TORONTO, June 8 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended higher on Thursday, helped by gains for banking stocks after the Bank of Canada said it considers the system robust and a jump in Valeant Pharmaceuticals after it announced an asset sale.The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index unofficially closed up 50.95 points, or 0.33 percent, at 15,423.09. The heavyweight financials secto...Read More

* ECB upgrades growth forecast, cuts inflation outlook* Ex-FBI chief Comey testifies, markets show little reaction (Updates prices, adds comment)By Gertrude Chavez-DreyfussNEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields rose on Thursday as investors looked past the testimony of former Federal Bureau of Investigation chief James Comey, who made no new revelation about the agency's Russian probe,...Read More

NEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - The 'Trump trade' made a comeback on Thursday on Wall Street but the S&P and Dow industrials ended flat as former FBI director James Comey said President Donald Trump fired him to undermine an investigation into Russian meddling into last November's U.S. election.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 8.84 points, or 0.04 percent, to 21,182.53, the S&P 500 gained 0.65 p...Read More

ALL TIMES IN EDT/GMT -------------------------------------------------1000/1400: The Commerce Department issues Wholesale Inventories for April.1200/1600: The USDA issues monthly Crop Production, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.------------------------------------------------- DIARY - Federal Reserve Events U.S. Indicators (Washington economics team) Disclaimer: The views expressed...Read More

Base Metals Mining SalesBase Metals Mining Sales Market delivers detailed analysis on the main challenges and growth prospects in the Base Metals Mining Sales Industry. This Base Metals Mining Sales Market study is anticipated to help the new and existing key players in the Base Metals Mining Sales Market that will help in making current business decisions as well as to sustain in the severe compe...Read More

* Sterling edges down as investors eye UK election result* Graphic: World FX rates in 2017 #* Graphic on UK election: (Updates prices, market activity and comments to U.S. afternoon trading)By Saqib Iqbal AhmedNEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - The greenback clung to slim gains against a basket of currencies on Thursday as investors took stock of former FBI Director James Comey's testimony to the U.S. S...Read More

By Rodrigo Campos | NEW YORKThe 'Trump trade' made a comeback on Thursday on Wall Street but major indexes were in and out of negative territory as former FBI director James Comey said President Donald Trump fired him to undermine an investigation into Russian meddling into last November's U.S. election.Traders had been on tenterhooks ahead of Comey's testimony to a Senate committee, his first sin...Read More

J.P. Morgan analysts on Thursday scaled back their forecast on the size of possible U.S. tax cuts and pushed out the timing for such a move as President Donald Trump and leading Republican lawmakers struggle to deliver on their economic agenda.In a research note, the analysts said they now see $100 billion of annual debt-financed tax cuts to take effect in the second quarter of 2018. They previous...Read More

(Adds central bank expectations, central bank goal, background on Argentina inflation)BUENOS AIRES, June 8 (Reuters) - Argentina's 12-month inflation through May was 24 percent, the country's statistics agency said on Thursday, down from 27.5 percent in April and lower than the 25 percent that Central Bank chief Federico Sturzenegger said he expected earlier this week.May inflation was 1.3 percen...Read More

A successful investor's secret is the ability to set aside one's own opinions and analyze hard data without biases. After former FBI Director James Comey's testimony Thursday, the "hard data" are that, according to the collective wisdom of investors, President Trump won't be impeached. I conclude this by tracking money flows in three important segments. To learn more about money flows, please see...Read More

BUENOS AIRES, June 8 (Reuters) - Argentina's statistics agency said on Thursday 12-month inflation through May was 24 percent, down from 27.5 percent in April. May inflation was 1.3 percent, half the 2.6 percent inflation rate in April and beating median expectations in a Reuters poll for a rise in consumer prices of 1.7 percent.(Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Disclaimer: The...Read More

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce elected Tom Wilson, chief executive and chairman of property and casualty insurer Allstate Corp (ALL.N), as chairman, the business lobby group said on Thursday.Wilson succeeds John Hopkins, who currently also serves as the chairman and CEO of NuScale Power LLC, a company that designs nuclear reactors.Wilson, 59, became CEO of Allstate in 2007 after holding several seni...Read More

The outside counsel for President Donald Trump on Thursday disputed key points of the testimony of former FBI director James Comey, and said in a statement that a Senate hearing established that the president was not being investigated for collusion or obstruction.The attorney, Marc Kasowitz, said Trump did not ask Comey for his loyalty and did not direct or suggest to Comey that he stop investiga...Read More

(Kitco News) - With gold trading near key psychological resistance at $1,300 an ounce, one analyst says the metal looks ready to breakout.But, instead of focusing on the yellow metal, Blake Morrow of Forex Analytics looked at what effects a breakout in gold would have on other assets closely related to the metal."[T]he market is like a set of dominoes' and as one asset class makes a move, sometime...Read More

(Kitco News)- Former FBI director James Comey had some harsh criticism ofthe Trump administration and the president himself, but his testimony didn'tadd much to the ongoing turmoil in Washington D.C., which has driven risksentiment on Wall Street. While gold prices are off their session lows, the yellowmetal has seen little safe-haven demand following Comey's more than two-hourtestimony before the...Read More

BRASILIA, June 8 (Reuters) - Brazil's top electoral court on Thursday decided not to admit as evidence the testimony of executives of engineering company Odebrecht SA in an illegal campaign funding case against President Michel Temer, suggesting it will throw out the case.The Supreme Electoral Tribunal voted 4-3 to exclude plea-bargain testimony by Odebrecht executives who told prosecutors they fu...Read More

(Adds Poloz comment from news conference)By Andrea HopkinsOTTAWA, June 8 (Reuters) - The recent liquidity strain at Home Capital Group highlighted the vulnerability associated with overreliance on less-stable funding sources, but the alternative lending sector is a business that works, the Bank of Canada said on Thursday.In its semi-annual Financial System Review, the central bank said the market...Read More

LIMA, June 8 (Reuters) - Peru's trade surplus widened to $66 million in April from $57 million in April 2016, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday. (Reporting by Marco Aquino, writing by Hugh Bronstein, editing by G Crosse) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort t...Read More

Deals, Investments & M&AsThe New Cryptocurrency Gold Rush: Digital Tokens That Raise Millions In MinutesJoon Ian Wong - QuartzThe oracles of Silicon Valley say token offerings could reinvent the "freemium" business model of the internet, upending the huge centralized services-think of Facebook or Google-that have emerged. Instead of enticing users with free services, paid for by venture capital, a...Read More

NEW YORK, June 8 (Reuters) - U.S. interest rates futures were mostly weaker on Thursday, suggesting traders had fully priced in a possible quarter-point rate increase at the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next Tuesday and Wednesday.At 1:22 p.m. (1722 GMT), federal funds futures implied traders priced in a 100 percent probability the Fed policymakers would raise key short-term borrowing costs to...Read More