BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) - France wants a more ambitious reform of the euro zone than the one sketched out by Angela Merkel and will press the German chancellor for additional concessions on a euro zone budget and banking union in the weeks ahead, French officials say.After months of silence and mounting criticism, Merkel offered a detailed response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s calls...Read More
(Kitco News)- Competition in the gold space is heating up as the newestexchange-traded product saw inflows of $145 million in less than a week.Last Friday GranitShares Gold Trust (NYSE: BAR) goldholdings were valued at $15 million, explained Will Rhind, CEO of the ETF firm,in an interview with Kitco News. By Monday, he said that BAR’s assets undermanagement increased by $145 million, totalin...Read More
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) is targeting reducing global headcount to below 93,000 by year-end and achieve a return on tangible equity of more than 4 percent next year, the lender said in slides prepared for a conference.“Our lack of profitability is still holding us back,” Chief Financial Officer James von Moltke said at the conference on Wednesday.Last month, Deuts...Read More
ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s new government will review the previous administration’s shake up of mutual and co-operative banks, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told parliament on Wednesday, without giving any details.Conte, who heads a coalition that unites the far-right League and anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, also confirmed that his government would look into separating investment b...Read More
(Reuters) - Gains for Amazon and Tesla helped the Nasdaq open at a record high on Wednesday, before the index fell slightly as Facebook led a decline in the technology sector.Tesla Inc jumped 5 percent after billionaire Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk reassured shareholders that building 5,000 of its mass-market Model 3 cars per week by the end of June was “quite likely”.The Nasdaq h...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The euro rose to a nearly two-week high against the dollar on Wednesday after officials said the European Central Bank could wind down its stimulus program by the end of the year, as inflation has risen to its target.Europe’s common currency was on track to post its largest weekly gain versus the dollar since mid-February.Having revived growth with an unprecedented 2.55...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. trade deficit fell to a seven-month low in April as exports rose to a record high, lifted by an increase in shipments of industrial materials and soybeans.The Commerce Department said on Wednesday the trade gap dropped 2.1 percent to $46.2 billion, the smallest since September. Data for March was revised to show the trade deficit falling to $47.2 billion, instead of...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - The opposition Labour Party has thrown down the gauntlet to Prime Minister Theresa May on Brexit, urging MPs to defeat her in parliament by backing a proposal for Britain to stay in the EU’s single market after leaving the bloc.Ten months before Britain is due to leave the European Union, May is struggling to unite her party and government over a Brexit strategy. She also...Read More
BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Central Bank will debate next week whether to end bond purchases later this year, the bank’s chief economist said on Wednesday, a hawkish message seen preparing investors for another cut in stimulus.Having revived growth with an unprecedented 2.55 trillion euro ($3 trillion) bond-buying scheme, ECB policymakers must decide when to end the purchases as the thre...Read More
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union expects to hit U.S. imports with additional duties from July, ratcheting up a transatlantic trade conflict after Washington imposed its own tariffs on incoming EU steel and aluminum.EU members have given broad support to a European Commission plan to set 25 percent duties on up to 2.8 billion euros ($3.3 billion) of U.S. exports in response to what is sees a...Read More
The shares are facing off with familiar resistance, howeverSteel stocks have been in focus lately, as President Donald Trump's imposed metal tariffs set off a chain reaction of retaliatory trade measures. Against this backdrop, United States Steel Corporation (NYSE:X) stock is up 2.5% to trade at $37.79 this morning, after the company said it is expecting its full-year EBITDA to be near the high...Read More
Despite today's retreat, YELP is still sporting an impressive long-term gainBusiness review concern Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) is lower in early trading, after the stock was downgraded at KeyBanc to "sector weight" from "overweight" this morning, with the brokerage firm citing soft customer engagement. In response, YELP is down 2.3% at $43.10 in early trading.Despite boasting a 45% year-over-year lead,...Read More
Citigroup initiated coverage on the outperforming mining stockCitigroup initiated coverage on Cleveland-Cliffs Inc (NYSE:CLF) with a "buy" rating and an $11 price target -- representing expected upside of almost 33% to last night's close, and a move into territory not seen since March 2017. In reaction, CLF stock is trading up 2.9% out of the gate at $8.53.The mining shares have been rallying hard...Read More
(Reuters) - China’s Huobi Group, a global financial services provider, announced on Wednesday it is investing $100 million, or 20 million of its tokens, to build a public blockchain.Blockchain, the system powering cryptocurrencies like bitcoin BTC=BTSP, is a shared database that is maintained by a network of computers connected to the internet. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and most major alternative...Read More
(Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes opened higher on Wednesday, with electric carmaker Tesla and insurer United Health (UNH.N) among the biggest drivers, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched to another record high.The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 54.16 points, or 0.22 percent, at the open to 24,854.14. The S&P 500 .SPX opened higher by 4.45 points, or 0.16 percent, at 2,753.25. The Nasd...Read More
South Africa's government has scrapped plans to compel mining companies to contribute 1 percent of their annual turnover to a new community development agency because it feared the funds could be abused, the nation's mining minister said.The levy was proposed in a draft of the nation's new Mining Charter that was introduced by Mosebenzi Zwane, the former mineral resources minister, and was one of...Read More
(Kitco News) -Gold and silver prices are up and have touched new daily highsin late-morning trading Wednesday. Both precious metals rallied at the sametime the U.S. dollar index dropped to its session low. The gold and silverbulls have gained a bit of upside technical momentum at mid-week. August gold was last up $2.60 an ounce at $1,304.90 and July silver was up $0.217 at $16.76an ounce. By Jim...Read More
(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday, with electric carmaker Tesla and insurer United Health (UNH.N) among the biggest drivers after the tech-heavy Nasdaq index hit a record high on Tuesday.UnitedHealth shares jumped 1.3 percent in premarket trading after the health insurer hiked its quarterly dividend and announced a buyback.Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) jumped 3.9 percent after billionair...Read More
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk said on Wednesday he had been asked to support “political corruption” or to quit after Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman formally asked parliament to sack him.The two men have been at loggerheads since Groysman rejected Danylyuk’s candidate for deputy minister in charge of tax policy. Danylyuk then accused Groysman of...Read More
India's gold imports plunged a fifth straight month in May to 48 tonnes as a rally in local prices to near their highest level in 21 months curtailed retail purchases, provisional data from precious metals consultancy GFMS and bank dealers showed.The 60 percent drop in purchases from a year ago by the world's No.2 consumer could weigh on global prices that are still up 4.5 percent from a mid-Dec...Read More