Monday's monster stock selloff is exhibit A for why I frequently recommend a 10 percent weighting in gold, with 5 percent in bullion and jewelry, the other 5 percent in high-quality gold stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.What began on Friday after the positive wage growth report extended into Monday, with all major averages dipping into negative territory for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average...Read More

Jason LangeDES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Sluggish price increases in the United States give the Federal Reserve room to hold off on interest rate increases until at least mid-2018, Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said on Wednesday.“If we get to that point and have more confidence that inflation is moving up sustainably, then further rate increases would be warranted,” Ev...Read More

Maiya Keidan, Simon JessopLONDON (Reuters) - Trend-following hedge funds were stopped in their tracks by global market volatility this week, with some giving up all of their gains from a stellar start to the year.Investors locked into steady moves had enjoyed strong gains as markets ‘melted up’ with the aid of easy monetary policy that leading central banks have said they plan to tight...Read More

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday sold $24 billion in 10-year government notes at a yield of 2.811 percent, which was the highest yield at a 10-year auction in four years, Treasury data showed.FILE PHOTO: Bundles of banknotes of U.S. Dollar are pictured at a currency exchange shop in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico January 15, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File PhotoThe ratio...Read More

(Adds analyst comments, context throughout)By Bruno FederowskiBRASILIA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank cut interest rates to an all-time low on Wednesday and suggested it had reached the end of its deepest easing cycle in a decade as an economic recovery gathered pace.The bank's monetary policy committee, known as Copom, cut the benchmark Selic rate by 25 basis points to 6.75 percent, ca...Read More

Trevor Hunnicutt, Saqib Iqbal AhmedNEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors burned this week by the steep drop in the value of financial instruments that bet on stock market calm have a counterintuitive reaction: wade straight back in.Many are even looking for an opportunity to buy “short volatility” again using exchange-traded products (ETPs).Two banks, Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S) and Nomur...Read More

NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive of Doubleline Capital, said Wednesday that the "low rate-low volatility" 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 bitcoin was the "lead horse" of risk assets and its recent...Read More

Richard Cowan, Amanda BeckerWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate, in a rare display of bipartisanship, on Wednesday reached a two-year budget deal to raise federal spending by almost $300 billion, in an attempt to end the kind of squabbling over fiscal issues that has plagued Washington for years.The agreement, announced by both the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate, would lift cap...Read More

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Prudential Financial Inc , the largest U.S. life insurer by assets, reported a 7.6 percent increase in quarterly operating profit on Wednesday, 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. 31, up from $1.09 billion, or $2.46 per share, in the year-earlier perio...Read More

The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw its steepest intraday point drop in history on Monday.Gold has helped preserve and grow capital in times of rising inflation.Gold has a long-standing history of performance. Monday's monster stock selloff is exhibit A for why I frequently recommend a 10 percent weighting in gold, with 5 percent in bullion and jewelry, the other 5 percent in high-quality gold st...Read More

(Adds VIX level and benchmark, paragraphs 5 and 11)By Richard Leong and Catherine NgaiNEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Financial products that bet on swings in equities and cryptocurrencies should be monitored to understand their risk to market stability, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said on Wednesday.The comments came after BlackRock Inc , the world's biggest asset manage...Read More

(Adds stocks, details, updates prices)By Nichola SaminatherFeb 7 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index closed lower on Wednesday, dragged down by energy companies and miners as oil and metal prices dropped.* The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index slipped 33.35 points, or 0.22 percent, to 15,330.58.* Gold and silver-mining company Klondex Mines was the biggest decliner on the ind...Read More

MILAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has raised its offer for Italian railway group Italo to around 2 billion euros ($2.45 billion), a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.GIP initially offered 1.9 billion euros for the private high-speed railways operator, excluding debt. The board of Italo was meeting earlier on Wednesday to discuss GIP's initial offer but t...Read More

Stocks again seesawed erratically between positive and negative territory today, with the Dow trading in a 500-point range. Along with Treasury yields and the latest round of corporate earnings reports, the latest budget showdown in Congress was also in focus, as Senate leaders claimed to have reached an agreement on a two-year spending bill to avoid a government shutdown tomorrow night. But while...Read More

WELLINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Grant Spencer said on Thursday that the bank was not concerned about the New Zealand dollar, which had risen in recent months. "We're comfortable with where it is," Spencer told reporters, adding that the New Zealand dollar's strength was largely on the back of weakness in the U.S. dollar. Spencer made the comments at a p...Read More

Feb 8 (Reuters) - Stock MarketsNet ChngStock MarketsNet ChngS&P/ASX 200** 5,876.80 43.5NZX 50**8,206.82 12.09DJIA**24,893.35-19.42NIKKEI**21,645.3735.13Nasdaq**7,051.984-63.898 FTSE**7,279.42 138.02S&P 500** 2,681.66 -13.48Hang Seng** 30,323.2 -272.22SPI 200 Fut 5,81222.00 STI** 3,383.77 -22.61SSEC**3,309.5844 -61.07KOSPI** 2,396.56 -56.75---------------------------------------------------...Read More

Feb 8 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open slightly higher on Thursday, extending their recovery into a second session as investors grappled with a global exodus from equities. The local share price index futures rose 28 points to 5,818.0, a 58.8-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark rose 0.8 percent on Wednesday.New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50...Read More

TORONTO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Canada's benchmark stock index closed lower as lower oil and metals prices weighed on energy companies and miners. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended the session down 33.35 points, or 0.2 percent, at 15,330.58. (Reporting by Nichola Saminather, editing by G Crosse) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and ma...Read More

(Adds comment from Fidelity)By Tim McLaughlinBOSTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments has lured an executive from a rival firm to help stem billions of dollars in outflows from its flagship retirement franchise. The mutual fund giant said on Wednesday it had hired AllianceBernstein executive Vadim Zlotnikov to take over its $440 billion global asset allocation division. Zlotnikov will repor...Read More

(Repeats to additional subscribers)* Dollar index rises for fourth straight session* Euro slips on finance minister reports, ECB's Nowotny comments* Wall Street rebounds further from Monday's rout By Stephanie KellyNEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose on Wednesday, marking its biggest one-day gain in more than three months against a basket of currencies, even as Wall Street recovered...Read More