* GRAPHIC-Firms struggle to find workers: * GRAPHIC-wage pressures building: * GRAPHIC-French unemployment tops 9 pct: By Leigh ThomasPARIS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Business is booming for Sylvie Guinard, who runs French machine manufacturer Thimonnier. The problem is, she can't find the enough staff - even in a country where millions of people are out of work. Guinard, who has a workforce of about 80,...Read More
LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Following are five big themes likely to dominate thinking of investors and traders in the coming week and the Reuters stories related to them.1/INFLATION GYRATIONS Whether world markets settle down now or suffer a fresh volatility shockwave may be determined by next week's consumer and producer price inflation readings in the United States.They are expected to show U.S. c...Read More
* Posts 381 mln euro 2017 loss after 417 mln euro loan writedowns* Working on 500 mln euro sale after 2.2 bln euro sales in 2017* Italian banks stepping up targets for bad loan sales MILAN, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Banca Carige pledged on Friday to sell up to an extra 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in bad debts this year, joining the ranks of Italian banks that have bowed to regulatory pressure to clean...Read More
Carnegie Museum of Natural History is pleased to announce W. Lesley Presmyk, a retired mining engineer in Arizona, as the winner of the prestigious 2017 Carnegie Mineralogical Award. The Carnegie Mineralogical Award honors outstanding contributions in mineralogical preservation, conservation and education.Presmyk has spent 44 years working with hard rock and coal, and recently retired. His accompl...Read More
BUENOS AIRES, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Peru's economy likely grew between 2.4 and 2.5 percent in 2017, Jorge Estrella, the manager of the central bank's economic studies, told journalists in a conference call on Friday.The central bank had previously estimated growth of 2.7 percent for last year.(Reporting by Teresa Cespedes and Marco Aquino; Writing by Caroline Stauffer Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Discl...Read More
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - African miner Thor Explorations will most likely choose London's junior AIM market to list its shares this year in its bid to raise up to $35 million, its chief executive said on Friday.Thor, which is already listed in Toronto's TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), will use the proceeds of the new listing mainly to fund its Segilola Gold Project in Nigeria. The company als...Read More
* SWFs anchor a record 26 IPOs in 2017-SWF Institute* Way for SWFs to take chunky stakes in EM stocks* Companies benefit from long-term, stable investors By Claire MilhenchLONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A Mexican tequila maker, a Vietnamese mall operator and Indian life insurers were just some of the stockmarket debuts that enticed sovereign investors to take chunky stakes in record numbers last year,...Read More
Feb 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes slipped into correction territory again with a drop of more than more than 1 percent on Friday, as soaring volatility continued to spook investors.The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 284.41 points, or 1.19 percent, at 23,576.05, the S&P 500 was down 25.03 points, or 0.969779 percent, at 2,555.97 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 82.50 points, or 1.22...Read More
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 9 (Reuters) - African miner Thor Explorations will most likely choose London's junior AIM market to list its shares this year in its bid to raise up to $35 million, its chief executive said on Friday.Thor, which is already listed in Toronto's TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), will use the proceeds of the new listing mainly to fund its Segilola Gold Project in Nigeria. The company als...Read More
The unnaturally-tranquil stock markets suddenly plunged over this past week. Volatility skyrocketed out of the blue and shattered years of artificial calm conjured by extreme central-bank distortions. This was a huge shock to the legions of hyper-complacent traders, who are realizing stocks don't rally forever. With stock selling unleashed again, herd psychology will start shifting back to b...Read More
The unnaturally-tranquil stock markets suddenly plunged over this past week. Volatility skyrocketed out of the blue and shattered years of artificial calm conjured by extreme central-bank distortions. This was a huge shock to the legions of hyper-complacent traders, who are realizing stocks don't rally forever. With stock selling unleashed again, herd psychology will start shifting back to b...Read More
Andrew Jacobs, chief executive at Lok'nStore Group plc (LON:LOK), tells Proactive the priority for the business is filling up existing stores and acquiring and opening additional properties.Jacobs says they've recently opened a store in Bristol and will soon also be in Exeter.Across the board they've got 26 stores predominantly in the south east of England. Meet Medusa Mining, Cora Gold, Gro...Read More
* Fresh sell-off on stock markets hurts cyclical assets* GRAPHIC-2018 asset returns: * LME/ShFE arb: (Adds closing prices)By Jan HarveyLONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Copper fell on Friday and other metals broadly retreated as stock markets extended this week's sharp slide, with the prospect of rising U.S. interest rates denting hopes that surging economic growth would drive up demand. Consequent sellin...Read More
Yamana Gold Inc. Inc. (TSX: YRI)(NYSE: AUY)announces that the company has filed an “early warning report” under NationalInstrument 62-103 in connection with Leagold Mining Corp.’s previouslyannounced intention to make an offer to acquire all outstanding common sharesof Brio Gold Inc. In the event Leagold makes an offer, Yamana says it hasagreed to tender its 63 million Brio share...Read More
MAPUTO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Mozambique's economic growth slowed to 3.7 percent in 2017, official data showed on Friday, compared with a revised 3.8 percent expansion a year earlier. The growth was boosted by the southeastern African country's mining sector, which grew by nearly a third, data from the National Statistics Institute showed. (Reporting by Manuel Mucari; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Disclai...Read More
(Adds analyst's comment)By Alexis Akwagyiram and Chijioke OhuochaLAGOS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Britain's export finance agency will add the naira to its list of "pre-approved currencies", allowing it to provide financing for transactions with Nigerian businesses denominated in the local currency.The naira will become one of three West African currencies that UK Export Finance has pre-approve...Read More
Gold is still stymied by dollar strength and other factors.Gold mining stock weakness has been a major obstacle for gold.Gold's relative strength (vs. equities) is encouraging, however. In what has been a choppy week of trading, the gold price finally benefited from some safety buying on Thursday. April gold futures rose 0.3 percent to $1,322 on Feb. 8 as global equity markets continued to sho...Read More
ACCRA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Bank of Ghana said the yield on its weekly 91-day bill rose to 13.36 percent at an auction on Friday from 13.32 percent at the last such sale, on Feb. 2.The bank said it had accepted all 415.4 million cedis ($93.5 million) worth of bids tendered for the paper, which will be issued on Monday.Ghana's treasury bill yields have fallen to around 13 percent in the past six m...Read More
FRANKFURT, Feb 9 (Reuters) - BMW is close to signing a 10-year supply contract for lithium and cobalt, the company's procurement chief told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, amid an industry-wide scramble for raw materials needed for electric car batteries."The aim is to secure the supply all the way down to the level of the mine, for 10 years. The contracts are ready to be signed,&qu...Read More
It's another wild day of trading for U.S. stocks, as recent volatility persists. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) has traded in a range of more than 500 points on both sides of breakeven, but was last seen modestly lower. After plunging into correction territory yesterday, the index is now pacing for its worst week since October 2008, during the heart of the financial crisis. The S&P 500 Ind...Read More