Finance news

• Michigan governor tells credit rating agencies state doing 'very well'

  31-03-2016 23:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Hilary Russ NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has met with Wall Street credit rating agencies this week, telling them Michigan's economy is doing "very well" in the face of a lowered credit outlook, Snyder said on Thursday. "We had a good, healthy discussion," Snyder told Reuters after speaking at a CUNY Graduate School of Journalism event in New York City. "Michigan economically is doing very well." Two weeks ago, just before Michigan's most recent bond offering, Standard &a
  
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• Investors move into money funds, high-grade bond funds: Lipper

  31-03-2016 23:53
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Risk aversion was on display this week as investors poured $12.1 billion into U.S.-based money market funds and $112 million into U.S.-based corporate investment-grade bond...
  
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• INTERVIEW-Canadian uranium company Nexgen mulls eventual stake sale as stock gains

  31-03-2016 23:36
  
  March 31 (Reuters) - Nexgen Energy Ltd, a Canadian uranium exploration company whose stock rocketed 79 percent this month, is talking with multiple uranium producers and buyers about selling a...
  
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• U.S. companies overpaying for bonds; banks may be to blame: study

  31-03-2016 23:09
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street banks appear to be routinely mispricing corporate bond issues, potentially costing U.S. companies billions of dollars in excess interest payments, according to a new...
  
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• Feeble finish to a tempestuous quarter on Wall Street

  31-03-2016 22:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street ended the first quarter with a whimper on Thursday after a seven-week rally that rescued the S&P 500 from its worst start to a year since 2009. Angst about a troubled global economy drove a steep selloff in stocks in January, before a rebound in oil prices cleared the way for the S&P's 13-percent recovery since mid-February that has left the index up 0.8 percent for 2016.
  
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• US STOCKS-Feeble finish to a tempestuous quarter on Wall Street

  31-03-2016 22:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street ended the first quarter with a whimper on Thursday after a seven-week rally that rescued the S&P 500 from its worst start to a year since 2009. Angst about a troubled global economy drove a ...
  
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• China's Anbang scraps bid for Starwood Hotels - source

  31-03-2016 22:27
  
  March 31 (Reuters) - China's Anbang Insurance Group Co is walking away from its proposed takeover of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc, the operator of Sheraton and Westin hotels, a source...
  
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• Brazil's Temer eyes pro-business plan but has scant room for major reforms

  31-03-2016 21:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Anthony Boadle and Alonso Soto BRASILIA (Reuters) - Vice President Michel Temer is quietly assembling a team of respected economists to revive confidence in Brazil's battered economy with cautious spending cuts and privatizations should leftist President Dilma Rousseff be impeached, insiders say. Temer could take power as soon as May if the lower house of Congress approves Rousseff's impeachment but party insiders warn the softly-spoken 75-year-old faces a daunting array of obstacles to pursu
  
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• Brazil prosecutors charge billionaire Safra in bribery scheme

  31-03-2016 21:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Silvio Cascione and Guillermo Parra-Bernal BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian prosecutors on Thursday charged Joseph Safra, the world's richest banker, in connection with an alleged scheme to pay bribes to government officials in return for waiving tax debts. In a statement, prosecutors said that Safra had knowledge of a 2014 plan by executives at his Banco Safra SA to pay 15.3 million reais ($4.2 million) in bribes to federal tax auditors. The accusation is based on tapped phone calls
  
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• U.S. Treasuries post strong quarter but gains not so golden

  31-03-2016 21:34
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury debt market is on track to post its best quarter in 4-1/2 years, but looking under the hood, much of the gain stems from investors demanding more compensation...
  
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• Now coming to your value fund: those sexy growth stocks

  31-03-2016 21:33
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Even the most exciting companies become boring eventually, though not always as suddenly as they have this year.
  
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• IMF urges innovation to battle global growth slowdown

  31-03-2016 21:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Facing slowing growth in the global economy, the International Monetary Fund called Thursday for policies that support research and development to promote innovation. "Fiscal policy can play an important role in stimulating innovation through its effects on research and development (R&D), entrepreneurship, and technology transfer," the IMF said in a report ahead of its twice-yearly meeting in Washington in April. Among its recommendations, the IMF estimated that businesses in advanced econom
  
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• Shares of Morocco's Alliances Development suspended as it delays 2015 results

  31-03-2016 21:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Adds director comments) By Aziz El Yaakoubi RABAT, March 31 (Reuters) - Morocco's stock market regulator AMMC suspended trading in shares of Alliances Development on Thursday after the property company postponed its annual results announcement, saying it wanted time to finalise a debt restructuring plan. Alliances' shares have tumbled more than 65 percent in the past 12 months on the Casablanca stock market and the company issued a profit warning earlier this month, saying it would post a bigge
  
