BRASILIA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Brazil's 2017 central government primary budget deficit came in around 30 billion reais ($9.5 billion) smaller than the official target due to rising tax revenue, a government source told Reuters on Friday.Brazil's central government - comprised of the National Treasury, the central bank and the pension system - targets a 159 billion real budget deficit for 2017, not t...Read More

ACCRA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The Bank of Ghana said the yield on its weekly 91-day bill rose to 13.35 percent at an auction on Friday from 13.32 percent at the last such sale, on Jan 19.The bank said it had accepted all 417.92 million cedis ($92.4 million) worth of bids tendered for the bills, which will be issued on Monday.Ghana's treasury bill yields have fallen to around 13 percent in the past six...Read More

(Bloomberg) - A metal that's in demand for batteries is surging, and it's not the one everyone's talking about.Vanadium has soared more than 130 percent in the past year, outperforming better-known battery components like cobalt, lithium and nickel. It's an obscure metal, silvery-blue in color and named for Vanadis, the Nordic goddess of beauty.What's driving prices is tightening supply and stron...Read More

(Kitco News)- While gold prices are off their 1.5-year highs seenmid-week, the market is still holding on to strong gains and many analysts havesaid that they still see the potential for higher prices, even if there is amodest consolidation period.The gold market is looking to end the week in positiveterritory as it hovers around the critical psychological level. February goldfutures last traded a...Read More

* MSCI world stocks index extends winning streak* Dollar buckles again* U.S. stocks hit record highs early (Updates with late morning U.S. markets activity, changes byline, dateline, previous LONDON)By Caroline ValetkevitchNEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A key world stock market index extended gains on Friday, putting it on track for its longest weekly winning streak since 1999, while Intel's results...Read More

* Pound extends gains after GDP suprises to the upside* Sterling enjoying strong start to 2018* Graphic: World FX rates in 2018 * Graphic: Trade-weighted sterling since Brexit vote (Adds new quotes, updates prices, adds details)By Tommy Wilkes and Jemima KellyLONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The pound climbed further against the dollar on Friday after enjoying its best week since September and its sixth...Read More

(Adds graphic, updates market move)By Sinead CarewJan 26 (Reuters) - Anybody hoping for a replay of the stock market advance that followed U.S. President Donald Trump's first address to Congress may be disappointed. This time around, shares could suffer if Trump does not tread carefully on hot-button issues. The S&P 500 jumped 1.4 percent the day after Trump's speech last February, as an unexp...Read More

By Marja NovakLJUBLJANA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Slovenia's Labour Minister increased the minimum gross monthly wage in the country by 4.7 percent to 842.79 euros ($1,050), the country's Official Gazette revealed on Friday.Labour Minister Anja Kopac Mrak had said the increase reflects economic growth in the country although the finance ministry had said earlier in January such an increase would exceed...Read More

Among the plethora of names in the slew of earnings reports next week is hardware stock Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX). The tech company is slated to report its fiscal second-quarter earnings before the bell on Monday. Below, we will take a look at how options traders are speculating ahead of the report, as well as how STX has been faring on the charts.As an overview, Seagate stock has outpe...Read More

AMMAN, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Jordan said on Friday a decision to end subsidies on staple pitta bread, lifting its prices 60 to 100 percent, will take effect on Saturday, the first such step in over two decades to ease the country's budget woes.The price of a kilo of white pitta bread was raised 60 percent to 0.40 dinars from 0.25 dinars and prices of large pita bread were nearly doubled. Other types...Read More

LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The euro zone's three largest economies are expected to sell bonds through auctions in the coming week.* On Tuesday, Italy is scheduled to sell 7-9 billion euros in bonds including a 50-year bond and a new 10-year bond. * On Wednesday, Germany is set to raise 4 billion euros from the sale of five-year bonds in an auction. * On Thursday, France will sell 8-9 billion euros...Read More

LUSAKA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A $1.4 billion lawsuit against Canada's First Quantum Minerals in Zambia will go ahead, a Zambian court ruled after dismissing the company's bid to stop the case.State-owned ZCCM-IH launched action in October 2016 to sue First Quantum for $1.4 billion over claims that the Canadian company borrowed $2.3 billion from its Zambian copper mining subsidiary Kansanshi Mining Pl...Read More

(Adds quotes)DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 26 (Reuters) - There are a number of factors preventing the Bank of Japan from reaching its 2 percent inflation target but wages and prices are gradually rising and it is getting closer, the governor of the central bank Haruhiko Kuroda said on Friday.Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Kuroda spoke of a "tenacious" deflationary mindset in...Read More

LUSAKA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A $1.4 billion lawsuit against Canada's First Quantum Minerals in Zambia will go ahead, a Zambian court ruled after dismissing the company's bid to stop the case.State-owned ZCCM-IH launched action in October 2016 to sue First Quantum for $1.4 billion over claims that the Canadian company borrowed $2.3 billion from its Zambian copper mining subsidiary Kansanshi Mining Pl...Read More

* Steinhoff says liquidity crunch largely contained* Asia-Pacific still in talks with lenders for fresh money* Steinhoff to issue quarterly update next month* Shares reverse losses (Adds Keika-Leiner, analyst comment)By Tiisetso MotsoenengJOHANNESBURG, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Steinhoffbought itself some breathing space on Friday by plugging a short-term funding gap as the troubled South African retail...Read More

Strong corporate earnings continue to drive stocks higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and S&P 500 Index (SPX) both setting new record peaks. Dow component Intel (INTC) is surging after its earnings release, while upbeat drug news has fellow blue chip Pfizer (PFE) posting fresh highs, too, as they lead a broad rally in the tech and healthcare spaces. Elsewhere, investors are reacti...Read More

By Francesco CanepaFRANKFURT, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's President Mario Draghi has rejected calls from European lawmakers to have financiers who give advice and feedback to the ECB register as lobbyists, saying they merely provide "information".Nearly 30 members of the European Parliament wrote to Draghi after an activist group found that nearly all the participants...Read More

U.S. dollar shows signs of bottoming, immediate term.Be prepared for potential temporary weakness in gold in coming days.Gold's intermediate-term recovery effort should remain intact.The price of gold entered the month of January with a head of steam behind it. Gold's history over the last several years told us that a rally early in 2018 was a strong possibility, and the profound weakness in t...Read More

Gold's strong upleg accelerated this week, powering to major new breakout highs. Speculators rushed to buy gold futures following surprising weak-dollar comments from the US Treasury Secretary, which hit the US dollar hard. That boosted gold to critical technical levels that should really intensify the shift back to bullish psychology. This mounting gold breakout confirms gold's bull market...Read More

* Q4 advance GDP estimate 2.6 pct vs est. 3 pct growth* Intel jumps after strong earnings, bullish forecast* Starbucks falls after weak-holiday qtr sales* Indexes up: Dow 0.33 pct, S&P 0.51 pct, Nasdaq 0.64 pct (Changes comment, adds details, updates prices)By Sruthi ShankarJan 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose to fresh records on Friday, propelled by strong earnings from Intel and drugmaker Abb...Read More