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

FRANKFURT, Jan 26 (Reuters) - German drugmaker Dermapharm said it would sell shares worth up to around 400 million euros ($497 million) in an initial public offering and list on the Frankfurt stock exchange on Feb. 9.It set the price range for the IPO at 26 to 30 euros per share, resulting in a total offering of between 350 million and 404 million euros, it said on Friday.The company is floating a...Read More

In yesterday's alert, we wrote that the situation could change quickly and that in such a case, we would send another alert. Six minutes after yesterday's opening bell, we already posted the second alert. And for a very good reason. The USD Index took a deep dive and metals were not even close to reacting in a normal way. They were actually a bit lower. We know an extremely bearish signal when we...Read More

BRASILIA, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Brazil's federal tax revenue edged up in 2017 as the country's recovery from the deepest recession in decades advanced, government data showed on Friday.Federal tax revenue rose 0.59 percent from 2016, after discounting for inflation to 1.342 trillion reais ($427 billion). Tax collection in December came in at 137.842 billion reais, up 4.93 percent in real terms from t...Read More

BENGALURU/MUMBAI, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Demand for physical gold improved slightly in most Asian hubs this week, despite rising prices, as buyers stocked up on expectations of a further rally in the yellow metal.Gold prices rose on Friday, putting them on course for a near 2 percent weekly gain, in anticipation of a further dip in the U.S. dollar.Demand in India, the world's second-largest consumer o...Read More

(Kitco News) - Participants in the weekly Kitco News gold survey look for gold tokeep rising next week, with traders and analysts citing the softer tone in theU.S. dollar. Wall Street Bullish Bearish Neutral VSMain Street Bullish Bearish Neutral The greenback fell sharply this week after U.S. Treasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin said a softer U.S. dollar was good for the economy...Read More

(Kitco News) - Participants in the weekly Kitco News gold survey look for gold to keep rising next week, with traders and analysts citing the softer tone in the U.S. dollar. Wall Street Bullish Bearish Neutral VS Main Street Bullish Bearish Neutral The greenback fell sharply this week after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said a softer U.S. dollar was good...Read More

(Adds stocks, quote, updates levels)JOHANNESBURG, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The rand traded firmer on Friday, holding at its best levels since mid-2015, as sentiment was lifted by a weaker dollar and expectations that the new leader of the ruling ANC would rejuvenate the economy.At 1545 GMT, the rand was 0.44 percent stronger than Thursday's close at 11.8700 to the dollar , after breaking below the psyc...Read More

* U.S. economic growth slows in Q4 on surging imports* Yen up on BoJ's Kuroda comments on economy, inflation (Updates prices and market activity to U.S. market open, changes dateline; previous LONDON)By Saqib Iqbal AhmedNEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The dollar remained weak against a basket of currencies on Friday, bruised by comments by senior U.S. officials this week backing a weak dollar and aft...Read More

   •  Renewed USD selling helps regain positive momentum.   •  Reviving safe-haven demand further supports the up-move.   •  Important US macro data eyed for fresh directional impetus. Gold held on to its modest gains through the mid-European session and is currently trading around the $1355 region ahead of the US macro data. A fresh wave...Read More

JD.com Inc (NASDAQ:JD) is buzzing this morning, after Bloomberg reported the Chinese e-tailer was preparing for its long-awaited foray onto U.S. soil later this year. The company is hoping to establish itself on the West Coast, and start online sales by the second half of 2018. JD.com is hoping to gain ground on Chinese rival Alibaba (BABA) and American e-commerce monster Amazon.com (AMZN). Again...Read More

Transport stocks have taken a hit this week, following some lackluster airline earnings. As such, the Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJT) is pacing for a weekly loss of more than 2%. Considering the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is headed for a weekly win, some Dow Theory followers could be getting nervous at the divergence. Below, we take a look at how the transports and blue-chip indexes...Read More

By Jonathan SchwarzbergNEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The US leveraged loan market has opened with a bang, allowing junk-rated companies such as food packaging company Crown Holdings to reduce pricing further amid strong demand for floating rate assets. Ba2/BB rated Crown Holdings had an investor count of more than 250 for its US$2.08bn cross-border loan, sources said, allowing it to cut pricing to...Read More

Shares of Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) earlier matched yesterday's all-time high of $68.64, and at last check, the Dow component was up 1% at $68.36. The move comes after infamous investor Bill Ackman said his hedge fund Pershing Square has taken a passive position in Nike stock that has already netted a 30% return. This is just more positive momentum for NKE, which sports a year-to-date advance of 9.2% an...Read More

Jan 26 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index , which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, on Friday marked its first weekly gain in three as rates for capesize and panamax vessels improved.* The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, was up 2 points, or 0.16 percent, at 1,219 points. It rose 8.4 perc...Read More

* Zloty and forint ease as Trump talks up dollar* Hungary yield curve steepens, central bank seen countering that* Czechs start presidential election, markets ignore it* Czech crown hits 5-year high, rate hike is expected (Adds crown surge to new five-year high)By Sandor PetoBUDAPEST, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The Czech crown hit a five-year high against the euro on Friday, bolstered by expectations of a...Read More

Shares of coffee chain Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) are trading lower in early market action, after the company reported lower-than-expected fiscal first-quarter earnings. It also gave a tepid outlook for 2018, while executives added they're still evaluating how the tax law will affect the business. At last check, Starbucks stock was trading down 4.7% at $57.72, after receiving a slew of mi...Read More

* Q4 advance GDP estimate 2.6 pct vs est. 3 pct growth* Intel jumps after upbeat earnings, bullish forecast* Starbucks falls after sales forecast* Indexes up: Dow 0.17 pct, S&P 0.31 pct, Nasdaq 0.42 pct (Updates to open)By Sruthi ShankarJan 26 (Reuters) - The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened at a record high on Friday, powered by gains in chipmaker Intel, and the other main indexes were hig...Read More

MILAN, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Veteran Italian banker and former Industry Minister Corrado Passera has raised 600 million euros ($746 million) from investors with the aim of acquiring a small bank, a source with knowledge of the matter said.Passera, former chief executive of Intesa Sanpaolo for nearly a decade, raised the funds by launching a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) vehicle, a company that w...Read More