Finance news

• U.S. stocks stage late rebound, dollar slips

  01-06-2016 23:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Richard Leong NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock prices rose slightly on Wednesday helped by a late recovery in oil prices and an encouraging economic report from the Federal Reserve, but equity prices in other major world markets fell on worrisome Chinese and European factory data. The U.S. dollar slipped on fresh doubts about a Federal Reserve interest rate rise in June and Japan's postponement of a sales tax increase which helped to boost the yen. Oil prices ended lower but recovered from the
  
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• Nigerian militant group says it blew up two Chevron wells

  01-06-2016 23:44 via news.yahoo.com
  A Nigerian militant group said on Wednesday that it had blown up two Chevron oil wells in the second such attack in a week on the company's facilities in Nigeria's oil-producing Delta region. An oil spill was seen in waterways and wetlands surrounding the Chevron sites after the attack, according to a Reuters witness and a local official, though the volume spilled could not be immediately determined. The attacks occurred as tensions flared between international oil companies and Niger Delta resi
  
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• Marijuana use by adults tied to few physical health problems

  01-06-2016 23:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) - Other than being at an increased risk of gum disease, people who smoked marijuana for up to 20 years during adulthood were generally as healthy as people who didn't light up, according to a new study. The same researchers had previously found that marijuana users were at higher risk of cognitive decline and descent into lower social and economic strata, but the new study suggests the same isn't true for physical health. "The only measures that seemed to ind
  
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• Canadian companies at capacity, yet still cautious on investment

  01-06-2016 23:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Leah Schnurr OTTAWA (Reuters) - Even with some parts of the Canadian economy operating near capacity, economists say business investment is unlikely to pick up soon because many companies are wary about the outlook for growth. Canadian business investment fell again in the first quarter, gross domestic product data released on Tuesday showed, the fifth straight quarterly decline, which weighed on economic growth. The business investment decline, heavily influenced by the oil price slump, cont
  
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• UPDATE 1-Court ruling casts shadow over Brazil offshore oil sector

  01-06-2016 23:40
  
  SAO PAULO, June 1 (Reuters) - A Brazilian appeals court has
  ruled that a Liberian mortgage is invalid for a Brazilian-owned
  oil production ship, sources with direct knowledge of the matter
  said on...
  
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• US stocks eke out gains after Europe, Asia markets sink

  01-06-2016 23:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Shares on Wall Street eked out gains Wednesday after markets in much of the rest of the world tumbled on fresh signs of stagnant growth.
  
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• Obama slams Trump for promising to roll back Wall Street reforms

  01-06-2016 23:20 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Jeff Mason ELKHART, Ind. (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama slammed Donald Trump's proposal to weaken Wall Street reforms and touted his own economic record on Wednesday during a trip to a city he visited three weeks into his presidency that has recovered from its recession lows. Obama's remarks in Elkhart, Indiana, foreshadowed the arguments he is likely to make on the campaign trail this fall against the likely Republican presidential nominee. Obama did not mention Trump by name, but h
  
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• UPDATE 1-U.S. lawmakers oppose Caesars' casino REIT plan

  01-06-2016 23:15
  
  WILMINGTON, Del., June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Congress members
  urged Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to deny Caesars Entertainment
  Corp a favorable tax ruling relating to the casino
  operator's plan to...
  
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• U.S. stocks stage late rebound, dollar falls

  01-06-2016 22:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stock prices rose slightly on Wednesday on a late rebound in oil prices and an encouraging economic report from the Federal Reserve, but equity prices in other major world markets fell on worrisome Chinese and European factory data. Oil prices tumbled earlier on expectations major oil producers would not reach a deal to freeze output at an OPEC meeting on Thursday in Vienna. U.S. Treasury bond prices ended lower on the late bounce in stock and commodity prices.
  
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• Obama warns about politicians preying on economic anxiety

  01-06-2016 21:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  ELKHART, Ind. (AP) — President Barack Obama says people should beware of politicians who are "preying" on Americans' anxieties about the economy in a bid to win headlines and votes.
  
