Finance news

• Fed begins two-day meeting, result seen too close to call

  16-09-2015 22:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Federal Reserve began a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday with economists evenly split on whether Thursday will see the first official U.S. interest rate rise since 2006. The decision by the U.S. central bank's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is expected on Thursday at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT). U.S. economic data are flashing conflicting signals, with unemployment falling but inflation subdued, while slowing growth in China has led to a 40 percent fall in Shanghai stocks in three months, lea
  
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• Cuba seeks U.N. vote to end U.S. embargo; pope and Obama may help

  16-09-2015 22:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba on Wednesday launched its annual campaign for a United Nations resolution condemning the U.S. economic embargo while the White House and the Vatican added their own pressure on the U.S. Congress to end the 53-year-old sanctions. The Vatican has long opposed the Cold War-era embargo, saying ordinary Cubans suffer most from its effects, and Havana is counting on hearing that message when Pope Francis visits for three nights starting Saturday before continui
  
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• Obama to take tough but tempered line with China's Xi

  16-09-2015 22:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Matt Spetalnick, David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s economic powerhouse is slowing, destabilizing global markets. Beijing’s neighbors, unnerved over its pursuit of territorial claims, are increasingly cozying up to Washington. It might seem an ideal time for U.S. President Barack Obama to take advantage of Beijing’s troubles and get tough when he hosts Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a state visit on Sept. 25.     Ob
  
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• Energy stocks rise sharply as price of oil spikes

  16-09-2015 22:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Energy stocks led a rally on the stock market as the price of oil turned sharply higher.
  
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• Wall St. ends up, led by energy shares

  16-09-2015 22:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Energy stocks pushed Wall Street higher on Wednesday due to an almost 6-percent jump in oil prices, but volume was light as many investors stayed on the sidelines a day ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates.
  
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• Agony for Wall Street economists, investors as Fed meets

  16-09-2015 21:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street's top economists are on unfamiliar ground: as the Federal Reserve decides whether to raise interest rates, for the first time in years they are deeply divided on what will happen. Some observers of the world's most powerful central bank, which will announce its decision on Thursday, blame the Fed for being unusually enigmatic and sending mixed signals. "I joke to colleagues, do I still have a job on Friday if I get it
  
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• Energy stocks lead Wall Street higher; investors await Fed news

  16-09-2015 21:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Energy stocks lifted Wall Street on Wednesday following an almost 6-percent jump in oil prices, while investors braced for the Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates. The Fed is due to announce a decision on Thursday afternoon to either end or extend seven years of near-zero interest rates, potentially relieving markets of months of uncertainty as investors have been trying to predict the timing for a hike. The market's move up did not appear to be because of any real conviction about what
  
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• IEX, anti-high frequency trading firm, seeks to become stock exchange

  16-09-2015 20:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  IEX, the Wall Street firm at the centre of the high-frequency trading debate sparked by Michael Lewis's recent book Flash Boys, has filed to officially become a stock exchange. According to a filing made public by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, IEX has formally applied to become America's 12th stock market and compete with Nasdaq, the NYSE and even the TSX starting next year. Earlier this year, a company called Aequitas founded a new stock exchange in Canada for the sa
  
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• Obama warns China on cyber spying ahead of Xi visit

  16-09-2015 20:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President Barack Obama on Wednesday called for an international framework to prevent the Internet from being "weaponized" as a tool of national aggression, while holding out the prospect of a forceful U.S. response to China over hacking attacks. With Chinese President Xi Jinping set to visit Washington next week, Obama said at a conference with business leaders that his talks with Xi would include cybersecurity, a topic that has become a point of friction in U.S.-Chinese relations. A person brie
  
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• Hungarian riot police fire tear gas at migrants

  16-09-2015 20:35 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Maja Zuvela and Krisztina Than SID, Serbia/ROSZKE, Hungary (Reuters) - Riot police fired water cannon and tear gas on Wednesday at migrants demanding to be let through Hungary's newly shut EU frontier, while refugees at other Balkan frontiers clambered through cornfields in search of new routes. Hungary's decision this week to shut the European Union's external border with Serbia was the most forceful attempt yet by a European country to reduce the flow of refugees and economic migrants overw
  
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• Economy expected to recover after contraction: Bank of Canada

  16-09-2015 20:24 via news.yahoo.com
  
  After contracting in the first half of the year, Canadian economic activity is expected to recover with currency-sensitive export sectors regaining momentum, Bank of Canada Deputy Governor Agathe Cote said on Wednesday. In a presentation in Winnipeg, Cote said the current level of the Canadian dollar is consistent with its historical relationship with oil prices. U.S. economic activity is also expected to accelerate, she said.
  
