Finance news

• Spanish stocks fall after vote; US stocks rally

  21-12-2015 23:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Spain's stock market tumbled 3.6 percent Monday after an election left the eurozone's fourth-largest economy in political limbo, while US stocks rallied to snap a two-session losing streak. Spain faces a struggle to form a stable government following weekend elections that saw the incumbent conservatives score a win but not gain a majority, tailed by the long-established Socialists and upstart, far-left Podemos. "The inconclusive outcome of Spain's general election increases the related risks of
  
  Read more

• Lockheed wins $1.17 billion deal for early work on more F-35 jets

  21-12-2015 23:33
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lockheed Martin Corphas won a contract worth $1.17 billion to buy titanium and other materials needed to build an 11th batch of F-35 fighter jets, the Pentagon said on Monday.
  
  Read more

• Markets downbeat on Brazil's new finance minister

  21-12-2015 22:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Brazil's new finance minister sought to reassure investors Monday as he took the reins of the recession-hit economy, but the Sao Paulo stock market and the Brazilian real both fell. In his first full business day on the job, Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa held a teleconference with international investors, promising to practice the same fiscal discipline as his predecessor, Joaquim Levy. The Sao Paulo stock market fell 1.62 percent, and the real currency broke through the barrier of four to the
  
  Read more

• Ministers eye delay in Canada Pension Plan premium hike

  21-12-2015 22:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's federal and provincial financial ministers are considering not raising premiums for the Canada Pension Plan because of the state of the economy, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Monday. The ministers hope to be able to come back to Canadians in a year with a proposal, possibly keeping the status quo, Morneau told reporters after meeting his provincial counterparts. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business says a premium hike would boost unemploymen
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Obamacare, tech stocks boost Wall Street

  21-12-2015 22:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Shares of Apple Inc , under pressure in December over concerns that iPhone sales could miss estimates, rose 1.23 percent and boosted major indexes. About 6 million people have signed up for subsidized health insurance, often called Obamacare, including 2.4 million new customers, the U.S. government said on Friday. Universal Health Services Inc rose 3.64 percent.
  
  Read more

• Wall St. rebounds but dollar falls and oil touches 11-year low

  21-12-2015 22:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brent crude oil prices touched their weakest level in more than 11 years on Monday on concerns of global oversupply, while Wall Street ended higher as investors went shopping after two days of sharp declines. The euro strengthened on apparent short covering following an inconclusive election result in Spain that may increase worries over the country's financial stability. Wall Street started the abbreviated Christmas holiday week on a positive note, and buyin
  
  Read more

• US STOCKS-Obamacare, tech stocks boost Wall Street

  21-12-2015 22:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks ended stronger on Monday, helped by bounces in Apple and Microsoft as well as a rally in hospital stocks after more Americans signed up for subsidized health insurance. Shares of Apple Inc, ...
  
  Read more

• Wall Street rebounds but dollar falls and oil touches 11-year low

  21-12-2015 22:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brent crude oil prices touched their weakest level in more than 11 years on Monday on concerns of global oversupply, while Wall Street ended higher as investors went shopping after two days of sharp declines. The euro strengthened on apparent short covering following an inconclusive election result in Spain that may increase worries over the country's financial stability. Wall Street started the abbreviated Christmas holiday week on a positive note, and buyin
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• CDC investigating five new cases of E.coli linked to Chipotle

  21-12-2015 21:50
  
  Dec 21 (Reuters) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is investigating five new cases of an E.coli infection linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.
  
  Read more

• Cantor Fitzgerald to pay U.S. watchdog $7.3 million for microcap sales

  21-12-2015 21:49
  
  (Reuters) - Cantor Fitzgerald & Co will pay $7.3 million for selling billions of unregistered microcap shares and for lapses in its procedures to detect possible money laundering, Wall Street's...
  
