WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump threatened to deploy the military and close the southern U.S. border on Thursday if Mexico did not move to halt large groups of migrants headed for the United States from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.“I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught - and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR...Read More
(Kitco News) - Investors in China need to allocate up to 6% of their portfolios to gold, according to the World Gold Council (WGC), which sees the yellow metal as minimizing the negative effects of volatility.Chinese traders have had a tough year, with losses in both the equity and bond market spaces, said WGC Investment director Fred Yang.“China’s leading index, the CSI 300, has under...Read More
The VIX is set to snap its four-day losing streakLosses for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are accelerating at midday, as investors continue to fret about the hawkish Fed meeting minutes and digest a big overnight sell-off in Chinese stocks. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) are also lower, as corporate earnings begin to take center stage. Elsewhere, Wall Street's "fear...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar index traded near one-week highs on Thursday as Treasury yields edged higher, after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s September meeting showed that Fed policy makers are largely united on the need to raise borrowing costs further.That came despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s view that interest rate hikes have already gone too far.Benchmark 10-yea...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that he had told President Donald Trump that the United States should give Saudi Arabia a few more days to wrap up its investigation into the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.“I told President Trump this morning that we ought to give them a few more days ... so that we too have a complete understanding of...Read More
“Policy would need to become modestly restrictive for a time.” This is the key quote from the recent FOMC minutes. This is not a reason for gold’s joy. Fed Is Becoming More Hawkish Yesterday, the Fed released minutes from the recent FOMC meeting. As everyone knows, the Committee hiked commrates by another 25 basis points in September. But what about the future stance? Well, the m...Read More
The stock was overbought heading into today's tradingIntelsat SA (NYSE:I) has had a jaw-dropping run in 2018, up nearly 1,000% year-to-date. What's more, the shares hit a record high of $37.70 yesterday, but were last seen down 1.4% to trade at $36.96. Today's pullback may have been in the cards, considering I stock's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) closed last night 77 -- deep in overbought...Read More
• A modest USD retracement/cautions mood helps regain some positive traction. • Fed rate hike prospects/surging US bond yields seemed to cap strong gains. Gold reversed an early dip to $1219 area and is currently trading with modest gains, near the top end of its daily trading range. The commodity stalled this week's retracement slide from 2...Read More
MOSCOW, Oct 18 (Reuters) - A U.S.-China trade war could shave 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points off Russia's economic growth in the short term, the Russian central bank said on Thursday, adding there were risks of a slowdown by year-end.In an analytical note, the bank also said Russia's annual inflation in September continued to move towards its target of 4 percent. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova Editin...Read More
MEXICO CITY, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Hawkish Mexican central bank board member Manuel Ramos-Francia voted for 25 basis point rate hike at the Oct. 4 monetary policy meeting due to the “high degree of persistence” of core inflation, minutes of that meeting showed on Thursday.The other four members of the Bank of Mexico’s board voted to keep the benchmark interest rate steady at 7.75 pe...Read More
NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Blackstone Group LP, the world's largest manager of alternative assets, on Thursday posted third-quarter economic net income (ENI) per unit of 76 cents, slightly ahead of analysts' expectations.The mean forecast was for 74 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. A year earlier, Blackstone reported ENI per share of 68 cents.Blackstone owns financial data provider R...Read More
NVS will pay $2.1 billion in cash for ECYTSwitzerland's Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) said it will pay $2.1 bllion in cash for Endocyte (ECYT) -- or $24 per ECYT share -- hoping to capitalize on the Indiana-based drugmaker's prostrate cancer treatment. Novartis also reported better-than-expected third-quarter profit and raised its full-year revenue forecast, even as quarterly sales fell just short of the...Read More
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened lower on Thursday as some industrials reported disappointing results, while the Federal Reserve's minutes showed officials broadly agreed on raising interest rates further, fanning concerns that contributed to last week's sharp selloff.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 61.12 points, or 0.24 percent, at the open to 25,645.56. The S&P 500 opened lower by 7.21 p...Read More
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italy’s prime minister on Thursday denied any division between the two parties in his governing coalition, after reports of a spat over tax revenues, and insisted Rome will move ahead with planned expansionary budgetary measures.His remarks came as European Union leaders raised concerns about Rome’s extravagant budgetary plans that could further increase Italy&rsqu...Read More
Bloomberg News/LandovA welder works on assembly of a new container ship being built in Philadelphia. The numbers: The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index fell slightly to 22.2 in October from 22.9 in September, the regional district of the central bank said Thursday. That's better than expected. Economists has expected a slight pullback to 20.5 after the factory index had jumped 11 points in Sep...Read More
GettyThe surging U.S. economy shows little sign of calming down. The numbers: The U.S. rolled into the fall on a "strong growth trajectory," though the economy could slow in 2019 if weakness in the housing and stock markets persist, according to an index that measures the nation's economic health. The leading economic index rose 0.5% in September after 0.4% and 0.7% gains in the prior two months,...Read More
BofA-Merrill Lynch analysts think there's a chance housing recovers, thoughThe housing sector keeps disappointing, most recently evidenced by weak housing starts data yesterday. Meanwhile, shares of U.S. homebuilders continue to struggle, and this morning Toll Brothers Inc (NYSE:TOL) and PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE:PHM) are both in the red once again. Below is a quick look at how shares of TOL and PHM...Read More
TIANJIN, China (Reuters) - A rebound in mining mergers and acquisitions is set to continue into 2019, led by companies from top metals consumer China, as a dearth of exploration spending leaves the industry in need of fresh investment, delegates told a conference on Thursday.Sector M&A in mining powerhouse Canada had its best quarter in more than seven years in July-September, spurred by Barri...Read More
LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The European Union defended proposed new derivatives clearing rules on Thursday after criticism from the United States, saying the bloc has every right to supervise foreign financial firms that serve EU customers.The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chair Christopher Giancarlo threatened retaliation on Wednesday unless the EU watered down the draft rules,...Read More
This is the second major announcement for SIRI within the past monthShares of streaming name Sirius XM Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SIRI) are popping in early trading, after the company announced a new partnership with Amazon (AMZN) that includes offering a three-month trial of its products to consumers who purchase Amazon's Echo Dot smart speaker. In response, SIRI is up 1.3% at $6.33, at last check.It'...Read More