CNBCCommerce Secretary Wilbur Ross holds up a can of Campbell's Soup during an interview with CNBC, explaining that a 25% tariff on imported steel would only raise prices by a few pennies. The numbers: The final reading of the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was 98.8, up from the initial reading of 97.8 but still below March's level of 101.4. Current economic conditions fell s...Read More
LONDON/NEW YORK/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - After bouncing up, falling down and keeping investors on the edges of their seats, bitcoin may be maturing into a period of relatively boring stability, experts say.A worldwide wave of regulation has led to a collapse in trading volumes. Cryptocurrency advertisements are disappearing from top internet pages, and bitcoin no longer dominates Google searches.As i...Read More
(Bloomberg) - Ecuadorian officials have held talks with several foreign companies about the possibility of building a copper refinery as the smallest OPEC member looks to reduce its dependence on oil, the mining minister said.Chinese and Japanese companies and Glencore Plc "could be among those interested in the project," Rebeca Illescas said Thursday. The government intends to choose companies i...Read More
(Reuters) - Nasdaq futures surged on Friday after stellar results from Amazon, Microsoft and Intel, and other equity index futures pared losses after data showed the economy slowed in the first quarter, but not as much as feared.Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) surged 9.0 percent in premarket trading after the world’s largest online retailer more than doubled its profit and said it expects strong spr...Read More
MUMBAI/BENGALURU, April 27 (Reuters) - Physical gold demand lacked vigour in most Asian hubs this week amid a slight dip in prices, while the yellow metal switched to a premium in India for the first time in over 1-1/2 months due to a correction in local rates.In India, dealers were charging a premium of up to $1 an ounce over official domestic prices. This compared to a discount of $1 last week a...Read More
SQ is buying website builder WeeblyAhead of its first-quarter earnings report, due out after the close next Wednesday, May 2, Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) said it is buying website-building firm Weebly in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $365 million. The purchase will allow the payment processor to create a platform where small business owners can create websites and online stores. The news is being well-...Read More
Stifel upgraded Facebook stock to "buy" this morningFacebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) helped boost the broader stock market yesterday with its impressive earnings report. Shares of the social media company ended Thursday's session up more than 9% -- part of a month-long recovery since the Cambridge Analytica fallout -- and they're trading higher again today, as a number of market watchers are suggesting th...Read More
MSFT stock popped higher as analysts cheered major growth in cloud services revenueSoftware giant Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is on the upswing this morning as Wall Street cheers a fiscal third-quarter profit and revenue beat. The tech company's robust results were driven by strong enterprise demand for its Office 365 productivity suite and its Azure cloud service, with the latter generati...Read More
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government may start scrutinizing informal partnerships between American and Chinese companies in the field of artificial intelligence, threatening practices that have long been considered garden variety development work for technology companies, sources familiar with the discussions said.So far, U.S. government reviews for national security and other concerns have be...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the historic meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday, even while sounding a note of caution.Kim and Moon pledged to work toward the “complete decentralization of the Korean peninsula,” and to seek to declare an official end to the 1950s Korean War and establish a permanent...Read More
WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. economy slowed in the first quarter as consumer spending grew at its weakest pace in nearly five years, but the setback is likely temporary against the backdrop of a tightening labor market and large fiscal stimulus.Gross domestic product increased at a 2.3 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said in its snapshot of first-quarter GDP on Friday, al...Read More
Gold priceshave remained under pressure in recent days despite a growing laundry list ofconcerns, from falling equities and rising treasury yields to continuedgeopolitical worries. To the frustration of many, gold has been unable to breakout of its nearly 4-month consolidation between $1300 to $1365 but the minershave been quietly outperforming during the past two months. While thesafe haven metal...Read More
XOM's earnings reaction is pressuring the Dow, thoughDow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures are trading below fair value ahead of a busy day on Wall Street, pressured by a negative earnings reaction for big-cap oil stock Exxon Mobil (XOM). The S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX), on the other hand, are pointing to a strong open, as traders react to another batch of impressive tech e...Read More
PARIS (Reuters) - French economic growth slowed slightly more than expected at the start of the year, adding to signs of a temporary slowdown in the euro zone a day after the European Central Bank played down concerns of softness.Growth data from Austria and Spain and euro zone consumer and business morale, meanwhile, painted a mixed outlook for the 19-nation bloc.The ECB sought to calm concerns a...Read More
Data on China’s gold imports from Hong Kong suggest thatChinese demand for the precious metal has been “subdued,” says Commerzbank.Analysts cite a report from the Census and Statistics Department of the HongKong government showing that China imported 59.4 tonnes of gold on a net basisfrom Hong Kong in March. “Though this was 79% up on the previous month, whichwas distorted...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold pricesare slightly higher in early U.S. trading Friday, on a modest corrective bouncefrom selling pressure that drove prices to a five-week low overnight. A solidrally in the U.S. dollar index this week is still squelching buying interest inthe precious metals. June Comex gold futures were last up $1.10 an ounce at $1,319.30.May Comex silver was last down $0.026 at $16.465 an o...Read More
(Kitco News)- The goldmarket is holding on to modest gains, after the latest data from the U.S. Commerce Departmentshowed the economy grewmore than expected in the first quarter of 2018.Friday, theadvance reading of first-quarter Gross Domestic Product showed the U.S. economygrew 2.3%. The data was stronger than expected as consensus forecasts werecalling for growth of 2%. The data comes after the...Read More
Consumption weakest since 2013; business spending still solidPrivate wage measure has fastest annual increase since 2008Bloomberg's Michael McKee reports on the GDP numbers.U.S. economic growth cooled last quarter as consumers pulled back following outsize spending in the prior period, though solid business investment cushioned some of the weakness and employee-compensation costs accelerated amid...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged lower on Friday as the dollar rose, but Brent was still headed for a third week of gains amid supply concerns should the United States reimpose sanctions on Iran.Global benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 16 cents at $74.58 a barrel at 1049 GMT. This month, Brent hit highs above $75, a level last seen in late 2014.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) cru...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emboldened by President Trump’s pledge to loosen laws introduced following the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, U.S. banks are pushing to scrap or revise more than a dozen other lesser-known rules they say are outdated, costly and hurt economic growth.Many would have been revised a decade ago, but changes were shelved during the financial crisis and the fierce politi...Read More