US stocks dipped in thin volume, with the Dow and the S&P 500 retreating from yesterday's record closing levels as traders found few reasons to buy following a string of gains. A rise in semiconductor companies' shares limited losses. About half of the 10 primary S&P 500 sector indexes were down for the day, led by telecom, which fell 1 percent.
Updated 6 Years ago

The US dollar today closed one cent higher at 8.11 pesos in banks and exchange offices as market analysts estimated around 100 million dollars was liquidated by grain exporters daily, boosting Central Bank reserves. The entity bought 20 million dollars in the day's trading, while reserves were pushed up 31 million to end at 28.62 bn dollars.
Updated 6 Years ago

Brazilian distributors will receive a 2.27bn-real (US$1bn) emergency payout as the country's government moves to soften the impact of spiraling energy costs. The compensation package, double the figure originally announced in March, will be delivered to power companies by June 9, according to federal gazette Diário Oficial da União.
Updated 6 Years ago

TORONTO — Canada’s housing market is 10% overvalued, with the biggest risks in condominium overbuilding and uncertainty over how many investors are buying, but the risk of a U.S.-style collapse is low, a top executive at Canada’s second largest bank said on Monday. Lisa Reikman, chief risk officer of Canadian banking at Toronto-Dominion Bank, said a spike in interest rates or unemployment could threaten Canada’s robust housing market, but the risk is fairly low.
Updated 6 Years ago

Meeting the world’s energy supply needs by 2035 will require US$40-trillion of investment, as demand grows and production and processing facilities have to be replaced, the International Energy Agency said. More than half of that amount will be needed to compensate for declining output at mature oil and gas fields, and the remainder on finding new supplies to meet rising demand, the Paris-based agency said in a report Tuesdsay. The world will increasingly rely on countries that restrict foreign companies’ access to their oil reserves, as North American shale output tails off from the middle of next decade, it predicted.
Updated 6 Years ago

Brookstone Inc., the bankrupt luxury-gadget retailer, agreed to sell its assets to a group of Chinese buyers for more than $173 million, after they outbid a unit of Spencer Spirit Holdings Inc. at an auction, a lawyer said. A company backed by Chinese retailing conglomerate Sanpower Group and Hong Kong-based private-equity firm Sailing Capital won the auction yesterday after Brookstone decided they had submitted the highest and best bid, Cathy Hershcopf, a lawyer for unsecured creditors, said in a phone interview.
Updated 6 Years ago

The business of bundling junk-rated corporate loans into top-rated securities is booming like never before after the implementation of regulation aimed at making the financial system safer. More than $46 billion of collateralized loan obligations have been raised this year in the U.S. through the end of May, after $82 billion were sold in all of 2013, according to Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its annual forecast to as much as $100 billion, which means 2014 may end up as the biggest year on record, while Onex Corp. said yesterday it will expand its CLO business.
Updated 6 Years ago

Russian gas exporter Gazprom and Ukraine’s Naftogaz will try to settle on a price between $350-$380 per 1,000 cubic meters through till next June, said EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, who brokered talks Monday. “Real progress has been made,” Oettinger said in a statement. The Commissioner didn’t disclose the final price, but said it fell within the range Kiev currently pays ($485) and what it used to pay on discount ($268.50), ITAR-ITASS reported.
Updated 6 Years ago

Thailand's military rulers have announced a series of emergency measures aimed at averting an economic crisis - two weeks after taking power in a coup. The proposals include a price cap on fuel and an offer of loan guarantees for small businesses.
Updated 6 Years ago

The return to civilian rule in 1999 boosted the growth of the Nigerian stock market as its capitalisation soared by N13.473 trillion during the last 15 years of democracy, THISDAY checks have revealed. After years of military rule, Nigerian transited to civilian government on May 29, 1999, when Olusegun Obasanjo assumed office as a civilian president. And by May 29, last week, the country has witnessed 15 years of uninterrupted democracy. THISDAY checks on the performance of the stock market during these 15 years showed that the market soar by 6,068 per cent or N13.473 trillion from N222 billion on May 1999 to N13.695 trillion May 30, 2014.
Updated 6 Years ago