Finance news

• Thermo Fisher to buy Affymetrix for $1.3 billion

  08-01-2016 23:59
  
  (Reuters) - Scientific instruments maker Thermo Fisher Scientific Incsaid it agreed to buy Affymetrix Incfor $1.3 billion in cash, to add genetic analysis products serving research, clinical and...
  
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• US stock market drops, ending its worst week since 2011

  08-01-2016 23:17 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — A wave of late selling pummeled U.S. stocks Friday and pushed the market to its worst week in four years.
  
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• Wall Street has worst start to year ever

  08-01-2016 23:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Both the Dow and S&P 500 had their worst five-day starts in history, with the Dow falling 6.2 percent for the week and S&P 500 sliding 6 percent. The Nasdaq was down 7.3 percent this week. Oil prices fell for a fifth day and Brent lost 10 percent for the week, while the S&P energy sector also extended this week's slide, ending the day down 1.3 percent.
  
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• Stocks crater in worst week in 4 years; oil crumbles

  08-01-2016 23:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - The benchmark S&P 500 U.S. stock index on Friday notched its worst five-day start to a year on record as fear of a slowdown in China offset a surprisingly strong payrolls report in the United States. Stocks had opened higher on Wall Street after data showed the economy created many more jobs than expected in December and previous months were revised higher.
  
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• Pfizer hikes U.S. prices for over 100 drugs on January 1

  08-01-2016 23:02
  
  (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc , which plans a $160 billion merger with Ireland-based Allergan Plcto slash its U.S. tax bill, on Jan. 1 raised U.S. prices for more than 100 of its drugs, some by as much as...
  
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• US employers hire at robust pace, defying global trends

  08-01-2016 22:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy is motoring ahead despite slowing global growth that caused upheavals in financial markets around the world this week.
  
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• Texas Instruments, Analog Devices drop potential Maxim bid - Bloomberg

  08-01-2016 22:33
  
  (Reuters) - Chipmakers Texas Instruments Inc and Analog Devices Inc have decided not to pursue an acquisition of Maxim Integrated Products Inc at this time, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar...
  
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• Historic start to a year as Wall Street reels on China woes

  08-01-2016 22:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The S&P 500 and Dow industrials posted their worst 5-day start to a year on record on Friday on continued worries that a slowdown in China could damage the global economy, even as U.S. jobs growth was stronger than expected. For the day, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 167.65 points, or 1.02 percent, to 16,346.45, the S&P 500 lost 21.06 points, or 1.08 percent, to 1,922.03 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 45.80 points, or 0.98 percent, to 4,643.63.
  
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• US stock market ends its worst week since 2011

  08-01-2016 22:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market closed out its worst week since 2011, rattled by concerns over a slowdown in China's economy and plunging oil prices.
  
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• Oil down 10 percent after five-day drop; Goldman says more losses needed

  08-01-2016 21:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell for a fifth straight day on Friday, losing 10 percent on the week, and Goldman Sachs said more losses were needed to force producers to cut supplies adequately to balance the glut and bleak demand outlook in the market. Futures of global oil benchmark Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude seesawed through the day, settling slightly lower after stock prices on Wall Street gave up their earlier strength. The two benchmarks hit 12-year l
  
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• Fed must not overreact to developments in China: Lacker

  08-01-2016 21:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Federal Reserve must be careful about reacting to China's financial turmoil without seeing clear signs of danger for the U.S. economic outlook, a Fed policymaker said on Friday. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, which helped prompt interest rate cuts by the U.S. central bank, was a "great analogy" for viewing the current situation. "People overestimated the implication of the Asian market volatility for U.S. growth and we overreacted," L
  
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• Billionaire Cohen settles with SEC, could soon manage outside money

  08-01-2016 21:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen has resolved U.S. charges related to insider trading, in an accord that clears the way for one of Wall Street's top investors to soon manage outside money even after his former firm pleaded guilty to fraud. Cohen accepted a two-year ban on managing outside money in a settlement announced on Friday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, possibly ending the long probe by the government into Cohen and his former firm SAC Capital Advisors. The acco
  
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• Wall Street declines heading into close

  08-01-2016 21:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks fell in choppy trading on Friday afternoon as sliding oil prices offset upbeat U.S. job growth data. The S&P 500 was on track for its worst five-day start to a year since at least 1929. Oil prices tumbled to their lowest in more than a decade and posted steep losses for the week, and the S&P energy sector extended this week's slide.
  
