Finance news

• U.S. hedge fund founder is denied early release in insider case

  30-12-2015 23:56
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday rejected hedge fund manager Doug Whitman's request to end his two-year sentence for insider trading early while he pursues his latest appeal of his...
  
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• Oil slumps anew, global equity markets fall

  30-12-2015 23:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Global stock markets fell on Wednesday as oil prices slumped toward 11-year lows, sapping investors' appetite for risky assets on the penultimate trading day of 2015. Stock markets rallied the previous day as oil prices rebounded on prospects for lower temperatures on both sides of the Atlantic. Slumping oil prices have been a major driver of financial markets this year, hammering energy companies, lowering inflation expectations and reinforcing bets on loose monetary policy in Europe and a slow
  
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• Oil proceeds went into personal accounts, Nigerian president says

  30-12-2015 22:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alexis Akwagyiram LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities have seen documents suggesting the proceeds from past crude oil sales were diverted to personal accounts rather than reaching government coffers, President Muhammadu Buhari said in a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday. Africa's biggest economy faces its worst economic crisis in years, since it relies on oil exports for about 58 percent of government revenue. The sharp fall in oil prices over the past year has hit those revenues hard.
  
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• Oil bogs down Wall St as S&P 500 clings to gain for 2015

  30-12-2015 22:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street dropped on Wednesday as Brent crude slid towards 11-year lows and Apple weighed on the S&P 500 index, which clung to a meager gain for 2015. The S&P energy sector was the poorest performer among the 10 major sectors, down 1.47 percent after forecasts of a short winter in North America and Europe piled pressure on the oversupplied commodity. Apple was the heaviest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, falling 1.31 percent.
  
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• Wall Street drops on oil and Apple weakness

  30-12-2015 22:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street dropped on Wednesday as Brent crude slid towards 11-year lows and Apple weighed on the S&P 500 index, which clung to a meager gain for 2015. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 117.45 points, or 0.66 percent, to 17,603.53, the S&P 500 lost 15.05 points, or 0.72 percent, to 2,063.31 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 42.09 points, or 0.82 percent, to 5,065.85. (Reporting by Marcus E. Howard)
  
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• Wall St. drops on oil and Apple weakness

  30-12-2015 22:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street dropped on Wednesday as Brent crude slid towards 11-year lows and Apple weighed on the S&P 500 index, which clung to a meager gain for 2015.
  
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• Apple drags Wall St. lower as S&P 500 clings to gain for 2015

  30-12-2015 20:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The S&P energy sector was the poorest performer among the 10 major sectors, down 1.16 percent after forecasts of a short winter in North America and Europe piled pressure on the oversupplied commodity. Apple was the heaviest drag on all three major indexes, falling 1 percent. Netflix and Amazon.com, the S&P 500's top two performers in 2015, were down 0.96 percent and 0.04 percent respectively.
  
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• Spain's Abengoa seeks to sell stalled Brazil projects

  30-12-2015 20:29
  
  SAO PAULO, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Spain's multinational Abengoa
  SA said on Wednesday it is seeking buyers to revive
  transmission-line and other construction projects in Brazil that
  the company had...
  
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• Foreign-focused stock funds post second week of big outflows - ICI

  30-12-2015 19:56
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors in U.S.-based mutual funds pulled $2.6 billion out of foreign-focused stock funds in the week ended Dec. 22 on continued fears that higher U.S. interest rates could...
  
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• GE separates renewable energy from power unit

  30-12-2015 19:32
  
  (Reuters) - General Electric Co said it would separate its renewable energy business from its power unit, following the acquisition of Alstom's energy business.
  
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• How to spend $5 trillion: a record-breaking year in deals

  30-12-2015 19:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Companies around the world spent a record $5.04 trillion on acquisitions in 2015, according to Dealogic, as slow worldwide economic growth and low interest rates pushed companies to combine forces.
  