  Read more

• How 54 Words Cost the US Treasury $1 Billion

  21-12-2015 21:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  As is often the case when Congress passes a massive bill just hours before rushing for the exits on a holiday break, the contents of the 2,000-plus page omnibus spending bill that was adopted last week are only now becoming clear. A case in point, reported out by the New York Times on Monday is the addition of a few dozen words – 54 to be exact – that will cost the U.S. Treasury more than a billion. The addition to the bill made it possible for hotels, restaurants, casinos, and the W
  
  Read more

• UPDATE 2-Argentina and bondholders to hold January debt talks -mediator

  21-12-2015 21:13
  
  NEW YORK/BUENOS AIRES, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Argentina's new
  government and holdout bondholders are to meet in the second
  week of January to start "substantive" talks toward settling a
  more than...
  
  Read more

• Obamacare and Apple boost Wall Street

  21-12-2015 20:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Shares of Apple Inc , under pressure in December over concerns that iPhone sales could miss estimates, rebounded 1 percent and gave a boost to major indexes. About 6 million people have signed up for subsidized health insurance, often called Obamacare, including 2.4 million new customers, the U.S. government said. Universal Health Services Inc rose 3.4 percent.
  
  Read more

• Loomis Sayles' Dan Fuss says 'being too cautious' hurt his bond fund

  21-12-2015 20:45
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Loomis Sayles Vice Chairman Dan Fuss said his popular Loomis Sayles Bond Fund, which is lagging 92 percent of its peers, suffered from overexposure to short-term securities...
  
  Read more

• US STOCKS-Obamacare and Apple boost Wall Street

  21-12-2015 20:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks moved higher on Monday, helped by a bounce in Apple and a rally in hospital stocks after more Americans signed up for subsidized health insurance. Shares of Apple Inc, under pressure in December ...
  
  Read more

• Argentina agrees to 'substantive' debt talks in January: mediator

  21-12-2015 19:47
  
  NEW YORK, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A court-appointed mediator in
  the Argentina debt dispute said on Monday that officials from
  President Mauricio Macri's newly installed administration had
  agreed to begin...
  
  Read more

• UPDATE 3-Retailer Casino hits back at short-seller's critical report

  21-12-2015 19:42
  
  * Shares dip again after big fall last week (Adds analyst comments, details)
  
  Read more

• Factbox: Morgan Stanley sees slightly smaller 2015/16 sugar supply deficit

  21-12-2015 19:37
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley analysts have slightly lowered their forecast for a global deficit of sugar supplies in 2015/16, bucking a recent trend of upward revisions.
  
  Read more

• Spanish stocks slump after vote

  21-12-2015 19:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Spain's stock market slumped by 3.6 percent on Monday following an election that has left the eurozone's fourth-largest economy in political limbo. Meanwhile other European indices fell into the red in late trading as shares in energy companies tanked as oil prices sank to 11-year lows and the euro climbed. "Spain's IBEX stock index dived to its worst day in three months whilst Spanish bond yields spiked as investors reacted to the country’s uncertain political future," said CMC Markets UK
  
  Read more

• UPDATE 3-KaloBios fires Shkreli as CEO

  21-12-2015 19:23
  
  * Regains access to Twitter account (Adds FBI response, details of lawsuit)
  
  Read more

• Wall St. opens Christmas week with strong gains

  21-12-2015 19:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street slumped on Thursday and Friday as weak crude prices dampened the optimism sparked by the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike in nearly a decade. Oil prices have been sliding under continued pressure from global oversupply and tepid demand. "It's going to be interesting to see if this market can hold up and divorce itself, at least for today, from the price of oil," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.
  
