Finance news

• Wall Street falls as Brexit vote becomes major fear

  14-06-2016 22:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. Federal Reserve began its two-day meeting to decide whether the U.S. economy has recovered enough to absorb an interest rate hike. Among banks that tend to benefit from higher interest rates, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase took a hit and weighed most on the S&P 500. Adding to angst on Wall Street, recent opinion polls indicated growing support for Britain's exit from the European Union, creating a rush by investors to safe-haven assets like gold and the yen.
  
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• Guilty plea seen for Wall Street scion Caspersen in fraud case

  14-06-2016 22:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Wall Street executive Andrew Caspersen will likely plead guilty next month to criminal charges over an alleged $150 million fraud scheme, after compulsive gambling drove him to make huge, failed bets against the U.S. stock market, his lawyer said on Tuesday. At a hearing in Manhattan federal court, Caspersen agreed to let prosecutors file a criminal "information" accusing him of securities fraud and wire fraud, and entered a not guilty plea.
  
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• US STOCKS-Wall Street falls as Brexit vote becomes major fear

  14-06-2016 22:35 via news.yahoo.com
  Wall Street dropped for a fourth straight session on Tuesday as central bank policymakers weighed the health of the U.S. economy and investors worried about an upcoming vote in Britain on whether to leave ...
  
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• Metals company CEO pleads guilty in New York over Iran exports

  14-06-2016 22:35 via news.yahoo.com
  Erdal Kuyumcu, 44, admitted to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act at a hearing before Chief Judge Dora Irizarry of the U.S. district court in Brooklyn. Patrick Mullin, a lawyer for Kuyumcu, declined to comment on the plea. Kuyumcu, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Turkish descent, is the chief executive of Global Metallurgy LLC, also in New York.
  
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• Fed faces battle to escape world's low interest rate grip

  14-06-2016 22:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Evidence that the U.S. neutral rate of interest remains stalled near zero may slow Federal Reserve rate hikes even more than expected, tying the hands of policymakers until a rebound in global demand or other forces raise that key measure of the economy’s underlying strength. With the Fed still trying to encourage spending, investment and hiring, a low neutral rate means the Fed has less room to move before that stimulus is gone. Fed estimates pub
  
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• Ex-IBM employee from China charged with economic espionage

  14-06-2016 22:20 via news.yahoo.com
  The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday that additional charges have been filed against a former IBM Corp software engineer in China, who was arrested in December by U.S. authorities for allegedly stealing proprietary source code from his former employer. Jiaqiang Xu, 30, was charged in a six-count superseding indictment with economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, the department said in a statement.
  
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• Nigeria inflation soars, govt reviews currency policy

  14-06-2016 22:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Inflation in Nigeria rose to a more than six-year high in May, official figures showed Tuesday, heaping pressure on the government to loosen restrictive currency controls. The inflation rate rose to 15.6 percent, pushed up by higher gas, electricity and fuel prices, the National Bureau of Statistics said in an emailed statement. The NBS attributed the rise to "an overall increase in general price level across the economy", which has been battered by the global fall in oil prices since mid-2014.
  
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• Wall Street falls for fourth straight session

  14-06-2016 22:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street dropped for a fourth straight session on Tuesday as central bank policymakers weighed the health of the U.S. economy and investors worried about an upcoming vote in Britain on whether to leave the European Union.
  
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• Kerry says U.S. and Venezuela agree to start talks to ease tensions

  14-06-2016 21:44 via news.yahoo.com
  Venezuela and the United States will immediately start talks to ease tensions between the two countries and does not support its ouster from a regional diplomatic bloc, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday after meeting his counterpart from the OPEC nation. Venezuela is embroiled in an economic and political crisis that has led to social unrest in one of the world's largest oil producers. The United States will send Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, a v
  
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• SEC staff recommends approval of IEX, approval likely soon: WSJ

  14-06-2016 21:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to act on a controversial request by new trading group IEX Group Inc to launch a new U.S. public stock exchange, and has received a recommendation from its staff that it approve the exchange, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday. The proposed exchange from IEX, made famous by the Michael Lewis book "Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt," is notable because it would be the only one in the United States to include a so-called "sp
  
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• Morgan Stanley's Gorman says bank eyeing $1 billion in FICC trading per quarter

  14-06-2016 21:13 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Wall Street bank is seeing revenues grow in its bond trading business, or FICC, even with reduced headcount, Gorman said, speaking at the bank's U.S. Financials Conference in New York. Morgan Stanley is targeting $4 billion or more in FICC revenue annually, he added. "It's not great, I'm not celebrating that ... but that's the kind of threshold we want to get the business to and obviously move it up from that point forward," Gorman said.
  
