(Adds detail)DUBLIN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is normalising policy and whether it ends asset buys in September or winds them down gradually is not a major issue, French central bank chief Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Friday.Having bought over 2 trillion euros worth of bonds, the ECB is now contemplating whether to wind down the scheme known as quantitative easing after...Read More

Mobile network firm Nokia Oyj (NYSE:NOK) is moving higher again today, just one session after reporting stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and a positive outlook for 2018. The tech stock has garnered a slew of positive analyst attention today, including an upgrade to "buy" from "neutral" at MKM Partners and five price-target raises. MKM's target hike, to $7.50 from $5.50, represents th...Read More

TORONTO, March 10 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index declined on Friday as weakness in commodity prices fueled a decline in shares of the heavyweight natural resource sectors. At 9:40 AM EST (1440 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index fell 101.84 points, or 0.64 percent, to 15,759.08. (Reporting by John Tilak Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)Keywords: MARKETS STOCKS/CANADA D...Read More

(Adds reaction from bond holders)By Francesco CanepaFRANKFURT, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Spain's Banco Popular could have been worth more than a billion euros when it was sold to larger rival Santander for just one euro in June, the independent valuation used by authorities to inform the sale showed on Friday.Saddled with bad debt and facing a run on its deposits,Popular became the first bank to be wound...Read More

Stock futures are pointed dramatically lower this morning, with Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) futures trading nearly 226 points below fair value after today's nonfarm payrolls report. The U.S. added a stronger-than-forecast 200,000 jobs in January -- and the report appears to have cemented expectations for another rate hike sooner rather than later, with 10-year Treasury yields surging to a...Read More

BRATISLAVA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Slovakia will offer two bonds maturing in 2031 and 2047 in auctions on Feb. 19, debt management agency ARDAL said on Friday.The indicated amount in the competitive round of the auction is seen at 80 million euros for each paper.A top-up round will follow on Feb. 20.(Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Editing by Jason Hovet) Disclaimer: The views expressed in this arti...Read More

(Kitco News) - Gold and silver markets are trading solidly lower in early U.S. trading Friday,following a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report that boosted the U.S. dollarindex. Both metals’ prices were close to steady just before the important daterelease. April Comex gold futures were last down $10.90 an ounce at $1,337.10.March Comex silver was last down $0.235 at $16.925 an ounce.Frida...Read More

BEIJING, Feb 2 (Reuters) - HNA-Caissa Travel Group Co Ltd , a unit of China's beleaguered HNA Group , said on Friday it would scrap its share private placement plan mainly due to changes in regulations and market conditions. HNA-Caissa Travel had planned to raise up to 3.09 billion yuan ($492 million) via the private placement, which it had revised three times from an original plan for up to 8.0 b...Read More

Mining Capital's Alastair Ford chats about how ongoing strength in the global economy is powering mining, with mining company share prices doing well compared to a few years ago.Two elements contributing to this are more demand for metals and how much they can sell metals for -- a weaker dollar is contributing to higher metals prices.Small gold operations in the market need to factor in how sterli...Read More

Exchange operator CME Group reports that metals-tradingvolume averaged a record 763,000 contracts per day in January, up 45%from 525,000 in the same month a year ago. Sequentially, last month’s volumewas up 44% from 531,000 in December. January gold futures and options averagedaily volume was 45% higher year-on-year to 491,000 contracts, while that forsilver rose 48% to 112,000 con...Read More

(Kitco News)- Thegold market has fallen into negative territory on the day as the U.S. labormarket showed stronger-than-expected growth last month.Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said 200,000 jobs were created in January.Economists were expecting to see job gains of 181,000. While the January numbers were better than expected, the report said that November employment was revised down to 216...Read More

NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. bond market's gauges of inflation expectations added to their earlier rise on Friday as domestic wages recorded their strongest annual increase in more than 8-1/2 years, suggesting inflation may be accelerating. The 10-year inflation breakeven rate, or the yield gap between 10-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities and regular 10-year Treasury notes, reac...Read More

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Russian steelmakers are anticipating rising domestic demand in 2018 thanks in large part to Russia's economic recovery, despite expectations that current buoyant global steel prices would edge lower mid-year.Severstal , one of Russia's largest steel producers, posted better-than-expected financial results for the fourth quarter of 2017 on Friday and said it forecast a ris...Read More

BRASILIA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Brazil has shelved a planned railway to ship commodities destined for China through Peru as it was too costly and faced "absurd" engineering challenges, a Brazilian official said.The 5,000-km (3,300-mile) railway over the Andes to the Pacific coast, announced during a visit by President Xi Jinping in 2014, was meant to speed up soybean and iron ore exports to...Read More

Yamana Gold Inc. (TSX: YRI; NYSE: AUY) reportstwo fatalities occurred in an accident at the Gualcamayo mine in Argentina.Officials say the incident involved two employees of a local contractortraveling in a truck on an access road at the Las Vacas exploration site, butfurther details and exact cause are not known at this time. An investigationhas begun. “On behalf of everyone at Yamana,...Read More

Equities aregetting clobbered again this morning as volatility is back. This week, theequities have had 300-point ranges everyday showing price volatility. Themetals have been active as well but remain in a consolidation range indicatingthey are setting up a big move as well.The mostinteresting item of the week, with the equities seeing increasing fear,interest rates at 4-year highs, gold and...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

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

* U.S. Treasury yield spike fails to boost dollar* Euro holds close to $1.25 mark; gains on week* Traders prepare for non-farm payroll data* Chinese yuan hits fresh 2 1/2 year high* Graphic: World FX rates in 2018 By Tommy WilkesLONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The dollar reversed earlier falls against the euro on Friday as traders took some profits ahead of U.S. non-farm payroll numbers, although its ri...Read More

(Kitco News) - U.S. nonfarm payrolls areback and gold is under pressure, but one analyst says the focus should be onthe U.S. dollar when it comes to gold’s next move. “The gold market wentsideways during yesterday’s [Thursday’s] session as the market is looking forclarity in the movement of the dollar index,” noted Colin First of FX Empire ina post Friday.“...Read More