Finance news

• Venezuelan pharmacy says managers freed pending trial

  21-03-2015 19:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Pharmacy chain Farmatodo said on Saturday two of its managers have been freed from jail pending trial on charges in an emblematic case of what President Nicolas Maduro calls Venezuela's "economic war." Farmatodo Executive President Pedro Angarita and Operations Vice President Agustin Alvarez were detained last month and face charges of "boycott" and "economic destabilization" for allegedly exacerbating shopping lines. Maduro's critics say Venezuela's economic troubles are the product of 15 years
  
  Read more

• Exclusive: Deutsche Bank revamp plan to hit retail hardest - sources

  21-03-2015 19:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Kathrin Jones FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's retail operations will bear the brunt of its planned restructuring and will most likely be spun off in a stock market listing, two sources familiar with internal discussions at Germany's biggest bank said on Saturday. The supervisory board favors one proposal that would see the bank’s retail operations, including its Postbank subsidiary, bundled up and spun off with a separate stock market listing, the source said. The proposal m
  
  Read more

• REFILE-Poland and U.S. Army hold joint air defence exercises near Warsaw

  21-03-2015 19:04
  WARSAW, March 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Army Europe has deployed a Patriot missile defence battery near Warsaw as part of joint exercises with Poland aimed at reassuring the NATO member in light of the...
  
  Read more

• Irish anti-water charge protesters keep pressure on government

  21-03-2015 18:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Tens of thousands of people marched in Dublin on Saturday in the latest mass protest against new water charges, keeping up the pressure on the government, which hopes Ireland's economic growth will quell the discontent. Ireland's economy surged by a post-crisis high of 4.8 percent last year and is forecast to be the fastest-growing in the European Union again this year, but many have been left frustrated by the uneven recovery nature of the recovery. One year before it seeks re-election, the gov
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Exclusive - Deutsche Bank revamp plan to hit retail hardest: sources

  21-03-2015 18:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Kathrin Jones FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's retail operations will bear the brunt of its planned restructuring and will most likely be spun off in a stock market listing, two sources familiar with internal discussions at Germany's biggest bank said on Saturday. The supervisory board favours one proposal that would see the bank’s retail operations, including its Postbank subsidiary, bundled up and spun off with a separate stock market listing, the source said. The proposal
  
  Read more

• Deutsche Bank revamp plan to hit retail hardest: sources

  21-03-2015 18:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Deutsche Bank's retail operations will bear the brunt of its planned restructuring and will most likely be spun off in a stock market listing, two sources familiar with internal discussions at Germany's biggest bank said on Saturday. The supervisory board favors one proposal that would see the bank’s retail operations, including its Postbank subsidiary, bundled up and spun off with a separate stock market listing, the source said. The proposal marks a dramatic shift from Deutsche Ban
  
  Read more

• Iran's top leader rejects U.S. 'bullying' in nuclear talks

  21-03-2015 17:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Sam Wilkin and Babak Dehghanpisheh DUBAI/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the United States on Saturday of using economic pressure and "bullying" to try to turn his countrymen against Islamic rule, underscoring his long-held mistrust of Tehran's main negotiating partner in nuclear talks. Amid shouts of 'Death to America', Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state, reiterated in a speech in northeastern Iran that Tehran would not be pressure
  
  Read more

• Ex-Im Bank bill backing coal plants has strong chance of passing -U.S. senator

  21-03-2015 17:49
  WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - A Democratic supporter of a Senate bill to save the U.S. Export-Import Bank and overturn limits on bank financing of coal-fired power plants overseas defended the...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Steve Jobs bio says Disney CEO kept Jobs' condition a secret -Bloomberg

  21-03-2015 17:03
  March 21 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Iger learned that Steve Jobs' cancer had returned less than an hour before Disney announced it was buying Jobs' Pixar studio in 2006, and Iger kept the...
  
  Read more

• CORRECTED-UPDATE 2-AIG investors' $970.5 mln settlement wins US court approval

  21-03-2015 16:21
  NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - American International Group Inc shareholders won approval on Friday of a $970.5 million settlement resolving claims they were misled about its subprime mortgage...
  
  Read more

• Iran top leader: U.S. wants to turn Iranians against Islamic rule

  21-03-2015 15:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DUBAI/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused the United States on Saturday of using economic pressure to try to turn Iranians against Islamic rule, underscoring a long-held mistrust of Tehran's main negotiating partner in nuclear talks. Amid shouts of 'Death to America', Khamenei, who has the last word on all matters of state, added in a speech that Tehran was negotiating with major powers solely on the nuclear dispute and not about regional matters, an apparent referen
  
  Read more

• Kurdish militant leader says armed struggle with Turkey 'unsustainable'

  21-03-2015 15:24 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Daren Butler DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan said on Saturday his militant group's three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state had become "unsustainable" but stopped short of declaring an immediate end to its armed struggle. In a message relayed by Kurdish politicians to tens of thousands gathered in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) urged his militant group to hold a congress on
  
