Finance news

• Nasdaq sets new record closing high

  23-04-2015 23:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Nasdaq Composite Index set an all-time closing high of 5056 on Thursday, taking out the record it set during the dotcom boom of 2000. Following are comments from investors and analysts on the news: URI LANDESMAN, president of Platinum Partners in New York: “It’s pretty amazing. Basically put it under the mattress or put it in the stock market, because obviously you’re not getting anything in the bank. I think there’s more risk in the rest of the world right now than there is the Unit
  
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• UPDATE 1-Aerie Pharma shares battered as eye drug fails study

  23-04-2015 23:47
  April 23 (Reuters) - Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc lost nearly three-quarters of its value after the company said its lead experimental eye drug failed a late-stage study.
  
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• Google's 1Q reassures investors despite earnings miss

  23-04-2015 23:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is still flexing its moneymaking muscle even as a technological upheaval nibbles at its dominance in Internet search and European antitrust regulators question some of the company's practices.
  
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• Factbox: Nasdaq's 'Cubes' ETF reaps Nasdaq's big run

  23-04-2015 23:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The QQQ exchange-traded fund, often called the "Cubes" or the "Qs," tracks the Nasdaq 100, the index of the biggest 100 non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq and is a proxy for the much broader Nasdaq Composite Index. * Since its 1999 launch with fewer than $15 million in assets, the QQQ has grown 2,645-fold in assets, making it larger now than the entire U.S. ETF industry was then. * The fund started as a side project for a handful of Nasdaq employees seeking to bring mom-and-pop investo
  
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• Google shares rise after profit, revenue gains

  23-04-2015 23:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lisa Richwine (Reuters) - Google Inc reported higher quarterly revenue and profit as rising ad volume offset the impact of the strong dollar, sending its stock higher in after-hours trading. Shares of the world's No. 1 Internet search engine rose after the results were released, climbing 3.9 percent on Thursday to $579. While revenue and profit missed the forecasts of Wall Street analysts, many investors had been bracing for a weaker report, said BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis. ...
  
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• Global Markets - Nasdaq breaks 15-year record; oil up on Middle East worry

  23-04-2015 23:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, with the Nasdaq index hitting a record closing high, as corporate earnings and a rise in energy shares overshadowed soft U.S. economic data, while oil prices climbed to the highest levels of the year. The gains pushed the Nasdaq above a record set in March 2000, the height of the dot-com boom. The index is up 353 percent from its October 2002 low after the technology bubble burst. "It has the potential to go up, absent
  
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• Microsoft profit, revenue beats Wall Street view; shares up

  23-04-2015 23:22 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Microsoft Corp on Thursday reported revenue and profit above Wall Street expectations, as sales of its hardware and cloud-computing services helped to offset a decline in the company's core Windows business. "The Street will cheer these results as it appears Microsoft is back on the right track after a head-scratching performance last quarter." Sales of Windows to computer manufacturers to install on new PCs fell 19 percent in the quarter, reflecting a sharp dip from a year ago wh
  
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• AIG in $40 million accord over crisis-era retirement plan losses

  23-04-2015 23:15
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc has reached a $40 million settlement of claims it should not have let employees invest their retirement savings in company stock as the insurer...
  
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• EU, US trade negotiators get an earful from critics

  23-04-2015 23:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Critics of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) included Jean Halloran, a senior adviser at the nonprofit Consumers Union, who suggested a treaty would be the worst of all possible worlds, exposing European consumers to "faulty GM cars" and US children to toys that do not meet strict American standards. Halloran's remarks came during a three-hour stakeholder comment session during the ninth round of TTIP talks, which concludes Friday. The agreement, w
  
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• Apple Watch goes on sale worldwide amid supply shortage

  23-04-2015 23:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Apple Watch goes on sale around the world on Friday, the final stage of a protracted launch of Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook's first new product, capping months of publicity and a frenetic two weeks of pre-orders. Buyers can take the smart watch home from a handful of upscale boutiques and department stores, such as The Corner in Berlin, Maxfield in Los Angeles and Dover Street Market in Tokyo and London, which Apple courted to help position the watch as a fashion item. The lack of
  
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• Ontario pledges smaller deficits; labor unrest seen

  23-04-2015 23:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Andrea Hopkins TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario’s Liberal government trimmed its budget deficit forecasts for the next two years on Thursday as it unveiled a budget that seeks cost cuts in education and healthcare, a move toward austerity that could spark labor unrest across the province. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, which accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s economy, will run a deficit of C$8.5 billion ($7 billion) in the 2015-2016 fiscal year as it aims to return to
  
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• Nasdaq CEO says exchanges need to be vigilant against bad actors

  23-04-2015 23:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By John McCrank NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exchanges need to constantly be on the lookout for abusive trading behavior in order to protect the resiliency of the marketplace, Robert Greifeld, chief executive officer of Nasdaq OMX Group said on Thursday. "We have to have the assumption that bad actors will try to do bad things within the market," Greifeld said in an interview.
  
