RABAT, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Morocco is planning to negotiate a new form of International Monetary Fund precautionary line of credit which will be "modular and better" than the previous one, the central bank governor said on Thursday.In 2016, the IMF granted Morocco a two-year, $3.5 billion credit line for Morocco to give its foreign lenders, investors and rating agencies reassurance over t...Read More

RABAT, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Morocco is launching a flexible currency exchange system in a step-by-step process while remaining aware of any potentially negative impact on people's purchasing power, the finance minister said on Thursday.Mohammed Boussaid told reporters the kingdom was not following Egypt's example of switching to a fully free-floating exchange rate in one sudden step. (Reporting by U...Read More

WARSAW, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Polish state bank BGK sold 500 million zlotys ($147 million)worth of three-year floating-rate bonds on Thursday, the bank said in a statement.BGK said it sold the bonds with a spread of 24 basis points over the Polish interbank lending rate WIBOR, adding that the proceeds from the issue were partly used to roll over its bonds maturing on Jan 25.($1 = 3.3991 zlotys) (Repo...Read More

* Oasis Management makes 6 proposals for GMO Internet's AGM* Calls for less CEO power, abolishing anti-takeover defence* Oasis holds 5 pct of GMO Internet's shares By Hideyuki SanoTOKYO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Hong Kong-based activist investor Oasis Management Company has proposed that Japanese internet and cryptocurrency firm GMO Internet reduces the power of its founder and abolishes its takeover d...Read More

China bond yields rose ahead of the macro data avalanche tonight (following a leaked upside surprise print for GDP). GDP, Industrial Production, and Fixed Asset Investment all beat expectations but Retail Sales missed dramatically - growing at its slowest since Feb 2004.Read full newsRead More

(Bloomberg) - India's steel ministry is seeking to remove import tax on coking coal to soften the impact of rising costs on users of the key steel-making fuel and promote production of the alloy that's crucial for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to boost domestic manufacturing.The ministry has written to the finance department to consider its request in the federal budget on Feb. 1, federal...Read More

RABAT, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Morocco's new, more flexible foreign exchange currency system will boost economic growth by 0.2 percent, the central bank governor said on Thursday, without specifying the period.The dirham move will lift inflation by 0.4 percent "in an extreme case" but also boost people's purchasing power, Abdellatif Jouahri told reporters. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Zakia...Read More

* Bit to keep US govt open stokes anti-dollar mood* Euro hold below 3-year peak versus greenback* Evidence of reserve diversification drags on dollar (Updates market action, changes dateline, previous LONDON)By Richard LeongNEW YORK, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar fell on Thursday as traders piled into the euro, yen, sterling and other major currencies amid concerns over a possible U.S. govern...Read More

Mr. Douglas Eaton reportsCHAMPAGNE AND AISHIHIK FIRST NATIONS AND STRATEGIC METALS LTD. ANNOUNCE EXPLORATION AGREEMENT Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and Strategic Metals Ltd. have signed an exploration agreement. This landmark agreement provides a framework for consultation pertaining to all exploration activities undertaken by Strategic within the CAFN traditional territory, excluding Cate...Read More

Mr. Douglas Eaton reportsCHAMPAGNE AND AISHIHIK FIRST NATIONS AND STRATEGIC METALS LTD. ANNOUNCE EXPLORATION AGREEMENT Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and Strategic Metals Ltd. have signed an exploration agreement. This landmark agreement provides a framework for consultation pertaining to all exploration activities undertaken by Strategic within the CAFN traditional territory, excluding Cate...Read More

Today's macro trend changes are part of a looming tectonic shift that started decades ago.That shift has not been adequately reported by the mainstream media.The future price of gold is best understood through long-term irreversible trends.Note: The content below was originally presented at the Empire Club of Canada Investment Outlook Luncheon 2018. You can download a PDF of the presentation h...Read More

(Adds analyst comment on potential for joint venture with Shandong, updates stock price)SANTIAGO/TORONTO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Environmental regulators ordered Barrick Gold Corp to close the Chilean side of its stalled Pascua-Lama mining project on Thursday, but reduced a 2013 fine for violations by more than 25 percent to $11.5 million.Barrick, the world's largest gold producer, said that closing...Read More

RABAT, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Morocco's decision to launch a more flexible foreign exchange system was a sovereign move and not the result of any currency crisis, the central bank governor said on Thursday.Abdellatif Jouahri also told reporters the move would improve the purchasing power of citizens. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing and Zakia Abdennebi; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Disclaimer: The views expres...Read More

(Updates with closing prices)JOHANNESBURG, Jan 18 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand scaled a 2-1/2 year high against a broadly fragile dollar on Thursday, climbing more than 1 percent after the central bank held interest rates steady and the new head of the ruling ANC ramped up his tough talk on graft.At 1520 GMT, the rand was 1.1 percent firmer against the dollar after earlier hitting 12.1525, acc...Read More

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The governor of South Africa's central bank, Lesetja Kganyago, has been appointed head of the International Monetary Fund's Monetary and Financial Committee, the global lender said on Thursday.Kganyago, governor of the South African Reserve Bank since 2014, will serve a three-year term on the IMF committee, beginning immediately.He replaces former governor of the M...Read More

Europa Oil & Gas Plc (LON:EOG) alongside Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) and project operator Egdon Resources Plc (LON:EDR) have told investors they'll now be making a new planning application to the North Lincolnshire council seeking consent for the Wressle field development.It comes after the planning inspectorate earlier this month rejected appeals made by Egdon and its partners following prio...Read More

Coffee concern Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) is on the radar today, after the Seattle-based beverage chain received positive analyst attention ahead of its fiscal first-quarter earnings report, which is expected to drop a week from today, after the stock market closes. The note came from Credit Suisse, after the brokerage firm raised its price target to $57 from $54 on SBUX -- though this s...Read More

Cybersecurity stocks had a strong start to the year amid news of security flaws in Intel chips. And while Next-Generation Firewall parent Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW) has extended this momentum, Norton antivirus maker Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) has faltered. These trends are continuing today following a fresh round of analyst attention. Here's a closer look at how shares of PANW and...Read More

Health and wellness retailer GNC Holdings Inc (NYSE:GNC) is up 41.8% this morning at $4.89, after the company said it's expecting an increase in same-store sales for the fourth quarter. It also forecast earnings-per-share for the period at 24 cents to 25 cents, compared to the 7 cents per share it posted last year in the same period. This is a much-needed boost for GNC stock, which had been flound...Read More

Waxing optimistic on higher consumer spending and wage growth following the Republican tax bill, Goldman Sachs this morning added Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) stock to its "Conviction Buy" list. In fact, Walmart just recently announced plans to lift its own minimum wage for hourly employees in the wake of tax reform. In light of the upgrade from "neutral" to "buy," WMT stock is flirting with rec...Read More