  Read more

• Independent group says new Glaxo asthma drug far too expensive

  21-12-2015 19:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - An independent nonprofit organization that evaluates clinical and cost effectiveness of new medicines found the price of GlaxoSmithKline's new drug for severe asthma should be as much as 76 percent lower to justify its value, according to the group's latest draft report. The Boston-based Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) said its analysis indicated that Glaxo's Nucala should be priced at $7,800 to about $12,000 a year, far below the drug's list price of $32,500 a year
  
  Read more

• Oil price slump forces Azerbaijan to stop propping up currency

  21-12-2015 19:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose economy has been hit hard by falling oil prices, withdrew support Monday for its embattled currency and the manat plunged by nearly a third against the dollar. "The central bank took the decision to switch to a floating exchange rate for the national currency as of December 21," the regulator said in a statement. The country's central bank has spent more than half of its foreign currency reserves -- which it said had reached "critical levels" -- to support the manat
  
  Read more

• Altice completes purchase of 70 percent of cable operator Suddenlink

  21-12-2015 19:04
  
  PARIS (Reuters) - European telecoms group Alticesaid on Monday it had completed the purchase of 70 percent of U.S. regional cable company Suddenlink from existing shareholders in a deal worth $9.1...
  
  Read more

• Argentina's Macri asks for Venezuela opposition leaders' freedom

  21-12-2015 18:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Daniela Desantis ASUNCION (Reuters) - Argentine President Mauricio Macri started his second week in office by asking regional trade bloc Mercosur to back his appeal for the freedom of jailed opposition leaders in Venezuela. The center-right Macri won the presidency last month promising free-market solutions to Argentina's long list of economic problems. "I ask for the prompt liberation of political prisoners in Venezuela," Macri said in addressing a Mercosur meeting on Monday in the outskirts
  
  Read more

• Democratic senators introduce Puerto Rico legislation

  21-12-2015 18:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Democratic senators introduced emergency legislation for Puerto Rico to establish a short-term stay on creditor litigation to allow the debt-ridden island to restructure its debts, according to a press release from Senator Richard Blumenthal's office on Monday. Puerto Rico, wrestling with $72 billion of debt and a faltering economy, defaulted on part of its debt in August and may default on part of a payment of around $1 billion due Jan. 1. The U.S. Treasury has urged Congress to act quickly to
  
  Read more

• Switzerland, EU intensify talks to resolve immigration dispute

  21-12-2015 18:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland and the European Union are looking into an escape clause in bilateral economic accords that could let Berne curb admissions of EU workers in cases of severe economic and social disruption, officials said on Monday. The neutral Alpine state threatened this month to impose unilateral curbs on immigration should it fail to agree with the EU on limiting the influx into a small country where nearly a quarter of the population is now foreign. Sw
  
  Read more

• Make your holidays bright with a Roth IRA conversion

  21-12-2015 18:45
  
  CHICAGO (Reuters) - If you are still licking wounds inflicted by this year’s volatile stock market, a Roth conversion might be the healing balm you are seeking as 2015 draws to a close.
  
  Read more

• Italy's Renzi takes fresh swipe at Europe after Spanish vote

  21-12-2015 18:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The failure of Spain's People's Party to regain power at weekend elections shows the shortcomings of EU-driven austerity at both a political and economic level, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Monday. "It is going to be interesting to see if Europe will now realize that a short-sighted policy of (economic) rigor and austerity leads you nowhere," Renzi said in his latest attack on decision-making within the European Union. The People's Party (PP) won the most seats in Sunday's vote, b
  
  Read more

• EU prolongs economic sanctions on Russia until mid-2016

  21-12-2015 18:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The European Union on Monday extended its economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine until the end of next July, drawing a swift rebuke from the Russian economy minister. The EU has linked the lifting of the sanctions to full implementation of a peace deal in east Ukraine, where more than 9,000 people have been killed in fighting between Kiev's forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels since April 2014. Some diplomats say this might be the last time the punitive measures on
  
  Read more

• Shari Redstone refused to sell stake in media empire: WSJ

  21-12-2015 18:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Shari Redstone refused an offer from her media mogul father Sumner to sell her 20 percent stake in the holding company that controls Viacom Inc and CBS Corp for $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. The offer made in November 2014 would have required Shari to give up her right to become chairman of the two companies upon the death of her father, now 92, the Journal reported, citing documents and people familiar with the matter. (http://on.wsj.com/22kOW0B) CBS declined to comm
  
  Read more

• Carl Icahn raises offer for Pep Boys, tops Bridgestone's offer

  21-12-2015 17:56
  
  (Reuters) - Pep Boys - Manny Moe & Jack, a U.S. auto parts retailer, said billionaire investor Carl Icahn raised his offer for the company, topping Bridgestone Corp's bid by $1.00 a share, to value...
  
