Finance news

• Brazil says no 'grand bargain' with builders in Petrobras scandal

  25-03-2015 23:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Dilma Rousseff's government denied on Wednesday that it is looking to strike a "grand bargain" with Brazilian construction and engineering firms implicated in the kickback scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras. With Brazil facing recession, the government is keen to limit economic fallout by reaching leniency deals with some of the 24 companies under investigation that have halted projects and laid off workers after Petrobras stopped paying t
  
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• UPDATE 2-Red Hat profit forecast matches estimates despite strong dollar

  25-03-2015 23:41
  March 25 (Reuters) - Red Hat Inc, the world's largest commercial distributor of the Linux operating system, forecast a profit for the first quarter that matched analysts' estimates despite warning on...
  
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• Argentina sees a 'scam' in Citigroup debt deal

  25-03-2015 23:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A deal between Citigroup Inc and a U.S. judge allowing the banking giant to process two Argentine debt payments and exit its custodian business in Argentina may violate the country's laws, Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said on Wednesday.
  
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• FTC says regrets release of documents on Google probe

  25-03-2015 22:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Three U.S. Federal Trade Commission members said on Wednesday they regretted the inadvertent release of part of an agency report about its probe of Google Inc as the company continues to face antitrust scrutiny from European authorities. The document, which was at the center of a report by The Wall Street Journal, indicated that key staff members at the FTC were in favor of suing Google for allegedly breaking antitrust law. In a statement the commissioners -- Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, Julie Bril
  
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• U.S. FTC says regrets release of documents on Google probe

  25-03-2015 22:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Three U.S. Federal Trade Commission members said on Wednesday they regretted the inadvertent release of part of an agency report about its probe of Google Inc as the company continues to face antitrust scrutiny from European authorities. The document, which was at the centre of a report by The Wall Street Journal, indicated that key staff members at the FTC were in favour of suing Google for allegedly breaking antitrust law. In a statement the commissioners -- Chairwoman Edith Ramirez, Julie Bri
  
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• UPDATE 7-Heinz deal for Kraft expands food larder for Buffett, 3G

  25-03-2015 22:49
  March 25 (Reuters) - Ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co, backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital, will combine with Kraft Foods Group Inc in a $46...
  
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• Wall St. drops as biotechs, semis sink Nasdaq

  25-03-2015 22:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday as a slump in technology and biotechs sent the Nasdaq to its biggest decline in nearly a year while the S&P 500 fell through key support levels. Semiconductors and biotech ...
  
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• US STOCKS-Wall St drops as biotechs, semis sink Nasdaq

  25-03-2015 22:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday as a slump in technology and biotechs sent the Nasdaq to its biggest decline in nearly a year while the S&P 500 fell through key support levels. Semiconductors and biotech ...
  
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• Schlumberger fined $232.7mn for breaking Iran, Sudan sanctions

  25-03-2015 22:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  French-US oil services giant Schlumberger Ltd. was fined $232.7 million by the Justice Department Wednesday for violating sanctions on Iran and Sudan. Fully owned subsidy Schlumberger Oilfield Holdings Ltd. admitted guilt to one count of "knowingly and willfully conspiring to violate" the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act, under which US sanctions are applied, the department said. According to the charges, the company's Texas-based drilling and measurements unit provi
  
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• Greek central bank head says Grexit not an option

  25-03-2015 22:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The governor of the Greek central bank ruled out the country's exit from the eurozone on Wednesday, and said that Athens was close to reaching a deal on its bailout. It is not going to happen," Yannis Stournaras told an event in London. The central bank governor said the competitiveness of the Greek economy had been restored in the last five years and that an exit "would deliver no benefit and a lot of pain". Stournaras added that the new Greek government was "close to a
  
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• UPDATE 1-Calvin Klein owner PVH expects strong dollar to hurt profit

  25-03-2015 21:54
  March 25 (Reuters) - PVH Corp, owner of clothing brands such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, forecast lower-than-expected profit for the first quarter and the full year, as it expects to be hurt...
  
