Dmitry Zhdannikov, Devika Krishna KumarLONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices eased on Tuesday after hitting mid-2015 highs in early trading, as major pipelines in Libya and the UK restarted and U.S production soared to the highest in more than four decades.It was the first time since January 2014 that the two crude oil benchmarks opened the year above $60 per barrel, buoyed by large anti-government rallie...Read More
Huw JonesLONDON (Reuters) - Bankers will work through the night to iron out last minute hitches before Wednesday’s launch of a major reform of European Union financial markets that aims to apply lessons from the financial crisis nearly a decade ago.The new rules are already a year late due to their complexity and regulators have had to issue eleventh-hour guidance to banks and financial firm...Read More
Jan 3 (Reuters) - Stock MarketsNet ChngStock MarketsNet ChngS&P/ASX 200** 6,061.30 -3.80 NZX 50**8,398.08 -10.45DJIA24,754.6736.18 NIKKEI**22,764.94-19.04Nasdaq6,984.97180.561FTSE**7,648.1-39.67S&P 500 2,689.25 15.64 Hang Seng** 30,515.31596.16SPI 200 Fut 6,028.00.10STI** 3,430.327.38SSEC**3,349.05241.8799 KOSPI** 2,479.65 12.16--------------------------------------------------------------...Read More
Dhara RanasingheLONDON (Reuters) - Borrowing costs across the euro area shot higher on Tuesday as a cut in monthly ECB asset purchases became a reality, with hawkish comments from a top official and strong data hurting sentiment towards bonds on the first trading day of the year.Bonds from the bloc’s periphery, the biggest beneficiaries of European Central Bank stimulus, bore the brunt of th...Read More
Editor's Note: View Kitco News' full 2018 outlook coverage (Kitco News) - Known as a fan favorite, the Expert Series brings together well-known investors and Kitco regulars to find out where they will be putting their money in 2018.This year, in a new twist to the feature, Kitco News has asked some of the most influential mining sector newsletter writers how they would invest $100K in the mining s...Read More
* Oil trades near strongest levels since mid-2015* Media, retail stocks rise after positive broker recommendations* Casino stocks hit by downbeat December gambling revenue* Indexes up: Dow 0.2 pct, S&P 0.62 pct, Nasdaq 1.2 pct (Updates to early afternoon)By Sruthi ShankarJan 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street's major indexes were higher on the first trading session of 2018 on Tuesday, driven by gains i...Read More
• Broad-based USD weakness underpins. • Risk-off mood provides an additional boost. • Recovering US bond yields fail to cap gains. Gold was seen building on its bullish momentum further beyond the $1300 handle and rose to fresh three-month highs during the mid-European session. The precious metal began 2018 on a firmer not...Read More
By Liz HamptonHOUSTON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Shares of Weatherford International Plc fell more than 17 percent on Tuesday after the oilfield services companyabandoned a proposed joint venture with Schlumberger and instead sold its hydraulic fracturing business to Schlumberger, a bigger rival.The deal with Schlumberger, worth $430 million, gave Weatherford roughly $100 million less than originally anti...Read More
2018 has just begun. What will a new year bring for the gold market?Macroeconomic outlook will remain unpleasantThe current economic expansion is surprisingly durable, as it has already lasted more than 100 months. It worries many investors who are afraid of the upcoming recessions. Surely, there are many reasons to worry, and the recession will eventually come. But we are not at this point yet. T...Read More
SAGE Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SAGE) had a rip-roaring end to 2017, tacking on 78% in December, and touching an all-time high of $173.36 on Dec. 8. It appears the momentum might spill over into 2018, with the drug stock sending up a signal to buy short-term options right now.While SAGE stock vaulted up the charts, its short-term options prices remained in the proverbial basement. The equity's Sch...Read More
The European Union has taken over the chairmanship of the Kimberley Process for 2018, a decade after it last directed the initiative. Federica Mogherini, who is an Italian politician and the High Representative of the bloc for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, will be heading the operation. Kimberley is a process started in 2003 following the United Nations General Assembly's Resolution 55/56....Read More
Editor's Note: View Kitco News' full 2018 outlook coverage(Kitco News) - It was a tale of two markets for gold in 2017, as prices made their biggest gains since 2010, but U.S. Mint coin sales were the weakest in a decade.The U.S. Mint said that sales of American Eagle gold and silver coins were the lowest since 2007 and American Buffalo coins had the worst year on record.The majority of analysts b...Read More
LONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Yields on benchmark British gilts rose by the most in over six months on Tuesday as investors sold European government bonds after an ECB official said its bond-buying might not be extended and data showed strong economic growth in the euro zone.The yield on 10-year British gilts touched a high of 1.290 percent, their highest since Dec. 8, before closing at 1.289 percent,...Read More
* LME/ShFE arb: * LME zinc stocks down 70 percent since Sept. 2015* Cash to threes zinc backwardation highest since Nov. 30 (Adds closing prices)By Pratima DesaiLONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Zinc scaled 10-year peaks on Tuesday as the market focused on looming deficits due to falling supplies, but gains were capped as prices are at levels which are likely to encourage investment in new output.Benchmar...Read More
U.S. stocks are broadly higher halfway through the first trading day of 2018. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has pared much of its triple-digit lead, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are holding their early gains as tech and energy stocks outperform. Adding to the risk-on bias is the Markit purchasing managers manufacturing index (PMI) for December, which revealed...Read More
(Updates prices)By Jemima KellyLONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Sterling kicked off the first trading day of 2018 by climbing to a three-month high close to $1.36 on Tuesday, with investors brushing off weaker-than-expected manufacturing data to focus on upcoming Brexit talks. The pound, which in 2017 recorded its best annual performance against the dollar since 2009 with an almost 10 percent rise, adde...Read More
NEW YORK, Jan 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday sold a record $48 billion of three-month bills at an interest rate of 1.435 percent, which was not far below the highest since Sept. 2008 set the previous week, Treasury data showed.The ratio of bids to the amount of three-month T-bills offered was 3.08, the highest in a month. This gauge of overall auction demand was 2.71 at the...Read More
* U.S. stocks open higher, boosting global shares* Euro, sterling gain while dollar drops* Asia shares ex-Japan cheered by upbeat China data (Updates to U.S. trading open; changes byline, dateline, previously LONDON)By Stephanie KellyNEW YORK, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Global share markets received a boost from strong gains in U.S. equities and surprisingly upbeat Chinese manufacturing data on Tuesday, th...Read More
BRASILIA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Brazil posted a record $67 billion trade surplus in 2017, a 41 percent increase from the year before, data from the trade ministry showed on Tuesday.The December trade surplus came in at $4.998 billion, higher than the $4.061 billion median estimate in a Reuters poll of economists. (Reporting by Bruno Federowski) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are tho...Read More
(In fifth paragraph, corrects reference to "this year" to "last year")* New rules aim to apply lessons from financial crisis* Regulators aim to spot risks, boost investor protection* S&P sees more losers than winners from profound change By Huw JonesLONDON, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Bankers will work through the night to iron out last minute hitches before Wednesday's launch of a...Read More