(Adds background)NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The New York Federal Reserve on Friday reduced its estimate on U.S. gross domestic product growth for the first quarter of 2018 as a steeper-than-forecast drop in homebuilding in December offset a stronger-than-expected increase in industrial production last month.The regional central bank's "Nowcast" model calculated the U.S. economy was ex...Read More
* Nike, Philip Morris up after stock upgrade* IBM lower after saying higher tax rates will hit profit* AmEx posts first loss in 26 years on tax charge* Dow off 0.21 pct, S&P up 0.16 pct, Nasdaq up 0.34 pct (Updates to early afternoon)By Sruthi ShankarJan 19 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged higher on Friday following positive brokerage recommendations on a bunch of consumer name...Read More
Black swans are very surprising and rare events. As they are beyond the realm of normal expectations, it is impossible to predict them. However, analysts do not care about such details and they outdo each other in forecasts. Our favorite is the list of ten outrageous predictions published by the Saxo Bank. The risk events include: the loss of Fed’s independence for the U.S. Treasury, the plu...Read More
The S&P 500 Index (SPX) has surged nearly 4.8% so far in January -- and there's still more than a week of trading left -- on pace for its best month since March 2016, and its 10th straight monthly gain. However, even as U.S. stocks assail record heights, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) -- or Wall Street's "fear gauge" -- is also on pace for a big month, currently up 4.3% in 2018. This rare occurre...Read More
By Saqib Iqbal AhmedNEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar took a harsh beating in 2017, on the way to its nearly 10 percent fall, its worst annual performance since 2003. The currency is still reeling this year. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, recently fell to a three-year low.Moves by central banks around the world toward monetary polic...Read More
(Kitco News) - Lack of clarity in Washington and weak U.S. dollar will continue to support gold prices next week, which are set to make more gains, according to precious metals experts and Kitco readers who participated in the weekly gold survey.Gold prices on Friday were regaining their lost ground, boosted by renewed weakness in the U.S. dollar, ahead of a possible government shutdown. Spot gold...Read More
(Kitco News) - Lack of clarity in Washington and weak U.S. dollar will continue to support gold prices next week, which are set to make more gains, according to precious metals experts and Kitco readers who participated in the weekly gold survey.Gold prices on Friday were regaining their lost ground, boosted by renewed weakness in the U.S. dollar, ahead of a possible government shutdown. Spot gold...Read More
WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - U.S. financial regulators have begun work to "streamline" the Volcker Rule banning banks from making risky bets with their own money, the country's top banking regulator said on Friday. Randal Quarles, vice chairman for supervision at the Federal Reserve, told a conference in Washington that the five agencies that oversee the rule were working on a proposal...Read More
By Marc JonesLONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them. 1/DRAIN THE SW...ISS SKI RESORT Donald Trump headlines the annual gathering of capitalism's finest at Switzerland's Davos ski resort next week. Davos always generates news for markets but the U.S. president's appearan...Read More
(Bloomberg) - The Trump administration's condemnation of cheap Chinese aluminum is helping resolve overcapacity in China even before any measures are implemented, according to the top U.S. producer.The Commerce Department is preparing to deliver its Section 232 report on national-security threats posed by aluminum imports. Before any measures are announced, debate surrounding the investigation h...Read More
ANKARA, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Gold imports to Turkey hit a record 370 tonnes in 2017, more than trebling from 106.1 tonnes, data from Borsa Istanbul showed.This was the highest level of imports since the data was made available in 1995 and well above the previous record of 302 tonnes set in 2013.Imports in December alone reached 49.3 tonnes, up 34 percent year on year.Cagdas Kucukemiroglu, an Istanbu...Read More
Eric Zurrin, chief executive of Shanta Gold Limited (LON:SHG), caught up with Proactive's Andrew Scott on the back of their Q4 and operational update.The miner reported a strong final quarter of 2017 for its New Luika Gold Mine, in Southwest Tanzania, with gold production of 21,288 ounces, an increase of 17% on the third quarter.Annual gold production for 2017 was 79,585 oz, consistent with its gu...Read More
BENGALURU/MUMBAI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Gold demand in China firmed this week as retailers stocked up ahead of the Chinese New Year while price discounts widened in India, partly on expectations of a reduction in import duty in next month's budget.Spot gold prices, up by more than 5 percent in the past month, rose on Friday, helped by a weaker dollar amid worries about a possible U.S. government shut...Read More
Earnings season is officially in full swing, with next week featuring off some high-profile names of its own. Among those slated to report is streaming giant Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), which is scheduled to unveil its fourth-quarter earnings after the stock market closes on Monday, Jan. 22. Ahead of the event, NFLX stock this morning received price-target hikes from Rosenblatt to $265 from $225,...Read More
MOSCOW, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Leading Russian gold producer Polyus said on Friday it would issue $250 million worth of bonds, with the proceeds of the sale mainly going towards refinancing its debt.The offering is for senior unsecured guaranteed convertible bonds with a maturity of January 2021, the company said, adding that it expected them to carry a coupon of between 0.50 and 1.00 percent per annu...Read More
The U.S. stock market is mixed, as the Senate shows no signs of passing a budget agreement to avoid a government shutdown. Though the CBOE Volatility (VIX) is lower, non-cyclical consumer goods stocks are seeing notable buying, and gold futures are on the rise -- hinting at strong demand for "safer" assets. One bright spot has been the retail sector, led by strong gains from blue chip Nike (NKE),...Read More
The world's leading gold-stock ETF is nearing a major upside breakout from key technical levels. GDX is getting closer to challenging and powering above $25. That would accelerate the sentiment shift in this deeply-undervalued sector back to bullish, enticing investors to return. Good operating results from the major gold miners in their upcoming Q4'17 earnings season could prove the catalys...Read More
The world's leading gold-stock ETF is nearing a major upside breakout from key technical levels. GDX is getting closer to challenging and powering above $25. That would accelerate the sentiment shift in this deeply-undervalued sector back to bullish, enticing investors to return. Good operating results from the major gold miners in their upcoming Q4'17 earnings season could prove the catalys...Read More
ACCRA, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The Bank of Ghana said the yield on its weekly 91-day bill dipped to 13.32 percent at an auction on Friday from 13.36 percent at the last such sale on Jan 12.The bank said it had accepted 472.57 million cedis ($103.9 million) worth of bids out of the 473.07 million cedis tendered for the paper, which will be issued on Monday.Ghana's treasury bill yields have eased to arou...Read More
NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Fitch Ratings said on Friday its top AAA debt rating for the United States would not be directly impacted by a possible federal shutdown, which will begin on Saturday if lawmakers fail to clinch a deal to fund the government. "Partial federal government shutdowns have occurred in the past and this shutdown does not have a direct impact on the sovereign's 'AAA'/Sta...Read More