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• Retreating crude, Apple drag Wall St lower

  30-12-2015 19:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street was lower on Wednesday as Brent crude slid back towards the 11-year low it hit last week and Apple weighed on all three major indexes. "Traders are ready to tie a bow on 2015 very happily, because it was one of those years when most asset classes didn't work," said Jeff Kravetz, regional investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Phoenix, Arizona. At 12:33 p.m. ET (1533 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 51.98 points, or 0.29 percent, at 17,669, the S&P 50
  
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• Apple to pay Italy 318 million euros, sign tax deal - source

  30-12-2015 19:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Emilio Parodi and Agnieszka Flak MILAN (Reuters) - Apple Inc will pay Italy's tax office 318 million euros ($348 million) to settle a dispute over allegations it failed to pay taxes for six years, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. The deal comes as the European Union and national governments take a tougher stand against profit-shielding arrangements used by multinational companies. Italian prosecutors have been investigating allegations that Apple failed to pay c
  
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• Retreating crude, Apple drag Wall Street lower

  30-12-2015 19:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  "Traders are ready to tie a bow on 2015 very happily, because it was one of those years when most asset classes didn't work," said Jeff Kravetz, regional investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Phoenix, Arizona. At 12:33 p.m. ET (1533 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 51.98 points, or 0.29 percent, at 17,669, the S&P 500 was down 7.34 points, or 0.35 percent, at 2,071.02 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 18.99 points, or 0.37 percent, at 5,088.95. Apple was
  
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• Activist investor Icahn triumphs in battle for Pep Boys

  30-12-2015 17:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street activist investor Carl Icahn won a bidding war Wednesday for US auto service chain Pep Boys with an all-cash $1 billion deal after Japanese tire giant Bridgestone pulled out. Icahn, who is expected to split the company and merge its retail side with his Auto Plus car parts network, offered $18.50 a share, or $1.03 billion, on Monday to buy Pep Boys, topping Bridgestone's sweetened December 24 proposal of $17 a share. On Tuesday, the world's largest tire maker said it would not counte
  
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• Facebook must face shareholder class actions over IPO

  30-12-2015 17:52
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge has certified two shareholder class actions accusing Facebook Inc of hiding concerns about its growth forecasts prior to the social media company's May 2012...
  
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• UPDATE 2-KaloBios Pharmaceuticals files for bankruptcy in wake of Shkreli arrest

  30-12-2015 17:48
  
  Dec 30 (Reuters) - KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc, a
  biotechnology company that fired Chief Executive Martin Shkreli
  earlier this month after his arrest on charges of securities
  fraud, filed for...
  
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• Wall Street lower as Brent retreats, Apple drags

  30-12-2015 17:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Abhiram Nandakumar REUTERS - Wall Street was lower on Wednesday as Brent crude slid back towards the 11-year low it hit last week and Apple weighed on all three major indexes. Crude oil gave up its gains from Tuesday after forecasts of a short winter in North America and Europe piled pressure on the oversupplied commodity. The S&P 500 energy sector led nine of the 10 major S&P sectors lower with a 1.14 percent decline. Shares of Exxon were down 0.8 percent at $78.56, while Chevron was
  
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• Year's best U.S. global stock fund sees emerging markets rallying in 2016

  30-12-2015 17:26
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The year's top-performing U.S.-listed global equities fund as rated by Morningstar sees Asian and emerging market stocks as undervalued and primed to outperform in 2016.
  
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• Icahn to buy Pep Boys for $1 billion after Bridgestone bows out

  30-12-2015 17:21
  
  (Reuters) - Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises LP has agreed to buy Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack for about $1 billion, the companies said on Wednesday, hours after Bridgestone Corp quit the race for the...
  
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• UPDATE 1-Icahn to buy Pep Boys for $1 bln after Bridgestone bows out

  30-12-2015 17:19
  
  Dec 30 (Reuters) - Carl Icahn's Icahn Enterprises LP has agreed to buy Pep Boys-Manny Moe & Jack for about $1 billion, the companies said on Wednesday, hours after Bridgestone Corp quit the race for...
  