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• Agony for Wall St. economists, investors as Fed meets

  16-09-2015 20:24 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street's top economists are on unfamiliar ground: as the Federal Reserve decides whether to raise interest rates, ...
  
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• Apple says won't release watchOS 2 on Wednesday

  16-09-2015 20:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A company spokeswoman said the bug was taking longer to fix than expected. Apple said last week that watchOS 2 would be available on Sept. 16. Apple limited the availability of the Apple Watch earlier this year after a component supplied by a Chinese company was found to be defective, the Wall Street Journal reported in April.
  
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• White House won't give details on possible measures against China on cyber spying

  16-09-2015 19:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The White House on Wednesday would not give details on President Barack Obama's comments that the United States is preparing countervailing actions against China for engaging in industrial espionage and stealing trade secrets over the Internet. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama was "intentionally non-specific" in the comments but added that the economic sanctions the United States has used over cyber espionage have had a deterrent effect. While speaking to the Business Roundtable, Ob
  
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• Energy stocks lead Wall Street higher; Fed decision awaited

  16-09-2015 19:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Energy stocks lifted Wall Street on Wednesday following a 5 percent jump in oil prices, even as investors braced for the Federal Reserve's decision on an interest rate hike. If the Fed opts to end seven years of near-zero interest rates on Thursday, markets would be relieved of the uncertainty that has dogged them for months. "The market is getting incrementally more comfortable that if the Fed is going to raise rates it's doing it for the right reasons," said John Canally, investment strategist
  
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• Obama using business CEOs meeting to apply budget pressure

  16-09-2015 19:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to avoid another contentious budget showdown and warned that the economy would surely take a hit if the government shuts down again.
  
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• Migrants to boost German growth by 0.25 percent points next year: DIW

  16-09-2015 19:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  German economic growth will probably be around 0.25 percentage points stronger in 2016 than it would have been without an influx of migrants, the Berlin-based DIW economic institute said on Wednesday. The German government is expecting 800,000 new arrivals this year, with many drawn by the generous welfare system and relatively liberal asylum laws that Europe's largest and richest economy offers. DIW economist Ferdinand Fichtner told Reuters the extra growth would come from more public spending
  
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• Fed begins two-day meeting to decide on interest rate hike

  16-09-2015 19:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Top officials at the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday began a two-day policy meeting that is narrowly expected to end without an interest rate hike. Policymakers are considering a rate increase to keep America's strengthening economy from overheating, a decision that could potentially roil financial markets around the world. In a Reuters poll of 80 economists, 45 said the Fed would keep its benchmark interest rate between 0 and 0.25 percent.
  
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• World's biggest brewer crafts $245bn tie-up plan

  16-09-2015 18:22 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The world's biggest brewer, Belgian-Brazilian giant AB InBev, is mulling a takeover of its largest rival SABMiller in a potential $245-billion marriage combining top beer brands Budweiser and Grolsch, the pair revealed Wednesday. The sector is looking at consolidation faced with the increased popularity of so-called craft beers that are brewed by smaller independent firms. AB InBev recently reported a sharp fall in second quarter profits owing to weak economic conditions in several markets, whil
  
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• European stocks climb as SABMiller takeover brews

  16-09-2015 18:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  European stock markets rose Wednesday as investors toasted news that Belgian-Brazilian drinks giant AB InBev is brewing a blockbuster takeover bid for Britain's SABMiller. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index climbed 1.49 percent to close at 6,229.21 points, while in the eurozone Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.38 percent to finish at 10,227.21 and Paris's CAC 40 jumped 1.67 percent to 4,645.84 points. SABMiller's share price rocketed by a fifth in London, topping the FTSE risers' board, after it reveal
  
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• U.S. household incomes slip, poverty rate up slightly in 2014