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• Oil resumes fall, stocks dip despite bumper jobs data

  08-01-2016 21:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - A surprisingly strong payrolls report in the United States on Friday failed to entice investors into stocks even as equities appeared oversold globally following a near 5-percent drop to start the year. Brent crude oil extended its weekly slide to more than 10 percent, pressured by unrelenting oversupply and a bleak demand outlook. Stocks had opened higher on Wall Street after data showed the economy created many more jobs than expected in December and prev
  
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• Oil down 10 percent after 5-day drop; Goldman says more losses needed

  08-01-2016 21:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell for a fifth straight day on Friday, losing 10 percent on the week, and Goldman Sachs said more losses were needed to force producers to cut supplies adequately to balance the glut and bleak demand outlook in the market. Futures of global oil benchmark Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude seesawed through the day, settling slightly lower after stock prices on Wall Street gave up their earlier strength. The two benchmarks hit 12-year l
  
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• Wall Street expects March hike, China a wild card: poll

  08-01-2016 21:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street's top banks say the Fed is likely to raise rates by March, but subsequent rate increases will be slow, particularly if China devalues its currency at a rapid rate in 2016. A Reuters poll of the primary dealers that deal directly with the Federal Reserve shows that 13 of 18 that responded expect a rate increase by the March meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. The median expectation for the federal funds rate by the end of 2016 was a range of 1 to 1.25 percent, same as in ear
  
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• Robust U.S. jobs data buoy dollar as China fears linger

  08-01-2016 21:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Richard Leong NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar rose on Friday on steps taken by China to ease this week’s market turbulence and on U.S. jobs gains in December, but the rise was limited by worries over whether Beijing has done enough to calm its battered stock market. Steep losses across global stock markets this week on fears about further slowing in the world's second-biggest economy have clouded investors' outlook on the greenback and on whether the Federal Reserve has room to raise U.
  
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• A New ‘Cuban Missile Crisis’ Could Shuffle the GOP’s Presidential Cards

  08-01-2016 21:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  An unarmed U.S. Hellfire missile winding up in Cuba could give congressional Republicans and GOP presidential candidates a new weapon to bludgeon President Obama’s legacy-building push to normalize relations between the two countries. The weapon, originally meant to be used in a NATO exercise, hopscotched through Europe via multiple shipping companies before turning up in Havana, according to The Wall Street Journal. Whether the inquiry chalks up the blunder to human error, or something mo
  
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• US stocks slip as market closes out a down week

  08-01-2016 20:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are dipping Friday afternoon, adding to the huge losses suffered earlier in the week. Turbulence in China's financial markets and worries about its economy have sent stocks around the world sharply lower since the beginning of the year. Wall Street is about to close out its worst week since August.
  
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• Rare earth miner Molycorp to start bankruptcy sale of business

  08-01-2016 20:54
  
  WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - Rare earths producer Molycorp reached agreements with its junior creditors on Friday that clear the way for the bankrupt company to accept bids for the company and to ask...
  
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• Oil prices dip, erasing earlier gains; down 10 percent on week

  08-01-2016 20:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude oil prices erased earlier gains Friday to fall for a fifth day and were poised for a weekly decline of 10 percent amid global oversupply and a bleak demand outlook that made it hard to guess when the market would find a floor. Goldman Sachs added to the bearish sentiment on Friday by releasing notes from an energy conference in Miami it hosted this week between oil producers and investors that concluded producers weren't ready to cut enough output at
  
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• Brazil inflation hits 13-year high amid political crisis

  08-01-2016 20:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Brazil's inflation rate hit a 13-year high in 2015, in what analysts called payback for years of economic mismanagement, worsened by a political crisis in Latin America's biggest economy. Brazil, which hosts the summer Olympic Games in August, is struggling through a deep recession and political instability after impeachment proceedings were launched against President Dilma Rousseff. In recession since the second quarter of last year, Brazil is suffering rising unemployment and a drop in investo
  
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• What happens when Uber and Airbnb 'hit the fan'?

  08-01-2016 20:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A US senator hails the flexibility for "on-demand" employers in the sharing economy but asks what happens to them during the next downturn.
  
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• Two unions join chorus against Canadian Pacific's Norfolk Southern bid

  08-01-2016 19:43
  
  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Two trade unions representing workers at No. 4 U.S. railroad Norfolk Southern Corphave joined a growing chorus of opposition to an unsolicited bid from Canadian Pacific Railway...
  
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• Wall Street wobbles as oil prices fluctuate

  08-01-2016 19:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - U.S. stocks bounced in and out of positive territory in choppy trading on Friday as investors were whipsawed by the effects of fluctuating oil prices and robust U.S. job growth data.
  
