On Thursday gold lifted from the 2018 low the metal struck yesterday, exchanging hands for $1,320.40 near the close of trading.Despite recent weakness gold is still up by $75 an ounce since mid-December after large-scale speculators increased their exposure to gold on derivatives markets for the seventh week in a row. Hedge funds have more than doubled net long positions - bets that gold will be m...Read More

Russia is on track to overtake South Africa as the world's largest platinum producer after its two mining giants Norislk Nickel and Russian Platinum this week announced that they are to invest $4.4bn in a joint venture to develop some of the richest known precious metals deposits on Siberia's Taimyr Peninsula. The deposits contain proven ore reserves ...Read full newsRead More

Earnings season will continue to roll along next week. Leading the pack are blue chips Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), alongside other notables including Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UAA), PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP), and Deere & Company (NYSE:DE). On the economic front, Wall Street will digest the latest round of inflation data -- a hot topic of late -- on top of monthly re...Read More

* Gold flat, bounces after slide to one-month low* Bank of England statement feeds rate-hike jitters* Palladium breaks below technical support (New throughout; updates prices, market activity and comments; adds second byline, NEW YORK dateline)By Renita D. Young and Peter HobsonNEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Gold prices were flat on Thursday, slumping early on concern about rising U.S. bond yi...Read More

Volatility has ramped back up on Wall Street, with the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) earlier this week topping the key 50 handle for the first time since August 2015. Most of the price action for stocks has occurred to the downside, and the tech sector has not been immune. More specifically, the PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQ) has plunged 8.5% from its late-January record high of $170.95 -- a move that...Read More

Subscribers to our Weekend Trader service recently doubled their money on Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) April 90 puts. We're going to dissect the options trade below, looking back at what originally attracted us to TAP and how the stock performed after we recommended the puts. We entered the trade back on Jan. 16, when the stock was trading near $85. The shares had been trending lower fo...Read More

Flying Brands Limited (LON:FBDU) saw its shares lift off in afternoon trading, gaining 16.7% at 5.25p after the medical services and software company confirmed that it is in advanced negotiations in respect of an acquisition of a North American medical imaging software and analytics company.The AIM listed firm said the acquisition target owns FDA approved medical imaging software using artificial...Read More

(Adds auction results, quotes; updates prices)* Bank of England may accelerate rate increases* Treasury has soft demand for $30-year bond auction* Choppy stocks trading sways bond prices By Karen BrettellNEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields rose on Thursday in choppy trading as stocks pared some of their earlier weakness and after the Bank of England said interest rates probably need...Read More

Very few stocks have avoided the market headwinds of late. However, a handful of securities could be on sale at current levels, if history repeats. While these stocks tend to rally after major stock market dips, car rental concern Hertz Global Holdings, Inc (NYSE:HTZ) could also be flashing a short-term "buy" signal right now, if historical technical trends prevail. Below, we take a look at HTZ st...Read More

By Huw JonesLONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Global banking rules should focus only on cross-border banks to avoid burdening local lenders and help reduce populist backlash against globalisation, Bundesbank board member Andreas Dombret said on Thursday.Dombret is Germany's representative on the Basel Committee, which finally completed in December its global capital rules for banks, aimed at avoiding a re...Read More

Gold settled higher Thursday, with a steady dollar and a drop in the U.S. stock market giving prices enough support to recoup some of the losses suffered over the last four sessions. April gold GCJ8, +0.52% rose $4.40, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,319 an ounce, after scoring its lowest finish for a most-active contract since Jan. 9 on Wednesday, according to FactSet data. It had posted losses in each...Read More

* Dermapharm prices IPO at 28 euros per share* Total proceeds seen at 377 mln eur* Gross proceeds for Dermapharm would be 108 mln eur (Adds final pricing, background)FRANKFURT, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Dermapharm shares are being placed at 28 euros ($34.33) apiece in the German drugmaker's initial public offer (IPO), at the middle of an indicative price range of 26 to 30 euros, the company said on Thursd...Read More

MEXICO CITY, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Mexico's central bank raised interest rates on Thursday to a nine-year high, as expected, in order to contain worries that inflation may not cool as quickly as forecast.Banco de Mexico's governing board unanimously voted to hike the key rate by 25 basis points to 7.50 percent, as forecast by 17 of 20 analysts polled by Reuters last week.(Reporting by Michael O'Boyle;...Read More

By Ben MartinLONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Activist investor Sandell Asset Management plans to oppose Tesco's 3.7 billion pound ($5.2 billion) takeover of Booker Group unless the wholesaler secures a better offer from Britain's biggest retailer.The New York based hedge fund said in a statement on Thursday that it holds a 1.75 percent stake in Booker and that it had expressed its concerns about the Tes...Read More

Alex Lightman, chief executive at TokenCommunities Plc, caught up with Proactive to discuss Forbes' first ever cryptocurrency rich list.In the top spot is Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen with an estimated crypto net worth of US$7.5-8bln.The list is made up of 19 people - all of them have an estimated net worth of more than $350 million.  Meet Medusa Mining, Cora Gold, Group Eleven Resources Lt...Read More

* US stocks sink; key indexes drop about 2 percent* Bond yields add to rate worries* BOE's hawkish message lifts sterling, gilt yields* Sentiment in stock markets remains frail* Oil falls as US output soars, N Sea supply restarts (Updates with European shares' close, adds quote)By Caroline ValetkevitchNEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Stocks in world markets remained on shaky ground on Thursday, with ma...Read More

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Stock MarketsNet ChngStock MarketsNet ChngS&P/ASX 200** 5,890.70 13.90 NZX 50**8,177.14 -17.59DJIA24,313.85-579.50 NIKKEI**21,890.86245.49Nasdaq6,898.682-153.30 FTSE**7,170.69 -108.73S&P 500 2,627.57 -54.09Hang Seng** 30,451.27128.07SPI 200 Fut 5,726.00 -86.00STI** 3,415.932.13SSEC**3,262.15 -47.11KOSPI** 2,407.62 11.06-----------------------------------------------------...Read More

(Adds details, quotes)WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said on Thursday that as long as the U.S. economy continue to grow at an above trend pace, he would be in favor of another interest rate rise at the U.S. central bank's upcoming meeting in March."We have above-trend growth, we have buoyant financial conditions, we still have an easy monetary...Read More

(Kitco News) - Gold prices wereending the U.S. day session with moderate gains Thursday. Another big sell offin the U.S. stock market prompted safe-haven demand in both gold and silvermarkets. Bargain hunters also stepped into both markets after they had droppedto multi-week lows early on today. April Comex gold futures were last up $4.80an ounce at $1,319.40. March Comex silver was last up $0.092...Read More

(Kitco News)- Gold prices have bounced off a five-week low, finding newtechnical momentum because of safe-haven demand according to some analyst.April gold futures have pushed to session highs Thursday afternoon-- last trading at $1,319.90 an ounce, up 0.40% on the day -- as equity marketsacross the board push lower. At one point the Dow Jones Industrial Average wasdown more than 600 points intrad...Read More