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• US STOCKS-Wall Street falls as Fed meets and Brexit vote looms

  14-06-2016 20:44 via news.yahoo.com
  Wall Street fell on Tuesday as central bank policymakers weighed interest rates and the health of the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) was the fourth straight session of losses for the S&P 500 as the Federal Reserve began its two-day meeting to decide whether the U.S. economy has recovered enough to absorb a rate hike. While traders have discounted a rate increase this month, they will parse Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech at a conference on Wednesday for clues on
  
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• South Africa's rand softer after wider current account deficit, stocks tumble

  14-06-2016 20:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  South Africa's rand lost ground on Tuesday after the current account widened more than expected in the first quarter, raising the likelihood of more interest rates despite the economy creeping toward a recession. On the bourse, stocks tumbled to their lowest level in nearly six weeks, with PPC leading the decliners after the cement maker scraped its dividend. The currency weakened sharply after the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said the South Africa's current account balance had widened to 5
  
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• Algeria plans to launch Islamic finance, push banking reform

  14-06-2016 19:52 via news.yahoo.com
  By Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria is preparing to launch Islamic financial services as the OPEC member seeks new ways to raise money after a sharp fall in energy earnings, a senior financial official told Reuters in an interview. Boualem Djebbar, head of the state-run Banks and Financial Institutions Association, said plans to offer Islamic finance products were part of wider reforms aimed at modernising the underdeveloped banking sector. Algeria's outdated financial system has bee
  
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• Wall Street down ahead of Fed meet as financials weigh

  14-06-2016 19:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will commence its two-day meeting to decide whether the U.S. economy has recovered enough to be able to absorb an interest rate hike. While traders have discounted a rate increase this month, they will parse Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech at a conference on Wednesday for clues on the health of the economy and the trajectory of hikes. Yellen, who had dropped hints last month of a rate hike in the near term, was more vague on the timing last week after a d
  
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• IMF says Angola needs fiscal prudence in run-up to 2017 elections

  14-06-2016 19:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Angola needs to maintain fiscal prudence in the run-up to the 2017 elections, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team said on Tuesday after a two-week visit to the oil producing country. Angola's economy grew fast after a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, peaking at growth of 12 percent three years ago, but a sharp drop in oil prices has sapped dollar inflows, dented the kwanza and prompted heavy government borrowing. Oil output represents 40 percent of Angola's gross domestic product and more
  
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• U.S. fund aims to raise $2 billion for Nigerian infrastructure

  14-06-2016 19:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Joe Brock ABUJA (Reuters) - U.S. fund manager Pecora Capital said on Tuesday it will raise $2 billion over the next 18 months for Nigerian infrastructure projects, a rare show of investor confidence during a period of deep crisis in Africa's largest economy. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is trying to attract foreign direct investment to help support an economy that slipped into contraction in the first quarter this year as lower oil prices hammered Africa's largest crude exporter. A str
  
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• U.S. retail sales point to strong domestic demand

  14-06-2016 18:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. retail sales rose strongly in May as Americans bought automobiles and a range of other goods, even as they paid more for gasoline, suggesting that economic growth was gaining steam despite a sharp slowdown in job creation. "As has been the case in the prior two years, the modest first-quarter disappointment in consumer spending now appears to be a short-lived soft patch," said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan in New York. The Commerce Department said retail sales increased 0.5 perce
  
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• Ivory Coast farmers face eviction, extortion in drive to save forests

  14-06-2016 18:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Joe Bavier CAVALLY FOREST, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - Ivorian conservation agents are using the threat of eviction and prosecution to extort money from cocoa growers farming illegally in protected forest reserves, victims and rights groups say. Around 80 percent of Ivory Coast's primary forest, once the largest in West Africa, has been chopped down in the five decades since independence, amid an agricultural expansion that helped make it the world's top cocoa producer and most important economy
  