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• As oil prices slide, North Dakota sees manufacturing in its future

  25-03-2015 21:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Ernest Scheyder WILLISTON, N.D. (Reuters) - Business and community leaders in North Dakota's western oil patch have launched an aggressive campaign to convince more manufacturers to set up shop locally, part of a push to expand the area's economy beyond crude production and slash costs. The effort, which was launched on Wednesday at a conference in Williston, capital of the state's oil industry, comes as crude prices have plunged more than 60 percent since last summer, threatening the economy
  
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• TSX falls 1 percent, energy is only rising sector

  25-03-2015 21:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell 1 percent on Wednesday, with heavyweight banks and insurers weighing, while a bounce in oil prices helped some of the country's biggest oil and gas producers. The overall slip was less severe than that seen in the United States, as investors fretted about economic data in Canada's largest trading partner. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed down 151.89 points, or 1.01 percent, at
  
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• Imprisoned hedge fund founder seeks to void insider trading conviction

  25-03-2015 21:43
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former hedge fund manager Doug Whitman, the first defendant in a broad U.S. insider trading crackdown to testify in his own defense, is seeking to void his conviction.
  
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• US market indexes slump, extending declines to a 3rd day

  25-03-2015 21:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Investors dumped high-flying technology and biotech companies and sent the stock market down for a third straight day Wednesday.
  
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• CORRECTED-UPDATE 6-Heinz-Kraft deal expands food larder for Buffett, 3G

  25-03-2015 21:35
  March 25 (Reuters) - Ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co, backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital, will combine with Kraft Foods Group Inc to create the...
  
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• Wall St. drops as biotechs, semis hit Nasdaq

  25-03-2015 21:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday as a slump in technology and biotechs sent the Nasdaq to its biggest decline in nearly a year while the S&P 500 fell through key support levels. Semiconductors and biotech stocks weighed heavily on the Nasdaq, suffering their third straight session of declines after strong gains in the prior week. The PHLX semiconductor index slumped 4.6 percent for its biggest percentage decline since Oct. 10 and also ended the session below both its 14-day and 50-day moving
  
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• US STOCKS-Wall St drops as biotechs, semis hit Nasdaq

  25-03-2015 21:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The PHLX semiconductor index slumped 4.6 percent for its biggest percentage decline since Oct. 10 and also ended the session below both its 14-day and 50-day moving averages.
  
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• RPT-UPDATE 6-Heinz-Kraft deal expands food larder for Buffett, 3G

  25-03-2015 21:22
  March 25 (Reuters) - Ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co, backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital, will combine with Kraft Foods Group Inc to create the...
  
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• U.S. stocks sell off, dollar slips on growth worries

  25-03-2015 21:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks sold off sharply, with semiconductor and biotech shares sliding more than 4 percent, and the dollar slipped on Wednesday after government data signaled the U.S. economic expansion was slowing.
  
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• Red Hat's revenue jumps 16 pct as demand rises for cloud software

  25-03-2015 21:15
  March 25 (Reuters) - Red Hat Inc, the world's largest commercial distributor of the Linux operating system, reported a 16 percent jump in quarterly revenue, as the company benefits from increasing...
  
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• Wall St. falls; biotech, technology push Nasdaq down

  25-03-2015 21:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday as a slump in technology and biotech shares sent the Nasdaq to its biggest decline in almost a year, while the S&P 500 fell through key support levels.
  
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• IMF warns Ireland to maintain fiscal path

  25-03-2015 20:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday warned Ireland against a giveaway budget ahead of next year's general election but backed calls for greater spending flexibility from the European Commission. "Ireland's recovery is off to a good start and the priority is to maintain solid growth and job creation," the IMF said in a report on the eurozone nation's economy. Dublin’s coalition government must call a general election by April 2016 and latest polls show both par
  
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• E*Trade President Nandra 2014 pay jumped to $4.8 million

  25-03-2015 20:31
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - E*Trade Financial Corp paid its president, Navtej Nandra, $4.75 million in cash, stock and restricted bonuses last year, more than twice as much as other top executives except...
  