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• BRIEF-Macintosh Retail Group declared bankrupt

  30-12-2015 16:55
  
  * The suspension of payments (surseance van betaling) for
  the company was terminated upon request of the administrators
  and was converted into bankruptcy as of today
  
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• More than one million migrants registered in Germany in 2015: newspaper

  30-12-2015 16:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Germany will have registered just over a million migrants by the end of the year, a regional newspaper said on Wednesday, roughly in line with the latest predictions but still about five times more than last year. Europe's biggest economy, a magnet for migrants partly due to generous social benefits, is taking in more refugees from the Middle East and Africa than any other EU state, but authorities are struggling to house the dramatic influx of migrants. Citing unpublished government figures, th
  
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• Fidelity boosted pre-IPO value of Twilio by 31 percent in November

  30-12-2015 16:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Fidelity Investments, one of the largest investors in pre-IPO companies, boosted the value of Twilio Inc by 31 percent in November, as speculation builds that the provider of mobile messaging platforms may go public in 2016. Fidelity's $100 billion-plus Contrafund valued its Series E stake in Twilio at $43.5 million in November, compared with $33.2 million a month earlier, according to disclosures made public on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal has reported that San Francisco-based Twilio has
  
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• Israeli tech M&A at near-decade high, stock market listings fall

  30-12-2015 15:53
  
  TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Mergers and acquisitions involving Israeli high-tech companies rose 44 percent to $7.2 billion in 2015, the highest level since 2006, but stock market listings were down as fewer...
  
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• Wall Street opens lower as crude retreats

  30-12-2015 15:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  REUTERS - U.S. stocks opened slightly lower on Wednesday as crude oil gave up Tuesday's gains after forecasts indicated cold weather in Europe and the United States would be short-lived. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 12.91 points, or 0.07 percent, to 17,708.07, the S&P 500 lost 2.22 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,076.14 and the Nasdaq Composite index dropped 6.33 points, or 0.12 percent, to 5,101.61. (Reporting by Sai Sachin R in Bengaluru)
  
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• Saudi Arabia says won't limit oil production, can meet customer demand

  30-12-2015 15:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said the kingdom, the world's top crude exporter, does not limit its output and has the capacity to meet additional demand, state television Al Ekhbariya reported on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal, which reported the same comments as Al Ekhbariya, also quoted Naimi as saying Saudi Arabia's oil policy was "reliable" and would not change. On Monday, Saudi Arabia, its finances hit by low oil prices, announced plans to shrink a record state budget deficit
  
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• UPDATE 1-Abengoa hopes for agreement with creditors before end-March deadline

  30-12-2015 14:44
  
  MADRID, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Abengoa , the
  Spanish company trying to avoid becoming the country's
  biggest-ever bankruptcy, is formulating a restructuring it hopes
  creditors will agree before a deadline...
  
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• PwC says insurance payouts from UK storms may reach $1.8 billion

  30-12-2015 14:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Carolyn Cohn LONDON (Reuters) - Consultancy PwC on Wednesday raised its estimate of insured losses from UK Storms Desmond and Eva to between 900 million pounds and 1.2 billion pounds ($1.33 billion-$1.78 billion) from an earlier range of 700 million to 1 billion pounds. PwC estimated total economic losses from the earlier storms at 1.6 billion to 2.3 billion pounds, and said Storm Frank could take total losses above 3 billion pounds. "The storms this time have generated a far greater proporti
  
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• PwC says insurance payouts from UK storms may reach 1.2 billion pounds

  30-12-2015 14:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Carolyn Cohn LONDON (Reuters) - Consultancy PwC on Wednesday raised its estimate of insured losses from UK Storms Desmond and Eva to between 900 million pounds and 1.2 billion pounds from an earlier range of 700 million to 1 billion pounds. PwC estimated total economic losses from the earlier storms at 1.6 billion to 2.3 billion pounds, and said Storm Frank could take total losses above 3 billion pounds. "The storms this time have generated a far greater proportion of non-insured losses compa
  
