Finance news

• Republican freshmen urge House to avoid government shutdown

  23-09-2015 23:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Eleven first-term Republicans in the House of Representatives on Wednesday appealed to party colleagues to back away from a threatened government closure on Oct. 1, citing concerns about the political and economic costs of such an action. "We are writing today to express our strong support for a funding resolution that will avoid another unnecessary and harmful government shutdown," said Ryan Costello, Elise Stefanik, Mimi Walters and eight other signers of
  
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• In South Korea, Park's revamp of rigid labor laws faces opposition

  23-09-2015 23:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  "The situation is just getting tougher." South Korea's rigid labor market is increasingly seen as a drag on an ailing economy that President Park Geun-hye says needs "major surgery." Park is pushing a revamp in labor laws that would be the biggest in nearly two decades. It would change the system of stable employment and seniority-based remuneration that was part of a social contract enforced by the unions and underpinned South Korea's breakneck economic growth into the 1990s.
  
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• Volkswagen scandal plagues platinum market

  23-09-2015 23:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The price of platinum, used in the production of catalytic converters, sank Wednesday to the lowest level in six and a half years on the back of Volkswagen's pollution-cheating scandal. The German carmaker faces a US criminal investigation and worldwide legal action after admitting on Tuesday that as many as 11 million of its diesel cars are equipped with software capable of fooling official pollution tests. The precious metal, which has already been weakened in recent months by worries arising
  
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• Materials and energy stocks slide on China growth worries

  23-09-2015 22:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Another slide in raw-material producers and oil companies tugged the stock market to a slight loss on Wednesday, amid heightened concerns about global economic growth. Dow Chemical and Chevron each lost 2 percent.
  
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• Hao Capital hedge fund doubles investor money with China bets

  23-09-2015 22:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Hao Capital, a small hedge fund specializing in Chinese stocks, has done something nearly unheard of in this year's up-and-down market: doubling investors' money. The 1-year-old fund has posted a 97.8 percent year-to-date gain resulting from long positions on appliance companies, short bets on the solar industry, and a reluctance to join the hordes that rushed into China A shares before they crashed in August, according to investors and document
  
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• Wall Street edges down as factory data adds to growth worries

  23-09-2015 21:24 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Trading was once again choppy, with the S&P 500 briefly trading higher in the afternoon following comments by Chinese President Xi Jinping that his country was capable of maintaining a relatively high growth rate for a long time. The S&P materials index was down 1.8 percent, leading the decline for the S&P 500, followed by the energy index , which was down 1 percent. "I think it is very much technical trading," said Robert Phipps, a director at Per Stirling Capital Management in Aust
  
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• China's Xi, talking to U.S. business leaders, promises better investment climate

  23-09-2015 21:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Michael Martina and Alwyn Scott SEATTLE (Reuters) - Seeking to project a sunny climate for U.S. business, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday his country was prepared to greatly reduce restrictions on foreign investment and forecast a long period of economic growth in China, despite recent wobbles. Xi, who kicked off a week-long trip to the United States on Tuesday wooing Seattle's elite with pop-culture jokes, made his comments to a group of business leaders in Seattle. Soon after
  
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• Volkswagen could pose bigger threat to German economy than Greek crisis

  23-09-2015 21:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - The Volkswagen emissions scandal has rocked Germany's business and political establishment and analysts warn the crisis at the car maker could develop into the biggest threat to Europe's largest economy. Volkswagen is the biggest of Germany's car makers and one of the country's largest employers, with more than 270,000 jobs in its home country and even more working for suppliers. Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn paid the price for the scandal ov
  
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• White House says Obama skeptical of claims from Keystone supporters

  23-09-2015 20:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday that President Barack Obama has previously expressed skepticism of claims from Keystone XL supporters that the pipeline would create jobs and have a long term economic impact. Responding to comments made on Tuesday from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton that she would oppose the pipeline, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said there was nothing "widely reported" about Clinton's comments that he would "strenuously disagree
  
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• At White House, Pope focuses on environment, poverty and migrants

  23-09-2015 20:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Philip Pullella and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Wednesday urged the United States to help tackle climate change and touched on other divisive U.S. political issues such as immigration and economic inequality on his first visit to the world's richest nation. In a speech on the White House South Lawn, the Argentine pontiff lauded President Barack Obama's efforts to reduce air pollution, months after Francis made the environment one of his top issues by issuing a landmark e
  
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• Weak factories data weigh on shares; euro rises

  23-09-2015 20:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Michael Connor NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street stock prices fell on Wednesday, dragged down by economic reports portraying U.S. factories growth as tepid and China in its worst manufacturing contraction since the global financial crisis. The data aggravated investor anxieties that global economic growth might be sputtering, sapped a rally in European equities and gave Asian stock markets their worst day in months.
  
