Finance news

• Illinois Democrats to offer FY 2016 budget with cuts, revenue

  25-05-2015 23:53
  CHICAGO, May 25 (Reuters) - Democrats in the Illinois state House and Senate will move ahead with their own fiscal 2016 budget that will include spending cuts as well as new revenue that will be...
  
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• C$ little changed in thin markets; busy data week in focus

  25-05-2015 23:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar finished little changed against the greenback on Monday in very thin holiday trading and ahead of a busy week in North American economic news. Investors are focused on the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision on Wednesday and first-quarter economic growth data on Friday, as well as a jam-packed U.S. data calendar that could have implications for the U.S. Federal Reserve. "For the Bank of Canada ... There's definitely risk,
  
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• CANADA FX DEBT-C$ little changed in thin markets; busy data week in focus

  25-05-2015 23:09
  (Updates with fresh details on week ahead, strategist comment, closing figures) * Canadian dollar at C$1.2313 or 81.21 U.S. cents * Bond prices mixed across the maturity curve By Solarina Ho TORONTO,...
  
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• Canadian start-up Shoes.com eyes fall IPO after funding round

  25-05-2015 22:32
  TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian e-commerce start-up Shoes.com Technologies plans to go public this fall following a private funding round that tapped high-net-worth individuals and private institutional...
  
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• Ukraine agents raid UniCredit in expanding terror probe

  25-05-2015 21:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Ukrainian security agents on Monday seized documents at the Kiev headquarters of Italy's UniCredit bank as part of a probe aimed at cutting off the suspected illicit financing of pro-Russian rebels in the separatist east. The high-profile probe is part of increased efforts by Kiev's Western-backed leaders to choke off the insurgents' resources and force them to become an even bigger drain on Russia -- whose own economy is undergoing severe stress. A spokeswoman for Ukraine's
  
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• EMERGING MARKETS-Brazil real slides on fiscal noise, Fed concern

  25-05-2015 21:00
  RIO DE JANEIRO, May 25 (Reuters) - Brazil's real led losses among Latin American currencies on Monday as questions about the political support to Brazilian austerity measures added to concern about...
  
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• G7 finance ministers to discuss recent forex moves -Canada

  25-05-2015 20:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations will discuss recent foreign exchange movements when they meet in Germany this week, a senior Canadian official said on Monday. The official also told reporters that foreign exchange movements over the last few months have reflected what was happening in the world economy, in particular economic recoveries in the United States and Europe. Instead, Germany will release a chairman's statement.
  
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• Rajoy's Spanish re-election plan in doubt after local battering

  25-05-2015 20:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Julien Toyer and Sarah White MADRID (Reuters) - To anyone who doubted his re-election strategy, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has had a simple answer: "Trust me". Now, a battering in local polls has cast doubt on his plan that an economic recovery will secure him a second term later this year. This was Rajoy's message as he campaigned across Spain for his conservative People's Party (PP) before the municipal and regional polls last weekend.
  
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• UPDATE 2-Greece says wants to make debt payments but needs aid urgently

  25-05-2015 20:46
  * Deputy minister says: "We won't pay. It's that simple" (Adds government official)
  
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• UPDATE 1-Rajoy's Spanish re-election plan in doubt after local battering

  25-05-2015 20:35
  * New era of coalition politics a challenge for the PP (Adds Rajoy news conference)
  
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• Charter reportedly near deal to buy Time Warner Cable

  25-05-2015 20:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Charter courting Time Warner Cable again, this time offering $55 billion in cash and stock, according to the Wall Street Journal.
  
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• G7 finance ministers will discuss recent forex moves: Canada

  25-05-2015 20:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations will discuss recent foreign exchange movements when they meet in Germany this week, a Canadian official said on Monday. The official also told reporters that foreign exchange movements over the last few months have reflected what was happening in the world economy, in particular economic recoveries in the United States and Europe. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Galloway)
  
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• UPDATE 2-Brazil's Levy denies dispute over budget cuts, will stay in post

  25-05-2015 19:57
  BRASILIA, May 25 (Reuters) - Brazilian Finance Minister Joaquim Levy on Monday denied any disagreements within the government over unpopular budget cuts and said he did not plan to leave his...
  
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• UPDATE 2-Italy's Monte dei Paschi launches 3 billion euro share sale

  25-05-2015 18:59
  * Bank issues 10 new shares at 1.17 euros for every existing share
  
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• Challenger Duda wins Poland's presidential election with 51.55 pct - final result

  25-05-2015 18:09
  WARSAW, May 25 (Reuters) - Conservative challenger Andrzej Duda won Poland's presidential election with 51.55 percent of the vote, against 48.45 percent for defeated incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski,...
  
