LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - Acacia Mining on Thursday posted a fall in first quarter earnings after reducing operations at its flagship gold mine but stuck to its full-year production and costs targets.Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the three months to March 31 fell to $44 million from $82 million a year earlier.Acacia, a unit of Canada's Barr...Read More
SAYANOGORSK, Russia (Reuters) - Russian aluminum giant Rusal (0486.HK) is stockpiling large quantities of aluminum at one of its plants in Siberia because U.S. sanctions imposed this month have prevented it from selling the metal to customers, five sources close to the company said.With the firm’s own storage space filling up with unsold aluminum, Rusal executives in Sayanogorsk, in southern...Read More
(Kitco News) - U.S. initial weekly jobless claims dropped down to 232,000 in the week to Saturday, marking the lowest level in three weeks, the Labor Department said.The total was weaker than expected as market consensus called for the initial claims to drop to around 230,000. The government did not revise the prior week’s figures. In an initial reaction to the weekly jobless claims data, Ju...Read More
Editor's Note: Updating earlier story with more details from report.(Kitco News) - Gold remained slightly softer Thursday after news that the currentgeneral activity index in the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing business outlooksurvey rose to 23.2 in April from 22.3 in March.Consensus expectations compiled by various newsorganizations were for a reading of somewhere around 20.As of 8:41 a.m. EDT,...Read More
(Kitco News) - Kitco aficionados, it isnow time to have your say in where you think gold prices are heading in theshort-term.Will gold prices go higher, lower or remain unchanged nextweek? Kitco readers will have until 9 a.m. EDT, Friday to cast their vote. The results will be tabulated and released after noon (12PM EDT) along with the results fromour market professional survey.Readers can also se...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard on Thursday warned it was premature for regulators to revisit liquidity and capital requirements for the largest banks amid growing vulnerabilities in the economy.Speaking at a conference in Washington, Brainard said rising asset prices and leverage signaled it was too early in the economic cycle to review core rules introduced fo...Read More
(Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co (P&G) has agreed to acquire Merck KGaA’s consumer health unit for 3.4 billion euros ($4.2 billion), giving it vitamin brands such as Seven Seas and greater exposure to Latin American and Asian markets.The maker of Pampers diapers and Gillette razors said the deal would help it expand its portfolio of consumer healthcare products which includes Vicks co...Read More
(Kitco News) - Gold pricesare slightly lower in early U.S. trading Thursday, on some “backing andfilling” on the charts amid a quieter world marketplace late this week.Meantime, silver prices are trading near steady but hit another 2.5-month highovernight. The current technical postures for both precious metals are tilted infavor of the bulls. June Comex gold futures were last down $...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices kept rising to their highest since late 2014 as U.S. crude inventories declined, moving closer to five-year averages, and after sources told Reuters that top exporter Saudi Arabia aims to push prices even higher.Brent crude futures LCOc1 reached $74.73 a barrel, the highest since Nov. 27, 2014 - the day OPEC decided to pump as much as it could to defend market share,...Read More
BEIJING (Reuters) - China is well prepared to handle any negative effects from its trade dispute with the United States, the commerce ministry said on Thursday, adding that Beijing’s tariff hikes on U.S. imports will not have a big impact overall on its domestic industries.It would be a miscalculation by the United States if its intention is to contain China’s rise, ministry spokesman...Read More
Silver is finally breaking out ofthe consolidation patter it has struggled with for months. On Wednesday, silverpopped almost 3% on the biggest volume day in months. The rally continues todayand should continue to run to $17.50-$17.75.Gold seems to have found a higherlow once again but still has not been able to break out to the upside. As wehave written for the past few weeks, gold must break abo...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - Talk that Saudi Arabia has its sights on $80-$100 a barrel oil again and of more U.S. sanctions on Russia ignited a rally in commodities and resource stocks on Thursday, though the potential boost to inflation hit fixed-income assets.It was set to be the strongest day for the commodity complex in eight months as Brent crude futures climbed past $74 a barrel after a near 3 percen...Read More
Editor's Note: Welcome to Kitco's new Bitcoin Daily Technical Alert. Every trading day veteran Kitco technical analyst Jim Wyckoff will provide you with a concise and easy-to-understand near-term technical brief on Bitcoin. Importantly, Jim will glean the short-term charts and technical studies, and then alert you to the signals he sees regarding upcoming potential bigger price moves or price tren...Read More
(Reuters) - Bank of New York Mellon Corp (BK.N) reported a better-than-expected first-quarter profit on Thursday, as surging equity markets and a weaker dollar helped drive double-digit growth in its assets servicing and management businesses.Shares of the world’s largest custodian bank rose 3.3 percent at $54 in premarket trading.Asset servicing revenue surged 13 percent to $1.52 billion, w...Read More
(Reuters) - Blackstone Group LP (BX.N), the largest manager of alternative assets such as private equity and real estate, said on Thursday first-quarter earnings per share fell 20 percent year-on-year, as a stock market slump weighed on the value of its holdings.New York-based Blackstone said it plans to pay a 30 cent special dividend in 2018, returning to shareholders a portion of the proceeds fr...Read More
April 19 (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher opening for Canada's main stock index on Thursday, tracking a fierce rally in commodities and resource stocks following talk that Saudi Arabia has its sights on $80-$100 a barrel oil again.June futures on the S&P TSX index were up 0.21 percent at 7:15 a.m. ET.Oil prices rose to their highest since late 2014 as U.S. crude inventories declin...Read More
Moderating U.S. inflation could end upreducing the amount of monetary tightening from the Federal Reserve, eventuallyunderpinning gold, says TD Securities. “Gold prices remain relativelyrange-bound as money managers weigh the prospect of future Fed hikes amid aweakish USD [U.S. dollar] and flattening yield curve, in combination with therecent waning of the safe-haven premium and strong produ...Read More
A strike has halted gold production at two mines in Mali run by Randgold Resources since Wednesday, two senior union officials told Reuters on Thursday.The strike at the company's Loulo and Gounkoto mines was related to the payment of bonuses and would continue until the issue was resolved, said Mamadou N'Daou, the administrative secretary of the industry and mines union SECNAMI.Randgold, which ow...Read More
Mr. Chris Taylor reportsGREAT BEAR EXPANDS RED LAKE DRILLING TO 10,000 METRES AND ANNOUNCES PRIVATE PLACEMENTGreat Bear Resources Ltd. has expanded its continuing 3,000-metre drill program in the Red Lake district, Ontario, to 10,000 metres.Great Bear's president and chief executive officer Chris Taylor said: "We have completed eight of 12 planned drill holes, and are expanding our current work pr...Read More
Mr. John Burzynski reportsOSISKO INTERSECTS 41.2 G/T AU OVER 3.5 METRES AT WINDFALLOsisko Mining Inc. has provided new results from the continuing drill program at its 100-per-cent-owned Windfall Lake gold project located in the Abitibi greenstone belt, Urban township, Eeyou Istchee James Bay, Quebec. The 800,000-metre drill program combines definition, expansion and exploration drilling in and ar...Read More