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• In Greenland, some suggest the unthinkable - rejoin the EU

  14-06-2016 18:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alister Doyle NUUK, Greenland (Reuters) - Three decades after Greenland exited what is now the European Union, some of its politicians and business leaders say the vast Arctic territory should consider rejoining because of its slowness to diversify the economy away from fish. Britain's referendum on June 23 about whether to stay in or quit the EU has revived debate about the future of Greenland, which in 1985 became the only member so far to leave after a 53-47 percent referendum vote. A coll
  
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• Wall Street scion Caspersen to appear in NY court in fraud case

  14-06-2016 18:10 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Andrew Caspersen, the Wall Street executive accused of scheming to defraud investors out of as much as $95 million, is expected to appear in federal court on Tuesday as prosecutors file papers that often indicate a plea may follow later. The office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said Caspersen will be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon, and that a so-called criminal information, which often precedes or accompanies a plea, will be filed with the court. Caspersen was charged with securiti
  
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• UK's Labour rallies pro-EU troops as Sun shines on Brexit campaign

  14-06-2016 17:37 via news.yahoo.com
  By Michael Holden and Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of Britain's main opposition party urged supporters on Tuesday to vote to remain in the European Union after opinion polls showed gains for those wanting to leave and the nation's biggest-selling paper backed Brexit. The "In" camp led by Prime Minister David Cameron, whose own Conservatives are deeply split over the EU, has recently given the lead role in campaigning to the left-leaning Labour Party, whose supporters could decid
  
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• Oil slides as rising chance of Brexit spooks investors

  14-06-2016 17:37 via news.yahoo.com
  By Devika Krishna Kumar and Amanda Cooper NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell for a fourth straight day on Tuesday, swept lower by investor nervousness over Britain's vote next week on whether to leave the European Union, which overshadowed signs of a return to health for crude markets. Safe-haven German Bund yields fell below zero for the first time, while industrial commodities and equity markets, seen as more vulnerable to economic risk, dropped after polls showed Britain's "Leave" ca
  
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• Labour rallies pro-EU troops as Sun shines on Brexit campaign

  14-06-2016 17:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Michael Holden and Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of Britain's main opposition party urged supporters on Tuesday to vote to remain in the European Union after opinion polls showed gains for those wanting to leave and the nation's biggest-selling paper backed Brexit. The "In" camp led by Prime Minister David Cameron, whose own Conservatives are deeply split over the EU, has recently given the lead role in campaigning to the left-leaning Labour Party, whose supporters could decid
  
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• Rising US retail sales offer relief after weak jobs report

  14-06-2016 17:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a hiring slump, American consumers remain confident about spending — a reassuring sign for the U.S economy.
  
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• U.S. data point to strong domestic demand, stirring inflation

  14-06-2016 16:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. retail sales rose strongly in May as Americans bought automobiles and a range of other goods, even as they paid more for gasoline, suggesting that economic growth was gaining steam despite a sharp slowdown in job creation. GDP growth estimates for the second quarter are converging around a 2.5 percent rate.
  
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• Business inventories rise modestly as sales surge

  14-06-2016 16:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. business inventories barely rose in April as sales recorded their biggest increase in more than two years, pointing to a slow pace of inventory accumulation that could weigh on economic growth in the second quarter.
  
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• Wall Street little changed ahead of Fed meet

  14-06-2016 15:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will commence its two-day meeting on Tuesday to decide whether the U.S. economy has recovered enough to be able to absorb an interest rate hike. While traders have discounted a hike this month, they will parse Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech at a conference on Wednesday for clues on the health of the economy and the trajectory of hikes.
  
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• Burundi inflation edges up to 2.7 pct in May

  14-06-2016 15:47 via news.yahoo.com
  Burundi's year-on-year inflation rose to 2.7 percent in May from 2.6 percent in April as food costs increased slightly, official data showed on Tuesday. Food inflation in the year to May rose to 2.8 percent from 2.5 percent in April, the country's Institute of Economic Studies and Statistics (ISTEEBU) said in a report. A political crisis caused by President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term in April last year curbed much economic activity, mainly in the capital, Bujumbura.
  
