Finance news

• Obama nominates Szubin as Treasury undersecretary for terrorism, financial crimes

  16-04-2015 23:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Thursday said he would nominate Adam Szubin as Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial crimes, the White House said in a statement. Szubin has been director of the Treasury Department's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence since 2006, where he played a key role in devising U.S. economic sanctions against Iran and Russia. He has been the acting undersecretary since February after Obama picked David Cohen to be deputy director
  
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• Obama signs bill fixing Medicare doctors' pay

  16-04-2015 23:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill into law on Thursday that repairs the formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians after Congress, in rare bipartisan fashion, passed a fix earlier this week to prevent a 21 percent cut in doctors' pay. Sitting outside in the White House Rose Garden in his shirt sleeves, Obama said he was signing the bill now rather than waiting for a formal ceremony so it could go into force right away. "This was a bipartisan effort," Obama said, adding he
  
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• U.S.-based taxable bond funds attract 5th week of inflows -Lipper

  16-04-2015 23:22
  NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Investors in U.S.-based funds committed $1.6 billion to taxable bond funds in the week ended April 15, marking the fifth straight week of inflows into the funds, data...
  
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• Cantor Fitzgerald Wealth boss Stan Gregor to exit: report

  16-04-2015 23:22
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stan Gregor, a private banker hired almost two years ago to create a wealth management business for Wall Street trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., is leaving, according to...
  
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• UPDATE 1-Chile cenbank holds key rate at 3 pct for sixth straight month

  16-04-2015 23:21
  SANTIAGO, April 16 (Reuters) - Chile's central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.0 percent on Thursday for a sixth consecutive month, as widely expected, and reiterated its neutral...
  
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• Boston investment adviser must pay couple $48.5 million: ruling

  16-04-2015 23:18
  (Reuters) - A Boston investment management firm must pay $48.5 million in damages to a couple who were advised to invest in a Polish tobacco company that an arbitrator deemed "grossly...
  
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• Lipper fund flows IG US$384.4m outflow; HY US$791.6m inflow

  16-04-2015 23:15
  NEW YORK, April 16 (IFR) - For the week ended April 15, Lipper US Fund Flows reported an outflow of US$384.4m from corporate investment grade funds (YTD net inflow of US$24.784bn) and an inflow of...
  
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• Spain tax officials search home of ex-IMF head in money-laundering probe

  16-04-2015 23:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Spanish tax office agents on Thursday searched the Madrid home of former IMF head Rodrigo Rato, who has already been charged in two graft cases, as part of a new money-laundering probe. Spain's state prosecutor ordered the searches as part of an investigation into suspected money laundering, fraud and asset stripping, a source close to the investigation told AFP. Police escorted Rato, a former economy minister with Spain's ruling conservative party, out of his apartment building in an
  
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• Investors cut exposure to Petrobras in mixed session

  16-04-2015 23:13
  NEW YORK, April 16 (IFR) - Latin American credit markets put in a mixed performance Thursday as investors cut some exposure to Brazilian oil company Petrobras after a substantial run-up in the credit.
  
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• GLOBAL MARKETS-Wall St holds steady, oil rises and dollar declines

  16-04-2015 23:11
  NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street equities finished modestly lower on Thursday as investors worried about coming corporate results, while European stocks fell nearly 1 percent under the...
  
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• No factory for old men: Hyundai Motor seeks to end seniority-based pay

  16-04-2015 23:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  In a bid to curb rising domestic labor costs, Hyundai Motor Co is seeking to base wages on merit not seniority in an overhaul of a decades-old salary system that puts the South Korean firm on a collision course with its activist union. South Korea is the world's fastest ageing major economy, and high labor costs are eroding its manufacturers' competitive edge as economic growth slows. If Hyundai Motor, one of South Korea's biggest employers, succeeds in revamping its pay structure
  
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• EU not laying ground for Greek exit: Moscovici

  16-04-2015 23:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Washington (AFP) - The European Union is not laying the groundwork for a possible Greek split from the eurozone, the EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said Thursday.
  
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• Chile cenbank holds key rate at 3 pct for sixth straight month

  16-04-2015 23:05
  SANTIAGO, April 16 (Reuters) - Chile's central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 3.0 percent on Thursday for a sixth consecutive month, as widely expected, and reiterated its neutral...
  