  Read more

• Oil at eleven-year low but Wall St. rebounds from week-ago declines

  21-12-2015 17:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A persisting world oil glut dragged Brent crude prices down on Monday to their weakest in more than 11 years and U.S. crude to six-year lows, but Wall Street gained broadly after big declines a week earlier. The dollar fell against the euro and yen as data from the Chicago Federal Reserve suggested the U.S. economy grew at a below-average pace in November, before the Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week. Wall Street started the abbreviated Christmas holiday week on a positive note, le
  
  Read more

• Oil at 11-year low but Wall St rebounds from week-ago declines

  21-12-2015 17:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Sinead Carew NEW YORK (Reuters) - A persisting world oil glut dragged Brent crude prices down on Monday to their weakest in more than 11 years and U.S. crude to six-year lows, but Wall Street gained broadly after big declines a week earlier. The dollar fell against the euro and yen as data from the Chicago Federal Reserve suggested the U.S. economy grew at a below-average pace in November, before the Federal Reserve raised interest rates last week. Wall Street started the abbreviated Christma
  
  Read more

• Wall Street higher on financials; Brent slides

  21-12-2015 17:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Trading volumes are expected to be relatively light this week, with stock markets operating a shortened session on Thursday and closing on Friday for Christmas. U.S. stock indexes slumped on Thursday and Friday as weak crude prices dampened the optimism sparked by the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike in nearly a decade. At 11:03 a.m. ET (1603 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 85.25 points, or 0.5 percent, at 17,213.8, the S&P 500 was up 12.3 points, or 0.61 percent, at 2,
  
  Read more

• Argentine finance secretary meeting with debt mediator Pollack in New York

  21-12-2015 17:36
  
  NEW YORK, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Luis Caputo, Argentina's newly
  installed finance secretary, on Monday was seen entering the
  offices of the U.S. court appointed mediator Daniel Pollack who
  is overseeing...
  
  Read more

• Ericsson signs patent deal with Apple, shares soar

  21-12-2015 17:17
  
  STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish mobile telecom gear maker Ericsson said it had signed a patent license deal with Apple Inc over technology that helps smartphones and tablets connect to mobile networks,...
  
  Read more

• Russian minister says cancelling Nord Stream-2 would be 'shot in foot'

  21-12-2015 17:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Failure to go ahead with the Nord Stream gas pipeline expansion to double gas shipment from Russia's Baltic coast to Germany, bypassing Ukraine, would be "a shot in the foot," Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Monday.
  
  Read more

• Large number of refugees to Germany may not be able to find work: Bundesbank

  21-12-2015 17:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Many of the refugees arriving in Germany could initially find it difficult to get a job because of their young age and lack of qualifications, the German central bank or Bundesbank said on Monday. The Bundesbank estimated that the net immigration of asylum seekers -- ie. the number of inflows minus outflows -- could total over one and half million between 2015 and 2017. Germany, the EU's biggest economy, this year looks set to take in one million people fleeing war and misery in what the governm
  
  Read more

• Moldovan Communists' defection seen opening way to new pro-EU government

  21-12-2015 16:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alexander Tanas CHISINAU (Reuters) - A new pro-European coalition looks likely to take power in Moldova, putting an end to months of political turmoil, after the surprise defection of 14 lawmakers from the opposition Communist Party. Moldova, a tiny ex-Soviet republic sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, has been effectively rudderless since a no-confidence motion toppled the previous government in October following the fraudulent disappearance of $1 billion from the banking system of Euro
  
