Finance news

• Gap posts surprise comparable sales rise in December

  05-01-2017 23:25
  
  Jan 5 (Reuters) - Apparel retailer Gap Inc reported
  a surprise rise in December comparable sales, helped by strong
  demand for its Gap and Old Navy brands, a bright spot in the
  overall retail gloom.
  
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• Judge blocks Sanofi, Regeneron from selling cholesterol drug

  05-01-2017 23:07
  
  Jan 5 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday blocked Sanofi
  SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc from
  selling their cholesterol drug Praluent, a victory for Amgen Inc
  , which had accused them of...
  
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• World stocks rise; dollar dips on U.S. labour data, yuan surge

  05-01-2017 22:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity prices shrugged off weakness on Wall Street to cling to gains after hitting their highest level since mid-2015 on Thursday, bolstered by strong Chinese data that added to optimism about global growth and inflation. The dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies after U.S. inflation and unemployment data failed to reverse a downtrend that followed some of the biggest gains on record for China's yuan. U.S. Treasury debt yields slippe
  
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• World stocks rise; dollar dips on U.S. labor data, yuan surge

  05-01-2017 22:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global equity prices shrugged off weakness on Wall Street to cling to gains after hitting their highest level since mid-2015 on Thursday, bolstered by strong Chinese data that added to optimism about global growth and inflation. The dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies after U.S. inflation and unemployment data failed to reverse a downtrend that followed some of the biggest gains on record for China's yuan. U.S. Treasury debt yields slippe
  
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• Nasdaq reaches record high, Macy's stirs retail fear

  05-01-2017 22:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Nasdaq squeaked out a record high close on Thursday thanks to Amazon.com, while deep drops in Macy's, Kohl's and other department stores weighed on the broader stock market. U.S. stocks have wavered over the past three weeks following a strong surge in the wake of the November election, with investors expecting President-elect Donald Trump to stimulate the economy through tax cuts and infrastructure spending. "The market is pausing for a reason, it’s waiting for confirmation from Washi
  
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• Texas unveils 'bathroom bill' that critics say targets LGBT rights

  05-01-2017 22:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas Republican state senator introduced legislation on Thursday to limit public restroom access for transgender people, despite warnings from a business group that the measure would hurt the Texas economy because it was discriminatory. The "Texas Privacy Act" has been marked as a top legislative priority for Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, a Republican and conservative Christian who guides the legislative agenda in the Republican-controlled state
  
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• UPDATE 1-Verizon executive says company unsure about Yahoo deal

  05-01-2017 21:38
  
  Jan 5 (Reuters) - A senior Verizon Communications Incexecutive said on Thursday that the company was unsure about its
  planned acquisition of Yahoo Inc's internet business.
  
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• Possible Fed limits on Wall Street energy bets will be 'harmful': U.S. Chamber

  05-01-2017 21:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday blasted the Federal Reserve's regulatory work and called on the central bank to scrap a proposal to limit Wall Street's energy bets and commodities investments. The group, which says it represents more than 3 million U.S. businesses and professional organizations, wrote to the Fed that it should withdraw its proposed plan to require banks to hold more capital against energy and commodity investments. Wall Street also could not control power plants and ban
  
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• Bank of Cyprus repays 11.4 billion euros in emergency funds

  05-01-2017 21:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Bank of Cyprus, the Mediterranean island's largest lender, Thursday announced it had paid back in full the 11.4 billion euros in Emergency Liquidity Assistance it received in an international bailout. "Bank of Cyprus announces that it has today fully repaid the ELA funding it has been receiving from the Central Bank of Cyprus," the bank said in a statement. In March 2013, Cyprus clinched a 10-billion-euro loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to bail out its troubled econo
  
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• Meredith approaches Time Inc over potential merger - Bbg

  05-01-2017 21:23
  
  Jan 5 (Reuters) - Media company Meredith Corp has
  contacted Time Inc to express intent in a potential
  merger, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the
  matter.
  
