* Altmaier: No fixed date for deposit insurance scheme* Eurogroup head Centeno rejects idea of transfer union (Adds Centeno quote)By Joseph Nasr and Michael NienaberBERLIN, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Germany said on Wednesday that euro zone members should first agree on clear parameters for reducing risks in the banking sector before progress can be made toward completing a banking union through a deposit...Read More

* Dollar index falls during mid-day trade* Gold up 8 pct since mid-December* Bets on higher prices rise at record rate (New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments; adds second byline and NEW YORK dateline)By Renita D. Young and Peter HobsonNEW YORK/LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Gold prices hovered near four-month highs on Wednesday as the U.S. dollar slipped against a basket of curr...Read More

Papa John's International, Inc. (NASDAQ:PZZA) has underperformed on the charts in recent months, down 30.3% over the past year. This dismal return comes despite strong showings from a number of sector peers from our Restaurant & Bars sub-sector, including Dow component McDonald's (MCD). Out of this group of roughly two-dozen, PZZA is one of just six that's trading below its 80-day moving average,...Read More

The last we heard from Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG) it claimed that an underlying 2% rise in revenue represented "a good start to the year".Offsetting the ongoing decline in the letters business, the group saw a 6% rise in UK parcels revenue and a 9% revenue increase in its General Logistics Systems (GLS) business in the six months to 24 September.As one might expect, however, the Christmas period is...Read More

The classic American school bus - yellow, loud and trailing diesel exhaust - may soon get an electric upgrade.Each weekday morning, buses running on nothing but battery packs shuttle students to schools in northern Sacramento and the neighboring suburbs. The vehicles - made by Lion Bus of Quebec, Trans Tech Bus of New York state and Motiv Power Systems of Hayward - are cleaner and quieter than the...Read More

Bitcoin has rebounded over $1000 off its lows, breaking back above $10,000... The question on everyone's mind, did the bubble just burst or do you BTFD?Read full newsRead More

RM Secured Direct Lending PLC's (LON:RDML) James Robson tells Proactive the portfolio has grown to 24 debt investments across 13 sectors.Robson adds three-quarters of the portfolio is in higher-yielding private bi-lateral or private club investments with the remainder in more liquid public debt transactions.The trust's investment manager, RM Capital Markets, continued to grow the portfolio of secu...Read More

(Kitco News) - Goldman Sachs’ much talked about commodities-trading team surprised the markets this week as it reported the worst annual performance in the company’s history in 2017, down 75% in net revenue. This coincided with Goldman’s bearish gold forecasts that never came to be.Commodities trading revenues dropped from $1.1 billion in 2016 to below $300 million last year, Blo...Read More

(Kitco News) - Goldman Sachs’ much talked about commodities-trading team surprised the markets this week as it reported the worst annual performance in the company’s history in 2017, down 75% in net revenue. This coincided with Goldman’s bearish gold forecasts that never came to be.Commodities trading revenues dropped from $1.1 billion in 2016 to below $300 million last year, Blo...Read More

NEW YORK, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The dollar held its modest losses against a basket of currencies on Wednesday even as the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book showed U.S. business activity was expanding with inflation growing at a modest to moderate pace in late 2017. At 2:08 pm (1908 GMT), the index that tracks the greenback versus the euro, yen, sterling and three other currencies was last down 0.10...Read More

(Kitco News) - Gold priceswere modestly up in early afternoon U.S. trading Wednesday. Some minor profit-takingearly saw gold traders then step in to buy the dip when the U.S. dollar indexcould not hold its early gains and dropped to a 3.5-year low. February Comex gold was last up $3.70 an ounce at $1,340.80. March Comex silver was last up$0.016 at $17.20 an ounce.Goldand silver market bulls are si...Read More

(Kitco News) - Gold prices were modestly up in early afternoon U.S. trading Wednesday. Some minor profit-taking early saw gold traders then step in to buy the dip when the U.S. dollar index could not hold its early gains and dropped to a 3.5-year low. February Comex gold was last up $3.70 an ounce at $1,340.80. March Comex silver was last up $0.016 at $17.20 an ounce.Gold and silver market bulls a...Read More

Amid the wild Bitcoin ride that's wiped more than 40 percent off the cryptocurrency's price in a month, a pattern may be emerging: sellers are switching out of digital gold and into the real thing.Read full newsRead More

Anglo Asian Mining Plc's  (LON:AAZ) Bill Morgan and Steve Westhead chat to Proactive's Andrew Scott following the release of their Q4 & FY 2017 Production and operations review.The miner produced 71,461 gold equivalent ounces during 2017, a production rate which hit the uppermost level of guidance.  Meet Netscientific PLC, discoverIE Group plc, Itaconix Plc and Realm Therapeutics plc...Read More

BAMAKO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Industrial gold production in Mali rose to 49.6 tonnes in 2017, up 5 percent from the previous year, a senior Mines Ministry official said on Wednesday.The figure beat the 46.9 tonnes that Africa's third-largest producer managed in 2016 and was well ahead a forecast of 45 tonnes that the government had given half way through last year."There was real progress in the...Read More

Jan 18 (Reuters) - Stock MarketsNet ChngStock MarketsNet ChngS&P/ASX 200** 6,015.80 -32.80NZX 50**8,297.67 47.13DJIA26,032.96240.10NIKKEI**23,868.34-83.47Nasdaq7,281.45757.77 FTSE**7,725.43 -30.50S&P 500 2,797.69 21.27 Hang Seng** 31,983.4178.66SPI 200 Fut 5,966.06.0 STI** 3,541.91 -8.30SSEC**3,445.36 8.76KOSPI** 2,515.43 -6.31---------------------------------------------------------------...Read More

(Adds more detail)LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Britain's Barclays is axing up to 100 jobs at its investment bank, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, following another set of disappointing results from the division in the third quarter. The cuts will be split evenly between Europe and the United States and be weighted more towards roles at the director and managing director level,...Read More

Ray Gibbs, chief executive of Haydale Graphene Industries PLC (LON:HAYD), tells Proactive they've entered into a commercial supply and development agreement with Australia-listed Talga Resources.The tie-up will see the two work together to produce, market and sell jointly-developed transparent conductive ink products using graphene for industrial applications in Asia.The two companies - which have...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

(Kitco News) - Kitco aficionados, it is now time to have your say in where you think gold prices are heading in the short-term.Will gold prices go higher, lower or remain unchanged next week? Kitco readers will have until 9 a.m. EDT, Friday to cast their vote. The results will be tabulated and released after noon (12 PM EDT) along with the results from our market professional survey.Readers can al...Read More