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• Wall Street opens lower for fourth straight day

  14-06-2016 15:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened lower for the fourth straight day as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting and a vote on Britain's membership in the European Union.
  
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• South Africa's current account deficit widens, fuels likelihood of rate hikes

  14-06-2016 15:11 via news.yahoo.com
  By Mfuneko Toyana PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa's current account deficit widened in the first quarter of 2016 as exports of platinum and coal slumped as miners cut production after global commodities prices tumbled, the central bank said on Tuesday. The wider deficit, a sharp contraction in growth and the weakness of the currency led analysts to predict the bank would begin raising interest rates again after a pause at its last policy meeting in May. The current account deficit widened to 5
  
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• Exxon CEO back at Russia shindig after hiatus over Ukraine: sources

  14-06-2016 14:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Denis Pinchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson is to attend a major investment forum in Russia this week, two industry sources said, ending a two year absence from the event that began when sanctions were imposed on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine. Tillerson is due to attend a session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum where Igor Sechin, head of Russian state oil firm Rosneft , is listed as keynote speaker. Both Rosneft and Sechin are subject to W
  
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• Factbox: Should Britain stay in the EU? Key claims from both sides

  14-06-2016 14:21 via news.yahoo.com
  Following is a summary of some of the main claims about economics, the cost of EU membership, migration and security from Britain's government and the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign group, and their opponents from Vote Leave. *ECONOMY "In" campaigners say the average British household would be 4,300 pounds ($6,100) a year worse off in 15 years if Britain left the EU, compared with staying in. This is based on a Treasury estimate that GDP would be 6.2 percent lower than if Britain stayed in
  
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• Rwanda's economy expands by 7.3 pct in the first quarter

  14-06-2016 14:16 via news.yahoo.com
  KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's economy grew by 7.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, slowing slightly from 7.6 percent growth in the same period last year, the statistics office said on Tuesday. (Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
  
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• Finland, home to Nokia and jobless engineers, struggles to fill tech jobs

  14-06-2016 13:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Tuomas Forsell HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland, whose once-renowned technology sector shed 15,000 jobs with the demise of Nokia's mobile phone business, is struggling to fill thousands of vacancies for software developers because it lacks people with the right skills. At the same time, technology firms say immigration policies hamper recruiting trained workers from abroad, adding to the factors weighing on growth prospects for an industry considered key to the stagnant economy's recovery. "We wa
  
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• 'Enormous' inventories to keep lid on oil price: IEA

  14-06-2016 13:51 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A huge overhang in oil stocks lingering across the world will keep a cap on any further oil price rises, the IEA said Tuesday, even as supply and demand move towards balance by the end of the year. Global demand for oil is steadily rising thanks to solid economic growth, and supply has been curbed by unexpected production cuts due to wildfires in Canada and rebel attacks in Nigeria, as well as falling US shale production, the International Energy Agency said in its monthly oil market report.
  
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• Nigeria's annual inflation rises to above six-year high in May

  14-06-2016 13:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Alexis Akwagyiram and Chijioke Ohuocha LAGOS (Reuters) - Annual inflation in Nigeria accelerated to 15.6 percent in May, its highest since February 2010, as the crisis in Africa's biggest economy deepens. The National Bureau of Statistics said it reflected higher prices for electricity, transport and food, a separate index for which rose to 14.9 percent from 13.2 percent in April. Usually Africa's biggest crude producer, Nigeria has seen revenues plunge with oil prices, with pressure on the n
  
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• Futures tread lower for fourth day; Fed meet awaited

  14-06-2016 13:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will commence its two-day meeting on Tuesday to decide whether the U.S. economy has recovered enough to be able to absorb an interest rate hike. While traders have discounted a hike this month, they will parse Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech at a conference on Wednesday for clues on the health of the economy and the timing of the next hike. Yellen, who had been dropping hints last month of a rate hike in the near term, toned down her comments after a dism
  
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• World stocks unravel on Brexit fears

  14-06-2016 12:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  London (AFP) - Stock markets extended a global sell-off Tuesday on rising prospects of Britain next week voting to leave the European Union.
  
