* C.bank lifts key rate by 75 bps to 7.5%* Rouble jumps to near 16-month high vs dollar on rate hike* Rouble hits 69.8150 vs dollar, touches 81.2825 vs euro* Higher rates make rouble assets more attractive, says c.bank (Updates prices, adds c.bank comment, bullets)MOSCOW, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The Russian rouble jumped past 70 versus the U.S. dollar for the first time in almost 16 months on Friday af...Read More
Oct 22 (Reuters) - Investors ramped up purchases in U.S. equity funds in the week to Oct. 20, as investors eyed better than expected third-quarter earnings from U.S. companies.Investors bought a net $4.78 billion in U.S. equity funds in the week, marking the largest weekly net purchase since mid-September, Lipper data showed.Refinitiv data shows 77% of U.S. companies have so far topped their conse...Read More
WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - U.S. business activity increased solidly in October, suggesting economic growth picked up at the start of the fourth quarter as COVID-19 infections subsided, though labor and raw material shortages held back manufacturing.Data firm IHS Markit said on Friday its flash U.S. Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks the manufacturing and services sectors, rebounded to a...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar edged lower on Friday and is set for a second consecutive week of decline as news that heavily indebted property firm China Evergrande Group had averted a default buoyed appetite for risky assets.With markets nearly discounting the prospects of a first U.S. rate hike by next July in recent days, the dollar has become more sensitive to risk sentiment. Yields on be...Read More
(Adds detail, context)NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Indian fintech firm Paytm has received approval from the capital markets regulator for its $2.2 billion stock market listing that is likely to be India's biggest ever IPO, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.Paytm was planning its initial public offering for around the end of October, Reuters previously reported.The company,...Read More
Editor's Note: With so much market volatility, stay on top of daily news! Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news and expert opinions. Sign up here! (Kitco News) -The gold market is holding on to gains above $1,800 an ounce following mixed data on the health of the U.S. manufacturing and service sectors.Friday, IHS Markit said its flash U.S. manufacturing Purchas...Read More
BEIJING, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Tencent's (0700.HK)WeChat has fixed a glitch that allowed some of its content to be searchable by external search engines, the owner of China's most popular messaging app said on Friday, raising questions over regulators' latest attempt to crackdown on the internet sector.Some of WeChat's content, including articles on its public accounts page, was briefly searchable i...Read More
Oct 21 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) wants to shift to a less expensive battery for its electric vehicles but first needs to figure out how to overcome political tensions to get a Chinese partner to build the iron-based batteries near its U.S. factories.The world's two biggest economies have yet to resolve disputes over tariffs, intellectual property rights and Chinese incursions into Taiwan's...Read More
Oct 22 (Reuters) - Honeywell International Inc (HON.O) on Friday cut its full-year sales forecast, as global supply chain disruptions cause a shortage of parts and components for the U.S. industrial conglomerate.Closed ports due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Asia, aggravated by the fast-spreading Delta variant, and labor shortages have strained global supply chains as well as led to a sur...Read More
WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. regulator handed a record reward of almost $200 million in a whistleblower case, with sources familiar with the matter identifying the recipient as a former Deutsche Bank employee.The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced the award on Thursday, without disclosing details about the whistleblower or the case. It said the award was for "nearl...Read More
Despitelong-term interest rates continuing to move upwards, the precious metal’ssector has been steadily finding buyers since late September. Previously,rising bond yields acted as a factor for selling both gold and silver, payingno dividends or coupons. I believe the main reason for the recent dis-connectis investors viewing inflationdifferently sincethe end of September.Never-endingsupply...Read More
Oct 22 (Reuters) - Top oilfield firm Schlumberger NV (SLB.N) reported a rise in third-quarter adjusted income on Friday, buoyed by higher demand for its services and equipment, as producers capitalize on a rebound in crude prices.Global oil prices have climbed nearly 64% since the start of 2021 to over $85 a barrel on the back of a vaccine-fueled demand recovery. The worldwide rig count was 1,44...Read More
BERLIN, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A key measure of coronavirus infections in Germany rose sharply over the past week, figures showed on Friday, raising the prospect of tougher restrictions as winter approaches.The seven-day incidence rate of cases - which has been used to decide COVID-19 curbs - jumped more than 26 points in a week, the Robert Koch Institute responsible for disease control said.The rise...Read More
LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth, 95, will spend Friday resting and undertaking light duties after she spent a night in hospital for the first time in years for what Buckingham Palace termed "preliminary investigations".The world's oldest and longest-reigning monarch stayed in hospital overnight on Wednesday but returned to her Windsor Castle home to the west of London the foll...Read More
BALTIMORE, Oct 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday backed away from pledged tax increases to fund planned infrastructure and social spending, and also said he was open to reforming Senate voting rights by "fundamentally altering" its filibuster custom.In a wide-ranging CNN town hall in Baltimore, Biden said he was close to striking a deal to pass major spending measures after week...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - Global shares got a tech boost to help tee up a third straight week of gains on Friday, despite growing inflation concerns, while the dollar dipped and oil prices bounced off their lows.MSCI's broadest gauge of global shares was up 0.1%, 1.4% higher on the week and just 0.8% off its all-time high. Europe's top markets all rose, with the biggest, Britain's FTSE 100, up 0.5%.Europ...Read More
(Reuters) - Shares of Snap Inc plunged on Friday, dragging down other ad-dependent tech firms, after the photo messaging app owner warned of a prolonged hit from Apple Inc's privacy changes on iOS devices.Snap shares were down nearly 20% at $60.8 before the bell, on track to open at a near three-month low. Shares of Facebook, Google parent Alphabet Inc and Twitter were down between 2% and 4%.Apple...Read More
TAIPEI, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Taiwan's central bank said on Friday it is watching inflation and there is no cause for alarm, but added it will adopt "appropriate" monetary policies if needed.In a Facebook post, the central bank said that major institutions predict Taiwan's consumer price index, or CPI, will not exceed 2% for all of this year, and will decline next year."There should be no worry about...Read More
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Two new interest rate benchmarks will replace the Swiss Libor rate and the Euro Overnight Index Average (EONIA) in contracts and financial instruments from next year, the European Commission said on Friday.They will be replaced by new "risk free" rates, which are compiled by central banks.Both the Swiss Libor and EONIA, which form the basis for a range of financial contracts su...Read More
(Reuters) - China Evergrande Group has rapidly become Beijing's biggest corporate headache as it wrestles with debts of more than $300 billion and the fate reut.rs/3jrfpZG of the country's second-biggest property developer is keeping global markets on tenterhooks.A string of Beijing officials have tried to reassure investors the crisis will not spiral out of control and that creditors' interests...Read More