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• Oil prices steady but head for 10 percent weekly decline

  08-01-2016 19:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude prices steadied on Friday, supported by higher stock prices on Wall Street, but oil was still headed for a 10 percent weekly decline as global oversupply and a bleak demand outlook made it hard to guess the market's bottom. Over the past four days, futures of global benchmark Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slid sharply, hitting 12-year lows, after China's stock market plunge this week roiled global markets. By Friday noon, oil was
  
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• Fed's Williams: four rate hikes in 2016 'not baked in the cake'

  08-01-2016 19:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Federal Reserve is set to raise U.S. interest rates four times this year if the economy continues to grow, core measures of inflation stabilize, and unemployment continues to drop, a top Fed official said on Friday. "Even though four (rate hikes) is the median projection, that’s not something I see as baked in the cake," he said. Williams also said he expects the eventual size of the Fed's balance sheet, now holding at $4.5 trillion, to fall to no less than $1.5 trillion, bigger than p
  
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• Robust U.S. payrolls brighten economic outlook

  08-01-2016 19:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. payrolls surged in December and the job count for the prior two months was revised sharply higher, showing the economy on solid ground despite a troubling international backdrop. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 292,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, as hiring got a boost from unseasonably warm weather. The unemployment rate held steady at a 7-1/2-year low of 5 percent even as more people entered the labor force, a sign of confidence in the job market.
  
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• Tunisia's ruling party faces splits as lawmakers quit

  08-01-2016 19:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Sixteen Tunisian lawmakers from President Beji Caid Essebsi's Nidaa Tounes party resigned on Friday over a dispute involving his son in a move that may allow Islamist rivals to become the main parliamentary power. The resignations deepened a split between two wings in Nidaa Tounes just days after its secretary-general, Mohsen Marzouk, announced he would break away and form a new political movement over accusations Essebsi's son was trying to control the party. Th
  
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• Finland's Fortum bids $115 million for Polish utility

  08-01-2016 19:03
  
  HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finnish state-controlled utility Fortumsaid on Friday it has launched a public tender offer worth up to 106 million euro ($115 million) for Polish electricity and gas seller...
  
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• Wall St bets on Apple bounceback despite iPhone shipment worries

  08-01-2016 19:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Apple Inc has lost about $50 billion of its market value in the first four days of the year, but Wall Street brokerages remained confident the stock would bounce back. While several brokerages reduced their price targets in response to reports of slowing shipments of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, they backed their mostly upbeat recommendations. The most bearish of the six brokerages lowering their targets on Friday was Cowen and Co, which cut its target to $125.
  
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• Oil prices steady but head for 10 pct weekly decline

  08-01-2016 19:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude prices steadied on Friday, supported by higher stock prices on Wall Street, but oil was still headed for a 10 percent weekly decline as global oversupply and a bleak demand outlook made it hard to guess the market's bottom. Over the past four days, futures of global benchmark Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slid sharply, hitting 12-year lows, after China's stock market plunge this week roiled global markets. By Friday noon, oil was
  
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• MTN buys Nigerian internet provider Visafone despite fine uncertainty

  08-01-2016 19:00
  
  LAGOS (Reuters) - South African telecoms group MTNhas bought Nigerian internet provider Visafone to improve its broadband services in its biggest market, it said on Friday, as the company awaits a...
  
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• Wall Street bets on Apple bounceback despite iPhone shipment worries

  08-01-2016 18:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Apple Inc has lost about $50 billion of its market value in the first four days of the year, but Wall Street brokerages remained confident the stock would bounce back. While several brokerages reduced their price targets in response to reports of slowing shipments of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, they backed their mostly upbeat recommendations. The most bearish of the six brokerages lowering their targets on Friday was Cowen and Co, which cut its target to $125.
  
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• US stocks edge higher as market closes out a down week

  08-01-2016 18:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are edging modestly higher in midday trading Friday as traders were encouraged by a burst of hiring last month, the latest sign that the U.S. economy is still growing. Sharp drops in the first few days of the year mean that the market is still headed for its worst week since August.
  
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• U.S. economy seen expanding 0.8 percent in fourth quarter: Atlanta Fed

  08-01-2016 18:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. economy is on track to grow 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter after data showed a steeper-than-forecast 0.3 percent fall in wholesale inventories in November, the Atlanta Federal Reserve's GDPNow forecast model showed on Friday.
  
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• US jobs fail to revive stocks as oil blackens sentiment

  08-01-2016 18:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  World stock markets got only a short-lived boost Friday after China removed ill-fated trading curbs and the US reported a spike in new jobs, with gains melting away as oil prices resumed their downward slide. Oil markets had pulled strongly off 12-year low points on Thursday, but began to fall back as trading neared the close in Europe, with share prices turning back down. France's CAC ended the day down 1.6 percent, while London's FTSE 100 limited the damage to 0.7 percent.
  