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• Wall Street on track for feeble end to tempestuous quarter

  31-03-2016 20:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street was set to end the first quarter with a whimper on Thursday after a month-long rally that rescued the S&P 500 from its worst start to a year since 2009. Worries about a troubled global economy caused a steep selloff in stocks in January, before a rebound in plummeting oil prices cleared the way for a 7-percent recovery the S&P through March that has left the index up 1 percent for 2016. "A lot of people are trying to hold the market up here because it's going to give everyone
  
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• Roller-coaster first quarter ends with dollar down, global stocks flat

  31-03-2016 20:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  It has fallen this week on reduced expectations for near-term interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve, particularly after comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. U.S. oil futures rose 0.7 percent to $38.58 a barrel, rebounding somewhat after another report of record U.S. stockpiles, while China was put on a downgrade warning by S&P. This quarter "has all been about the three C's. Commodities, China and central banks," said Aberdeen Asset Management investment committee member Kevin D
  
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• GE asks US to drop "systemically important" tag for Capital

  31-03-2016 20:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — General Electric Co. asked the U.S. to drop the "too big to fail" tag for GE Capital, saying that its financing operations are a shadow of what they were when the Federal Reserve placed it under strict oversight in the aftermath of the global economic crisis almost a decade ago.
  
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• Argentina says debt deal turns page on 2001 default

  31-03-2016 20:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Argentina's economy minister hailed lawmakers' approval Thursday of a settlement with foreign creditors, saying it will erase all trace of the 2001 default -- the biggest in history at the time. Conservative President Mauricio Macri's government claimed a political victory after it persuaded opposition senators to back the agreement which it hopes will help ease Argentina's financial woes. "This is the definitive move that wipes out the 2001 default," said Alfonso Prat-Gay, one of President Maur
  
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• U.S. judge rejects Lehman workers' claims on stock awards

  31-03-2016 19:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Former senior employees of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc [LEHLO.UL] who once commanded seven-figure pay packages failed to persuade a federal judge to restore hundreds of millions of dollars of stock awards that become worthless after the Wall Street bank's collapse. In a decision made public on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan said the awards should be classified as equity, subject to being wiped out, rather than as contract claims entitling the workers to cash payouts from Lehman'
  
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• Wall Street up slightly as tumultuous quarter winds down

  31-03-2016 19:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Investors held off on making big bets on Thursday ahead of the critical U.S. non-farm payrolls report due on Friday. Friday's report will give investors a clearer reading on the state of the economy. "Everyone continues to search for information about where the economy is and if it is really firming up like we think and hope it is," said Dan Farley, regional investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.
  
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• The One Data Point That Could Determine Whether This Rally Lasts

  31-03-2016 19:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street, for all its complexities, has been reduced to drooling, Pavlovian puppy dogs when Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen takes the microphone, as she did earlier this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged up and out of a three-week consolidation range after Yellen on Tuesday talked up the downside risks to the economy, talked down the recent rise in core inflation measures and generally, if subtly, pooh-poohed the chances of an April interest rate hike at a speech to the Economi
  
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• UPDATE 2-Regulator orders drugmaker Valeant management to cease trading

  31-03-2016 18:56
  
  March 31 (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International
  Inc's directors and key officers have received a
  cease-trade order by the securities regulator in the Canadian
  province of Quebec, on the...
  
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• Botswana GDP grew 4.9 pct in Q4

  31-03-2016 18:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Botswana's economy grew 4.9 percent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to end-December versus a revised 3.5 percent contraction in the third quarter of 2015, the statistics agency said on Thursday. On a year-on-year basis, gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 1.9 percent compared to a 3.9 percent contraction in 2014. The decline on an annual basis was attributed to a fall in mining output, which slipped 30.5 percent in the fourth quarter, according to Statistics Botswana.
  
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• S&P affirms MTN rating on tamer dividend as Nigerian fine looms

  31-03-2016 18:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Standard & Poor's affirmed MTN's credit rating on Thursday, saying that although the South African company faced a $3.9 billion fine in Nigeria, its decision to hold back on dividends was positive. "We view MTN's decision to lower dividends and maintain sufficient liquidity for its normal obligations, while retaining flexibility to address the pending fine, as positive," said Standard & Poor's in a statement, adding that it had affirmed the company's long-term corporate credit ratings at
  
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• United States, China to sign Paris climate accord on April 22

  31-03-2016 18:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and China confirmed Thursday that they will sign the Paris climate change agreement in New York on April 22, a move that officials hope will help the accord enter into force this year. The world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters issued a joint presidential statement in which they called on other countries to sign the accord next month "with a view to bringing the Paris Agreement into force as early as possible." Leaders from nearl
  
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• Kenya's central bank delays Imperial Bank resolution

  31-03-2016 18:29
  
  NAIROBI, March 31 (Reuters) - Kenya's central bank said on
  Thursday it would require another three months of investigation
  to determine the fate of Imperial Bank, which was put into
  receivership in...
  
