(Adds latest prices)JOHANNESBURG, Jan 5 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand weakened slightly on Friday as investors bagged profits from a rally that has set the local unit up for its longest weekly winning streak since 2002.At 1517 GMT the rand was 0.2 percent weaker at 12.3275 per dollar, paring this week's gains to about 0.6 percent but still on course for its eighth straight week of advances. The...Read More
The shares of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) have started 2018 with a bang, on pace for their best week since September, as chip stocks have rallied in the face of Intel's (INTC) recent security issues. Specifically, NVDA stock is set to notch a weekly gain of 9.6%, and is trading within a chip-shot of November's all-time highs. Nevertheless, Nvidia options are practically on sale right now.The...Read More
* U.S. employment number weaker than expected* Wage growth a positive sign for the U.S. labor market.* Markets still see Fed raising rates this year (Adds comment, table, updates prices)By Gertrude Chavez-DreyfussNEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The dollar rose on Friday, after a brief dip, as investors reckoned a weaker-than-expected U.S. December non-farm payrolls report would not deter the Federal R...Read More
TORONTO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The expansion of purchasing activity in Canada slowed in December as inventories shrunk while employment continued to rise, according to Ivey Purchasing Managers Index data released on Friday.The seasonally adjusted index fell to 60.4 from 63.0 in November. A reading above 50 indicates an increase in the pace of activity.The unadjusted index fell to 49.3 from 62.4.The ga...Read More
Like many retail stocks, auto parts suppliers AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE: AZO), Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP), and O'Reilly Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:ORLY) disappointed in 2017, with all three stocks touching multi-year lows. But more recently this group has outperformed. In fact, AZO, AAP, and ORLY have each beat out the performance of the S&P 500 Index (SPX) over the past two months -- and quite ea...Read More
* U.S. economy adds 148,000 jobs in Dec vs est. 190,000* Average hourly earnings rise 0.3 pct, in line with estimates* Cisco rises after BofA Merrill Lynch slaps 'buy' rating* Indexes up: Dow 0.18 pct, S&P 0.18 pct, Nasdaq 0.33 pct (Updates to open)By Sruthi ShankarJan 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on Friday as investors looked beyond weaker-than-expected U.S. job additions in...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices edged up, but remained in the negative territory, after momentum in the service sector disappointed, according to the latest data from the Institute of Supply Management (ISM).The Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index slipped to a reading of 55.9% in December, down from November’s reading of 57.4%. The decline was a surprise to the markets, which expected the...Read More
The extent of the damage due to security flaws in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) chips took a drastic turn last night when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) confirmed that all of its Mac and iOS devices -- including the iPhone and iPad -- were impacted by the Meltdown and Spectre bugs. However, Apple said that there were currently "no known exploits" and that it has already issued software updates for MacOS, iOS, and...Read More
Echoing the Dow's hot start to 2018, two blue-chip tech stocks are buzzingafter receiving some bullish analyst attention. This morning, Dow components Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) both received upgrades and price-target hikes, and have already notched fresh multi-year highs. Further, both CSCO and UTX stocks are set for their best week in month...Read More
LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Italy are all scheduledto auction bonds in the coming week.* On Tuesday, Germany will sell 500 million euros of inflation-linked bonds maturing in April 2046, with a 0.1 percent coupon. On Wednesday,Germany will auction 5 billion euros of bonds maturing in February 2028.* Austria will auction on Tuesday 1.38 billion euros of bonds ma...Read More
Peru's Ministry of Energy and Mines released its most recent statistical report, which highlights that November was one of the best months in 2016 when it comes to investments in the mining sector. According to the deputy minister Ricardo Lab??, investments grew by 54.8% compared to the same month of 2016 and reached $515 million. The overall growth in investments from January to November 2017 was...Read More
Peru's Ministry of Energy and Mines released its most recent statistical report, which highlights that November was one of the best months in 2016 when it comes to investments in the mining sector. According to the deputy minister Ricardo Lab??, investments grew by 54.8% compared to the same month of 2016 and reached $515 million. The overall growth in investments from January to November 2017 was...Read More
TORONTO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened lower on Friday, weighed down by losses among energy companies and other natural resource stocks as oil prices retreated, while marijuana producers also extended losses after Thursday's toughening of U.S. federal law.The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 80.29 points, or 0.49 percent, at 16,332.65 shortly after...Read More
Farmers shouldn't be too concerned yet that the recent Agrium, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan merger will cause an increase in the price of fertilizer, at least according to the president of one provincial producer group."(The merger is) a hard one to find a whole bunch of negatives or positives about it. A year from now it might be a different story," said Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural P...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are modestly lower and trading near thelevels seen just before the release of the U.S. employment report for December.That report was on the weaker side of expectations and gave gold prices a briefpop. However, gold prices have faded again as the U.S. dollar has regained theadvances it briefly lost after the jobs report. February gold was last down$3.90 an ounce at $1,31...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are modestly lower and trading near the levels seen just before the release of the U.S. employment report for December. That report was on the weaker side of expectations and gave gold prices a brief pop. However, gold prices have faded again as the U.S. dollar has regained the advances it briefly lost after the jobs report. February gold was last down $3.90 an ounce at...Read More
Jan 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes opened at records on Friday as investors looked beyond weaker-than-expected U.S. job additions in December and took support from signs of a pick-up in wage growth.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52 points, or 0.21 percent, to 25,127.13. The S&P 500 gained 8.21 points, or 0.301396 percent, to 2,732.2. The Nasdaq Composite added 27.70 points, or...Read More
(Updates markets, adds comment)By Ann SaphirJan 5 (Reuters) - Traders of U.S. short-term interest-rate futures continued to bet the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates just two times this year after a U.S. government report showed employers added fewer jobs than expected in December, even as wages picked up.The "soggy" data will do little to convince the Fed it needs to do much m...Read More
Drug stock Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc (NYSE:VRX) is continuing its climb higher, after brokerage firm TD Securities raised its price target to $27 from $20 earlier. The firm is in the minority with its "buy" rating on VRX; currently, the stock sports just four "buy" or better ratings, compared to 10 "holds" and five "sells." VRX shares are up 1.3% at $23.36 in electronic tradi...Read More
By David LjunggrenOTTAWA, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The surging Canadian economy added almost 80,000 jobs in December for the second month in a row, boosting chances the Bank of Canada could hike interest rates in the first quarter of 2018 for what would be the third time in less than a year.Statistics Canada on Friday reported 78,600 new positions in December, smashing analysts' expectations of a modest...Read More