Finance news

• Bridgestone raises offer for Pep Boys, trumps Icahn

  24-12-2015 23:14
  
  (Reuters) - Japanese tire maker Bridgestone Corpraised its offer for Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jackto about $947 million, trumping activist investor Carl Icahn's current $900 million bid.
  
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• Nasdaq short interest down 0.5 percent in early December

  24-12-2015 22:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Short interest on the Nasdaq fell 0.5 percent in the first half of December, the exchange said on Thursday. As of Dec. 15, short interest fell to about 8.85 billion shares, compared with 8.894 billion shares as of Nov. 30.
  
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• Dominion Diamond investors to push for boardroom shake-up -source

  24-12-2015 21:47
  
  TORONTO, Dec 24 (Reuters) - A group of activist shareholders plans to ask for several seats on Dominion Diamond Corp's board at a meeting with the company planned for early January and will seek to...
  
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• Putin, Modi hail 'partnership' as India eyes defence deals

  24-12-2015 20:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Thursday the "partnership" between their two nations as they oversaw the signing of energy and other deals. "I see in Russia a prominent partner in India's economic transformation," Modi said after the two leaders agreed to ease the visa requirements between the two nations that are part of the BRICS group of leading emerging market countries. India wants Moscow to take part in infrastructure projects as the Modi gov
  
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• No gift for Wall Street on Christmas Eve

  24-12-2015 20:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street finished a little lower on Thursday as a drop in energy stocks kept a lid on holiday cheer during a shortened Christmas Eve trading session. "So the first thing next year will be to track the path of that economic growth." MBIA shares rose 8.17 percent after Puerto Rico's debt-ridden power utility PREPA tentatively agreed to restructure its debt.
  
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• TSX gains limited by energy fall ahead of Christmas break

  24-12-2015 19:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index made a slight gain in a shortened session on Thursday as energy stocks pared back the previous day's gains, weighing on a broadly positive but subdued market ahead of the Christmas break. Heavyweight oil and gas producer Suncor Energy Inc lost 0.8 percent to C$36.89 and Crescent Point Energy Corp fell 1.9 percent to C$16.87. "We have some concerns that the Canadian domestic economy will struggle throughout the year, we think there m
  
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• Wall Street edges lower in short session

  24-12-2015 19:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Wall Street finished a little lower on Thursday as a drop in energy stocks kept a lid on holiday cheer in a shortened Christmas Eve trading session.
  
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• Oil continues recovery, dollar slips in quiet trade

  24-12-2015 18:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By David Gaffen NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fourth day of gains in oil prices helped lift European shares on Thursday, while an almost 1 percent drop against the euro this week took the shine off a strong 2015 for the dollar. Markets were subdued, with a number of major bourses, including those in Germany, Brazil, Norway closed entirely, while several other markets were set to close early for the Christmas holiday. Wall Street dipped modestly in subdued trading on an abbreviated day that was set to c
  
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• U.S. jobless claims near 42-year low as labor market tightens

  24-12-2015 17:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, nearing a 42-year low as labor market conditions continued to tighten in a boost to the economy. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 267,000 for the week ended Dec.19, not far from levels last seen in late 1973, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims have been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a buoyant labor market, for 42 consecutive week
  
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• UK sees fastest growth in consumer lending since 2007

  24-12-2015 17:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Lending by British banks to consumers grew last month at its fastest rate in more than eight years, the British Bankers' Association said on Thursday, figures which are likely to catch the attention of the Bank of England. Overall consumer credit lending rose by 5.7 percent in the 12 months to November, the fastest rise since March 2007. The BoE has said it is watching credit growth as Britain's economic recovery goes into its third year.
  
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• Exclusive: Cognizant, NTT, Atos vie for Dell's Perot Systems - sources

  24-12-2015 16:41
  
  (Reuters) - Business services companies Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp, NTT Data Corp and Atos SE are competing to acquire Perot Systems, an IT management business of Dell Inc, according to...
  
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• Wall Street sees little cheer on Christmas eve

  24-12-2015 15:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Equity markets will close at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) on Thursday, ahead of the Christmas Day holiday on Friday. At 9:39 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 35.48 points, or 0.2 percent, at 17,567.13, the S&P 500 was down 1.89 points, or 0.09 percent, at 2,062.4 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 4.29 points, or 0.09 percent, at 5,050.23.
  
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• Indexes open little changed in short session

  24-12-2015 15:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Wall Street opened little changed on Thursday in a shortened trading session on Christmas eve.
  
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• Wall Street set for small gains on Christmas eve

  24-12-2015 14:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - U.S. stocks index futures were little changed on Thursday, ahead of a shortened trading session on Christmas eve.
  