  Read more

• Pakistan cuts key interest rate

  21-03-2015 14:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Pakistan's central bank cut its key interest rate by 0.5 percent on Saturday in a bid to give the country's improving economy further momentum. "The central board of directors has decided to reduce the policy rate by 50 basis points from 8.5 percent to 8.0 percent," the Central State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement. The interest rate reduction comes as inflation sits at eight percent, down from a high of around ten percent last year. It also expressed hope that Pakistan&
  
  Read more

• Kurdish militant leader urges congress on peace with Turkey

  21-03-2015 13:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Daren Butler DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan called on Saturday for his militant group to hold a congress on ending a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state but stopped short of declaring an immediate halt to its armed struggle. Tens of thousands of Kurds gathered in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir to hear the message from Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Ocalan President Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister, launched talks with Oca
  
  Read more

• Germany's SPD won't back down in U.S. trade talks

  21-03-2015 11:46
  BERLIN, March 21 (Reuters) - Germany's economy minister has promised to block any clauses in a trade deal between the European Union and the United States that go against the ideals of his...
  
  Read more

• UPDATE 3-Ghana seeks bridge financing of up to $1 bln in H1 2015

  21-03-2015 11:29
  * Govt says Ghana medium term prospects good (Adds Fitch rating, paragraphs 6-7)
  
  Read more

• Southeast Asia makes vital push in banking integration

  21-03-2015 11:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Southeast Asian nations have finalized a key agreement allowing qualified banks to operate freely in each other's countries in a push toward greater financial and economic integration.
  
  Read more

• Kurds rally in Turkey as militant leader expected to urge progress on peace

  21-03-2015 11:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Daren Butler DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Kurds gathered in southeastern Turkey on Saturday to hear a message from jailed militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, expected to reaffirm his commitment to a peace process despite a war of words with Ankara. President Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister, launched talks with Ocalan in late 2012 to end a three-decade insurgency that has killed 40,000 people, ravaged the region's economy and tarnished Turkey's image abroad. Large scre
  
  Read more

• What now for junk-rated "dinosaur" Eskom?

  21-03-2015 10:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Ed Cropley JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - In the dying days of apartheid, the head of South Africa's power utility, the central pillar of the white-run economy, sat down with Nelson Mandela and asked him a simple question: when you take office, what are you going to do with Eskom? The answer from South Africa's future president was equally simple: nothing, as long as you continue to produce cheap electricity and connect more black South Africans to the grid. "'We do not wish to
  
  Read more

• South Africa's Eskom says to implement rolling power cuts

  21-03-2015 09:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - South Africa's state utility Eskom said it would implement rolling power blackouts from 0900 hours to 2200 hours local time on Saturday due a lower generation capacity as several units were out of service.     The company provides 95 percent of the electricity in Africa's most advanced economy but has struggled to meet demand due to its ageing infrastructure.
  
  Read more

• RPT-Saudi looking beyond oil price slump as rig count spikes

  21-03-2015 09:00
  DUBAI/KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, March 20 (Reuters) - As the global energy industry stares transfixed at a spectacular drop in U.S. rigs, Saudi Arabia is ramping up the number of machines drilling for oil...
  
  Read more

• S.Africa's Eskom says to implement rolling power cuts

  21-03-2015 08:53
  March 21 (Reuters) - South Africa's state utility Eskom said it would implement rolling power blackouts from 0900 hours to 2200 hours local time on Saturday due a lower generation capacity as several...
  
  Read more

• S&P cuts Nigeria to B+ on weak oil, cites political risk

  21-03-2015 08:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Credit agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Nigeria's rating to B+ from BB- on Friday, saying the decline in oil prices in the past seven months had significantly affected the country's finances. Setting a stable outlook on the new rating, it also said political risk was a significant factor while the country's non-oil sector would support economic growth. Nigeria holds a presidential election on March 28 when Goodluck Jonathan will seek another term. He faces former milit
  
  Read more

• S&P downgrades Nigeria to B+

  21-03-2015 08:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - Credit agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Nigeria's rating to B+ from BB- on Friday, saying the decline in oil prices in the past seven months had significantly affected the country's finances. It also said that political risks were significant. It said the outlook on the new rating was stable and that the non-oil economy would support economic growth. Nigeria holds a presidential election on March 28 when Goodluck Jonathan will seek another term.
  
  Read more

• Mauritius foreign direct investment jumps 48.7 pct in 2014

  21-03-2015 08:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Foreign direct investment in Mauritius grew 48.7 percent in 2014 to 14.15 billion rupees ($388.20 million), thanks to investment in real estate, hotels and restaurants, official data showed on Friday. Foreign investment in real estate led with a total of 6.17 billion rupees, the central bank said. France was the biggest source of investment with 3.48 billion rupees. Famed for its white sand beaches and luxury spas, the Indian Ocean island nation is diversifying its economy away from sugar, texti
  
  Read more

• What now for junk-rated "dinosaur" Eskom? South Africa asks

  21-03-2015 07:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Ed Cropley JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - In the dying days of apartheid, the head of South Africa's power utility, the central pillar of the white-run economy, sat down with Nelson Mandela and asked him a simple question: when you take office, what are you going to do with Eskom? The answer from South Africa's future president was equally simple: nothing, as long as you continue to produce cheap electricity and connect more black South Africans to the grid. "'We do not wish to
  