  16-09-2015 18:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  American household incomes lost ground last year and the poverty rate ticked up, the U.S. Census Bureau said on Wednesday, in a sign the U.S. economic expansion has not led to gains for many Americans five years after the 2007-2009 recession. In its annual estimates of income, poverty and the number of uninsured, the bureau also found the percentage of people in the United States without health insurance coverage fell to 33 million, or 10.4 percent, in 2014 from 41.8 million, or 13.3 percent, in
  
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• Wall Street higher as energy stocks lead

  16-09-2015 17:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Energy stocks lifted Wall Street on Wednesday after a 5 percent jump in oil prices, even as investors braced for the Federal Reserve's decision on an interest rate hike. The Fed will decide on Thursday after a two-day meeting. Speculation about when the Fed will end seven years of near-zero interest rates has dogged Wall Street for months, with the picture complicated by recent market turbulence that some see as justification for the central bank to stand pat.
  
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• Wall St. higher as energy stocks lead

  16-09-2015 17:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Fed will decide on Thursday after a two-day meeting. Speculation about when the Fed will end seven years of near-zero interest rates has dogged Wall Street for months, with the picture complicated by recent market turbulence that some see as justification for the central bank to stand pat.
  
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• 4 Ways to Lock in Low Interest Rates as the Fed Eyes a Move

  16-09-2015 17:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Two months ago economists were all but certain that the Fed would raise rates at its meeting this week. The slowdown in China, turmoil in the stock market and continued low inflation has some economists calling for the Fed to hold off on ending what’s been an unprecedented period of maintaining rock-bottom rates. IMF head Christine Lagard joined the chorus last week.
  
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• Will Jeremy Corbyn Hurt Your Portfolio?

  16-09-2015 17:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A Jeremy Corbyn manifesto could target our wallets and the businesses we invest in... however, UK stock market returns are driven more by the global economy than by Westminster.
  
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• U.S. household incomes lost ground, poverty rate ticked up in 2014

  16-09-2015 17:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. poverty rate rose slightly last year as inflation-adjusted median household income slipped, the U.S. Census Bureau said on Wednesday, in a sign the nation's economic expansion has not led to gains for many Americans. In its annual estimates of income, poverty and the number of uninsured, the bureau also found the percentage of people in the United States without health insurance coverage fell to 33 million, or 10.4 percent, in 2014 from 41.8 million, or 13.3 percent, in 2013. The povert
  
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• Wall Street opens little changed as Fed uncertainty reigns

  16-09-2015 16:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street was little changed on Wednesday as investors held fire ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision on an interest rate hike. The Fed will announce its decision on Thursday after a two-day meeting. Speculation about when the Fed will end seven years of near-zero interest rates has dogged Wall Street for months, with the picture complicated by recent market turbulence that some see as justification for the central bank to stand pat.
  
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• Wall St. opens little changed as Fed uncertainty reigns

  16-09-2015 16:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Fed will announce its decision on Thursday after a two-day meeting. Speculation about when the Fed will end seven years of near-zero interest rates has dogged Wall Street for months, with the picture complicated by recent market turbulence that some see as justification for the central bank to stand pat. "I don't think the Fed should wait until December to raise rates," he added.
  
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• Canada New Democrats to limit corporate tax hike

  16-09-2015 15:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's left-leaning New Democratic Party will raise the corporate tax rate from the current 15 percent to something less than 17.5 percent in its first term in office if it wins the Oct. 19 federal election, an NDP official said on Wednesday. This is less than the party's 2011 pledge to boost the corporate tax rate to 19.5 percent. The NDP's fiscal framework was scheduled for release on Wednesday afternoon ahead of a leaders' debate on Thursday on economic
  
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• FedEx profit misses expectations, lowers earnings forecast

  16-09-2015 15:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Package delivery company FedEx Corp posted a higher quarterly profit on Wednesday, but missed Wall Street expectations due to weak global economic conditions and the strong U.S. dollar. The Memphis-based company also lowered its full-year earnings forecast, citing modest economic growth and higher-than-expected operating costs plus self-insurance reserves at its ground domestic U.S. package unit. The news sent FedEx shares down more than 2 percent.
  
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• Wall Street flat at open ahead of Fed decision

  16-09-2015 15:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  REUTERS - U.S. stocks were little changed at the open on Wednesday as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on a rate increase. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 12.56 points, or 0.08 percent, to 16,612.41, the S&P 500 gained 1.92 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,980.01 and the Nasdaq composite added 1.37 points, or 0.03 percent, to 4,861.89.
  
