Feb 8 (Reuters) -For other diaries, please see:U.S. Federal Reserve Polling Unit Diary Today in Washington Political and General News ----------------------------------------------------------- This Diary is filed daily. ** Indicates new events ----------------------------------------------------------- THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8** WASHINGTON - Senate Banking Committee meets in executive session to vote...Read More

* RBNZ says equity market swings did not alter forecasts* Says markets have settled, sees no long term effect* Sees volatility as nerves over rate normalisation (Adds detail, commentary)By Charlotte Greenfield and John MairWELLINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - New Zealand's central bank kept interest rates steady at a record low on Thursday and said volatility in equity markets this week was a warning sig...Read More

(Recasts after statement, adds details)By Agnieszka Flak MILAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The shareholders of Italian railways group Italo have accepted a 1.98 billion euro ($2.43 billion) takeover offer by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and scrapped plans for listing the company on the Milan bourse.The U.S.-based infrastructure fund raised its offer for all of Italo late on Wednesday from an initi...Read More

Say what you will about the underlying causes moving gold lower or higher, but the bottom line and the real truth is that dollar weakness or dollar strength is an unremovable component of gold pricing, not an outside market.While it is an entirely fair statement to say that there are external markets that are influencing gold prices, one of the most significant factors both during the last rally a...Read More

Say what you will about the underlying causes moving gold lower or higher, but the bottom line and the real truth is that dollar weakness or dollar strength is an unremovable component of gold pricing, not an outside market.While it is an entirely fair statement to say that there are external markets that are influencing gold prices, one of the most significant factors both during the last rally a...Read More

* AMP reports full-year underlying earnings of A$1.04 bln* AMP expects to update on outcome of insurance unit review by May (Adds update for insurance unit, share price)By Paulina DuranSYDNEY, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Australia's AMP Ltd more than doubled its full-year underlying earnings, boosted by growth in its Australian wealth protection business and AMP Bank.Australia's largest wealth manager also...Read More

Mr. Cooper Quinn reports OSPREY CLOSES OVERSUBSCRIBED PRIVATE PLACEMENT FOR PROCEEDS OF $1,344,187 Osprey Gold Development Ltd. has closed its previously announced oversubscribed non-brokered private placement of 17,922,499 units of Osprey at a price of 7.5 cents per unit, for aggregate proceeds of $1,344,187. Each unit consists of one common share and one share purchase warrant, each whole warran...Read More

Mr. Cooper Quinn reports OSPREY CLOSES OVERSUBSCRIBED PRIVATE PLACEMENT FOR PROCEEDS OF $1,344,187 Osprey Gold Development Ltd. has closed its previously announced oversubscribed non-brokered private placement of 17,922,499 units of Osprey at a price of 7.5 cents per unit, for aggregate proceeds of $1,344,187. Each unit consists of one common share and one share purchase warrant, each whole warran...Read More

Vangold Mining Corporation (TSXV: VAN) (OTC Pink: VGLDF) (FSE: E35B) ('Vangold' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce that it has initiated a Resource Valuation and Preliminary Economic Assessment ('PEA') in respect of the Company's 100% owned El Pinguico Project, in Guanajuato, Mexico.Read full newsRead More

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - S&P 500 stock index e-mini futures dipped 0.25 percent late on Wednesday after the regular trading session, suggesting U.S. stocks might lose ground at the beginning of the next trading session.Earlier on Wednesday, the S&P 500 index ended down 0.50 percent, with Wall Street spooked about a recent retreat in stock prices as U.S. Treasury bond yields resumed...Read More

(Adds Gundlach quotes on Treasuries)By Jennifer AblanNEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of Doubleline Capital, said on Wednesday that the "low rate-low volatility" market environment went on for so long that now "the unwind will be turbulent and not over in a couple of days."Gundlach, who is known as the Wall Street bond king, told Reuters that bitco...Read More

(Adds Macquarie declining to comment in paragraph 6)By Jacob Gronholt-PedersenCOPENHAGEN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Danish telecoms operator TDC said Wednesday it had turned down an indicative takeover bid from Australia's Macquarie and three Danish pension funds ATP, PFA and PKA."Having reviewed the terms of the proposal, TDC Group's Board of Directors concluded that it is not in the best interest...Read More

* Wall Street stocks end lower; investors nervousness remains* European shares end up, snap seven-day losing streak* Oil prices fall 2.0 pct after U.S. inventory data (Updates with U.S. closing market levels)By Caroline ValetkevitchNEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday, losing ground late in the session as a jump in Treasury yields kept investor nervousness high.Oil p...Read More

BOGOTA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Colombian holding company Valorem has asked regulators to allow it to buy back its own shares, the country's financial regulator said on Wednesday.The company is willing to pay 909 pesos per share, the regulator said in an open letter to the stock exchange, but did not specify how many shares it is looking to purchase. Valorem was not immediately available for comment.The...Read More

(Adds comments from analyst)SAO PAULO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Mexican stocks fell again on Wednesday in the wake of the recent wild swings on Wall Street, and Brazilian equities were dragged down by shares of Petrobas.Brazil's benchmark Bovespa index led losses in the region, down 1.34 percent in afternoon trade. Among the biggest drags on the exchange were shares of Petr??leo Brasileiro SA, which have...Read More

FTSE 100 closes 138 pts higherMiners take brunt of sellingEyes on Bank of England meeting tomorrow  FTSE 100 continued its winning streak in late afternoon trading to close up 138 points at 7,279 - well above the previous session peak of 7,255.The mid-cap 250 index was also higher - up over 429 points, at 19,691 as some kind of stability returned to markets.On Wall Street, shar...Read More

Mark Popkiewicz, chief executive of Mirriad Advertising Plc (LON:MIRI) explains to Proactive's Andrew Scott the concept behind what they call 'in-video' advertising.''We decided there was a need in the world for a new form of advertising, a new form of video advertising ... where the ads themselves appear in the content completely naturally, so they look like they were always there but they don't...Read More

By Swati PandeySYDNEY, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The New Zealand dollar skidded to a one-month trough on Thursday after the country's central bank left interest rates at record lows and cut its inflation forecasts, suggesting easy monetary policy was here to stay. The local dollar extended losses to drop as low as $0.7209, a level not seen since early January after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) p...Read More

(Adds details on quarterly results, shares)Feb 7 (Reuters) - Prudential Financial Inc , the largest U.S. life insurer by assets, on Wednesday reported a 7.6 percent rise in quarterly operating profit that topped analysts' estimates, helped by higher policy fees in its annuities business.Prudential's adjusted operating profit was $1.17 billion, or $2.69 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec....Read More

The U.S. stock market recently suffered a major pullback, as volatility surged. As such, Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White compiled a list of the best stocks to buy after a major pullback -- defined as when the SPX falls at least 1% in two consecutive sessions within a month of an all-time high -- since the current bull market began in 2010. Two notable names from the list are bi...Read More