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• Factbox - Nasdaq surpasses peak close after 15 years: then and now

  23-04-2015 23:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Fifteen years and 31 trading days since the dot.com bubble peaked on March 10, 2000, the Nasdaq composite index has closed at 5056.06, finally beating its previous record close of 5,048.62. Back then many of us were watching reality TV shows like "Survivor" and bidding up stocks of companies with no earnings. These days, we are less focussed on reality shows and more focussed on reality - keeping tabs on dividends and price-earnings ratios, for example. A lot has changed - Apple Inc
  
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• Nasdaq sets closing record

  23-04-2015 22:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Nasdaq Composite, the U.S. market index most closely associated with technology stocks, closed at an all-time high on Thursday, surpassing a 2000 record set just before the dotcom crash. Its record close of 5,056.06 capped a slow, unsteady climb from a 2002 low of 1,114.11 that spanned a recession, the rise of biotech and social media, and the explosive growth of mobile phones that has helped make Apple the most valuable company in the United States. The Nasdaq jumped as high as 5,073.091 on
  
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• Stock records tumble but earnings flatter, revenues flat: James Saft

  23-04-2015 22:56
  (Reuters) - As U.S. company earnings rise and major stock market indices hit new heights, two small problems remain: revenues are static and the trajectory of earnings growth is slipping.
  
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• Merkel: must prevent Greece running out of cash before deal

  23-04-2015 22:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Paul Taylor BRUSSELS (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday everything must be done to prevent Greece running out of money before it reaches a cash-for-reform deal with its international creditors amid heightened concern that Athens is nearing the brink. Merkel, Europe's pre-eminent leader, was speaking after a meeting she called "constructive" with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Brussels. Asked how great
  
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• UPDATE 2-Petrobras tries to turn page on corruption, talks oil

  23-04-2015 22:49
  RIO DE JANEIRO, April 23 (Reuters) - Executives at Brazil's Petrobras on Thursday sought to move on from a giant corruption scandal that has plagued the state-run oil company, outlining a...
  
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• Flash crash trader used series of brokers, companies: documents

  23-04-2015 22:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Navinder Singh Sarao, 36, was arrested in the United Kingdom this week on U.S. criminal charges, and authorities are linking his trades to the flash crash, when about $1 trillion was temporarily wiped out from U.S. stock markets in a matter of minutes. Sarao, a self-described insomniac, also urged authorities to ban manipulative practices by high-speed traders, the documents showed. "I don't like the HFT arena and have complained to the exchange numerous times about their manipulative
  
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• Nasdaq Record: Then and Now

  23-04-2015 22:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Fifteen years after peaking during the dot-com boom, the Nasdaq composite has reached a new all-time high.
  
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• Oil jumps on Middle East worry; U.S. stocks advance

  23-04-2015 22:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices climbed to their highest levels of the year on Thursday as tensions in the Middle East sparked supply concerns, while the boost from energy-related stocks helped U.S. equities shrug off a batch of soft economic data.
  
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• Nasdaq breaks 15-year record; oil up on Middle East worry

  23-04-2015 22:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, with the Nasdaq index hitting a record closing high, as corporate earnings and a rise in energy shares overshadowed soft U.S. economic data, while oil prices climbed to the highest levels of the year. The gains pushed the Nasdaq above a record set in March 2000, the height of the dot-com boom. "It has the potential to go up, absent some external event that I can't predict." said Walter Price, senior portfolio
  
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• Nasdaq sets record high, 15 years after dot-com bubble

  23-04-2015 22:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Fifteen years, one month and thirteen days.
  
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• Nasdaq closes at its first record in 15 years

  23-04-2015 22:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq Composite closed at a record high on Thursday for the first time since the technology bubble burst 15 years ago.
  
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• Google first-quarter revenue jumps 12 percent, shares rise

  23-04-2015 22:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Google Inc reported a 12 percent rise in quarterly revenue, helped by a 13 percent jump in the number of ads, or paid clicks, but missed lofty Wall Street expectations. Shares of the world's No. 1 Internet search engine rose 3.8 percent in extended trading. While the total number of paid clicks rose, the average price of online ads, or "cost per click," declined 7 percent in the first quarter ended March 31. Google's ad revenue has been pressured as more consumers
  
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• Microsoft profit, revenue beats Wall Street view

  23-04-2015 22:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Thursday reported revenue and profit above Wall Street expectations, as sales of its hardware and cloud-computing products helped to offset a decline in its core ...
  