  Read more

• Zimbabwe to expand use of yuan as China cancels $40 mn debt

  21-12-2015 16:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Zimbabwe said Monday that China plans to cancel $40 million in debts as the southern African country seeks to expand use of the yuan in its multi-currency economy. "They (China) said they are cancelling our debts that are maturing this year and we are in the process of finalising the debt instruments and calculating the debts," Minister Patrick Chinamasa said in a statement. Chinamasa also announced that Zimbabwe will officially make the Chinese yuan legal tender as it seeks to increase trade wi
  
  Read more

• Wall Street higher on tech, financials; Brent slides

  21-12-2015 16:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stock indexes are coming off two days of heavy losses as weak crude prices dampened the effect of the first Federal Reserve interest rate hike in nearly a decade. "There looks to be like a little relief bounce this morning as we move into the last two weeks of the year," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital LLC in Bernardsville, New Jersey. The Nasdaq Composite, which briefly breached its dotcom highs this year, is the only one of the three major indexes in the black, havi
  
  Read more

• Algeria swings into trade deficit as energy earnings fall - customs

  21-12-2015 16:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Algeria posted a trade deficit of $12.62 billion for the first 11 months of 2015, against a $5.45 billion surplus a year ago, after a 42.4 percent fall in energy earnings caused by the drop in crude oil prices, official data showed on Monday. Oil and gas exports, which account for about 94 percent of total sales abroad, tumbled to $32.36 billion in the first 11 months of 2015 from $56.2 billion a year earlier.
  
  Read more

• China vows market reforms after top economic meeting

  21-12-2015 15:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  China is eyeing strict management of local debt and increased housing reform as part of moves to shore up growth in the world's second largest economy, state media said Monday, after the close of a key economic forum. Beijing's economic planners will "allow the market to play a bigger role" and "strengthen structural reforms", state news service Xinhua reported. The statement came after the end of the Central Economic Work Conference, a secretive event that is closely watched for clues about the
  
  Read more

• KaloBios terminates Shkreli as CEO

  21-12-2015 15:44
  
  Dec 21 (Reuters) - Drugmaker KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc said it terminated Martin Shkreli as chief executive on Dec. 17, the day he was arrested on charges of securities fraud.
  
  Read more

• EU extends economic sanctions on Russia for six months

  21-12-2015 15:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union on Monday extended economic sanctions against Russia until the end of July next year after the deadline for raising objections passed without any member state challenging the decision. Sanctions were introduced initially for a year on July 31, 2014, following Russia's seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region. Some diplomats in Brussels said this might be the last time punitive measures on Russia's financial, energy and defense sectors get rolled over in their en
  
  Read more

• Iranian hackers infiltrated computers of small dam in NY - WSJ

  21-12-2015 14:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Iranian hackers breached the control system of a dam near New York City in 2013, an infiltration that raised concerns about the security of the country's infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing former and current U.S. officials. Two people familiar with the breach told the newspaper it occurred at the Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye, New York. The small structure about 20 miles from New York City is used for flood control.
  
  Read more

• EU prolongs Russia sanctions for 6 months

  21-12-2015 14:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has renewed its economic sanctions against Russia for six months, after concluding that Moscow has failed to fully respect a peace agreement in eastern Ukraine.
  
  Read more

• Spanish stocks fail to join global rally after election

  21-12-2015 14:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LONDON (AP) — Global stock markets posted solid gains Monday at the start of a trading week that's likely to see trading levels depressed by Christmas. Spanish stocks fell sharply after an election saw the ruling party lose its overall majority amid a groundswell of support for two upstart parties.
  
  Read more

• Spain enters political unknown as tough coalition talks beckon

  21-12-2015 14:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Adrian Croft and Julien Toyer MADRID (Reuters) - Spain entered the political unknown on Monday after the most fragmented national election in its history, as old and new parties fired the first salvos in coalition talks that are likely to be long and complex. With neither outgoing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's PP conservatives nor left-wing parties winning a clear mandate to govern, the country faces weeks of uncertainty that cast doubt on the durability of its flagship economic reforms and
  
  Read more

Follow @FinanceUSA_News on Twitter!