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• Slug & Lettuce Owner To Drink To £1bn Float

  25-05-2015 17:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The owner of the Slug & Lettuce and Yates' pub chains is joining a growing queue of companies preparing to float on the London stock market. Sky News understands that Stonegate, which is the UK’s fourth-largest owner of managed pubs, has begun sounding out investment bankers about a listing that would probably take place during the course of 2016. Insiders said that Stonegate, which was formed in 2010 from the acquisition by TDR Capital, a private equity firm, of 333 pubs from Mitchel
  
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• UPDATE 1-Mexico sells $30 mln in daily auction, blames U.S. holiday

  25-05-2015 17:48
  MEXICO CITY, May 25 (Reuters) - The central bank of Mexico sold just $30 million on Monday at an average price of 15.2659 pesos per dollar in a daily auction of up to $52 million, due to low demand...
  
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• Brazil's Levy says there was no disagreement over budget cuts

  25-05-2015 17:33
  BRASILIA, May 25 (Reuters) - Brazilian Finance Minister Joaquim Levy said on Monday there was no disagreement within the government over the size of budget cuts announced last week.
  
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• Mexico cenbank sells just $30 mln in daily auction

  25-05-2015 17:18
  MEXICO CITY, May 25 (Reuters) - The central bank of Mexico sold just $30 million on Monday at an average price of 15.2659 pesos per dollar in a daily auction of up to $52 million, the bank said.
  
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• UPDATE 1-Investors cut holdings of Mexico peso bonds -cenbank

  25-05-2015 17:05
  MEXICO CITY, May 25 (Reuters) - Foreign investors reduced holdings of Mexican peso debt in the first quarter while increasing holdings of local stocks, the central bank said on Monday.
  
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• Canada housing agency softens outlook for starts for 2015, 2016

  25-05-2015 17:01
  OTTAWA, May 25 (Reuters) - Canada's federal housing agency on Monday gave a cooler outlook for housing starts this year and next, saying that lower oil prices are contributing to differences across...
  
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• Nigeria fuel shortages hit telecoms, banking and aviation

  25-05-2015 16:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alexis Akwagyiram LAGOS (Reuters) - Chronic fuel shortages in Nigeria brought phone firms, banks and flights to a standstill on Monday, just four days before Muhammadu Buhari's inauguration as president of Africa's biggest economy and top oil exporter.
  
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• UBS seeks to offload Australian wealth unit to management: source

  25-05-2015 16:25
  ZURICH (Reuters) - UBS is seeking to offload its private bank in Australia to the unit's management following a review of underperforming businesses at the Swiss bank, a source with direct knowledge...
  
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• India's key stock market index ends over 300 points down

  25-05-2015 16:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed the day's trade in the red. The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 27,893.25 points, closed the day's trade at 27,643.88 points (at 3.45 p.m.), down 313.62 points or 1.12 percent from the previous day's close at 27,957.50 points.The key index had touched a high of 27,903.29 points and a low of 27,614.32 points in the intra-day trade. The main concern for the markets was the uneven corporate resu
  
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• AfDB sees Africa's GDP growth nearing pre-crisis levels

  25-05-2015 16:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Joe Bavier ABIDJAN (Reuters) - African economies will grow 4.5 percent this year and 5 percent in 2016, approaching levels last seen before the 2007 global financial crisis, as economic prospects improve worldwide, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said. "If you ask me today what I think of events affecting Africa and African economies in 2014, I would say the lesson pertaining is resilience in the face of global adversity," the AfDB's chief economist Steve Kayuzzi-Mugerwa sa
  
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• Iran will need to spend most of any post-sanctions windfall at home

  25-05-2015 15:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lesley Wroughton and Sam Wilkin WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranians will demand their government spend a windfall from the lifting of economic sanctions on improving the quality of life at home, limiting the degree to which a future nuclear deal could fund Tehran's allies on Middle East battlefields. Since 2012, Iran has given support worth billions of dollars to regional allies, funding and arming mainly fellow Shi'ite Muslims in conflicts that have taken on a sectarian dimension. Within m
  
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• Malaysia's Eastern & Oriental says property unit seeks listing in London

  25-05-2015 14:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian property company Eastern & Oriental Bhd is seeking a London stock market listing for a unit owning three buildings in the British capital, saying a flotation would help the unit expand in the UK. The company has proposed to admit shares and warrants of Eastern & Oriental Property (UK) Ltd to trading on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's market for smaller growing companies, a company filing showed on Monday. ...
  