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• Fed survey finds modest growth in many regions

  01-06-2016 20:28 via news.yahoo.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the economy grew at a modest pace in much of the country from April to mid-May, despite headwinds ranging from slower consumer spending to ongoing weakness in the manufacturing and the energy sectors.
  
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• Members of U.S. Congress oppose Caesars' casino REIT plan

  01-06-2016 20:23
  
  WILMINGTON, Del., June 1 (Reuters) - U.S. Congress members
  urged Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to deny casino operator
  Caesars Entertainment Corp a favorable tax ruling
  relating to the company's plan...
  
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• Rise in U.S. manufacturing activity masks underlying weakness

  01-06-2016 19:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. manufacturing grew for a third straight month in May, but factories appeared to be taking in fewer deliveries from their suppliers, which could hamper production in the months ahead. Other data on Wednesday showed automobile sales slowing last month and a sharp drop in construction spending in April, bucking the recent flow of relatively strong data that suggested economic growth was regaining speed in the second quarter. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national
  
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• Anti-austerity alliance captures vote of Spain's crisis-hit poor

  01-06-2016 19:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Sonya Dowsett BARCELONA (Reuters) - Yolanda Yeste lost her flat and two jobs as a hospital security guard during Spain's five-year economic crisis and its aftermath. No clear winner emerged from the ballot and political parties failed to form a coalition government, so voters go back to the polls on June 26 for the second election in six months. "There has to be a change, we can't keep on going as we are." The Unidos Podemos (United We Can) alliance may or may not end up joining a coalition g
  
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• Tanzania seizes 'idle' land from investors to return to poor farmers

  01-06-2016 19:27 via news.yahoo.com
  By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Tanzania has begun a nationwide program to seize land left undeveloped by investors and return it to poor farmers, in a bid to quell conflicts between farmers, herders and developers. For more than a decade, foreign investors have bought up large tracts of land for agriculture or for energy projects, but many have left the land unused. Agriculture is the backbone of Tanzania's economy and more than 80 percent of the population depend
  
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• Wall Street flat on U.S. factory data, oil pullback

  01-06-2016 19:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday afternoon, recovering from steep losses earlier in the session, helped by encouraging factory data and a pull back in oil prices. Wall Street fell earlier after surveys showed global manufacturing activity remained stuck in a rut last month, with factory output from Asia and Europe barely improving as producers struggled to bring in new orders.
  
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• Wall Street pares losses on encouraging U.S. factory data

  01-06-2016 18:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks pared losses on Wednesday after encouraging factory data, but remained lower, with falling oil prices weighing on energy companies and financials retreating as chances of a rate hike this month ebbed on weak China data. China's official factory activity gauge expanded only marginally in May, data showed, while a private survey showed conditions deteriorated for a fifteenth straight month, kindling fears of a global slowdown. "We had some overnight data points out of China that gave i
  
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• Soccer-Russia World Cup safe from economic threat - Infantino

  01-06-2016 18:43 via news.yahoo.com
  By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy MOSCOW, June 1 (Reuters) - Russia's economic difficulties will not affect the country's preparations to host the 2018 World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday. "We have received all the guarantees that the World Cup will be delivered as promised," he told Reuters after a ceremony in Moscow to find volunteers for the 2018 World Cup and the 2017 Confederations Cup, a World Cup warm-up event. "But in addition to this, I really believe that an event like th
  
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• Animated by 2016 race, Obama to take victory lap in Indiana

  01-06-2016 18:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven years ago, newly elected President Barack Obama came to a blighted stretch of northern Indiana and predicted a tough but certain recovery — if the country embraced his approach to re-juicing the economy. He returns Wednesday seeking credit for having lifted the U.S. out of the doldrums with policies Democrats are now rallying behind as they work to elect his replacement.
  
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• Brazil GDP shrinks 0.3%, but less than feared

  01-06-2016 18:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Brazil's economy shrank 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016, officials said Wednesday, in a slightly better than expected performance, but far from lifting the deep gloom over Latin America's economic powerhouse. By widening the approved primary budget deficit, Temer's government wins time and flexibility to enact austerity measures and other market reforms.
  