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• China economic outlook "uncertain" as vulnerabilities loom: IMF

  14-06-2016 12:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  China's economic outlook is uncertain with corporate debt and an opaque financial sector contributing to looming vulnerabilities, an International Monetary Fund Official said Tuesday. David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director at the IMF, said the near-term growth outlook in the world's second largest economy had become more buoyant because of recent policy support but warned of potential pitfalls ahead. Speaking in Beijing, where he had been meeting senior banking and government officials amo
  
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• Brexit fears drive German bond yields to below zero

  14-06-2016 12:33 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Strong demand for German sovereign bonds, known as "Bunds", caused prices to peak, in turn pushing their yields into negative territory for the first time ever. The 10-year German government bond is regarded as one of the safest investments and among the factors driving the current rally in Bund prices are concerns about the global economy, rock-bottom inflation expectations in the single currency area and fears about a possible "Brexit" with the British referendum on EU membership just 10 days
  
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• U.S. small business confidence rises modestly amid sales worries

  14-06-2016 12:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. small business confidence edged up in May amid growing concerns about weak sales growth, which are hurting spending on capital goods and inventory investment. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said on Tuesday its small business optimism index rose 0.2 point to a reading of 93.8 last month. Weak spending on capital goods such as machinery, and a slow pace of inventory accumulation, have been a drag on economic growth.
  
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• Global stocks down ahead of Fed meeting

  14-06-2016 11:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BEIJING (AP) — Global stocks fell Tuesday following Wall Street's decline as jittery investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates and Britain's vote on European Union membership.
  
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• South Africa's current account deficit widens in Q1 as exports slump

  14-06-2016 10:55 via news.yahoo.com
  South Africa's rand extended losses against the dollar after the current account data, weakening as much as 1.3 percent to 15.3700 per dollar. "The (commodity) prices of course were not juicy, although they were propped up a bit in rand terms with the exchange rate being relatively weak," said head of economic reviews and statistics at the central bank Johan van den Heever.
  
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• Yield on German 10-year bond falls below zero for 1st time

  14-06-2016 10:45 via news.yahoo.com
  BERLIN (AP) — The yield on Germany's 10-year government bond has fallen below zero for the first time, pushed down by central bank efforts to help the economy and investor concerns about the future.
  
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• DR Congo slashes growth forecast for 2016 to 5.3 pct: cenbank

  14-06-2016 09:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The central bank of the Democratic Republic of Congo has slashed its GDP growth forecast for 2016 to 5.3 percent, compared with 6.9 percent last year, as a slump in commodity prices batters its mineral-dependent economy. Congo has suffered from falling prices in its key mineral exports, including copper, cobalt, tin and diamonds. Congo, Africa's biggest copper producer, relies heavily on raw materials, which account for 98 percent of export earnings.
  
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• King Power buys $225m stake in Thai Air Asia

  14-06-2016 08:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  King Power, the Thai duty-free conglomerate behind the remarkable rise of English football champions Leicester City, said on Tuesday it had bought a $225 million stake in Thai Air Asia, the country's largest budget airline. The purchase allows King Power's billionaire owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha to further tap into Thailand's booming tourism industry and expand beyond his duty-free and hotel portfolio. "We are in the same business, the tourism business, which is a key factor in growing the Th
  
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• Europe’s 100 Most Innovative Universities

  14-06-2016 06:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  At first glance, the most innovative universities in Europe don't appear to have much in common. Another has been an independent institution for less than a decade. Technical universities and colleges dominate Reuters’ first-ever ranking of Europe’s top 100 innovative universities, a list that identifies the educational institutions that are doing the most to advance science, invent new technologies, and help drive the global economy.
  
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• Asian stocks down ahead of Fed meeting

  14-06-2016 05:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets mostly lower Tuesday tracking Wall Street's decline, as jittery investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates and Britain's vote on European Union membership.
  
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• Labour ramps up EU referendum campaign as stocks drop

  14-06-2016 05:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Britain's opposition Labour Party scrambled to make the case for the EU as stock markets slipped and a new poll showed Brexit backers in the lead ahead of next week's knife-edge referendum. With the latest poll giving the "Leave" camp a six point lead, former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown pleaded the EU's case to left-wing voters, while Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny also began a tour of the United Kingdom to campaign against Brexit. "Britain can't build a relationship just on its own, onl
  
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