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• Safe-haven bonds hold firm even as calm returns to world markets

  08-01-2016 18:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Dhara Ranasinghe LONDON (Reuters) - Short-dated German government bond yields held near one-month lows on Friday, suggesting demand for safe-haven debt remained strong after a turbulent week for world markets. Oil prices recovered from 12-year lows and Chinese stocks rebounded, restoring some stability, after China suspended its stock-market circuit breakers and nudged the yuan higher for the first time in nine days. Data showing a surge in U.S. jobs growth in December -- which should give th
  
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• Britain's FTSE starts 2016 with weakest first week since 2000

  08-01-2016 18:34
  
  * Sports Direct slumps after profit warning (Adds quote, details)
  
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• Major Shell shareholder Standard Life to vote against BG deal

  08-01-2016 18:33
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Life Investments, a major shareholder in Royal Dutch Shell, said on Friday it will vote against the Anglo-Dutch's oil company's proposed $49 billion acquisition of BG...
  
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• Philips, Osram lighting bidders to line up this month: sources

  08-01-2016 18:25
  
  FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Companies interested in lighting assets will be able to bid for top European brands Philips and Osram in two separate auctions starting this month, industry sources on Friday.
  
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• FTSE 100 Falls 5% In First Week Of 2016

  08-01-2016 17:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The FTSE 100 has lost nearly £81bn of market value this week as the index dips below 6,000 following concerns over the health of the Chinese economy. London's leading share index closed 42 points lower on Friday, brining the week's cumulative fall to 314 points - and below the psychologically important 6,000 level. European markets were also lower, while early gains on Wall Street after stronger than expected US jobs figures, were quickly reversed.
  
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• Canada adds jobs in December, analysts see underlying weakness

  08-01-2016 17:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada added more jobs than expected in December, partly making up for heavy losses the previous month, while the unemployment rate held at 7.1 percent, welcome news for an economy hit by low oil prices. Statistics Canada said on Friday the economy created 22,800 jobs in December, far more than the market forecast of a 10,000 gain, but in sign of possible underlying weakness analysts noted all the gains were in the part-time sector. Derek Burleton, deputy ch
  
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• Oil giant Saudi Aramco says studying share offer

  08-01-2016 16:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  State-owned Saudi Aramco, the world's largest crude oil producer, said Friday it is considering a share offer as part of economic reforms by the kingdom hit by a record budget deficit. The announcement comes after oil prices plummeted to 12-year lows on world markets because of a global supply glut, increasing strains on Saudi Arabia's public finances. The statement comes a day after The Economist published an interview with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who said a share offer wa
  
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• Canada unemployment stable at 7.1 %

  08-01-2016 16:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Ottawa (AFP) - Canada's economy created 23,000 jobs in December -- four times what was expected -- although the unemployment rate remained stable at 7.1 percent, the government said Friday.
  
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• US added strong 292K jobs last month; jobless rate at 5 pct.

  08-01-2016 16:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — American employers added a robust 292,000 jobs in December, suggesting that the U.S. economy is so far defying global weakness and growing solidly.
  
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• Puerto Rico sued over diverted funds amid economic crisis

  08-01-2016 16:43 via news.yahoo.com
  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico is facing its first lawsuit over how the U.S. territory has diverted funds to meet certain bond payments as it struggles with a worsening economic crisis.
  
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• Ex-Dewey & LeBoeuf chairman averts retrial

  08-01-2016 16:37
  
  NEW YORK, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The former chairman of Dewey &
  LeBoeuf has reached an agreement with New York prosecutors to
  avert a retrial on fraud charges stemming from the law firm's
  collapse.
  
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• FTSE 100 Gains Fade After Jittery Start To 2016

  08-01-2016 16:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The FTSE 100 Index is experiencing another volatile day as it hovers around the 6,000 mark. London's leading share index added more than 50 points to edge above 6,000 in early trading though it later slipped back below that mark as the strength of the gains faded. European markets were also lower while there were gains on Wall Street after stronger than expected US jobs figures, soothing fears about the economy's health.
  
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• FTSE 100 Edges Higher As China Slump Ends

  08-01-2016 16:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The FTSE 100 Index is experincing another volatile day as it hovers around the 6,000 mark. London's leading share index added more than 50 points to edge above 6,000 in early trading though it later slipped back below that mark as the strength of the gains faded. European markets were also lower while there were gains on Wall Street after stronger than expected US jobs figures, soothing fears about the economy's health.
  
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