled by various news organizations called for initial claims to be around 241,000. The government revisedprior week's tall...Read More
Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), the world's largest producer of the precious metal, has finalized the acquisition of a mining project in Nevada that abandoned in 2015 due to budgetary constraints.But since gold prices staged a comeback last year, the Toronto-based miner approached its former partner Coral Gold Resources (TSXV:CLH) to buy the Robertson Property, located 60 miles south of Elko, Lander...Read More
Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), the world's largest producer of the precious metal, has finalized the acquisition of a mining project in Nevada that abandoned in 2015 due to budgetary constraints.But since gold prices staged a comeback last year, the Toronto-based miner approached its former partner Coral Gold Resources (TSXV:CLH) to buy the Robertson Property, located 60 miles south of Elko, Lander...Read More
Gold futures are trading lower early Thursday as investors awaited news that could determine the market's direction the rest of the session. During the previous session, the market was under pressure after nearly reaching a seven-month high during Tuesday's session.August Comex gold futures settled at $1289.50, down $8.00 or -0.62%.Although the market is still being underpinned by geopolitical con...Read More
Harmony's stock suffered earlier this year in a mine explosion, claiming the life of 25 people.GLD has appreciated 6.98% while Harmony has fallen 6.62% over the last three months.The PE is 4.25 and dividend yield almost 4%.Harmony Gold Mining (NYSE:HMY) is a South African based gold miner that has suffered with the death of 25 miners back in March. The stock has lagged the price of gold becaus...Read More
Bob brought 321gold.com to the Internet almost 14 years ago. They later added 321energy.com to cover oil, natural gas, gasoline, coal, solar, wind and nuclear energy. Both sites feature articles, editorial opinions, pricing figures and updates on current events affecting both sectors. Previously, Moriarty was a Marine F-4B and O-1 pilot with more than 820 missions in Vietnam. He holds 14 internati...Read More