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• Wall St. flat at open ahead of Fed decision

  16-09-2015 15:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed at the open on Wednesday as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on a rate increase.
  
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• Brazil austerity plan gets frosty reception from all sides

  16-09-2015 15:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Brasília (AFP) - President Dilma Rousseff's latest austerity plan to rescue Brazil's sinking economy faced a frosty reception Tuesday, with Congress raising questions over whether the measures will win approval. The speaker of the lower house of Congress and one of Rousseff's chief foes, Eduardo Cunha, dismissed the measures as "pseudo cuts" and predicted they would not easily pass. On the other side, the leaders of Rousseff's Workers' Party-led governing coalition, whom she met with Tues
  
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• Wall Street set to open flat as Fed uncertainty reigns

  16-09-2015 15:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street was set to open little changed on Wednesday as investors held off making big bets ahead of the two-day Federal Reserve meeting that will decide on an interest rate hike. The Fed begins its meeting on Wednesday and will announce its decision on Thursday. Speculation about when the Fed will end seven years of near-zero interest rates has dogged Wall Street for months, with the picture complicated by recent market turbulence that some see as justification for the central bank to stand p
  
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• S&P downgrades Japan, doubts Abenomics can soon reverse deterioration

  16-09-2015 15:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Wednesday downgraded Japan's credit rating by one notch to A+, saying economic support for the country's sovereign creditworthiness had continued to weaken in the past three or four years. S&P cut its rating on Japan from AA- to A+, which is four notches below its top rating of AAA. It was the first Japan downgrade by S&P since January 2011 and came 4-1/2 years after it last lowered its outlook, from stable to
  
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• Abraaj Group hires Moelis & Co to advise on exit from Network International

  16-09-2015 15:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Private equity firm Abraaj Group has hired investment bank Moelis & Co to advise it on options for selling its stake in United Arab Emirates-based payments provider Network International, either through a stock market listing or a private sale, according to sources. Abraaj has also been talking to banks including JP Morgan, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs as part of the dual-track process, said two of the sources. Dubai-based Abraaj acquired a 49 percent stake in 2011 in Netw
  
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• FedEx profit up but global economy, strong dollar weigh on results

  16-09-2015 14:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Package delivery company FedEx Corp posted a higher quarterly profit on Wednesday, but missed Wall Street expectations due to weak global economic conditions and the strong U.S. dollar. The news sent FedEx shares down nearly 3 percent in pre-market trading. Often considered a bellwether of U.S. economic activity, FedEx said it now expects earnings per share for the fiscal 2016 year ending May 31 next year in a range from $10.40 to $10.90 before year-end mark-to-market pension accounting adjustme
  
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• Global shares rise, dollar frozen ahead of Fed rate decision

  16-09-2015 14:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - World share markets rose on Wednesday and short-term U.S. bond yields hit 4 1/2-year highs as investors braced for the possibility of the first interest rate hike in the United States in almost a decade. Wall Street, though, was expected to resume marginally in the red, as markets remained in a state of flux over the likelihood of a rate increase by the Fed at its two-day meeting later on Wednesday. U.S. data published on Tuesday had done little to change expecta
  
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• World shares rise, dollar frozen ahead of Fed rate decision

  16-09-2015 14:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - World share markets rose on Wednesday and short-term U.S. bond yields hit 4 1/2-year highs as investors braced for the possibility of the first interest rate hike in the United States in almost a decade. Wall Street, though, was expected to resume marginally in the red, as markets remained in a state of flux over the likelihood of a rate increase by the Fed at its two-day meeting later on Wednesday. U.S. data published on Tuesday had done little to change expecta
  
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• Forget China, the More Immediate Threat to Your Portfolio Is From Congress

  16-09-2015 14:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Here's why: Over the next two weeks, the odds of a budget-related federal government shutdown are likely to rise, and that it is going to hit the stock market even if a shutdown is averted. Washington has until Sept. 30, the end of the government's fiscal year, to craft a budget deal — or, more likely, a continuing resolution that buys lawmakers more time to pass a budget. The government probably won't actually shut down.
  