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• Valeant directors, CEO ordered to cease trading shares

  31-03-2016 18:11
  
  March 31 (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International
  Inc's directors and key officers have received a
  cease-trade order by the securities regulator in the Canadian
  province of Quebec, on the...
  
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• Britain's FTSE ends poor quarter with another drop

  31-03-2016 17:58
  
  * AO World soars on results beat (ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets...
  
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• GE seeks removal of 'too big to fail' label

  31-03-2016 17:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  General Electric requested Thursday that US regulators drop its designation as a systemically important financial institution in light of significant divestitures over the last year. GE had garnered the so-called "too big to fail" designation in 2013 after the government determined that significant duress at GE Capital, its financial firm, could damage the broader economy. "Our submission details the complete transformation of GE Capital," said GE Capital chief executive Keith Sherin in a statem
  
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• When it comes to taxes, it is good to be retired

  31-03-2016 16:51
  
  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tax day is April 18th this year, and it will be an unpleasant day for millions of American working households. But cheer up: your tax situation likely will lighten up a bit when...
  
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• Electronic passport gates may make child trafficking easier: UK campaigners

  31-03-2016 16:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Allowing children as young as 12 to use electronic passport gates at British airports would be a missed opportunity to identify victims of child trafficking, anti-trafficking campaigners said. The UK Home Office (interior ministry) has started a six-month trial of eGates, which use facial recognition technology, for children 12-17 years old at five major UK airports, including the country's biggest airports, Heathrow and Gatwick. The electro
  
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• US may allow Iran to trade in dollars: expert

  31-03-2016 16:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The United States appears to be laying the groundwork to let Iran begin trading in dollars, experts believe, after a landmark accord with the West last year saw the country limit its nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in Washington Wednesday that US sanctions should not be used lightly, though a Republican-controlled Congress remains dead set against easing restraints on Tehran. "We must be conscious of the risk that overuse of sanctions
  
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• Average US rate on 30-year mortgage steady at 3.71 percent

  31-03-2016 16:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates were unchanged to slightly higher this week after declining the previous week.
  
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• GE Capital asks U.S. government to lift 'too big to fail' designation

  31-03-2016 16:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - General Electric Co's GE Capital financing arm on Thursday asked the U.S. government to stop designating it as a "systemically important financial institution," a label for companies considered "too big to fail," now that it has less influence on the U.S. economy. GE Capital Chief Executive Officer Keith Sherin said in a statement that the unit had shrunk to the point where it no longer meets the criteria for the designation, which can trigger possible requ
  
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• S&P cuts China sovereign credit outlook to negative; maintains AA - rating

  31-03-2016 16:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Pete Sweeney and James Pomfret SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - S&P cut its outlook for China's sovereign credit rating on Thursday to negative from stable, but maintained the rating at AA-, saying the government's reform agenda is on track but likely to proceed more slowly than expected. The downgrade for China's outlook follows a similar move by ratings agency Moody's Investor Services in early March. At the same time, S&P also downgraded the outlook for Hong Kong, a special administr
  
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• TSX rises as commodity-related stocks advance

  31-03-2016 15:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index rose on Thursday as commodity-related stocks and financials advanced, while data showed the domestic economy expanded more than expected in January. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 17.50 points, or 0.13 percent, at 13,521.48, shortly after the open. Just four of the index's 10 main groups were higher. (Reporting by Fergal Smith)
  
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• Wall Street little changed at the open

  31-03-2016 15:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  REUTERS - U.S. stocks were little changed at the open on Thursday, the last day of a turbulent quarter for financial markets. While weekly jobless claims were slightly higher than expected, investors are awaiting the critical non-farm payrolls report on Friday that will give a clearer reading on the state of the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 5.28 points, or 0.03 percent, to 17,721.94, the S&P 500 lost 0.41 points, or 0.02 percent, to 2,063.54 and the Nasdaq composite dropped
  
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• British current account deficit balloons, EU campaigners clash

  31-03-2016 15:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By William Schomberg and Ana Nicolaci da Costa LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's current account deficit has surged to a record high, underscoring a weak spot in an economy that is coming under sharper focus before a vote on whether to remain in the European Union. While official data also showed the economy grew slightly faster than previously thought, campaigners on both sides of the EU debate seized on the much bigger than expected gap in the balance of payments to push their views. Finance minist
  
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• Canada growth jumps in January, dimming chances of rate cut