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• UPDATE 1-Spain's Abengoa signs accord with creditors for emergency loan

  24-12-2015 14:39
  
  MADRID, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Spanish thermal solar power and
  engineering firm Abengoa signed an agreement with its
  creditor banks on Thursday for a 106-million-euro ($116.1
  million) credit line to help...
  
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• Zimbabwe gives foreign firms March deadline for empowerment plans

  24-12-2015 14:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Zimbabwe's finance minister on Thursday gave foreign-owned firms operating in the country, including mines and banks, a March 2016 deadline to submit plans on how to comply with a law requiring them to sell at least 51 percent shares to locals. The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act was passed in 2008 under President Robert Mugabe's black empowerment drive, but implementation has been slow, with potential foreign investors warning the law would hinder much-needed investment in the south
  
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• CORRECTED-Spain's Abengoa signs accord with creditors for emergency loan

  24-12-2015 14:32
  
  MADRID, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Spanish thermal solar power and
  electrical engineering firm Abengoa signed an
  agreement with its creditor banks on Thursday for a 106-
  million-euro ($116.1 million) credit...
  
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• European stocks steady going into festive break

  24-12-2015 14:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  London (AFP) - European stock markets steadied on Thursday, the final session before the festive break and following a volatile week's trading.
  
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• Little Christmas joy for Brazil's jailed high and mighty

  24-12-2015 14:22 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Caroline Stauffer and Anthony Boadle SAO PAULO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - The former chief executive officer of Latin America's largest engineering group will be allowed panettone in his jail cell this Christmas. Marcelo Odebrecht, ex-CEO of the multinational construction company bearing his billionaire family's name, and Senator Delcídio do Amaral are among a handful of prominent and powerful Brazilians facing Christmas in jail this year, awaiting judgment in a massive corruption investigat
  
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• Botswana's economy in recession after Q3 contraction

  24-12-2015 13:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Botswana's economy shrank 3.7 percent in July-September compared with the previous three months as diamond and copper production plunged, its second quarterly contraction in a row and marking a technical recession. Gross domestic product was 3.5 percent lower in the third quarter compared with a year before, with annual growth revised to 1.7 percent in Q2, Statistics Botswana said. "The decline in GDP growth rate was attributed to a decline in diamond production by 33.4 percent," the Central Sta
  
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• Kenyan insurer Britam sees drop in profit

  24-12-2015 12:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Kenyan insurer British American Investments (Britam) said on Thursday its profit this year would be lower than in 2014 due to a slowdown in the economy. This caused a slump in the performance of the Nairobi Securities Exchange, which had a significant impact on the fair value gains on the group's financial assets," Britam said in a statement. Britam's pretax profit in the first half of this year fell 67 percent to 1 billion shillings ($9.78 million), hit by lower valuations of the companies it h
  
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• Botswana's economy shrinks 3.7 pct in third-quarter - official data

  24-12-2015 12:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  GABORONE (Reuters) - Botswana's economy contracted by 3.7 percent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to end-September versus a revised 0.1 percent contraction in the second quarter of 2015, slipping into a technical recession, official data showed on Thursday. On a year-on-year basis, gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 3.5 percent in Q3 from revised growth of 1.7 percent in Q2, data from Statistics Botswana showed. (Writing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by Ed Stoddard)
  
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• BRIEF-Masonite Africa gets CIPC nod to proceed with voluntary business rescue

  24-12-2015 10:46
  
  * Has now received confirmation from Companies and
  Intellectual Property Commission ("CIPC") to proceed with
  voluntary business rescueSource text for Eikon:Further company coverage:
  
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• European shares propped up by rise in Britain's FTSE

  24-12-2015 09:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A rise in the British stock market, whose commodity-related companies climbed on the back of a further rebound in oil prices, propped up European equities on Thursday. Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 index rose 0.2 percent. Germany's DAX market was closed, while other markets were due to have a half-day ahead of the Christmas holiday, and trading volumes were below average.
  
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• Former World Bank economist Mpango named Tanzanian finance minister

  24-12-2015 07:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania's President John Magufuli has appointed former World Bank economist Philip Mpango as minister for finance and planning, the presidential spokesman said on Wednesday. Mpango is currently acting chief of the Tanzania Revenue Authority, after Magufuli suspended the previous head pending investigations into alleged corruption. He has also headed the presidential Economic Advisory Unit. Magufuli also appointed Jumanne Maghembe as minister for natural resources and t
  
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• Unconverted: Contrarian economist unswayed by Fed’s liftoff

  24-12-2015 07:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Richard Leong NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the spring of 2014, Mizuho Securities USA's chief economist Steven Ricchiuto planted his flag for the projected date of the Federal Reserve’s first post-crisis rate hike in mid-2016, further into the future than any of his peers. Virtually alone among major Wall Street house economists at the time, Ricchiuto was skeptical of the conventional wisdom that lift-off would happen by the end of 2015. Up until Dec. 15, the day before the Fed did ultimately
  
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• Exclusive: India closing in on Westinghouse deal to build six nuclear reactors

  24-12-2015 07:27
  
  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India expects to seal a contract with Westinghouse Electric Co LLC to build six nuclear reactors in the first half of next year, a senior government official said, in a sign its...
  