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• EU unveils ambitious overhaul of digital economy

  25-03-2015 20:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The EU unveiled an ambitious plan to overhaul Europe's fragmented digital landscape on Wednesday that would allow Europeans traveling in other bloc countries to get their Netflix film fix or watch BBC iPlayer even when abroad. Europe is the world's biggest economy, but despite its 500 million potential consumers, in many ways it remains a divided continent of 28 distinct economies, especially when it comes to media and the Internet. "Let us do away with all those fences and walls
  
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• US stock market heads to third straight loss

  25-03-2015 20:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market sank Wednesday following a drop in durable goods orders, as major indexes headed toward their third day of losses. Tech companies and financial firms led eight of 10 sectors in the S&P 500 down.
  
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• U.S. money fund assets post biggest weekly rise since 2013

  25-03-2015 20:21
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. money market fund assets rose $32.27 billion to $2.721 trillion in the week ended March 24 for its largest single-week increase since the third week of October 2013, the...
  
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• All sides want debt deal, Grexit not an option: Greek central banker

  25-03-2015 20:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - All sides in Greece's debt stand-off with its European creditors remain committed to a deal that will end uncertainty and allow its economic recovery to accelerate, Greek central bank chief Yannis Stournaras said on Wednesday. Speaking in a packed lecture hall at the London School of Economics, Stournaras said that a Greek exit from the euro - "Grexit" - was not an option and would deliver no benefit to the country, only pain. "Grexit would imply huge costs for the Greek peopl
  
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• U.S. bond funds attract $448 mln, smallest inflow in 10 weeks: ICI

  25-03-2015 20:01
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors in U.S.-based mutual funds committed just $448 million to bond funds in the week ended March 18 after longer-term investors responded to a change in the Federal...
  
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• Borse Dubai to sell $2.2 billion stake in London Stock Exchange: source

  25-03-2015 19:56
  LONDON (Reuters) - Borse Dubai [BRSDB.UL], the biggest investor in the London Stock Exchange is selling its stake in the British exchange, which will raise around 1.5 billion pounds ($2.23 billion).
  
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• Wells Fargo to cut 1,000 jobs, shut Milwaukee home-lending office

  25-03-2015 19:56
  
  (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co, the fourth-largest U.S. bank by assets, said it will cut 1,000 jobs and close its home-lending servicing office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
  
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• US durable goods orders stumbled in February

  25-03-2015 19:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured goods fell in February, the latest installment of disappointing data this quarter that suggests the economy has hit a soft patch.
  
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• Merger momentum keeps on rolling with Heinz deal for Kraft

  25-03-2015 19:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street's deal-making renaissance shows no sign of slowing.
  
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• Argentina minister says Citigroup bond deal is illegal

  25-03-2015 19:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Argentina's Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said on Wednesday a deal between Citigroup Inc and a U.S. judge allowing the banking giant to process two Argentine debt payments violated the South American country's laws. Citigroup, which acts as custodian of some Argentine bonds, has been embroiled in a court battle between the South American country and a group of New York-based hedge funds seeking full payment on their defaulted sovereign bonds. Argentina has long accused the U.S. judge
  
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• Stocks slump, dollar slips on U.S. growth worries

  25-03-2015 18:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Michael Connor NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks tumbled and the dollar slipped on Wednesday after government data signalled the U.S. economic expansion was slowing, while gains in the euro prompted a pullback in European stock markets. The main U.S. stock indices were off more than 1 percent midway through a session that began with a modest lift on news of a deal between Kraft Foods and Heinz Co to create North America's third-largest food company. The Commerce Department data sho
  
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• SEC trims states' purview on stock offerings under $50 million

  25-03-2015 18:52
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators adopted a new rule Wednesday that will scale back the states' powers to police some public stock offerings, a move that advocates say will spur more...
  
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• Argentine minister says Citigroup bond deal is illegal

  25-03-2015 18:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said on Wednesday a deal between Citigroup Inc and a U.S. judge allowing the banking giant to process two Argentine debt payments violated the South American country's laws. Kicillof said Argentina's securities commission and central bank would examine the deal to determine officially whether or not it was legal. "From my point of view, the deal they have signed with the vultures clearly violates Argentine la
  
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• European stock markets pull back

  25-03-2015 18:36 via news.yahoo.com
  European stock markets pulled back Wednesday as worries over Greece offset positive German data, analysts said, with focus also on the aviation sector as more details of the Alps plane crash emerged. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index shed 0.41 percent to 6,990.97 points, while Frankfurt's DAX 30 index fell 1.17 percent to 11,865.32 points and the CAC 40 in Paris dropped 1.32 percent to 5,020.99 points.
  