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• European stocks recover on eurozone data

  23-09-2015 19:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Europe's main stock markets closed higher Wednesday, recovering some of the previous session's sharp losses as investors reacted positively to eurozone growth data. Frankfurt's DAX 30 ended 0.44 percent higher at 9,612.62 points, lifted in part by a surge in scandal-battered Volkswagen's share price as group CEO Martin Winterkorn announced his resignation. European indices had tumbled Tuesday, dragged down by sharp losses to share prices of carmakers and miners on the Volkswagen pollution fraud
  
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• Wall Street falls as factory data hits materials, industrials

  23-09-2015 19:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The S&P materials index was down 1.4 percent, dragged down by a 2.3 percent fall in Monsanto and a 1.2 percent fall in Dow Chemicals. The industrial sector was lower by 0.8 percent, with United Technologies and Honeywell falling about 2 percent. The volatility in the U.S. stock market has increased recently as investors fret over a China-led global economic slowdown, a concern the Federal Reserve alluded to last week when it left interest rates unchanged.
  
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• VW emissions rigging decision made before Winterkorn was CEO: minister

  23-09-2015 19:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Volkswagen Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn was taking responsibility for decisions made before he was at the group's helm. Winterkorn, CEO since 2007, resigned earlier on Wednesday, after the German carmaker admitted to rigging U.S. emissions tests on diesel vehicles. "I have great respect for his decision. He is taking responsibility for something that happened when he was not chief executive of Volkswagen but rather at Audi,"
  
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• Volkswagen emissions scandal dims outlook for diesel

  23-09-2015 19:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Libby George and Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - The scandal over Volkswagen's falsification of car emissions in the United States further dims the outlook for what was once seen as the fuel of the future. Unforeseen changes in fuel consumption in the world's fastest growing economies such as China, combined with a global economic slowdown and the rapid evolution of gasoline engines, have left the world with an excess of diesel just as huge state-of-the-art refineries switch on. The crisis at V
  
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• ECB chief Draghi sees no stability risks from low interest rates

  23-09-2015 18:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said Wednesday he saw no risks to financial stability at the moment arising from the very low interest rates currently applied in the euro area. "I am aware that many of you closely scrutinise the potential effect of the low interest rate environment on financial stability," Draghi told a hearing by the EU parliament's committee for economic and monetary affairs in Brussels relayed via webcast.
  
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• Will Yellen Give in to Wall Street’s Interest Rate Tantrum?

  23-09-2015 18:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Federal Reserve officials continue to talk up the chance of an interest rate hike — which would be the first since 2006 — sometime later this year. San Francisco Fed President John Williams said he believes it is still appropriate for the Fed to raise rates before the end of the year — reiterating concerns about waiting too long to take action. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said he dissented against the September policy decision because of his belief that the economy ne
  
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• TSX dips, giving up earlier gains in range-bound trading

  23-09-2015 18:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Solarina Ho TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell modestly on Wednesday, following hefty losses in the previous session, but many investors shrugged off the latest disappointing economic data out of China and mostly kept to the sidelines. At 11:22 a.m. EDT (1522 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index fell 18.84 points, or 0.14 percent, to 13,472.25, reversing gains from earlier in the session. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the TSX by 147 t
  
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• Wall Street dragged down by material and industrial stocks

  23-09-2015 18:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street fell in volatile trading on Wednesday as weak Chinese and U.S. factory data hit material and industrial stocks. The industrial sector was lower by 0.9 percent, with Dow components United Technologies and Boeing falling more than 2 percent. The volatility in the U.S. stock market has increased recently as investors fret over a China-led global economic slowdown, a concern the Federal Reserve alluded to last week when it left interest rates unchanged.
  
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• South Africa's cbank, worried about economy, holds interest rates

  23-09-2015 18:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  South Africa's Reserve Bank kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged on Wednesday, saying a weakening economy meant its plan to increase borrowing costs to tackle high inflation would have to be deferred. A key uncertainty for the bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) was the extent to which the prospect of interest rates rising in the United States was already priced into the rand exchange rate. South Africa's resource-rich economy has nosedived this year, hit by sharp falls in commodity prices,
  
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• Why Hillary Clinton’s Plan to Fix the Economy Won’t Get the Job Done

  23-09-2015 17:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Hillary Clinton’s recent rollout of her economic policy was as close as could be expected to a summer blockbuster. Quarterly capitalism is an element of the much maligned “short-termism” of the business sector, in which today’s profits and share prices are valued, but long-term growth and stability are increasingly ignored. What’s needed are new restrictions on Wall Street and changes to how corporations do business, territory occupied so far by Sens.
  