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• Stocks slump, polls pummel pound

  01-06-2016 18:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  European and Asian stock markets mostly fell on Wednesday, with Tokyo dropping sharply on a surging yen, as traders reacted to mixed manufacturing data and further losses for oil prices.
  
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• S. Africa cenbank gov says shocks to inflation, growth cause uncertainty

  01-06-2016 18:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Recent shocks to growth and inflation in South Africa have created much uncertainty, the central bank governor said on Wednesday, adding he could not predict the outcome of a rating review due on Friday. South Africa's economy has been hit by a ravaging drought and its economic prospects do not look promising, South African Reserve Bank head Lesetja Kganyago said ahead of Standard and Poor's release of its ratings decision on Friday. S&P's has already w
  
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• Brazil's Temer says sacrifices needed to end 'bloated' state

  01-06-2016 17:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Interim President Michel Temer vowed on Wednesday not to cut spending on health and education but warned that sacrifices are needed to balance Brazil's public accounts and restore economic growth. "There is no longer any room in Brazil for a bloated and inefficient state," he said at a ceremony where the new heads of state banks and state-run oil company Petrobras took office. Temer, who replaced suspended leftist President Dilma Rousseff last month when she stepped down to face a trial in the S
  
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• EU faces major test of trade resolve with Canada deal approval

  01-06-2016 17:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The European Commission, which negotiates trade agreements on behalf of the 28 EU members, and Canada have concluded talks on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) that could increase trade between the two by some 20 percent. It is likely to secure backing in the Canadian and European parliaments, but support from the 28 members is far from certain.
  
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• Germany working on Kuka counter-offer: Economy Minister says

  01-06-2016 17:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Andreas Rinke and Arno Schuetze BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany is trying to coordinate an alternative offer for industrial robot maker Kuka following Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group Co Ltd's 4.5 billion euro takeover bid, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said. Kuka is the latest and biggest German industrial technology group to be targeted by a Chinese buyer as the world's second-largest economy makes the transition from a low-cost manufacturer into a high-tech industrial hub. G
  
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• World factories stuck in low gear on sluggish demand

  01-06-2016 17:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Speculation in recent weeks that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the next few months, concerns about Chinese economic growth, and worries that a possible British exit from the European Union, are all factors that have knocked confidence. JPMorgan's Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), produced with Markit, came in at 50.0 last month, right on the level that separates growth from contraction, compared to 50.1 in April. "The May PMI data suggest that the glo
  
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• BRIEF-Insolvency proceedings started for Steilmann Holding

  01-06-2016 17:32
  
  * commencement of insolvency proceedings in respect of the
  assets of Steilmann holding agFurther company coverage:
  (Reporting by Frankfurt Newsroom)
  
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• TSX falls to one-week low as lower oil weighs on energy stocks

  01-06-2016 17:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Canada's main stock index fell to a one-week low on Wednesday as energy and financial stocks retreated, pressured by lower oil prices and weak Chinese data which weighed on global stock markets. Energy stocks fell 2 percent as oil fell on bets of inaction at Thursday's meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Shares of National Bank of Canada fell 1.5 percent to C$42.89.
  
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• US bank earnings dip 2 percent in 1Q amid low oil prices

  01-06-2016 17:23 via news.yahoo.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The impact of low oil prices has continued to hobble the finances of U.S. banks, which posted increased loan losses in the first quarter driven by a huge jump in delinquent energy loans.
  
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• Wall Street opens lower on weak China data, oil prices

  01-06-2016 16:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks started the month in the red on Wednesday as falling oil prices and weak factory data from China reduced the chances of a rate hike this month, dragging on financial stocks. JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup were all down between 1.3-2.0 percent. China's official factory activity gauge expanded only marginally in May, data showed, while a private survey showed conditions deteriorated for a fifteenth straight month.
  