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• Kenya's economy grows 5.8 pct in third quarter - statistics office

  30-12-2015 14:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Kenya's economy grew 5.8 percent in the third quarter of this year, driven by construction and agriculture and helped by a more gradual decline in tourism compared to last year, the statistics office said on Wednesday. Economic growth for the same period last year was 5.2 percent. Inflation rose to 8.01 percent year-on-year in December, from 7.32 percent the previous month, the statistics office said.
  
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• Ivory Coast Nov consumer inflation up to 0.8 pct -stats office

  30-12-2015 13:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's consumer price inflation rose to 0.8 percent year-on-year in November, from minus 0.3 percent in October, data from the National Statistics office showed on Wednesday. The monthly report showed food and soft drink prices climbed 3.2 percent and housing and utility prices dropped 3.9 percent, while transport costs increased 1.3 percent. Healthcare prices rose 0.5 percent and communications costs fell 0.1 percent. The economy of the world's top cocoa grower makes
  
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• Saudi Arabia says no change in oil policy, ready to meet demand - WSJ

  30-12-2015 13:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said the kingdom, the world's top crude exporter, does not limit its output and has the capacity to meet additional demand, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. "It is a reliable policy and we won’t change it," he added, according to the WSJ.
  
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• Apple to pay Italy 318 million euros, sign tax deal

  30-12-2015 13:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. tech giant Apple will pay the Italian tax office 318 million euros ($348 million) to settle a dispute and sign an accord early next year on how to manage its tax liabilities from 2015 onwards, a source close to the matter said on Wednesday. Italian prosecutors have been investigating allegations that Apple failed to pay corporate taxes to the tune of 879 million euros, sources told Reuters earlier this year. The source added on Wednesday that while the judicial probe remained open for now,
  
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• Kenya's economy expands by 5.8 pct in the third quarter - stats office

  30-12-2015 12:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's economy expanded by 5.8 percent in the third quarter of this year, driven by growth in the agriculture construction and finance and insurance sectors, the statistics office said on Wednesday. Economic growth for the same period last year was 5.2 percent. (Editing by Edith Honan; Editing by Alison Williams)
  
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• Where Will The FTSE Finish 2015? A Year On

  30-12-2015 12:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Every year in late December bored journalists and cocksure analysts pick up their crystal balls and dust off their tarot cards in an attempt to predict the future of the stock market. For those of you foolish enough to follow the wisdom of The Telegraph’s Ben Martin your year, one imagines, must have been fairly fraught. While his colleague Andrew Critchlow fared little better with Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) falling 30%.
  
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• European stocks stumble on gloomy Lagarde, oil retreat

  30-12-2015 12:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Sentiment was dented after the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, warned that global economic growth will be "disappointing and patchy" in 2016. The region's markets had risen on Tuesday on steadier oil prices, which also lifted Wall Street overnight. "Kicking off the day with a warning from Christine Lagarde that global growth in 2016 would be disappointing of course did not help matters.
  
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• Russia's ruble hits lowest level in a year

  30-12-2015 12:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian ruble has hit its lowest level in a year against the dollar as the country's economy is battered by a decline in the price of its oil exports.
  
