CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans on the U.S. House Agriculture Committee on Thursday called for changes to the government's food assistance program for the poor, in a package of long-awaited proposals for the next U.S. Farm Bill that could complicate its passage through Congress.Among the proposed changes is a plan to raise the age to 59 from 49 for able-bodied individuals without depend...Read More

(Bloomberg) - The reach and power of U.S. sanctions are hemming in the world's largest commodity trader.In just four months, Glencore Plc chief Ivan Glasenberg has lost two of his closest business allies as President Donald Trump's aggressive foreign policy hits home, forcing him to cut ties with billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Dan Gertler.The U.S. actions demonstrate the rising risk from interna...Read More

The last time this sentiment signal sounded twice in one year was 2013Concerns about a trade war with China, the Facebook (FB) data scandal, a presidential tirade against Amazon (AMZN), and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East likely contributed to another drop in bullish sentiment last week. Specifically, the latest Investors Intelligence (II) survey showed the number of self-identified bulls...Read More

(Bloomberg) - The reach and power of U.S. sanctions are hemming in the world's largest commodity trader.In just four months, Glencore Plc chief Ivan Glasenberg has lost two of his closest business allies as President Donald Trump's aggressive foreign policy hits home, forcing him to cut ties with billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Dan Gertler.The U.S. actions demonstrate the rising risk from interna...Read More

Roland Phelps, chief executive of Galantas Gold Corp (LON:GAL, CVE:GAL), caught up with Proactive's Andrew Scott to discuss two tranches of additional finance which has been negotiated to further develop the Omagh Mine in Northern Ireland.They've agreed a concentrate prepayment deal for US$1.6mln with Ocean Partners.Galantas has also increased its on-demand loan facility with G&F Phelps by aro...Read More

Roger Murphy, chief executive at African Battery Metals PLC (LON:ABM), discusses with Proactive Investors plans to extend the auger drilling programme on the Kisinka property in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to investigate some additional soil anomalies.Two lines of augering have so far been completed on the 70% owned Kisinka licence acquired in December 2017 - one across the southeas...Read More

Mr Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), one of the world's leading diversified natural resources groups, looks at the industry's performance in 2018 so far and sets out what we can expect for the rest of the yearThe past couple of months have featured a broad retracement of the metals complex, away from the recent highs. Markets were taken aback by rising uncertainties, includi...Read More

Mr Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), one of the world's leading diversified natural resources groups, looks at the industry's performance in 2018 so far and sets out what we can expect for the rest of the yearThe past couple of months have featured a broad retracement of the metals complex, away from the recent highs. Markets were taken aback by rising uncertainties, includi...Read More

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will remove import tariffs on cancer drugs from May 1, state media reported on Thursday, citing a meeting of the State Council, or cabinet, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang.China will also strengthen intellectual property right protections of drugs, the report said.Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Kim Coghill Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article a...Read More

Netflix is the first FAANG company to report this earnings seasonEarnings season ramps up next week, with several blue-chip names ready to step up to the plate. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), UnitedHealth (UNH), and General Electric (GE) are some notable Dow companies that will report next week, along with bank names Goldman Sachs (GS) and Bank of America (BAC). Streaming giant Netflix (NFLX) will be...Read More

(Kitco News) - Gold prices weresharply lower in early-afternoon U.S. trading Thursday. Heavy profit-takingfrom recent gains, from the shorter-term futures traders, was featured today.Fears have at least temporarily eased regarding an imminent U.S. airstrikeagainst Syria. That has rallied the U.S. stock market and in turn pressured thesafe-haven gold and silver markets. The U.S. dollar index is als...Read More

(Kitco News) - Gold prices were sharply lower in early-afternoon U.S. trading Thursday. Heavy profit-taking from recent gains, from the shorter-term futures traders, was featured today. Fears have at least temporarily eased regarding an imminent U.S. airstrike against Syria. That has rallied the U.S. stock market and in turn pressured the safe-haven gold and silver markets. The U.S. dollar index i...Read More

WASHINGTON/LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he was holding meetings on Thursday on Syria where he has threatened missile strikes in response to a suspected poison gas attack and he expected decisions to be taken “fairly soon.”Fears of confrontation between Russia, Syria’s big ally, and the West have been running high since Trump said on Wednesday that mi...Read More

   •  A strong USD rebound prompts some aggressive selling.   •  Improving risk-appetite adds to the downward pressure.   •  Gains some respite from disappointing US weekly jobless claims. Gold extended its steady decline through the mid-European session and retreated farther from YTD highs, retested in the previous session. A strong US D...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA Director Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state, said on Thursday he had been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.During questioning at his Senate confirmation hearing, Pompeo declined to discuss details of “private conversations&rdq...Read More

As increasing consumer interest in electric vehicles drives the demand for supplies of lithium and cobalt (ingredients in lithium-ion batteries), the Critical Materials Institute will begin new efforts this July to maximize the efficient processing, use, and recycling of those elements."The global tech economy is heating up, and we're likely to see high demand for a growing number of materials," s...Read More

The euro has slumped to session lows following the release of the latest ECB Minutes, which were unexpectedly dovish and echoed the Fed's worries about growing trade war, notingRead full newsRead More

Having broken the lower limit of its currency peg band overnight, The Hong Kong Monetary Authority bought the local currency overnight for the first time since the current peg was imposed in 2005. However, the HK$816mm bought failed to move the needle...Read full newsRead More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday the United Sates has an obligation to lead an international response to a suspected chemical attack in Syria and President Donald Trump has the authority to use military force.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “and his enablers, Tehran and Moscow, have committed another mass atrocity. ... I think the U.S....Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the trade “negotiations” between Washington and Beijing were going well, conflicting with Chinese official statements on the dispute.“We’re doing really well with China. I think we’re having some great discussions, we’ll see what happens,” Trump said at a meeting with governors and la...Read More