(Includes additional detail and context, separate Goldman fine)By Pete SchroederWASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve fined five large U.S. banks a combined $35.1 million to settle cases of mortgage servicing flaws dating back to 2011.The central bank announced the fines against Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley , CIT Group , U.S. Bancorp , and PNC Financial as part of a broader effort...Read More
* Stocks lifted led by resources shares* Rand falls ahead of Ramaphosa speech (Updates figures, adds detail, quotes)JOHANNESBURG, Jan 12 (Reuters) - South African shares firmed on Friday, supported by resources stocks lifted by better than expected Chinese trade data, while the rand slipped in cautious trading ahead of a weekend speech by the leader of the ruling African National Congress party. T...Read More
(Adds comment from finance minister, analyst)By Bruno FederowskiSAO PAULO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Brazil has made slower-than-expected progress in cutting government spending ahead of presidential elections, a Standard & Poor's director said on Friday, a day after the agency downgraded the country's rating deeper into junk territory.The agency on Thursday lowered its long-term rating for Brazil s...Read More
Russian miner Alrosa (MCX:ALRS), the world's top diamond producer by output, received Friday approval from Angolan President Joao Louren??o to expand its stake in local producer Catoca.The deal, worth $70 million, gives Alrosa a further 8.2% stake in Catoca Mining, providing the diamond giant with access to a production base outside Russia.Deal gives Alrosa a further 8.2% stake in Catoca Mining, p...Read More
WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve fined five large U.S. banks a combined $35.1 million to settle cases of mortgage servicing flaws dating back to 2011.The central bank announced the fines against Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley , CIT Group , U.S. Bancorp , and PNC Financial as part of a broader effort to terminate enforcement actions begun in 2011 and 2012 against large banks for m...Read More
GABORONE – Botswana’s Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) posted a 4% jump in sales to $567-million in 2017, the highest annual sales since its formation in 2013, the company said on Thursday.The State-owned company sold 3.41-million carats of diamonds in 2017, managing director Marcus ter Haar told Reuters, adding that the year was characterised by healthy demand and prices in the first ha...Read More
* Dec core CPI marks biggest monthly increase in 11 months* TIPS funds see biggest weekly inflows since Nov. - Lipper* U.S. to sell $13 bln 10-year TIPS next Thursday (Updates market action, adds Lipper data)By Richard LeongNEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. bond market's gauges of inflation expectations rose on Friday as a stronger-than-forecast increase in core domestic consumer prices in Dec...Read More
* TSX up 1.42 points, or 0.01 percent, to 16,288.36* Six of the TSX's 10 main groups move lower* Index on track for 0.3 percent fall on week TORONTO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Canadian lumber companies jumped and the country's marijuana producers fell on Friday, while heavyweight resource and financial stocks also moved in different directions, leaving the main Toronto equity index little changed in mor...Read More
VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – The IHS Materials Price Index (MPI) is in its ninth consecutive week of gains, jumping 2.8% last week – the strongest weekly performance since early September.According to IHS Markit economist Cole Hassay, the MPI was supported by broad-based positive indicators, with eight of ten subcomponents rising. Ferrous metals and oil prices were among the biggest...Read More
By Helen BartholomewLONDON, Jan 12 (IFR) - European stock exchanges, including Cboe Europe and Aquis Exchange, have aligned minimum pricing increments for Swiss share trading with Zurich's SIX Swiss Exchange, which some believe may have been granted an unintended competitive advantage by MiFID II. The Swiss bourse saw its market share in domestic securities jump to 75% at the start of 2018 - up 10...Read More
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Russian miner Alrosa’s diamond sales fell to $4.27-billion in 2017, from $4.45-billion in the previous year, as the average price of its rough diamonds dipped.Reporting on the group’s 2017 sales figures, VP Yury Okoemov explained on Thursday that the average price of rough diamonds sold by Alrosa was “a little lower than a year ago”,...Read More
LONDON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Four euro zone countries are scheduled to sell bonds in the coming week via auction. * On Monday, Slovakia will reopen bonds maturing in January 2027 and March 2037 and is expected to raise up to 300 million euros, according to analysts. * On Wednesday, Germany is to sell 1.5 billion euros of 30-year bonds. * On Thursday, France plans to sell 6.5-7.5 billion euros of thr...Read More
(Adds details on BlackRock tax rate, performance, succession plan)By Trevor HunnicuttNEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc charged past a record $6 trillion in assets, its profit beating Wall Street forecasts, as investors flooded into the relatively low-cost funds of the world's largest asset manager.A new U.S. tax law, which sliced corporate and individual income rates, also helped the com...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange closed the week on divergent paths today, Friday January 12, with aluminium leading the upside.The three-month aluminium price closed above $2,200 per tonne for the first time since the first trading day of the year. 16,000 tonnes of aluminium was freshly cancelled at LME-listed warehouses this morning, which supported prices. "Strong Chinese trade f...Read More
* Consumer prices rise 0.3 pct in Dec. vs est. rise of 0.2 pct* Retail sales up 0.4 pct vs est increase of 0.4 pct* Facebook falls after making changes to News Feed* Indexes up: Dow 0.42 pct, S&P 0.19 pct, Nasdaq 0.07 pct (Updates to open)By Sruthi ShankarJan 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were higher on Friday as strongDecember retail sales data drove gains in consumer stocks and b...Read More
FRANKFURT, Jan 12 (Reuters) - A blueprint for talks on Germany's next coalition governmentcirculated on Friday spelled out measures to achieve a renewable quota of 65 percent in the power mix by 2030.* Negotiators said they plan tenders for 4 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaics and 4 GW onshore wind as well as an unspecified offshore wind energy contribution for 2019 and 2020* This will help achieve t...Read More
Comex copper prices were lower on the morning of Friday January 12, with volumes small ahead of the US holiday weekend.Copper for March settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dipped by 0.45 cents or 0.1% to trade recently at $3.2285 per lb. The trading range so far has been between $3.2180 and $3.2490 per oz."Copper is comfortably consolidating," Metal Bulletin analys...Read More
(Corrects day of week in first paragraph)SAO PAULO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Brazil has made slower-than-expected progress in cutting government spending ahead of this year's presidential elections, a Standard & Poor's director said on Friday, a day after the ratings agency downgraded the country deeper into junk.In a webcast, S&P managing director Lisa Schineller highlighted the difficulty of...Read More
Base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange were mostly higher during morning trading on Friday January 12, with zinc continuing to edge higher. The three-month zinc price hit a high of $3,409 per tonne already this morning - the highest since August 2007. "Momentum-based indicators show a strong uptrend in motion. A fresh 2018 high is likely to occur in the coming days," Boris Mikanikrezai, M...Read More
TORONTO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index opened flat on Friday, as resources stocks and marijuana producers weighed, lumber companies bounced higher and an oil and gas explorer jumped after announcing a reduced capital spending plan. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 17.49 points, or 0.11 percent, to 16,304.43 shortly after the open. It is heading for a 0...Read More