  Read more

• Yuan level appropriate, reflects fx supply, demand: China central bank

  21-03-2015 07:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The current level of China's yuan is appropriate because it reflects foreign exchange supply and demand and economic fundamentals, a top central bank researcher said on Saturday, playing down talk of suspected official intervention. On Friday, the yuan ended its best week since 2007 after a rush of dollar sales over the past few days by major state-owned banks, possibly acting on behalf of the central bank. Lu Lei, head of the research bureau at the People's Bank of China, reiterated t
  
  Read more

• China yuan level reflects fx supply, demand: central bank researcher

  21-03-2015 06:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The current level of China's yuan reflects foreign exchange supply and demand and is appropriate and in line with economic fundamentals, Lu Lei, head of the research bureau at the People's Bank of China, said on Saturday. Lu reiterated the policy goal of keeping the yuan "basically stable on a reasonable and balanced level". "We believe the current level is appropriate, it reflects the situation of the real economy, reflects the surplus and shortfall in global capital, a
  
  Read more

• Freeport Indonesia says blockade at Grasberg copper mine lifted

  21-03-2015 03:25
  JAKARTA, March 21 (Reuters) - A five-day blockade by workers at Freeport-McMoRan Inc's Indonesian mine ended on Saturday and normal operations were being resumed at the Grasberg site, a spokeswoman...
  
  Read more

• Investors eye data as stocks approach records

  21-03-2015 02:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Concern about the Federal Reserve's path of rate increases and the soaring U.S. dollar have resulted in big swings in the S&P 500 on a daily basis, even though overall expectations for volatility remain low. Bolstered by reduced expectations of approaching rate hikes, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite came close to record closing highs on Friday. "Any piece of economic data that speaks to the pace of job creation or inflation will be watched very closely. With Wall Street bracin
  
  Read more

• UPDATE 1-U.S. SEC to allow shareholder vote on Wal-Mart independent chairman

  21-03-2015 02:23
  March 20 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc shareholders will vote in June at the company's annual meeting on electing an independent board chairman, after U.S. regulators rejected a request by the...
  
  Read more

• Telefonica Brasil says to offer shares after GVT approval

  21-03-2015 02:23
  RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Telefonica Brasil said on Friday it would hold a public share offering after it receives regulatory approval to buy the local broadband unit of Vivendi SA known as GVT.
  
  Read more

• UPDATE 1-White House stands by pledge to end Ex-Im backing for coal plants

  21-03-2015 01:18
  WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it would press ahead to end government financing for most coal-fired power plants overseas, a day after a bipartisan bill sought to...
  
  Read more

• DIARY- Top Economic Events to April 3

  21-03-2015 01:01
  ** This Diary is filed daily ** ----------------------------------------------------------- TOP ECONOMIC EVENTS
  
  Read more

• SEC to allow vote on Wal-Mart independent chairman shareholder proposal

  21-03-2015 00:56
  March 20 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc failed to block a vote on a shareholder resolution calling for an independent board chairman, allowing it to return to the ballot for the third straight year...
  
  Read more

• U.S.'s Lew says strong dollar good for U.S. -CNN

  21-03-2015 00:39
  WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said a strong dollar is good for the United States, sticking with long-standing U.S. policy.
  
  Read more

• Monsanto weed killer can 'probably' cause cancer -World Health Organization

  21-03-2015 00:28
  CHICAGO, March 20 (Reuters) - The world's most widely-used weed killer can "probably" cause cancer, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
  
  Read more

• Bank of America joins 'proxy access' trend with new director-nomination rules

  21-03-2015 00:26
  
  (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp joined a growing list of U.S. companies that are changing their corporate governance rules to make it easier for shareholders to nominate directors, after talks with...
  
  Read more

• White House: committed to limits on coal for Export-Import Bank

  21-03-2015 00:23
  WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it is committed to ending government financing for most coal-fired power plants overseas, a day after a bipartisan bill proposed...
  
  Read more

• UPDATE 2-BofA joins 'proxy access' trend with new director-nomination rules

  21-03-2015 00:21
  March 20 (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp joined a growing list of U.S. companies that are changing their corporate governance rules to make it easier for shareholders to nominate directors, after...
  
  Read more

• Peru says it might pay off $1.29 billion worth of its dollar debt

  21-03-2015 00:12
  LIMA, March 20 (Reuters) - Peru may set aside $1.29 billion this year to pay off debt held in dollars after issuing about the same amount in sovereign bonds in the local sol currency this week, the...
  
  Read more

• U.S. FAA plans new steps to speed up commercial drone use -sources

  21-03-2015 00:07
  WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration plans to unveil new steps soon to make it easier for companies to use drone aircraft for specific business operations,...
  
  Read more

• UPDATE 1-HSBC sued by U.S. credit union group over mortgage-backed securities

  21-03-2015 00:06
  WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The National Credit Union Administration Board filed suit against HSBC Bank USA, alleging it did not fulfill trustee duties for 37 residential mortgage-backed...
  
  Read more

Follow @FinanceUSA_News on Twitter!