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• BRIEF-Transaero appeals Rosaviatsiya's order revoking its air operator certificate - court materials

  24-12-2015 06:52
  
  * Transaero Airlines has filed a claim to dismiss
  order of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya)
  revoking its air operator certificate, according to court
  materials
  
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• China Vanke says welcomes Anbang as a major shareholder

  24-12-2015 03:43
  
  SHANGHAI, Dec 24 (Reuters) - China Vanke Co hailed on Thursday a decision by privately owned Anbang Insurance Group to buy a stake, days after it dismissed as unwelcome a similar investment by...
  
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• China to cut on-grid tariffs for solar, wind power: state planner

  24-12-2015 03:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BEIJING (Reuters) - China announced on Thursday a widely expected cut in benchmark on-grid tariffs for wind and solar power generators, to reflect recent declines in operating costs. The National Development & Reform Commission, the state economic planner, said wholesale prices for 2016 paid by the grid firms to solar generators will be cut by between 0.02 yuan and 0.10 yuan per kilowatt hour (kwh). For wind farms, the tariffs will be lowered by 0.02 yuan to 0.03 yuan per kwh. (Reporting by
  
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• Bankrupt San Bernardino spars with creditors over police spending

  24-12-2015 01:53
  
  Dec 23 (Reuters) - The bankrupt California city of San
  Bernardino won praise from bondholders on Wednesday for its
  handling earlier this month of the massacre that killed 14
  people, but at the first...
  
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• Asian shares rise, crude oil rebounds

  24-12-2015 01:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lisa Twaronite TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares were higher in early Asian trade on Thursday, heartened by gains on Wall Street and a recovery in crude oil prices in thin trading ahead of this week's Christmas holiday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4 percent, after Wall Street logged its third straight session of gains. U.S. crude futures were up 0.9 percent at $37.83 a barrel.
  
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• Black Lives Matter holds 'Black Xmas' protests in Minnesota, California

  24-12-2015 01:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By David Bailey BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (Reuters) - Black Lives Matter held demonstrations in Minnesota and California on Wednesday to protest police killings of unarmed blacks, dubbing the day "Black Xmas" to show it could affect the economy on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. "Black communities across the United States are taking brave actions to impede the flow of goods and commerce with peaceful protests to call for an immediate overhaul of the justice system," Black Lives Matter sai
  
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• Luxembourg court rules in favour of Apax,TPG in Hellas case

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  Liquidators lose lawsuit against cellular service provider's former private equity owners
  
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• Instinet profits rise ahead of crunch year for brokers

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  Nomura-owned agency broker's profits more than doubled in the 12 months to March 31 as it eyes opportunities from Mifid II
  
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• HSBC and Barclays close on top spots after 'tough' year in European DCM

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  A choppy 12 months during which debt issuance in the region dropped at more than twice the global rate and ‘timing was everything’ for underwriters has shaken up the rankings
  
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• How the Third Avenue fund melted down

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  Years of discord ended in a final showdown at the once-$26 billion mutual fund firm, with CEO David Barse escorted from the building, leaving others stunned by the turn of events
  
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• Henderson operating chief to exit

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  Executive who helped bed in the acquired New Star and Gartmore businesses over her 13 years at the £81.5bn asset manager is expected to join another firm
  
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• Henderson operating chief to depart

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  Executive who helped bed in the New Star and Gartmore businesses over her 13 years at the £81.5bn asset manager is expected to join another firm
  
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• Ex-Goldman MD joins Oxford University venture fund

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  Venture arm investing in companies spun out of own departments' research recruits Cambridge university alumnus who worked in the US bank's principal strategic investment unit
  
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• CFTC faces rare fight from big trader

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  DRW Investments founder Don Wilson Jr brands allegations that his firm placed manipulative bets in an obscure corner of the futures market ‘disruptive regulation at its worst’
  
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• 2015: The year more masters were expelled than pupils

  24-12-2015 01:00
  
  The unruly kids at the back of the class rejoiced in staff sackings. Osborne House was keen to welcome new boys from China - and there was good progress in the tech lab
  
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• Hidden in plain sight: Big risks at failed Third Avenue fund were clear to some

  24-12-2015 00:01
  
  BOSTON (Reuters) - In the months before the blowup of Third Avenue's junk bond fund in early December, investors and financial advisors called the New York-based investment company to voice their...
  
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