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• Europe stocks stumble, dollar lifted by U.S rate view

  25-05-2015 14:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Emelia Sithole-Matarise LONDON (Reuters) - European shares fell in thin trade on Monday while the dollar powered ahead after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated that the central bank was poised to raise interest rates this year. Investor concerns about Greece's debt problems and a poor regional and local election result by Spain's ruling People's Party also weighed on the euro and European shares. The pull-back in European stocks mirrored losses on Wall Street on
  
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• Union Bank of Nigeria to close branches early due to fuel shortage

  25-05-2015 14:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Union bank of Nigeria said on Monday it would close all of its branches across Africa's biggest economy at 2 pm local time due to a national fuel shortage as it relies on diesel generators to run its operations. "We are closing operations by 2 pm today because of lack of fuel to power our operations," a bank spokesman said.
  
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• UPDATE 2-Low sugar prices hurt S.Africa's Illovo Sugar, Tongaat

  25-05-2015 13:33
  * Illovo looks to diversify revenue stream (Adds Tongaat results, details, CEO comments)
  
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• Near A$1 bln Greenstone flotation to be Australia's biggest so far this year

  25-05-2015 13:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) - South African-owned insurer Hollard Group plans to raise nearly A$1 billion ($783 million) by listing its Australian unit Greenstone Pty Ltd, in what is set to be Australia's biggest flotation so far in 2015. About 58 percent of Greenstone, or 398 million shares, will be sold for between A$2.00 and A$2.50 per share, a prospectus filed with Australian authorities showed on Monday, confirming what a source working on the sale told Reuters. At the top end of th
  
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• Africa's GDP growth seen at pre-economic crisis levels: AfDB

  25-05-2015 11:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  African economies will grow 4.5 percent this year and 5 percent in 2016 due to rising demand for exports, the highest levels since the global economic crisis took hold in 2007, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said. Financial inflows will increase nearly 7 percent to $193 billion, supported by higher foreign direct investment and a spike in portfolio investments, the bank said in its annual African Economic Outlook report. The AfDB estimates African economies to have grown by 3.9 percent in 2
  
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• European shares dip, dollar gains after Yellen comments

  25-05-2015 11:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - European shares fell in thin trade on Monday while the dollar held firm after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated that the central bank was poised to raise interest rates this year. U.S. shares fell on Friday after Yellen suggested the Fed was ready to act if the economy kept improving as expected, though a raft of recent data has suggested it is growing only modestly in the second quarter.
  
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• Africa's GDP growth to rise to pre-economic crisis levels: AfDB

  25-05-2015 11:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  ABIDJAN (Reuters) - African economies will grow 4.5 percent this year and 5 percent in 2016 due to rising demand for exports, closer to their levels before the global economic crisis, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said. Financial inflows will increase nearly 7 percent to $193 billion, supported by higher foreign direct investment and a spike in portfolio investments, the bank said in its annual African Economic Outlook report. The AfDB estimates African economies to have grown by 3.9 perce
  
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• South Africa's Hollard confirms Greenstone Australian IPO

  25-05-2015 10:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African insurer Hollard Group confirmed on Monday that its Australian unit, Greenstone, is seeking a listing on the Sydney stock market, its spokesman said. Citing a source working on the sale, Reuters reported earlier that Greenstone planned to raise nearly A$1 billion ($783 million) in what is set to be Australia's biggest initial public offering for the year to date.
  
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• Botswana's growth to remain above 4 pct: central bank

  25-05-2015 10:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  GABORONE (Reuters) - Botswana's economy received a sizable boost from a 10 billion pula ($1 billion) jump in the balance of payments in 2014 from the previous year, which should help maintain annual growth above 4 percent, its central bank governor said on Monday.
  
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• UPDATE 1-Monte dei Paschi shares fail to trade ex-rights

  25-05-2015 10:36
  * Bank launches 3 billion euro cash call after failing ECB tests
  
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• South Africa's Famous Brands pulls out of India, earnings up

  25-05-2015 09:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  South African fast-food group Famous Brands has pulled out of India two years after re-entering the world's second most populous nation, it said on Monday. The company, which also has operations in Britain, the Middle East and 16 countries in the rest of Africa, reported a 15 percent rise in headline earnings per share (EPS) to 467 cents in the year to Feb. 28. Headline EPS, stripping out certain one-off items, is the main profit gauge in South Africa.
  