  31-03-2016 14:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Canada's economy grew by a much larger-than-expected 0.6 percent in January, Statistics Canada data indicated on Thursday, reducing the odds that the Bank of Canada will need to cut interest rates further this year. The Bank of Canada, which cut rates twice last year to help counter the effects of a slump in oil prices, is currently predicting first quarter growth of just 1 percent. Statscan said manufacturing, retail trade, mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction were major contributors to
  
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• Osborne - Economic data shows now is not the time to leave EU

  31-03-2016 14:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  British finance minister George Osborne said Thursday's economic data, which showed the current account deficit ballooned to a record new high, demonstrated that now is not the time for Britain to leave the European Union. While lauding the resilience of Britain's economy after its growth picked up slightly at the end of 2015, Osborne said a slowing global economy weighed on the outlook. "Today's figures expose the real danger of economic uncertainty and shows that now is precisely not the time
  
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• Britain's FTSE ends poor quarter with more falls

  31-03-2016 14:10
  
  * AO World soars on results beat (ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets...
  
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• UPDATE 1-Coal miner Peabody Energy to cut jobs in Powder River Basin

  31-03-2016 14:01
  
  March 31 (Reuters) - Peabody Energy Corp, the
  largest U.S. coal producer, said it would lay off about 235
  employees at a mine in the Powder River basin, two weeks after
  the company flagged bankruptcy...
  
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• Spain overshoots public deficit target for 2015 

  31-03-2016 13:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Spain posted a public deficit of 5.16 percent of economic output in 2015, Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said Thursday, the eighth consecutive year the country has overshot its fiscal target. Spain's conservative government predicted last year that it would reduce its deficit to 4.2 percent in 2015 and then to 2.8 percent in 2016 -- forecasts that EU finance commissioner Pierre Moscovici said were "a bit optimistic". "The budget deficit was lowered in 2015 to 5.16 percent from 5.8 percent.
  
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• Morocco's bourse suspends trading in Alliances Development

  31-03-2016 13:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's financial market watchdog AMMC suspended trading in property company Alliances Development on Thursday pending an important announcement, a source from the regulator said. The move came in the last day of the three months in which the company should have announced its 2015 results. The company issued a profit warning earlier this month, saying that 2015 results are expected to show a widening loss citing restructuring debt plan and economic slowdown in the North Afric
  
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• UPDATE 3-Dalian Wanda may take property arm off HK bourse, prefers Shanghai

  31-03-2016 13:43
  
  * Dalian Wanda unhappy with unit's share performance in HK -source
  
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• Global funds cut equity holdings to lowest in at least five years

  31-03-2016 13:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Claire Milhench LONDON (Reuters) - Investors cut their holdings of stocks to the lowest in at least five years in March, despite a recovery in global equity markets, with euro zone and Japanese assets bearing the brunt as doubts grew about the effectiveness of central bank stimulus. Equity allocations shrank month-on-month to 45.9 percent, a new five-year low, despite a global stock market rally that saw the MSCI World equity index climb over 7 percent in March. Cash holdings rose to 5.8 perc
  
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• UPDATE 2-China brokerage Guosen unit denies report it defaulted on dim sum yuan bond

  31-03-2016 13:34
  
  HONG KONG/SHANGHAI, March 31 (Reuters) - A unit of China's Guosen Securities, one of the country's largest brokerages, denied a Financial Times report it had defaulted on a Hong Kong-traded yuan bond...
  
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• German unemployment at record low despite global uncertainties

  31-03-2016 13:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Germany kept unemployment at historic lows in March as the recovery in Europe's biggest economy remains on track, unfazed by global uncertainties and a huge influx of refugees, data showed on Thursday. The unemployment rate -- which measures the jobless total against the working population as a whole -- stood at 6.2 percent in March, unchanged from February. In numerical terms, the number of people registered as unemployed in Germany stood at a seasonally-adjusted 2.728 million, also unchanged f
  
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• US pre-open: Stocks seen touch lower ahead of jobless claims, Chicago PMI

  31-03-2016 13:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (ShareCast News) - US futures pointed to a marginally lower open on Wall Street as investors looked to the release of some key data points.
  
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• Coal miner Peabody Energy to cut jobs in Powder River Basin

  31-03-2016 13:17
  
  March 31 (Reuters) - Peabody Energy Corp, the
  largest U.S. coal producer, said it would lay off about 235
  employees at a mine in the Powder River basin, two weeks after
  the company flagged bankruptcy...
  
  Read more

• S&P lowers China outlook to negative

  31-03-2016 13:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) cut its outlook on China from stable to negative on Thursday, warning that economic rebalancing was taking longer than expected. "The economic and financial risks to the Chinese government's creditworthiness are gradually increasing," it said in a statement. S&P kept its rating on Chinese sovereign bonds unchanged at AA-/A-1+.
  
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