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• Global growth will be disappointing in 2016: IMF's Lagarde

  30-12-2015 11:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Michelle Martin BERLIN (Reuters) - Global economic growth will be disappointing next year and the outlook for the medium-term has also deteriorated, the head of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwi
  
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• Oil rebound fizzles, sending global shares lower

  30-12-2015 11:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Jemima Kelly LONDON (Reuters) - Global stock markets fell on Wednesday as oil prices slumped back toward 11-year lows, sapping investors' appetite for risky assets and hurting the shares of mining and energy companies. Stock markets rallied the previous day as oil prices rebounded on prospects for lower temperatures on both sides of the Atlantic. The fall in oil prices has been a major driver of financial markets this year, hammering energy companies, lowering inflation expectations and reinf
  
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• Private sector loans growing in eurozone: ECB

  30-12-2015 11:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The statistics are a key indicator of economic health for the ECB, as borrowing is a main financing source for corporate investment which in turn should boost the eurozone's currently weak economy. In November, approved loans rose 1.3 percent from a year ago, compared to a growth of 1.0 percent in October, an ECB statement said. The ECB has launched a raft of policy measures to get credit flowing, most significantly a massive programme to buy more than one trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) worth of
  
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• Burundi’s inflation rises to 5.8 pct year-on-year in Nov - Stats office

  30-12-2015 10:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Burundi’s inflation rose to 5.8 percent year-on-year in November from 5.6 percent a month earlier, partly due to higher costs of some food in local markets, official data showed on Wednesday. Burundi’s economy has been weakened by a political crisis and violence that began in April after President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term in office, which he won in a disputed election in July. Food price inflation rose to 7.2 percent in the year to November from 5.4 percent in October,
  
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• REFILE-KaloBios Pharmaceuticals files for bankruptcy

  30-12-2015 10:35
  
  Dec 30 (Reuters) - KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc,
  which fired its controversial chief executive, Martin Shkreli,
  earlier this month, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday
  in the U.S. bankruptcy...
  
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• Saudi 2016 growth to dive as debt rises, reserves drop: report

  30-12-2015 10:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Saudi economic growth is set to slow further in 2016 after the OPEC heavyweight announced record deficits due to a slump in oil prices, an economic report said Wednesday. Jadwa Investment forecast the Saudi economy would grow by just 1.9 percent next year, down from 3.3 percent this year and 3.5 percent in 2014. To finance the budget, the Saudi government withdrew from its huge fiscal reserves and issued bonds on the domestic market.
  
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• Global growth to be 'disappointing and patchy' in 2016: IMF chief

  30-12-2015 10:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Global economic growth will be "disappointing and patchy" in 2016, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, wrote in an article published in the German business daily Handelsblatt on Wednesday. Rising interest rates in the United States, the economic slowdown in China, the persistent fragility of the financial system in a number of countries and the effects of low oil prices on producer countries "all mean that global growth in 2016 will be disappointing and patchy", Lagar
  
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• Ocado shares slump on concerns of competition from Amazon

  30-12-2015 10:18
  
  LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Shares in British online supermarket Ocado fell sharply on Wednesday, which traders attributed to concerns over growing competition from a rival service at Amazon.
  
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• Russian finance minister sees oil price at $40 per barrel in 2016

  30-12-2015 10:00
  
  MOSCOW, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Russia's finance ministry expects
  the price of oil to average around $40 per barrel in 2016,
  Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Wednesday.
  
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• Global growth will be disappointing in 2016 says IMF's Lagarde

  30-12-2015 09:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Global economic growth will be "disappointing" next year, the head of the International Monetary Fund said in a guest article for German newspaper Handelsblatt published on Wednesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the prospect of rising interest rates in the United States and an economic slowdown in China were contributing to uncertainty and a higher risk of economic vulnerability worldwide. In addition, growth in global trade has slowed considerably and a decline in raw material
  
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• Saudi companies estimate earnings impact of 2016 budget

  30-12-2015 09:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Dec 30 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian companies are announcing estimates of the impact on their earnings of fuel, electricity and natural gas feedstock price hikes in the 2016 state budget. ...
  
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• Abengoa hopes for agreement with creditors before end-March deadline

  30-12-2015 08:51
  
  MADRID, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Abengoa , the
  Spanish company trying to avert becoming the country's
  biggest-ever bankruptcy, said on Wednesday it hoped to reach
  agreement with creditors before a legal...
  
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