* Target joins retailers that recorded strong holiday sales* Microsoft halts some AMD chip Meltdown patches after PCs freeze* Healthcare, bank stock lead S&P gainers* Indexes up: Dow 0.43 pct, S&P 0.35 pct, Nasdaq 0.22 pct (Changes comment, updates prices, adds details)By Sruthi ShankarJan 9 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes edged higher on Tuesday as healthcare and bank stocks gained...Read More

Gold and silver will see a sell off if they fail to break key resistances of $1327 and $1740. Copper needs to trade over $318.40 for the rest of the week to prevent a sell off. Crude oil looks headed for $65.00. Crypto currency volatility (I will not call it a sell off) should be positive for bullion. Chinese demand will zoom in bullion before their New Year next month. Chinese buyers will be us...Read More

By Rachit VatsJan 9 (Reuters) - Rising demand for jet sales pushed Boeing Co's stock to the top of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2017, and record cash flow to fuel projects, sustain dividends and buy back shares could give it another bumper year, analysts said.After a resurgence in jet sales driven by a solid global economy and with most of its production issues behind it, Boeing has found i...Read More

(Adds background)WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve should keep interest rates low so that wage gains accelerate and inflation rises, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday."Inflation has been low, wage growth has been low, so I'm advocating for lower interest rates to get wages up and to get inflation back to our 2 percent target," Kashk...Read More

The new company name for shell/SPAC outfit "AIQ" is derived from Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Non-Executive Chairman Graham Duncan tells Proactive what the company hopes to achieve now there's ample funding in the pot; which sectors and geographies the team is targetting and when they hope to begin on those acquisitions.News here too on the experience of the board a...Read More

(Refiles to add Brexit minister's first name)BERLIN, Jan 9 (Reuters) - British finance minister Philip Hammond and Brexit minister David Davis wrote in a German newspaper that they wanted to give German business leaders the message that a transition period took priority over Britain's final exit from the European Union.The ministers, who are due to begin a visit to Germany on Wednesday, wrote in...Read More

Brazilian exports of carbon steel slab and billet increased in 2017, according to the country's foreign trade ministry, MDIC.Exports of carbon steel slab reached 7.3 million tonnes in 2017, up 23.49% from the 5.91 million tonnes exported in 2016, according to the figures released late last week.The US was the largest...Read More

Watching the mortgage market over the last few years has been like watching paint dry but things are about to get interesting...new customers coming to market, interest rate changes and massive overhauls in technology are all reasons why investors are now watching closely. Peter Brodnicki of the Mortagage Advice Bureau (LON:MAB1) tells Proactive why intermediaries...or brokers...are now perfectly...Read More

(Adds details on stocks and sectors throughout; updates prices)* TSX rises 9.89 points, or 0.06 percent, to 16,327.54* Six of the index's 10 main groups fall* Energy group gains 0.7 percent* Materials sector falls 0.7 percent TORONTO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index was little changed on Tuesday as shares of energy and marijuana producers rose, balancing a dip in the materials group...Read More

The seaborne iron ore market received a boost on Monday January 8 froma strong futures market. Key drivers China's Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT) announced on Monday that no new capacity will be allowed in the steel, cement and flat glass industries, and issued specific requirements for steel mills replacing old with new capacities. The announcement s...Read More

H&T Group (LON:HAT) boss John Nichols tells Proactive how profit expectations have risen again after a surge in the personal loansmarket meant the book has shot up by 94.7% to ?18.3M from ?9.4M at the end of 2017. John tells us how the company's new unsecured loan products are flying off the shelves adding that recruitment has been key to the strength of their high street presence. News here...Read More

DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will ease requirements for foreign institutional investors in its stock market from Jan. 23, the securities regulator said on Tuesday, as the kingdom seeks more foreign capital to help diversify the economy beyond oil exports.Among the reforms, the minimum value of assets under management needed for an institution to qualify as an investor will fall to $500 mi...Read More

China's ferrous futures prices turned around to surge late in the afternoon on Monday, January 8 after the country's officials declared stricter steel capacity replacement criteria to be implemented from this year.The production facilities that will be allowed to have capacity replaced will only include those recorded in capacity replacement plans approved by local or central governments...Read More

* Rand rallies briefly before retreating back to ranges* Stocks flat as Steinhoff extends losses (Adds latest prices, analyst quotes)JOHANNESBURG, Jan 9 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand strengthened on Tuesday, touching its highest level in two sessions, after rumours that President Jacob Zuma had stepped down spurred a temporary rally in the currency against the greenback.Stocks were little change...Read More

FTSE 100 closes at new peakUS stocks resume gains, Dow Jones up 120 pointsMorrisons shares up after Christmas sales impressTesco down despite sales topping UK supermarkets in latest data FTSE 100 closed at a new record high on Tuesday as supermarkets bolstered the top tier index and Wall Street was back on the winning streak.Britain's blue-chip benchmark closed up over 34 points at...Read More

INTL FCStone has merged its London Metal Exchange and precious metals departments, with the new unit headed by Barry Canham, the company said. In an email to the company's global metals team and seen by Metal Bulletin, INTL chief executive officer (CEO) for EMEA and Asia Philip Smith said that the move was made following the decision by Malcolm Leonard to retire after 46 years working in LME metal...Read More

By Camilla KnudsenOSLO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The ethics watchdog for Norway's $1 trillion wealth fund will this year identify companies that violate workers' rights when hiring people for jobs in the Middle East, and recommend excluding them from the fund's portfolio.Companies in the global shipping industry will also face scrutiny and risk being blacklisted if their recycling of obsolete vessels fai...Read More

Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly lower at the close on Tuesday January 9, with only nickel trading in positive territory. The three-month nickel price climbed $160 per tonne higher while the cash/January-2018 nearby spread moved into a $3 per tonne backwardation. "The LME nickel market has tightened slightly since the start of the year, judging by the contraction in the...Read More

Peter KrauthAfter such a persistent three-week advance, it seems silver is taking a well-deserved break.With this week's slight pullback in mind, I've just released my newest silver price target…That silver price rally was fueled, at least in part, by a retreating U.S. dollar, whose index (the DXY) peaked at 94.10 on Dec. 11 and recently hit a low of 91.85.It was a 2.4% drop in as little as...Read More

BERLIN, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The German federal budget had a larger-than-expected surplus of 3.7 billion euros at the end of 2017, German newspaper Handelsblatt said on Tuesday, adding those funds were due to be put aside for asylum seekers for a future government to use.Handelsblatt did not cite its source for the information.It said an additional 6.7 billion euros from a reserve for asylum seekers...Read More