MELBOURNE - Australian lithium producer Altura Mining on Friday said it had signed a deal to supply Chinese battery giant Ganfeng Lithium with concentrate from its Pilgangoora mine in Western Australia.Battery makers such as Ganfeng and Tesla have been scouring the globe for new sources of lithium to help meet an anticipated boom in demand for batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), with miners in...Read More

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Vulnerabilities linger behind the hot U.S. labor market in which some communities remain underemployed and lack the skills and training that would protect them as the economy modernizes, two Federal Reserve policymakers said on Friday.The comments underscore why the U.S. central bank is only gradually raising interest rates even while unemployment is the lowest since the 1960s...Read More

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday blasted a federal judge’s decision to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that would carry heavy crude oil from Canada to the United States, a project that has been in development for a decade.The ruling out of U.S. Court in Montana on Thursday dealt a major setback to TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO) and could possibly delay the construct...Read More

Today's losses come ahead of Sunday's Singles Day eventShares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) are plunging alongside other U.S.-listed Chinese tech stocks, after the National Security Agency (NSA) accused China of violating a cybersecurity agreement made back in 2015. The NSA threatened to impose more sanctions if the issue was not resolved. In response, BABA is down 3.5% at $143.74 in e...Read More

Gold fell to its lowest in a month on Friday on a strong dollar, which gained after the U.S. Federal Reserve reaffirmed its monetary tightening stance, seen as a negative for non-yielding bullion.The Fed held interest rates steady on Thursday but is widely expected to raise interest rates in December - which would be its fourth hike this year - as it pointed to a healthy economy that was marred on...Read More

DBX is on track for its best day in three monthsThe shares of Dropbox Inc (NASDAQ:DBX) are up 8.6% to trade at $26.90 this morning, after the cloud storage company reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that exceeded analyst expectations. Dropbox also upped its fiscal year guidance. RBC has responded with a price-target bump to $37 from $36, while Canaccord Genuity spoiled the fun with a pr...Read More

LISBON (Reuters) - Taxify, a European-based rival to Uber and the leading app-based taxi-hailing platform in Africa, expects to grow its African business ten-fold over the next two years while it works to dethrone Uber in Europe, its chief executive told Reuters.Markus Villig said his firm, which has 15 million customers and half a million drivers on its platform in more than 25 countries, was on...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he has signed an immigration proclamation, an order that would help effectively ban migrants who cross the U.S. border with Mexico illegally from qualifying for asylum.The Trump administration unveiled new rules on Thursday to sharply limit migrant asylum claims by barring individuals who cross the U.S. southern border illegally fro...Read More

BERLIN - Germany has earmarked 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to support a consortium looking to produce electric car battery cells and plans to fund a research facility to develop next-generation solid-state batteries, three sources told Reuters.The measures, expected to be announced next week, are designed to reduce the dependence of German carmakers on Asian electric vehicle (EV) battery suppli...Read More

The Bank of England has refused to release Venezuela's gold bars, insisting that standard measures to prevent money-laundering be taken including clarification of the Venezuelan government's intentions for the gold. Read full newsRead More

General Electric stock fell to a new nine-year low out of the gateThe hits keep coming for General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which saw its price target slashed to $6 from $10 at J.P. Morgan Securities -- the lowest on Wall Street, and a 34% discount to last night's close. This comes in response to GE's dismal third-quarter earnings report from late October, which the brokerage firm said signaled...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Randal Quarles, head of supervision at the Federal Reserve, said on Friday the central bank would re-propose aspects of a capital rule known as the “stress capital buffer” due to industry concerns.Speaking at a conference in Washington, Quarles said the regulator should also ease a key element of its annual stress tests that allows the regulator to fail firms on...Read More

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice has moved to sharply curtail federal authority aimed at curtailing abuse and civil rights violations at local police departments across the country by directing U.S. attorneys to limit the use of consent decrees and settlement agreements.Attorney General Jeff Sessions, in one of his final acts before President Donald Trump ousted him, said the...Read More

Mr. Rudi Fronk reportsSEABRIDGE GOLD SECURES $14.0 MILLION PRIVATE PLACEMENTSeabridge Gold Inc. has secured a non-brokered private placement of one million common shares of the company at a price of $14 per share for gross proceeds of $14-million. No commissions are payable on this transaction. The proceeds from the financing will be used to finance general working capital requirements and a 2019...Read More

Mr. Rudi Fronk reportsSEABRIDGE GOLD SECURES $14.0 MILLION PRIVATE PLACEMENTSeabridge Gold Inc. has secured a non-brokered private placement of one million common shares of the company at a price of $14 per share for gross proceeds of $14-million. No commissions are payable on this transaction. The proceeds from the financing will be used to finance general working capital requirements and a 2019...Read More

ROME/HELSINKI (Reuters) - Italy stood by the main pillars of its 2019 budget on Friday, as a deadline neared for it to change what Brussels called overly optimistic economic assumptions or face penalties for breaking EU fiscal rules.Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio and Economy Minister Giovanni Tria said they were committed to respecting a maximum budget deficit of 2.4 percent of economic outpu...Read More

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to fall at the open on Friday, as a batch of weak Chinese data raised concerns about global growth a day after the Federal Reserve hinted at gradual tightening of borrowing costs.The news gave investors a reason to keep away from riskier assets, with worries about rising interest rates and effects of the U.S.-China trade war taking the shine off a decade-long bull...Read More

The Dow isset to snap a four-day winning streakDespite well-received earnings for Walt Disney (DIS), futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) are lower to finish the week. The index is set to snap a four-day winning streak, as oil prices wade deeper into bear market territory. At last check, December-dated crude futures were down $1, or 1.7%, at $59.64 per barrel. S&P 500 Index (SPX)...Read More

ALB stock is trading above its 50-day moving averageAlbemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) just announced it's postponing two lithium production projects in Chile, and brokerage firm Berenberg responded by lowering its price target on ALB stock to $130 from $150. This still represents major upside -- nearly 23% to be exact -- from the shares' Thursday closing price of $105.87.Looking back further, the e...Read More

JOHANNESBURG - Gold Fields said on Friday third quarter production was down 3 percent, with its last South African asset, South Deep, weighing on total output.Gold production for the quarter ended Sept. 30 from continuing operations dropped to 533,000 ounces from 552,000 in the same period last year, with the struggling mine producing 50,000 ounces during the quarter.South Deep has faced numerous...Read More