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• Energy drop leads TSX into red

  16-04-2015 23:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday as energy bears won a scuffle in the ongoing battle against bulls who expect a recovery in crude oil prices to limit long-term damage to the country's major oil and gas industry. A day earlier the index hit a seven-month high, helped by a surge in the price of oil, but investors failed to muster much enthusiasm for a fresh 2015 crude price peak hit after militants took control of a Yemeni oil terminal. &qu
  
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• HIGHLIGHTS-ECB's Praet on QE tapering

  16-04-2015 23:00
  WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - For highlights of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings on Thursday in Washington:
  
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• U.S. judge finds Wells Fargo breached 2010 mortgage settlement

  16-04-2015 22:56
  NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo Bank breached a nationwide 2010 legal settlement involving adjustable-payment mortgages, a federal judge ruled, finding that the bank did not properly...
  
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• CANADA FX DEBT-C$ rockets to third day of gains on central bank optimism

  16-04-2015 22:49
  (Adds details, comments from CIBC, closing figures) * Canadian dollar at C$1.2181 or 82.10 U.S. cents * Bond prices lower across the maturity curve * C$ jumped about 3.4 percent, or more than 4...
  
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• US stocks edge lower on mixed earnings, Greece worries

  16-04-2015 22:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  New York (AFP) - US stocks finished barely lower Thursday following mixed earnings and lackluster economic data as worries about Greece's finances returned to the forefront.
  
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• U.S. lawmakers unveil bill that holds key to Pacific trade deal

  16-04-2015 22:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Krista Hughes WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. lawmakers reached agreement on Thursday on a bill to give the White House "fast track" authority to negotiate a trade pact with 11 other Pacific nations that is central to President Barack Obama's strategic shift toward Asia. The agreement sets the stage for a tough legislative battle over Obama's proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would connect a dozen economies by cutting trade barriers and harmonizing standar
  
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• Everyone (only) complains about bubbles: James Saft

  16-04-2015 22:37
  (Reuters) - Bubbles are a bit like the weather: everyone complains but no one does anything about them.
  
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• UPDATE 1-Netflix's soaring valuation raises some doubts on Wall St

  16-04-2015 22:36
  April 16 (Reuters) - Netflix Inc has been a stock market darling over the past few years and strong first-quarter subscriber additions sent its shares to another record high on Thursday. But is the...
  
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• AMD revenue falls as PC sales continue to decline

  16-04-2015 22:22
  April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices Inc reported a 26.2 percent fall in quarterly revenue, hurt by continued weak PC and graphic card sales and intense competition from Intel...
  
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• UPDATE 3-Closure of 'Alexandria' trade would cost Monte Paschi 1 billion euros

  16-04-2015 22:08
  * Bank says closing Alexandria has near zero impact on capital
  
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• UPDATE 3-High-speed trading firm Virtu's shares jump in market debut

  16-04-2015 21:54
  April 16 (Reuters) - Shares of electronic trading firm Virtu Financial Inc rose as much as 24.6 percent in their debut, which was postponed by nearly a year due to widespread criticism of...
  
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• Curb your microfinance addiction and still feel good

  16-04-2015 21:34
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - I was lending money to a grocery store owner in Mozambique and a cosmetics saleswoman in Haiti when I realized I was addicted.
  
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• U.S. military option in Iran 'intact' despite Russian missiles: U.S. General

  16-04-2015 21:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. military option to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and encourage a diplomatic solution, remains intact despite Russia's decision to deliver its S-300 missile defense system to Tehran, the top U.S. general said on Thursday. "We've known about the potential for that system to be sold to Iran for several years and have accounted for it in all of our planning," General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference. "The military
  
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• Fed's Lockhart says 'murky' data complicates rate hike decision

  16-04-2015 21:24 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank president Dennis Lockhart said on Thursday the recent "murky" run of U.S. data has him leaning against a June interest rate hike, but added he is confident the economy will remain on track. "I would lean to a little later versus a little earlier," said Lockhart, saying that a below-par March U.S. employment report and other factors are making the economy difficult to read. So I don't take June off the table it is just not my preference,"
  