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• Stocks firm on commodity gains after Asia selloff

  23-09-2015 17:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Michael Connor NEW YORK (Reuters) - Share prices firmed after an Asian equities selloff on Wednesday, with investors taking cues from rising commodity prices and looking past China's worst manufacturing contraction since the global financial crisis. Prices of U.S. Treasuries and other safe-haven government debt eased, Wall Street was little changed and European stocks were up. Volkswagen rallied after its CEO resigned. In contrast, Asian equity markets tumbled after a Chinese purchasing manag
  
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• Brazil currency continues its slide

  23-09-2015 16:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Sao Paulo (AFP) - Brazil's currency, the real, continued its fall Wednesday, slipping to 4.057 to the dollar for a new low amid deepening economic woes in South America's largest country.
  
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• Wall Street flat as commodities' rise offsets weak factory data

  23-09-2015 16:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  "There is unbridled fear that China is slipping into a recession and will take the rest of the world with it," said Scott Schermerhorn, chief investment officer at Granite Investment Advisors. The S&P 500 was up 0.01 points, at 1,942.75 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 3.77 points, or 0.08 percent, at 4,760.49.
  
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• Starbucks' partner sees potential for 200 S. African cafes in five years

  23-09-2015 15:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Starbucks' local partner sees potential for more than 200 of the U.S. chain's coffee shops in South Africa within five years, it said on Wednesday, as it prepares to open the country's first Starbucks' outlet next year. Starbucks signed an agreement with Taste Holdings in July that licensed the South African restaurant operator to develop and run Starbucks-branded coffee shops in Africa's most advanced economy. "Market analysis has identified a conservative market opportunity of more than 150 ou
  
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• South Africa's reserve bank holds repo rate at 6 pct

  23-09-2015 15:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa's Reserve Bank kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 6 percent on Wednesday, saying the outlook for domestic economic growth had deteriorated. "The combination of sharply slowing growth and rising inflation compounds the dilemma facing monetary policy," Governor Lesetja Kganyago told a news conference.
  
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• Debt-free college grads: How do they do it?

  23-09-2015 15:36
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - By now, everyone knows the terrifying figures.
  
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• Wall Street opens little changed as oil, copper recovers

  23-09-2015 15:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened little changed on Wednesday as commodity prices recovered and positive economic data from Europe helped soften the impact of weak Chinese factory data.
  
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• S.Africa's reserve bank holds repo rate at 6 pct

  23-09-2015 15:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa's Reserve Bank kept its benchmark repo rate unchanged at 6 percent on Wednesday, saying the outlook for domestic economic growth had deteriorated. "The combination of sharply slowing growth and rising inflation compounds the dilemma facing monetary policy," Governor Lesetja Kganyago told a news conference.
  
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• UPDATE 1-States should pay more into EU budget to cope with refugee crisis -Orban

  23-09-2015 15:14
  BAD STAFFELSTEIN, Germany, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Hungarian leader Viktor Orban said on Wednesday he would propose that European Union states pay more into the EU budget to help cope with the refugee...
  
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• European stocks recover

  23-09-2015 15:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Europe's main stock markets on Wednesday recovered some of the previous session's sharp losses, as investors reacted positively to eurozone growth data. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index gained 1.29 percent to stand at 6,012.56 points around midday in the capital. In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 0.62 percent to 9,629.92 points and the Paris CAC 40 grew also by 0.62 percent to 4,456.13 compared with Tuesday's close.
  
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• ECB chief Draghi says too early to decide on further stimulus

  23-09-2015 15:12
  BRUSSELS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank needs more time to assess whether to beef up its asset-buying programme, ECB President Mario Draghi said on Wednesday, confounding some...
  
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• YOUR MONEY-Debt-free college grads: How do they do it?

  23-09-2015 15:00
  NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - By now, everyone knows the terrifying figures.
  
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• CORRECTED-TREASURIES-U.S. bond prices jump as stock market stumbles

  23-09-2015 14:54
  * U.S. Treasury sells $26 bln in 2-year notes to mediocre demand
  
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• UPDATE 2-ECB cuts Deutsche, State Street from ABS purchase programme

  23-09-2015 14:51
  * http://link.reuters.com/suv65w (Adds Deutsche A&W Management, State Street)
  
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• REFILE-Taps may sound for New York Military Academy, Trump's alma mater

  23-09-2015 14:49
  NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - New York Military Academy, a
  126-year-old preparatory school that counts billionaire Donald
  Trump among its graduates, faces the prospect of shutting its
  doors for good...
  