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• MIDEAST STOCKS-Arabtec lifts Dubai; Gulf mostly flat

  25-05-2015 09:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Updates with markets open) DUBAI, May 25 (Reuters) - Builder Arabtec lifted Dubai's stock market in early trade on Monday after Egypt's government said the firm's giant project there was still being discussed. Other Gulf bourses were mostly neutral in line with oil prices and global equities. Arabtec jumped 2.2 percent after the Cairo cabinet said a deal under which the company would build 1 million housing units in the country was still in the works, contrary to media reports on Sunday which h
  
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• Asian shares edge up, Fed views hurt some markets

  25-05-2015 09:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated on Friday that it was poised to raise rates this year if the economy keeps improving as expected, though a raft of recent data has suggested it is growing only modestly in the second quarer. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.3 percent, off earlier lows as shares in China rallied after Beijing said it is seeking private funding for over $300 billion worth of public projects. The National Develop
  
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• Portugal, like Europe, loses hunger for reform

  25-05-2015 09:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By John O'Donnell and Axel Bugge SINTRA, Portugal (Reuters) - Celebrated among Europe's elite as a model of how to reform an economy after a debt binge, Portugal's enthusiasm for change has waned as Europe loses its appetite for further belt-tightening. With Greece's future in the euro uncertain, after its leftist government all but tore up a reform-for-aid deal, Europe's policy setters are putting an extra shine on other countries that were bailed out - in part to avoid a spillover. "l compared
  
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• Gold struggles near $1,200 on Yellen comments, robust dollar

  25-05-2015 08:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By A. Ananthalakshmi SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold was trading close to its lowest level in over a week on Monday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated the U.S. central bank was likely to raise interest rates this year and as the dollar strengthened to its highest in a month. Spot gold had slipped 0.1 percent to $1,204.55 an ounce by 0335 GMT, close to $1,201.20, the metal's lowest since May 13 reached in the previous session. Yellen was clearer than ever on Friday that the centra
  
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• Asian shares little changed, Fed views hurt some markets

  25-05-2015 08:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares got off to a slow start on Monday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen indicated that the central bank was poised to raise interest rates this year if the economy keeps improving as expected. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 percent in early trade, with weakness in Southeast Asia offset by rises in China, Australia and South Korea. Japan's Nikkei stock index added 0.7 percent, getting a tailw
  
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• South Africa's Tongaat posts lower full-year earnings

  25-05-2015 08:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African sugar maker Tongaat Hulett posted a 16 percent drop in full-year earnings on Monday, weighed down by lower sugar output and prices. Tongaat said diluted headline earnings per share for the year to the end of March totalled 826.1 cents compared with 979 cents a year earlier. Headline earnings are the main profit gauge in South Africa and exclude certain one-off and non-trading items.
  
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• South Africa's Famous Brands FY earnings rise 15 pct

  25-05-2015 08:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African fast-food chain group Famous Brands reported a 15 percent rise in earnings on Monday, despite continued pressure on consumers in its home market. Famous Brands, which owns chains such as Debonair's Pizza, Steers and Wimpy, said headline earnings per share (EPS) climbed 15 percent to 467 cents in the year to the end of February. Headline EPS is the main profit gauge in South Africa that strips out certain one-off items. The company opened 213 new restaurants
  
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• ITC shares fall after lower-than-expected earnings

  25-05-2015 06:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MUMBAI (Reuters) - Shares in ITC Ltd fell 2.8 percent on Monday after India's largest cigarette maker reported lower-than-expected earnings as higher taxes on smokes and a government push to discourage tobacco consumption hurt business. ITC said late on Friday it earned 23.61 billion rupees ($371.6 million) in the January-March quarter, while analysts were expecting the company to earn 25.19 billion rupees, as per Thomson Reuters data. The broader Nifty was down 0.25 percent. (Reporting by
  
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• Asian stock markets mostly higher in quiet trading day

  25-05-2015 05:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly higher Monday on a quiet trading day with Hong Kong, Wall Street and London closed for holidays.
  
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• Japan trade account returns to deficit in April: govt

  25-05-2015 02:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Japan went back to a trade deficit in April after the first surplus in almost three years the previous month, but the shortfall shrank drastically year-on-year, data showed on Monday. The April deficit was much smaller than market expectations for a shortfall of more than 300 billion yen. Data from the Cabinet Office showed Japan's economy grew a faster-than-expected 0.6 percent on-quarter in the first three months of 2015 as it crawls back from a brief recession.
  
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• Five ways buyout firms are building their defences

  25-05-2015 01:00
  
  The industry is using a period of strongactivity to get its house in order
  
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• Firms crank up sterling loan deals as UK bond market wanes

  25-05-2015 01:00
  
  Banks from HSBC to Royal Bank of Scotland are underwriting sterling loans at the fastest pace since the financial crisis
  
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