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• Bahrain charges 18 with contacting Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Hezbollah: BNA

  01-06-2016 15:57 via news.yahoo.com
  Bahrain has charged 18 people with contacting Iran's Revolutionary Guard and the Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese Hezbollah group with the aim of stirring up unrest in the kingdom, state news agency BNA reported on Wednesday. Bahrain cut diplomatic relations with Iran in January, a day after Riyadh severed ties with Tehran following attacks by Iranian demonstrators on Saudi diplomatic missions in response to the execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim Saudi cleric convicted on terrorism charges. It said
  
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• Wall St begins June lower on weak China data, oil

  01-06-2016 15:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - Wall Street began the month in the red on Wednesday, with falling oil prices and weak factory data from China worrying investors as they try to anticipate the timing of the next U.S. rate hike. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 74.3 points, or 0.42 percent, at 17,712.9. The S&P 500 was lower 7.68 points, or 0.37 percent, at 2,089.28 and the Nasdaq Composite was off 19.03 points, or 0.38 percent, at 4,929.02. (Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
  
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• Ethiopia to expand tiny car assembly business in industrial drive

  01-06-2016 15:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia has grand ambitions for its tiny auto industry, seeking to transform a handful of assemblers that bolt together imported kits into a network of factories that can make the country Africa's biggest car manufacturer over the next two decades. It is part of a vision to turn a nation that is among the poorest in Africa into an industrial centre that no longer relies on fickle weather patterns that periodically devastate the agrarian economy and leave
  
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• Canada manufacturing growth little changed in May

  01-06-2016 15:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The RBC Canadian Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI), a measure of manufacturing business conditions, dipped to a seasonally adjusted 52.1 last month from 52.2 in April. A sustained acceleration in export activity is key to the Bank of Canada's outlook, though the economy has yet to see it. Craig Wright, chief economist at RBC, said the decline in export sales "raises questions about Canada's transition to a more export-led expansion." The decline ended six consecutive months of growt
  
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• European, Asian stock markets retreat

  01-06-2016 15:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  London (AFP) - European and Asian stock markets mostly retreated on Wednesday, with Tokyo dropping sharply on a surging yen, as traders reacted to mixed manufacturing data and further losses for oil prices.
  
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• Brazil first-quarter economy shrinks 0.3%, less than feared

  01-06-2016 15:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Brazil's economy, which is grappling with political crisis and its worst recession in decades, shrank a less-than-feared 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2016, the government statistics office said Wednesday. Economic output between January and March had been forecast by Itau Unibanco to fall by 0.8 percent. The year-on-year GDP shrinkage came to 5.4 percent -- below the 6.1 percent fall forecast by Itau, Brazil's leading private bank.
  
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• South Africa's Nampak sells property, scraps dividend to reduce debt

  01-06-2016 15:04 via news.yahoo.com
  South African packaging manufacturer Nampak scrapped its half-year dividend on Wednesday and said it would reduce its property portfolio to cut debt, sending its shares tumbling 10 percent. Nampak, which has operations in 12 African countries, said challenging economic conditions prompted it to forego an interim dividend and it aimed to raise 1.744 billion rand ($111 million) by selling non-core properties. The firm's debt has ballooned to more than 7.4 billion rand in the past five years as the
  
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• West Africa BCEAO central bank keeps interest rate at 2.5 pct

  01-06-2016 14:49 via news.yahoo.com
  DAKAR (Reuters) - The central bank of the eight-nation West African CFA franc zone kept its primary interest rate steady at 2.5 percent, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday. The BCEAO bank has not changed the interest rate since September 2013. Economic growth was projected at 7.2 percent in the currency zone this year, up from 6.6 percent last year. (Reporting by Diadie Ba; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Edward McAllister)
  
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• Egypt opens Gaza crossing for second time in a month

  01-06-2016 14:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Egypt opened its border with Gaza for the second time in a month on Wednesday, giving Palestinians a four-day respite from a closure stemming from friction between Cairo and the enclave's Islamist rulers. Egypt's shuttering of Rafah and destruction of cross-border smuggling tunnels, along with tight restrictions imposed by Israel along its own frontier with Gaza, have deepened economic misery for many of the 1.9 million Palestinians in the enclave. The crossing will be open for four days startin
  
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• Rising food prices undermine economic growth in southern Africa

  01-06-2016 14:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A severe drought in southern Africa has triggered a surge in food prices preventing central banks from loosening monetary policy to spur economic growth. Central banks in South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique have been forced to raise interest rates to rein in inflation after the El Nino-induced drought crippled the production of the staple maize and other crops, pushing up food prices, despite dismal economic growth prospects.
  