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• U.S. fed funds rate remains at 0.14 pct

  23-09-2015 14:38
  NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. federal funds rate , which banks charge each other to borrow excess reserves, averaged 0.14 percent for three consecutive weeks on Tuesday, according to Federal...
  
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• Bill Gross urges Fed to 'get off zero and get off quick' on rates

  23-09-2015 14:35 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Bond guru Bill Gross, who has long called for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, urged the U.S. central bank on Wednesday to "get off zero and get off quick" as zero-bound levels are harming the real economy and destroying insurance company balance sheets and pension funds. In his October Investment Outlook report, Gross wrote that the Fed, which did not raise its benchmark interest rates at last week's high-profile policy meeting, should acknowledge the destructive nature of zero perc
  
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• RPT-States should pay more into EU budget to cope with refugee crisis-Orban

  23-09-2015 13:58
  BAD STAFFELSTEIN, Germany, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would propose to European Union leaders that the bloc's members boost payments to the EU budget by 1...
  
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• German bond auction "fails" shine light on bank rules, yield funk

  23-09-2015 13:47
  LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The U.S., German and British governments are finding it harder to sell super-long bonds than at any time in almost a decade as meagre yields deter investors and new...
  
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• GLOBAL MARKETS-Europe's resilience trumps another China slump

  23-09-2015 13:45
  LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Wednesday after business activity data pointed to steady growth across the continent, contrasting starkly with figures that showed the biggest...
  
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• States should pay more into EU budget to cope with refugee crisis-Orban

  23-09-2015 13:40
  BAD STAFFELSTEIN, Germany, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would propose to European Union leaders that the bloc's members boost payments to the EU budget by 1...
  
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• UPDATE 1-UK's Osborne wins China investment, criticized on rights

  23-09-2015 13:27
  LONDON/BEIJING, Sept 23 (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne won an offer of more Chinese investment in Britain on Wednesday but his trip to a violence-prone region of China drew...
  
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• Russian oil firms should revise investment plans amid low oil prices - FinMin

  23-09-2015 13:26
  MOSCOW, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Russian oil companies should revise their investment policies to align themselves with low oil prices, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Wednesday.
  
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• UPDATE 1-Brazil's Congress upholds vetoes limiting fiscal deterioration

  23-09-2015 13:16
  BRASILIA, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Brazil's Congress early on Wednesday upheld key presidential vetoes to avert a surge in public expenditure and postponed a decision on a possible salary increase for...
  
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• Special Report: Why RBS may pay small firms it allegedly ruined

  23-09-2015 13:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Matt Scuffham LONDON (Reuters) - One morning in May, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, one of Britain's biggest banks, called together his senior executives for an urgent briefing. Ross McEwan had just attended a meeting with officials at the financial regulator and had important news.  "I think they've found something," he said, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the meeting. McEwan was referring to the regulator's investigation into claims by customers tha
  
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• Deeper China downturn, weak Europe dents global growth outlook

  23-09-2015 13:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The outlook for the global economy became bleaker on Wednesday as signs of a deeper downturn in China emerged, despite massive policy stimulus, coupled with weak growth at best in Europe. China's vast factory sector shrank at its fastest rate in 6-1/2-years in September, a private survey showed, sending investors worried about sagging global growth scurrying out of risky assets. Similar surveys, due later on Wednesday, are likely to show the U.S. economy lost some steam in September even with th
  
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• GLOBAL ECONOMY-Deeper China downturn, weak Europe dents global growth outlook

  23-09-2015 12:54
  Sept 23 (Reuters) - The outlook for the global economy became bleaker on Wednesday as signs of a deeper downturn in China emerged, despite massive policy stimulus, coupled with weak growth at best in...
  
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• UPDATE 1-Bank recap and debt relief top priority, says Greek finance minister

  23-09-2015 12:45
  ATHENS, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Greece's top priorities in the immediate term are shoring up capital levels in the country's banks and launching discussions with lenders on debt relief, Finance Minister...
  
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• As eurozone economic growth plateaus, VW scandal a worry

  23-09-2015 12:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LONDON (AP) — Economic growth across the 19-country eurozone is showing signs of slowing, according to a survey conducted before any assessment of the impact on German industry of the emissions-rigging scandal engulfing carmaker Volkswagen.
  
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