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• Fed's Lockhart says June rate hike not his current preference

  16-04-2015 21:24 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WEST PALM BEACH (Reuters) - Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart said on Thursday that he favored a rate hike later in the year rather than in June, given the cloudy data from the first few months of 2015. "I would lean to a little later versus a little earlier," Lockhart said, referring to the weak U.S. employment report for March and other factors that may prove transitory, but which are making the economy difficult to read. "I don't think it is a stark decision where we are
  
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• Home of ex-IMF head Rato searched in tax investigation

  16-04-2015 20:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Spanish judges ordered a search of the Madrid home of former International Monetary Fund chief Rodrigo Rato as part of an investigation into tax paid on his personal wealth, a court statement said on Thursday. Spain's state prosecutor had requested the search of Rato's home as part of an investigation involving the former IMF managing director and "other people", according to the brief court statement in which further details were not provided. Two official sources separately
  
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• Italian government warns Whirlpool against layoffs

  16-04-2015 20:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Italy's government joined unions Thursday in denouncing reported plans by US appliance giant Whirlpool to cut 1,350 jobs a year after it took over Italian rival Indesit. The economic development ministry in Rome said in a statement that it was taking the reports of planned layoffs seriously, and had asked Whirlpool "to confirm its commitment to not undertake unilateral layoffs" as part its agreement to take over Indesit and its workforce of 5,150 people last year. The announcement
  
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• Hedge fund Engaged Capital seeks to replace three Rovi directors

  16-04-2015 20:02
  (Reuters) - Engaged Capital LLC has written to Rovi Corp, which sells television guide programs to cable providers, seeking changes to the company's board.
  
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• Spain tax officials search home of ex-IMF head Rodrigo Rato

  16-04-2015 19:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Spanish tax office agents on Thursday searched the Madrid home of Rodrigo Rato, a former IMF head and ex-economy minister with Spain's ruling conservative party, who has already been charged in two corruption cases. Spanish media reported that tax officials are looking into the origin of the money which Rato declared when he took advantage of a 2012 government tax amnesty approved by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government. Rato, a former stalwart of Spain's ruling Popular Party
  
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• Washington state auditor indicted on tax-related charges

  16-04-2015 19:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Washington state auditor Troy Kelley, a Democrat elected in 2012, has been indicted on charges of filing false tax returns, obstruction and possession of stolen property, a U.S. federal prosecutor said on Thursday. A Seattle grand jury returned a 10-count indictment against Kelley, 50, of Tacoma, for his alleged scheme to keep stolen money and hide it from both the Internal Revenue Service and those due a refund for home purchases or mortgage refinancing, Acting U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said.
  
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• Current G-20 head urges more action on global economy

  16-04-2015 19:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The current head of the Group of 20 wealthy and emerging nations says governments need to do more to jolt the global economy out of the rut it fell into after the 2008 financial crisis.
  
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• Fiat Chrysler plans bonus system for workers in Italy

  16-04-2015 19:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said on Thursday it will introduce a new productivity-based bonus system for workers in Italy as it seeks to further boost its relations with unions in the country. The scheme, based on the carmaker's productivity, quality and profitability targets set in its 2015-2018 business plan, could cost the company up to a maximum of just over 600 million euros ($644 million) over the four-year period, it said in a statement. "If the final plan targets are met, and I am sure the
  
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• Pressure rises on Greece as IMF rebuffs repayment delay

  16-04-2015 19:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday played down talk of Greece delaying its debt payments, maintaining pressure on Athens as it runs out of money to pay. "We have never had an advanced economy ask for payment delays," the Fund's managing director told reporters in Washington, at the opening of the IMF-World Bank spring meetings. In this, the IMF is closing ranks with Greece's European Union creditors as the clock ticks on Athens reaching a new fina
  
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• Airline seat squeeze raises health and safety concerns

  16-04-2015 18:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Victoria Bryan BERLIN (Reuters) - Airlines are packing ever more seats into economy class to protect profit margins from falling ticket prices, prompting concerns over health and safety from travelers and crew. "If you're a dog, you have very specific rules, but if you're a human being there are no specific rules as to what is humane," Charlie Leocha, the head of consumer group Travelers United, told a U.S. government advisory committee examining the issue in Washington D.
  