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• Nasdaq, S&P 500 set to break record closing highs Thursday

  23-04-2015 22:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Nasdaq Composite Index, the most prominent U.S. gauge of technology stocks, surpassed a 15-year-old record high it hit during the technology bubble of 2000 on Thursday. One market watcher said Nasdaq stocks have some real strength and as such are deserving of their highs, but he cautioned against investing in the social media space at these levels.
  
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• Nasdaq breaks record closing high on Thursday

  23-04-2015 22:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Nasdaq Composite Index, the most prominent U.S. gauge of technology stocks, surpassed a 15-year-old record high it hit during the technology bubble of 2000 on Thursday. One market watcher said Nasdaq stocks have some real strength and as such are deserving of their highs, but he cautioned against investing in the social media space at these levels.
  
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• Sarao cancelled 99 percent of orders - CFTC civil complaint

  23-04-2015 21:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Navinder Singh Sarao, the futures trader charged with market manipulation that contributed to the May 2010 Wall Street "flash crash," was cancelling more than 99 percent of his orders on d...
  
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• Nasdaq Reaches New Record. Chances Are You Missed Out

  23-04-2015 21:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Gallup’s annual Economy and Finance survey, released Wednesday, found that 55 percent of Americans said they have money invested in the stock market, either through individual stocks, mutual funds or retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s. Gallup’s surveys before 2009 had found stock ownership levels routinely above 60 percent, and as high as 65 percent. “While the stock market has made significant progress in recent years, the upward trend hasn't lured more Americans back into the
  
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• Raymond James head says proposed rule would hurt many investors

  23-04-2015 21:44
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Millions of investors would be dropped by their financial advisers if the U.S. Department of Labor's proposal is adopted requiring brokers who offer retirement advice to enter...
  
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• Nasdaq on track for first closing record since 2000

  23-04-2015 21:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Nasdaq jumped as high as 5,073.091, led by shares of Apple, which has been among the biggest positive influences on the index in recent years. Rapid growth in biotechnology companies such as Gilead and social media firms like Facebook, driven by the popularity of mobile computing, have also helped to lift the Nasdaq to its current levels. Stephen Massocca, chief investment officer at Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco, said the Nasdaq has a good chance of sustaining its current h
  
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• Senior member of German Eurosceptic AfD quits over shift to the right

  23-04-2015 21:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Hans-Olaf Henkel, a close ally of AfD founder Bernd Lucke, has quit the party's main executive body due to attempts by "right-wing ideologues" to take over, he said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung to be published on Friday. While Henkel and Lucke want to establish the AfD as a serious alternative to Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives by advocating liberal economic policies, more right-leaning members are calling for a tougher stance against foreigners and are flirting w
  
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• Strong dollar squeezes company earnings

  23-04-2015 21:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Procter & Gamble and Facebook have nothing in common. One deals in razors and toothpaste, the other in likes, self-promotion and embarrassing family photos. But this week, they shared the same problem: the strong dollar has taken a cut of their quarterly sales.
  
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• Look-alike hedge funds' 2014 returns top originals' performance

  23-04-2015 21:09
  BOSTON (Reuters) - Liquid alternative products, the look-alike hedge funds wooing customers with promises of getting their money back more easily and paying lower fees to have it managed, now have...
  
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• U.N. expert says secret trade deals threaten human rights

  23-04-2015 21:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - Secret negotiations on international trade deals threaten human rights, an independent United Nations expert said on Thursday in comments that appeared aimed at agreements the United States is seeking with the European Union and Pacific nations. In a statement, Cuban-born U.S. lawyer Alfred de Zayas voiced particular concern about provisions that allow companies to sue states. “I am concerned about the secrecy surrounding negotiations for trade treaties, which h
  
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• Nasdaq to settle Facebook IPO lawsuit for $26.5 million

  23-04-2015 20:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  In a first for a U.S. stock exchange, Nasdaq OMX Group on Thursday agreed to pay $26.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving its bungling of Facebook Inc's $16 billion initial public offering, the plaintiffs' lawyers said. The lawsuit said Nasdaq violated federal and state laws by not disclosing technology weaknesses in its IPO systems and failing to properly design and test them for the Facebook offering. The settlement is significant because exchanges are responsible for
  
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• Flash crash trader used rapid series of brokers: documents

  23-04-2015 20:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Sarah N. Lynch and Tom Polansek WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - The UK futures trader blamed for his role in the May 2010 Wall Street flash crash went through a rapid succession of brokerages that cleared his trades on the CME, documents filed in court showed. Navinder Singh Sarao, who was arrested in the UK this week on U.S. charges he manipulated futures markets, did business with now defunct MF Global, Marex, Knight Futures and finally R.J. O'Brien, the documents showed.
  