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• GLOBAL MARKETS-World stocks hold gains; dollar dips on U.S. labor data, yuan surge

  05-01-2017 21:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  * Chinese numbers add to upbeat factory data in Europe, U.S. NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - World stocks shrugged off weakness on Wall Street to cling to gains after hitting their highest level since mid-2015 on Thursday, bolstered by strong Chinese data that added to optimism about global growth and inflation. The dollar slipped against a basket of major currencies after U.S. inflation and unemployment data failed to reverse a downtrend that followed some of the biggest gains on record for China's
  
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• Next time Trump tweets about a company, this app will let you know if it cost you some cash

  05-01-2017 21:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President-elect Donald Trump's tweets are causing swings in the stock market, and there's finally an app to prepare.   The stock market app Trigger just added a new feature that will notify users when Trump tweets about a publicly traded stock that they own. The app already provides real-time stock alerts based on economic news, earnings reports and other current events.  "While it’s no surprise that Trump has been actively tweeting since the election, no one anticipated that a s
  
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• Wall Street falls; dismal holiday sales slam Macy's

  05-01-2017 20:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Major U.S. stock indexes were poised for their first loss of the year on Thursday as investors dumped Macy's and Kohl's after the department stores reported dismal holiday sales. U.S. stocks have wavered over the past three weeks following a strong surge in the wake of the November election, with investors expecting President-elect Donald Trump to stimulate the economy through tax cuts and infrastructure spending. "The market is consolidating, waiting for first-quarter earnings and then waiting
  
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• UPDATE 2-Corzine in $5 mln settlement with US CFTC over MF Global collapse

  05-01-2017 20:29
  
  NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Jon Corzine, former New Jersey
  governor and Goldman Sachs co-chairman, will pay a $5
  million civil fine to settle a U.S. regulator's lawsuit over the
  2011 collapse of his...
  
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• Puerto Rico governor seeks more time on fiscal plan, lawsuit freeze

  05-01-2017 20:09
  
  NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's new governor is
  seeking more time to present a fiscal turnaround plan for the
  struggling U.S. territory, saying the Jan. 31 deadline set by
  the...
  
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• Mexico central bank sells $1 billion to prop peso after Trump slump: traders

  05-01-2017 20:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Mexico's central bank sold dollars in Mexico and New York on Thursday to fight off the peso's nose dive to record lows amid fears U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's protectionist policies could further hammer Latin America's second-biggest economy. The central bank sold at least $1 billion in U.S. currency in morning trade, four traders told Reuters, asking not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Mexico's currency commission said in a separate statement that the
  
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• UPDATE 2-IT research firm Gartner to buy CEB to expand business analysis

  05-01-2017 19:54
  
  * Gartner falls as much as 9.77 pct(Adds details, CEO and analyst comment; updates shares)
  
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• UPDATE 2-Dismal holiday sales at Macy's and Kohl's cast gloom over sector

  05-01-2017 19:42
  
  Jan 5 (Reuters) - Disappointing holiday-season sales at
  Macy's Inc and Kohl's Corp underscored the uphill
  task facing department stores to win back shoppers, who are
  increasingly turning to online...
  
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• Is Trump Headed for a Showdown With America’s Spy Agencies?

  05-01-2017 19:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  How incoming president Donald Trump will interact with the U.S. Intelligence Community is an increasingly urgent question given the threats that the nation and its interests face from terrorists and unfriendly state actors. Late Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources close to the Trump transition team, reported that the incoming administration was expected to engineer a major shake-up of the IC infrastructure by greatly diminishing the role of the Director of National Intelli
  
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• Omega's Cooperman says firm's assets have shrunk to $3.4 billion: CNBC

  05-01-2017 19:36
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hedge fund investor Leon Cooperman, the chief executive of Omega Advisors, told CNBC on Thursday his firm's assets had shrunk to $3.4 billion after the U.S. Securities and...
  
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• SPD leader Gabriel expected to challenge Merkel in German: sources

  05-01-2017 19:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) are expected to choose their long-standing chairman Sigmar Gabriel to run against conservative Angela Merkel for chancellor in September's federal election, senior party sources said on Thursday. Gabriel, vice chancellor and economy minister in Merkel's right-left coalition for the last four years, is more popular with the SPD rank and file than his recent predecessors but also has a reputation for being impetuous and unpredictable. "There's no way around Sigmar
  
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• Infrastructure deals hit record $413 billion in 2016

  05-01-2017 19:32
  
  The total value of deals hit an all-time high in 2016, even though the number of deals held steady
  
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• Constellation profit beat clouded by Trump tax proposals

  05-01-2017 19:32 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The company's shares, which makes beers such as Corona and Modelo in Mexico and imports them to the United States, fell as much as 8.9 percent to $144. "There is a high level of investor skittishness around the stock due to potential tax changes from the new administration," SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst William Chappell Jr. wrote in note. The proposal, which is meant to boost U.S. manufacturing, would tax U.S. imports at the corporate income tax rate making them 20 percent more expensive,
  
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• UPDATE 2-Constellation profit beat clouded by Trump tax proposals

  05-01-2017 19:31
  
  Jan 5 (Reuters) - Constellation Brands Inc, which
  makes most of its beer in Mexico, reported a
  higher-than-expected quarterly profit, but investors remained
  jittery about President-elect Donald...
  