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• Migrants seek new ways to EU after Hungary shuts main route

  16-09-2015 13:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Branko Filipovic SID, Serbia (Reuters) - Migrants walked through cornfields into the European Union through Serbia's western border with Croatia on Wednesday, opening a new front in the continent’s migration crisis after Hungary shut the main overland route. Croatia said it was urgently sending demining experts to the border area to identify minefields left on the frontier from the Balkan wars of the 1990s, the last time hundreds of thousands of displaced people marched across Europe. H
  
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• Brewing giants AB InBev, SABMiller mull $245 bn tie-up

  16-09-2015 13:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The world's biggest brewer, Belgian-Brazilian giant AB InBev, is mulling a takeover of its largest rival SABMiller in a potential $245-billion deal combining top beer brands Budweiser and Grolsch, the pair revealed Wednesday. The sector is looking at consolidation faced with the increased popularity of so-called craft beers that are brewed by smaller independent firms. AB InBev reported a sharp fall in second quarter profits owing to weak economic conditions in several markets, while Dutch beer
  
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• FedEx quarterly earnings rise, miss Wall Street estimates

  16-09-2015 13:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Package delivery company FedEx Corp on Wednesday reported a higher quarterly net profit, but missed Wall Street estimates as weak global economic conditions and the strong U.S. dollar weighed on results.
  
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• OECD cuts world growth outlook, warns on emerging markets

  16-09-2015 13:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The OECD cut its world economic growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016 on Wednesday, warning of a dramatic slowdown in Brazil and a global outlook clouded by uncertainty over China. The policy analysis club of 34 advanced economies had already slashed its forecasts just three months ago because of weak US activity. Now the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is returning to its calculations with an axe, citing in part a crisis gripping emerging markets as China's economic boom, and
  
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• Futures flat as investors hold off ahead of Fed meeting

  16-09-2015 13:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  All eyes will be on the Fed as it begins its meeting later on Wednesday and holds a conference on Thursday, when it will announce if it will raise long-term interest rates for the first time since June 2006. Speculation about when the Fed will end seven years of near-zero interest rates has dogged Wall Street for several months, with the picture complicated by recent market turbulence that some see as justification for the central bank to hold off. The Fed has said it will raise rates only when
  
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• Benin GDP growth to slow to 5.5 percent on Nigeria woes: IMF

  16-09-2015 13:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Economic growth in Benin will ease to 5.5 percent this year and in 2016 due to a sharp slowdown in its giant West African neighbour Nigeria linked to falling oil prices, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast. “This is a moderate slowdown compared to 2014, due to negative spillovers from Nigeria - Benin’s main trading partner," Christine Dieterich, who headed a recent IMF mission to Benin, said in a statement released late on Tuesday. With oil exports accounting for 90 percen
  
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• S&P downgrades Japan's sovereign credit rating

  16-09-2015 12:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Wednesday downgraded its sovereign credit rating on Japan by one notch, saying the country was unlikely to revive economic growth and end deflation within the next few years. "Despite showing initial promise, the government's strategy to revive economic growth and end deflation appears unlikely to reverse this deterioration in the next two to three years," the agency said in a statement.
  
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• Senegal's growth to accelerate to 6 pct in 2016: IMF

  16-09-2015 11:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Senegal's economic growth will accelerate to 6 percent next year, boosted by a government development plan, increasing trade with neighbouring Mali and lower oil prices, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast. Senegal, one of West Africa's most stable democracies, has secured billions of dollars in donor support for a development plan that aims to diversify the economy beyond fishing, agriculture and tourism, and double growth over the next decade. "The economic outlook remains favourabl
  
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• OECD cuts global growth outlook for 2015, 2016

  16-09-2015 11:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Paris (AFP) - The OECD cut its world economic growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016 on Wednesday, warning of a dramatic slowdown in Brazil and a global outlook clouded by uncertainty over China.
  
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• Zambian economy slows as power cuts and copper price weigh: minister

  16-09-2015 11:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Stella Mapenzauswa and Chris Mfula LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's economy is likely to grow by less than 5 percent in 2015 due to a power crunch that has hit output from mining companies already grappling with a slide in global copper prices, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda said. In an interview with Reuters, Chikwanda also said the government was reluctant to acquire more debt due to rising servicing costs, but if necessary would prefer longer-term loans as opposed to short-term IMF money.
  
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