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• Nasdaq breaks above all-time closing record

  23-04-2015 20:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Nasdaq jumped as high as 5,069.17, led by shares of Apple , which has been among the biggest positive influences on the index in recent years. Rapid growth in biotechnology companies such as Gilead and social media firms like Facebook , driven by the popularity of mobile computing, have also helped to lift the Nasdaq to its current levels. Stephen Massocca, chief investment officer at Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco, said the Nasdaq has a good chance of sustaining its current
  
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• RWE slams Germany's plans for coal levy

  23-04-2015 20:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  German power giant RWE hit out Thursday at government plans to impose a levy on older fossil-fuelled power plants, warning of tens of thousands of job losses in the industry and soaring electricity prices. In a bid to meet its goals of reducing carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2020, Economy and Energy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has proposed a climate fee on older coal-fired power plants. "If the undertaking by the economy and energy ministry is implemented as planned, it will lead to major st
  
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• Nasdaq moves into record territory as stocks gain

  23-04-2015 20:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The Nasdaq composite crossed into record territory and U.S. stocks turned higher in afternoon trading Thursday, despite mixed earnings reports from General Motors, Proctor & Gamble and others.
  
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• RJ O'Brien says cleared trades for UK trader charged in 'flash crash'

  23-04-2015 20:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Brokerage R.J. O'Brien cleared trades recently for a British man accused of market manipulation that authorities say contributed to the May 2010 Wall Street flash crash, a company spokeswoman said on Thursday. The brokerage "had no involvement in the trading decisions" of the trader, Navinder Singh Sarao, or his company, she said. (Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by David Gregorio)
  
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• Creditors, Caesars spar over control of casino bankruptcy

  23-04-2015 19:46
  April 23 (Reuters) - Creditors of the bankrupt operating
  unit of Caesars Entertainment Corp said they wanted to stop the
  casino company from extending the period when it has exclusive
  control of its...
  
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• Schwab CEO praises fast 'robo advisor' start, laments low rates

  23-04-2015 19:45
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Charles Schwab Corp's automated investment product has attracted $1.5 billion of assets in over 23,000 accounts in its first six weeks, about 20 percent of whom are new clients,...
  
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• Goldman Sachs Asset Management to buy Pacific Life business

  23-04-2015 19:36
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc'sAsset Management plans to acquire the Pacific Global Advisors solutions business from Pacific Life Insurance Co , the company said on Thursday.
  
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• Shares flat on earnings, oil jumps on Middle East worry

  23-04-2015 19:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks in major markets shook off soft data in big economies to hold near the unchanged mark on Thursday, while oil prices climbed on Middle East tensions.
  
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• Soft U.S. economic data suggests mild second-quarter growth rebound

  23-04-2015 19:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment aid edged up last week for a third straight week, but the underlying trend continued to point to solid momentum in the labor market. Still, the rise in jobless claims and other data on Thursday showing weak new home sales in March and factory activity this month could heighten concerns about the economy's ability to rebound strongly after stumbling at the start of the year. "Overall, the
  
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• As Amazon parties on, some large fund managers take their leave

  23-04-2015 19:12
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - For many years, investors have been very tolerant as Amazon.com has sacrificed profits for rapid growth in sales and as it built new businesses. That patience may finally be...
  
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• Spain sees slight increase in first quarter jobless rate

  23-04-2015 18:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Spain's high unemployment rose slightly in the first quarter, official data showed Thursday, a reminder in an election year of the challenges the country faces as it seeks to cement a fragile economic recovery. The jobless rate rose to 23.78 percent, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), up from 23.7 percent in the previous quarter. The increase is a blow for Spain's conservative government as it prepares for municipal and regional elections next month and general elect
  
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• Schwab CEO praises fast 'robo advisor' start, laments low trading

  23-04-2015 18:55
  NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters) - Charles Schwab Corp's automated investment product has attracted $1.5 billion of assets in over 23,000 accounts in its first six weeks, about 20 percent of whom are new...
  
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• Analysis - Despite earnings beats, expectations dim for later quarters

  23-04-2015 18:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most U.S. companies so far this earnings season have managed to beat Wall Street profit forecasts despite weak sales, but investors hoping corporate headwinds have died down may need to temper their enthusiasm. Of the 169 Standard & Poor's 500 companies that have reported so far, 71 percent beat earnings estimates, many of which were modest to begin with, Thomson Reuters data showed.
  
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