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• Dow, S&P set for first day of losses this year

  05-01-2017 19:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were poised for their first down day this year as investors sold bank stocks, which had been the driving force behind the Trump rally over the past two months. The S&P 500 financial index was down 1.6 percent in early afternoon trading - set for its worst day since September - due to declines in JPMorgan , Wells Fargo and Bank of America . The index has risen 17.2 percent since Donald Trump's victory in the November election as investors b
  
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• Tough challenge for Trump: Getting more men back to work

  05-01-2017 18:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  If President-elect Donald Trump is going to meet his pledge to energize the U.S. economy, there's a simple yet tough way to do so: Put more men to work. The proportion of men in their prime working years ...
  
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• Survey: US businesses add a modest 153,000 jobs in December

  05-01-2017 18:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. companies reported a modest gain of 153,000 jobs last month, all in service industries such as retail and health care. The report provided the latest evidence of the economy's transition away from ...
  
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• Corzine settles with CFTC over MF Global collapse, to pay $5 mln

  05-01-2017 18:49
  
  Jan 5 (Reuters) - Jon Corzine has agreed to pay a $5 million
  civil fine to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Commodity Futures
  Trading Commission over the 2011 collapse of the former New
  Jersey governor's...
  
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• Surge in orders boosts services sector; jobless claims tumble

  05-01-2017 18:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. services sector activity held at a one-year high in December as new orders surged, while the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to near a 43-year-low last week, suggesting the economy ended 2016 with strong momentum. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) report on Thursday also showed a sustained increase in prices paid by services industries for inputs, potentially signaling that the days of very low inflation could be com
  
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• World stocks hold gains; dollar dips on U.S. labour data, yuan surge

  05-01-2017 18:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) - World stocks shrugged off weakness on Wall Street to cling to gains after hitting their highest level since mid-2015 on Thursday, bolstered by strong Chinese data that added to optimism about global growth and inflation. The dollar lost ground against the yen and euro after U.S. labour data failed to reverse a downtrend that followed some of the biggest gains on record for China's yuan. U.S. Treasury debt yields slipped as investors grew uncertain about
  
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• World stocks hold gains; dollar dips on U.S. labor data, yuan surge

  05-01-2017 18:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  World stocks shrugged off weakness on Wall Street to cling to gains after hitting their highest level since mid-2015 on Thursday, bolstered by strong Chinese data that added to optimism about global growth and inflation. The dollar lost ground against the yen and euro after U.S. labor data failed to reverse a downtrend that followed some of the biggest gains on record for China's yuan. The index has been riding a wave of upbeat factory and service sector surveys out of the United States, Europe
  
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• Texas set for 'bathroom bill' that critics say targets LGBT rights

  05-01-2017 18:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is expected on Thursday to introduce legislation to limit public restroom access for transgender people, despite warnings from a business group that the measure would hurt the Texas economy because it was discriminatory. Patrick, a Republican conservative Christian who guides the legislative agenda in the state Senate, has said his proposed "Privacy Protection Act" is a top legislative priority for the second most
  
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• Long-term mortgage rates fall, breaking 9-week rise

  05-01-2017 18:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — After nine straight weeks of increases, long-term US mortgage rates fell this week.
  
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• Bank stocks bring down S&P, Dow; techs prop up Nasdaq

  05-01-2017 17:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  "We are at the top of the range from the perspective of the Dow and the S&P, so that means we have a little bit of downside room to move, but frankly I think it will be fairly minimal," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab & Co. At 11:06 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 54.81 points, or 0.27 percent, at 19,887.35, the S&P 500 was down 4.75 points, or 0.21 percent, at 2,266 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 3.62 points
  
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• Podcasting precursors: Hay baling, chopping onions and waiting tables

  05-01-2017 17:30
  
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - It might not make a lot of sense to our grandparents, but today's media superstars are not necessarily big-screen actors or anchors of the evening news.
  