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• Nigeria to meet investors next week ahead of possible bond sale: sources

  01-06-2016 14:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Nigeria will hold a non-deal roadshow in London next week, government sources said on Wednesday, as Africa's biggest economy explores fund raising options to finance a record budget deficit widened by the fall in vital oil revenues. Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun with officials from the central bank and debt office will meet investors next Tuesday to update the market on government policies. Standard Chartered Bank is organising the meeting, the source said.
  
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• Germany working to formulate Kuka counter-offer: Gabriel says

  01-06-2016 13:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany is trying to coordinate an alternative offer for industrial robot maker Kuka following Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group Co Ltd's 4.5 billion euro takeover bid, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said. Kuka is the latest and biggest German industrial technology group to be targeted by a Chinese buyer as the world's second-largest economy makes the transition from a low-cost manufacturer into a high-tech industrial hub. Government sources have said Berlin
  
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• World growth worries give stocks lackluster June start

  01-06-2016 13:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Global equity markets started the new month on the back foot on Wednesday, undermined by lackluster economic data and an oil price slide that took the edge off energy and mining shares. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 and the STOXX Europe 600 both fell more than 1 percent, led by the resources sector, while U.S. equity futures pointed to a weak opening for Wall Street.
  
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• World growth worries give stocks lacklustre June start

  01-06-2016 13:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By John Geddie and Sujata Rao LONDON (Reuters) - Global equity markets started the new month on the back foot on Wednesday, undermined by lacklustre economic data and an oil price slide that took the edge off energy and mining shares. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 and the STOXX Europe 600 both fell more than 1 percent, led by the resources sector , while U.S. equity futures pointed to a weak opening for Wall Street.
  
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• Japan PM delays tax hike in blow for Abenomics

  01-06-2016 13:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday said he would delay a sales tax hike that threatened to derail the fragile economy, but analysts said it highlighted the failure of his years-long efforts to spark growth. The decision by Abe also drew a warning from credit rating agency Fitch, which said it would "undermine the credibility" of Japan's commitment to paying down one of the world's biggest national debts. Abe had repeatedly said he would follow through on the levy hike, planned for 2
  
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• World economy risks getting caught in 'low-growth trap'

  01-06-2016 13:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PARIS (AP) — The world economy risks getting caught in a "low-growth trap" if governments don't spend more on investments, open up to trade, and make reforms, a top economic forum warned Wednesday.
  
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• National Bank's Q2 earnings hit by energy sector weakness

  01-06-2016 13:10 via news.yahoo.com
  National Bank on Wednesday joined the list of financial institutions reporting their bottom lines have taken a hit from the battered oil and gas sector. In the wake of the earnings release, investors sent shares of National down  63 cents to $42.89 in morning trading on the TSX.
  
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• South Africa's cenbank governor says shocks to inflation, growth causing uncertainty

  01-06-2016 13:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Wendell Roelf CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Recent shocks to growth and inflation had created a great deal of uncertainty, the central bank governor said on Wednesday, adding that he could not predict the outcome of a rating review due on Friday. The economy of Africa's most industrialised country has been hit by a ravaging drought, and its economic prospects do not look promising, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said at a conference, days before Standard and Poor's releases its decision on Friday. A sever
  
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• BRIEF-Steilmann: commencement of insolvency proceedings

  01-06-2016 13:03
  
  * Dortmund Local Court commenced insolvency proceedings in respect of the assets of
  Steilmann SE
  
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• Japan PM delays sales tax hike, puts fiscal reform on back burner

  01-06-2016 12:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Wednesday his widely expected decision to delay a scheduled sales tax increase by two-and-a-half years, putting his plans for fiscal reforms on the back burner due to growing signs of weakness in the economy. While the decision may help Abe win votes at an upper house election on July 10, it could fan doubts about his plans to curb Japan's huge public debt and fund ballooning social welfare co
  
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