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• ECB's Weidmann says would be tragic if Greece gave up reform drive

  25-03-2015 18:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Germany's Bundesbank chief, Jens Weidmann, said on Wednesday Greece was still far from the end of its "marathon" reform process and that it would be "tragic" if Athens gave up the economic adjustments it has already made. The latest debate around Greece showed the euro zone crisis had unfortunately not been overcome, Weidmann, who sits on the European Central Bank's policymaking Governing Council, said in the text of a speech for delivery in Munich. "Those who blame the ECB and European politics
  
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• ARM leads fallers as FTSE drops away from record high

  25-03-2015 18:03
  * TUI gains on hopes of meeting growth target (Adds further detail, closing prices)
  
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• UPDATE 3-FDA approves Emergent BioSolutions' inhaled anthrax treatment

  25-03-2015 17:54
  * Drug already being stored in U.S. strategic stockpile (Adds analyst comment; updates shares)
  
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• Wall Street falls as short-term technicals weaken

  25-03-2015 17:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  At 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average fell 192.64 points, or 1.07 percent, to 17,818.5, the S&P 500 lost 17.56 points, or 0.84 percent, to 2,073.94 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 79.68 points, or 1.6 percent, to 4,915.05.
  
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• Indirect bidders buy record amount of U.S. FRN

  25-03-2015 17:52
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Indirect bidders including fund managers and foreign central banks bought a record amount of U.S. two-year, floating-rate government notes at an auction on Wednesday, Treasury...
  
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• European stocks end the day down

  25-03-2015 17:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Paris (AFP) - Europe's main stock markets closed in the red on Wednesday, with London's benchmark FTSE 100 index ending the day down 0.41 percent at 6,990.97 points.
  
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• U.S. SEC proposes more oversight for high-speed traders

  25-03-2015 17:49
  
  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - High-speed stock trading firms that execute transactions away from exchanges would be subject to greater regulatory oversight under a proposal unveiled on Wednesday by...
  
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• Facing resistance, U.S. pushes to meet deadline for Iran deal

  25-03-2015 17:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Louis Charbonneau and John Irish WASHINGTON/PARIS (Reuters) - The United States will struggle to secure a framework nuclear deal between Iran and major powers by a March 31 deadline due to resistance from Tehran and scepticism among other countries, officials said. With the two sides resuming negotiations this week, Washington is under heavy pressure as it pushes for the political framework accord that would lay the foundations for a full deal with Iran by June 30. The aim is to curb Iran
  
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• Moody's upgrades Pakistan bond rating

  25-03-2015 17:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Moody's upgraded Pakistan's dollar bonds rating one notch from stable to positive on Wednesday on the back of the country's improving macroeconomic indicators. The financial ratings firm said its decision came in view of Pakistan's strengthening foreign exchange reserves. Militant-plagued Pakistan has been trying to boost its flagging economy since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was elected nearly two years ago. "Moody's Investors Service has revised the outlook on Pak
  
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• US stocks head lower following drop in durable goods

  25-03-2015 17:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market headed lower Wednesday following a drop in durable goods orders and news of a big merger between Kraft and Heinz.
  
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• British government has 'buried' review into EU ties - MPs

  25-03-2015 17:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Members of Parliament on Wednesday accused the British government of burying a major review into Britain's relationship with the European Union meant to inform public opinion ahead of a possible referendum on membership of the bloc. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain's EU ties before holding a referendum by the end of 2017 if re-elected at a national vote in May. His government commissioned an extensive civil service investigation into how the EU affects B
  
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• Wall St, dollar slip on U.S. growth worries

  25-03-2015 17:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Michael Connor NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks and the dollar slipped on Wednesday as government data signaled the U.S. economic expansion was slowing, while gains in the euro prompted a pullback in European stock markets. A modest lift at the opening bell for U.S. stocks on news of a deal between Kraft Foods and Heinz Co to create North America's third-largest food company failed to hold, with stocks fading after data showed unexpectedly weak U.S. durable goods orders. "The
  
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