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• 'Safe haven' Bitcoin retreats after shot at all-time high

  05-01-2017 17:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Bitcoin plunged Thursday only hours after investors, tipping the volatile digital currency to become a safe haven in an uncertain world economy, pushed it near all-time highs. The unit broke the $1,100 barrier Thursday morning on the Bitcoin Price Index, an average of major exchanges, continuing a dizzying rise that made it the best performing currency of 2016. In a sign of its continuing volatility, however, the digital currency plummeted up to 20 percent in the afternoon, trading at $950.50 on
  
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• US services sector steady in November

  05-01-2017 17:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Growth in the massive services sector of the US economy held steady in December, matching the brisk pace recorded in November, the Institute for Supply Management reported Thursday. The institutes's Non-Manufacturing Index was 57.2 percent, unchanged from November which was the highest for more than a year, but surpassing an analyst consensus which expected a decline to 56.6. The services sector is the major driver of the world's largest economy and has been growing for 83 consecutive months, ac
  
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• Invesco adds fixed-income chief from Schroders

  05-01-2017 16:08
  
  Gareth Isaac joins division of the firm that chiefly manages fixed-income mandates for institutional investors around the world
  
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• Wall Street flat as banks, discretionary stocks fall, tech rises

  05-01-2017 16:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday as a drop in banks and discretionary stocks were offset by gains in technology names. "Overall it looks like investors will be in a wait-and-see mode ahead of the Labor Department report tomorrow," said Aaron Clark, portfolio manager at GW&K Investment Management. "There is a growing gap between expectations for stimulus measures versus what likely will be the reality, so we might get some buyer's remorse when the market realizes that all these cha
  
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• Deutsche Bank picks new head of anti-financial crime

  05-01-2017 15:56
  
  German bank appoints replacement for Peter Hazlewood, who is stepping down after an internal budget dispute
  
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• Column: Older Americans at risk as Congress takes ax to Obamacare

  05-01-2017 15:12
  
  CHICAGO (Reuters) - Anyone nearing retirement - or already retired - should pay very close attention to the doings of the 115th Congress that was sworn in this week.
  
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• Wall Street set for first day of lower open in 2017

  05-01-2017 15:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  U.S. stocks looked set for their first lower open of the year on Thursday as investors assessed economic data and the Federal Reserve's thoughts on President-elect Donald Trump's policies. Almost every Fed policymaker said Trump's promises of tax cuts and infrastructure spending could stoke higher inflation and require faster interest rate hikes, the minutes of the Fed's December meeting showed on Wednesday. "Overall it looks like investors will be in a wait-and-see mode ahead of the Labor Depar
  
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• Sports Direct’s independent shareholders reject chairman

  05-01-2017 15:04
  
  54% of independent shareholders vote 'no', but Keith Hellawell will stay on thanks to support of founder Mike Ashley
  
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• Global stocks uninspired as focus turns towards US jobs data

  05-01-2017 14:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  LONDON (AP) — Global stock markets traded in fairly narrow ranges Thursday as the attention in markets shifted towards upcoming U.S. jobs data following the publication of the minutes to the Federal Reserve's last board meeting.
  
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• Price pressures mount as UK economy records strong end to 2016

  05-01-2017 13:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  By David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy finished 2016 strongly, growing at the fastest pace since mid-2015 according to one major survey, but higher prices look set to hit consumers soon as firms pass on a big rise in costs since June's vote to leave the European Union. Companies in the dominant services sector reported activity rose at its fastest rate in 17 months in December, beating all forecasts in a Reuters poll and keeping Britain on track to be one of the world's fastest-g
  
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• Profits tumble at IPO adviser STJ

  05-01-2017 13:31
  
  Boutique has become one of the best-known players on the London IPO scene
  
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• Banks’ fee wallet unlikely to grow, warns JP Morgan boss

  05-01-2017 13:20
  
  Vis Raghavan warns against taking wins for granted as his team opens up its lead in the league tables
  
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• Email à la française won’t fly in the City, lawyers say

  05-01-2017 13:15
  
  French law designed to tackle the 24/7 connectivity of modern life is unlikely to be copied by UK, legal experts say
  
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• French funds boutique makes BAML banker sales chief

  05-01-2017 13:06
  
  Tikehau Investment Management is embarking on a €200 million international expansion drive
  
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• A year on, Stockdale takes stock

  05-01-2017 13:02
  
  Back in the IPO game at last, the rebranded broker is toasting its best period for years
  
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