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• U.S. House passes estate tax repeal despite veto threat

  16-04-2015 18:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday ignored a White House veto threat and passed legislation to repeal the estate tax that hits inherited assets worth $5.4 million or more. By a mostly partisan 240-179 vote, the Republican-backed bill will be sent to the Senate, where Democrats are expected to use procedural hurdles to try to block it. House passage was timed for the week when most Americans file their tax returns. Every American deserves the ability to pass their life’s savings to t
  
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• BNDES sees oil rig supplier Sete Brasil reorganization by June

  16-04-2015 18:52
  BRASILIA, April 16 (Reuters) - A reorganization plan to help
  oil rig supplier Sete Brasil Participações SA remain in business
  should be ready by the end of June, after shareholders and
  creditors...
  
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• Marlboro-maker Philip Morris raises profit view on strong Europe demand

  16-04-2015 18:42
  April 16 (Reuters) - Philip Morris International Inc's shares are on track for their best day in over six years after the maker of Marlboro cigarettes raised its full-year profit forecast as it sold...
  
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• Puerto Rico's PREPA taps reserve fund for quarterly payment

  16-04-2015 18:36
  NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's troubled
  utility, PREPA, made another withdrawal from its reserve account
  to make a quarterly bond payment on April 1, according to a
  regulatory filing...
  
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• House passes bill to repeal estate tax

  16-04-2015 18:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Thursday to repeal the federal tax on estates, a politically volatile issue that affects few inheritances.
  
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• European stocks close down on Greek worries, profit-taking

  16-04-2015 18:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  European equities closed lower Thursday on fresh worries over Greece, and as investors cashed in gains after London surged to a record peak the previous day. London's FTSE 100 index ended the day 0.51 percent down at 7,060.45 points, after having soared the previous day to a record intra-day high of 7,111.72. Madrid's Ibex 35 shed 1.42 percent, while Milan's FTSE Mib dropped 1.75 percent as eurozone tussles with Greece loomed large in investors' minds. The region's equit
  
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• BRIEF-Renta Corp unit completes insolvency proceedings

  16-04-2015 18:29
  * Says insolvency process of its unit Renta Corporacion Real
  Estate 2 SLU is now completed, by decision of the Commercial
  Court in Barcelona, and the company will cease to exist
  
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• South Africa's rand recovers as soft U.S. data weighs on dollar

  16-04-2015 18:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Locally, South Africa faced power cuts for a fifth straight day while attacks on immigrants continued, casting a cloud over the economy. Traders said the continued power shortages and widespread attacks on foreign nationals could strain sentiment and appetite for the local currency if the issues persisted.
  
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• Congress passes bill to repeal estate tax

  16-04-2015 18:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed a bill that would repeal the federal tax on estates.
  
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• Russia cannot divide Europe over Ukraine, says German minister

  16-04-2015 18:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Thursday Russia could not succeed in breaking European Union unity on sanctions over Ukraine by using strategies such as offering to remove trade embargoes against individual EU member states. There were such attempts and they were not successful," he said in Lithuania, where concern about neighboring Russia's intervention in Ukraine is especially acute. Steinmeier said EU member states had debated the issue and it had proved controversial
  
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• Bullish Putin dismisses fears over Russia's economic blues

  16-04-2015 18:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President Vladimir Putin said Thursday the worst was over for Russia's crisis-hit economy as he shrugged off widespread concerns over the impact of the Ukraine crisis in his annual phone-in. Russians from around the country sent in questions in record numbers with many focused on financial hardships and others worried about ties with war-torn Ukraine. Putin ruled out a war with Kiev and played down the economic troubles as he sought to portray Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis as a
  
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• UPDATE 2-Crafts website company Etsy valued at $4 bln in market debut

  16-04-2015 18:11
  * Stock priced at top end of expected range (Adds analyst and seller comments, background; updates shares)
  
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• Pearson penalised as UK's FTSE slips off record high

  16-04-2015 18:08
  * FTSE closes down 0.5 pct at 7,060.45 points * Index had earlier hit record high of 7,119.35 points * Pearson hit by report of possible LA contract glitch * Unilever rises after solid sales * Rise...
  
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