You would think I asked her to go to school wearing a dunce cap!“Dad, there’s no way I can wear that sweatshirt! It’s NIKE!”Rebekah, my thirteen year old, was late for cheer practice and needed a sweatshirt. I found one next to the front door and tossed it to her.She was mortified.“Can’t you see I’m wearing Adidas pants? And the three stripes on my shoes?...Read More

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. mortgage applications fell last week as interest rates on some 30-year fixed-rate home loans reached their highest levels in more than 4-1/2 years, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.The Washington-based industry group said its seasonally adjusted measure on mortgage requests fell 1.6 percent to 258.1 in the week ended April 27.Interest rates on “con...Read More

Prices for Iranian exports of steel billet and slab decreased somewhat in the week ended Wednesday May 2 with customers targeting lower prices because of the unstable conditions in the global billet market.Metal Bulletin's weekly price assessment for Iranian billet exports was $480-500 per tonne fob on May 2, against $495-505 per tonne fob a week earlier.Recent bookings of Iranian billet were repo...Read More

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has made a formal offer to buy a 60 percent stake in Indian online retailer Flipkart, CNBC-TV18 reported on Wednesday, citing sources.Amazon also offered Flipkart a breakup fee of $2 billion, the TV channel reported. Amazon's bid is likely to be on par with Walmart Inc's bid for the Indian e-commerce company, CNBC-TV18 reported.Flipkart's investors and founders are in fa...Read More

The latest news and price moves to start the Asian day on Thursday May 3.Base metals on the London Metal Exchange were split at the close of trading on Wednesday May 2, with aluminium and nickel prices climbing more than 2%. Read more in our live futures report.Here are how prices looked at Wednesday's close:The United States has given investors an additional month to divest or transfer their hold...Read More

(Reuters) - The S&P and Dow opened slightly lower on Wednesday as caution set in ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on monetary policy, while Apple's 3.6 percent jump after results helped small gains on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 1.42 points, or 0.01 percent, at the open to 24,097.63. The S&P 500 .SPX opened lower by 0.56 points, or 0.02 percent,...Read More

The latest metal markets news and price moves to start the North American day on Wednesday May 2. Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly up during morning trade, after participants in China and Europe returned from public holidays to boost volumes and prices. "The much anticipated return of the Chinese traders had the desired and expected effect as value bids helped bolster pr...Read More

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone economic growth slowed as expected at the start of 2018, although economists said temporary factors were partly behind the weakness and that the economy should continue to expand strongly this year.Gross domestic product across the 19 countries sharing the euro currency expanded by 0.4 percent in the first quarter compared to the last quarter of 2017 and by 2.5 perce...Read More

Good morning from Metal Bulletin's office in Singapore as we bring you the latest news and pricing stories on Wednesday May 2.Base metal prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were broadly down during trading on Wednesday after the dollar strengthened significantly on Tuesday.Aluminium prices were also under pressure from easing supply concerns following the latest sanction and trade policy devel...Read More

LONDON, (Reuters) - Euro zone factory growth slowed further last month from record highs at the turn of the year, but expansion remained strong as customers largely shrugged off rising prices, a survey showed on Wednesday.Having outpaced its peers in 2017, growth in the bloc’s economy has steadily weakened this year and a March Reuters poll said growth had peaked.But the economy remains stro...Read More

TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan may raise its long-term interest rate target and slow asset purchases further later this year as a small step toward normalizing crisis-mode monetary policy, former central bank board member Sayuri Shirai said on Wednesday.The central bank’s decision last week to remove a timeframe for hitting its elusive 2 percent inflation target underscores the hope amo...Read More

There's a good chance you've recently seen an email or pop-up box discussing "some important updates" about the way a social media company or website plans Continue...Read More

(Repeats story first published Tuesday with no changes)By Noel RandewichSAN FRANCISCO, May 2 (Reuters) - Apple Inc lavished cash on its shareholders like no company in history in the first three months of the year and it intends to keep doing so, making the iPhone maker’s investors the clearest winners yet from last year’s sweeping U.S. corporate tax cuts.With a mountain of overseas ca...Read More

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. aerospace and industrial company United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) is set to win EU antitrust approval for the largest aerospace deal in history - a $23 billion bid for avionics maker Rockwell Collins, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.The deal, announced in September last year, would create a new player in the top echelon of suppliers to Boeing (BA.N), Air...Read More

* LME/ShFE arb:* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: (Adds closing prices, details)By Maytaal AngelLONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Copper and nickel bounced offmulti-week lows on Wednesday as Chinese steel prices soared anda private survey showed growth in China's manufacturing sectorunexpectedly picked up in April.The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index(PMI) climbed to 51.1, from a four-mont...Read More

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s cabinet on Wednesday approved budget plans that foresee the federal government taking on no net new debt through to 2022 and investment rising this year and next before falling.“I am convinced: in good economic times, a responsible fiscal policy must achieve both a reduction in debts and a rise in investments,” Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said in a s...Read More

(Reuters) - Apple’s forecast-beating results helped U.S. stock futures edge higher on Wednesday, even as investors were wary ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision.Apple’s shares (AAPL.O) rose 4.1 percent in premarket trading after it posted resilient iPhone sales in the face of waning global demand and promised $100 billion in additional stock buybacks.At 7:23 a...Read More

Metals market veteran Michael Hutchinson has joined the board of Switzerland-based Tiberius group as non-executive chairman, Tiberius told Metal Bulletin on Wednesday May 2. "Mike is an experienced and very successful metal man who will help us achieve our ambitious growth targets," Chris Eibl, founder and chief executive office of Tiberius, said. "He has tremendous amounts of knowledge in all are...Read More

Zug-based AMR Trading has named ex-Rusal executive Alex Tattersall its new chief executive officer, while Vitaly Sidorov has taken the helm of parent company AMR-BK Group, which owns aluminium sheet and plate plant Belaya Kalitva in Russia. Tattersall, who left UC Rusal last month amid US sanctions imposed on the Russian producer, has overall sales and marketing responsibility for all exports...Read More

China could be badly affected by a shrinking import market for hot-rolled coil in Vietnam once Formosa Ha Tinh Steel fires up its new blast furnace this month, market sources told Metal Bulletin this week.Formosa Ha Tinh plans to increase its mill operating rates to "high" levels once its fires up its new 4,300 cubic meter No2 blast furnace in mid-May, a source told Metal Bulletin this week."...Read More