(Reuters) - Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker on Friday said he believes the central bank should raise rates just two times this year, fewer than most of his rate-setting colleagues, as low inflation continues to dog the U.S. economy.The dovish turn for Harker, a supporter last year of all three of the Fed’s interest-rate increases, signals a rising concern over the...Read More

The gold miners' stocks have huge upside potential in 2018, likely the best among stock-market sectors. They really lagged gold last year, so a major mean-reversion catch-up rally is coming. The gold miners are universally ignored and deeply undervalued relative to the metal which drives their profits. And gold itself is likely to power dramatically higher this year as euphoric record-high s...Read More

BENGALURU/MUMBAI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Physical gold demand across Asia remained subdued this week as prices rallied to a three-and-a-half-month high, keeping retail buyers away from the market.Gold prices hit 3-1/2-month highs on Thursday and were on track for a fourth straight weekly gain. Spot gold was down 0.36 percent at $1,318.12 per ounce at 0859 GMT on Friday.In top consumer China, premiums d...Read More

* World shares continue push higher* Dollar up after U.S. jobs report* Zinc prices highest in decade (Updates to U.S. trading open; changes byline, dateline, previously LONDON)By Stephanie KellyNEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - World shares continued their strong start to 2018, with Wall Street opening up and European stocks advancing, while the U.S. dollar reversed its losses against the euro after a b...Read More

(Kitco News) - Participants in the weeklyKitco News gold survey look for the precious metal to build on its gains nextweek, citing the soft U.S. jobs report released Friday and technical-chartmomentum. Wall Street Bullish Bearish Neutral VSMain Street Bullish Bearish Neutral Comex Februarygold topped the $1,300-an-ounce level on the final day of 2017 and has remainedabove...Read More

(Kitco News) - Participants in the weekly Kitco News gold survey look for the precious metal to build on its gains next week, citing the soft U.S. jobs report released Friday and technical-chart momentum. Wall Street Bullish Bearish Neutral VS Main Street Bullish Bearish Neutral Comex February gold  topped the $1,300-an-ounce level on the final day of 2017 and...Read More

* Revenue at bond-trading unit seen dropping 22 pct in Q4* Shares extend losses, down more than 4 percent* Bank had warned of weak Q4 revenue (Adds detail from statement, share price)FRANKFURT, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank will post a small net loss in 2017 after weak trading, low client activity and a 1.5 billion euro ($1.8 billion) negative impact from a tax overhaul in the United States, it...Read More

(Adds background)NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - U.S. services industries are expected to expand in 2018, though perhaps not at a pace as fast as the 12-year high set in October, Anthony Nieves, chair of the Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing business survey committee, said on Friday."You are still seeing growth," Nieves said on a conference call with reporters after ISM re...Read More

The numbers: The Institute for Supply Management's nonmanufacturing index sank 1.5 points to 55.9% in December. What happened: ISM's services gauge tracks activity in the economy that's not related to manufacturing. It's decelerated each month since October, when it touched a 12-year high. Any reading over 50% indicates improving conditions. As ISM put it, "the majority of respondents' commen...Read More

(Adds detail about IPSA touching record high, quote from Finance Minister)SANTIAGO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Chile's IPSA stock index hit a record high on Friday, boosted by a Central Bank report that showed economic activity had posted its largest year-over-year gain in nearly two years. The IMACEC economic activity index, which encompasses about 90 percent of the economy tallied in gross domestic produ...Read More

(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