Canadian dollar overlooks U.S. results in rangebound trade

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's dollar ended slightly lower against its U.S. counterpart on Wednesday, shrugging off a modest rally in other riskier assets after Alcoa opened the U.S. earnings season with an optimistic outlook.Global equities staged a modest recovery after two days of losses. Even with the encouraging Alcoa report, investors lacked a clear view of how U.S. corporations fared in the...

Read More..

Wall Street rises after Alcoa reports earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday, rebounding from two days of losses, as investors turned their focus to the first prominent results of the earnings season.Stocks had retreated at the start of the week from the S&P 500's highest point in five years, hit last Friday, on worries about possible earnings weakness.Shares of Alcoa Inc were down 0.5 percent to $9.08 after early gains, following...

Read More..

Asia stocks rise on positive start to US earnings

BANGKOK (AP) — A positive start to U.S. corporate earnings season helped boost Asian stock markets Thursday.Major regional benchmarks rose on the heels of a handful of better-than-expected results that also lifted Wall Street.Consumer products maker Helen of Troy, whose brands include Dr. Scholl's and Vidal Sassoon, reported a 15 percent profit increase. Electronic payments processor Global Payments...

Read More..

Asian shares slip, Basel ruling supports banks

 Asian stocks drifted down on Monday as investors booked profits from a New Year rally that had pushed markets to multi-month highs, although financial stocks gained after global regulators decided to relax draft plans for tough new bank liquidity rules.Commodity prices mostly held steady, supported by data showing the U.S. economy continuing on a path of slow but steady recovery that propelled...

Read More..

Burundi coffee earnings fall 63 pct in December

 Burundi's earnings from coffee exports fell 63 percent in December from the previous month due to lower volumes sold, the country's industry regulator said on Monday."Low quantities of coffee were exported in December as most buyers in western countries were off for the holidays," said regulator ARFIC in its monthly report.Earnings dropped to $2.1 million from $5.7 million in November, as the...

Read More..

Maruti shares hit four-year high; earnings seen improving

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki shares rose to a four-year high on Monday on hopes earnings would improve due to rising sales for passenger vehicles, while margins were also seen increasing due to the depreciation in the Japanese yen.CLSA's upgrade of Maruti Suzuki Ltd to 'buy' from 'sell' also helped boost the stock, traders said.At 2:31 p.m., Maruti shares were up 3 percent to 1,591.5 rupees after...

Read More..

Wal-Mart defends low-price ads after rivals' objection

(Reuters) - Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc has gone on the defensive against charges by competitors that a recent ad campaign is using inaccurate information, leading the competitors to file complaints with state legal officials.A Wal-Mart Stores spokesman defended the retailer's ad campaign that claims to offer better prices on some products than competitors, after the Wall Street Journal reported...

Read More..

Asian shares drop on Fed minutes, dollar extends gains

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Friday, as investors booked profits from a recent sharp climb after senior Federal Reserve officials expressed concerns about continuing to expand stimulative bond buying, but the dollar extended gains as U.S. debt yields rose.European shares were seen tracking Asian peers lower, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's...

Read More..

Fed becoming worried about stimulus side effects

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials are increasingly concerned about the potential risks of the U.S. central bank's asset purchases on financial markets, even if they look set to continue an open-ended stimulus program for now.In a surprise to Wall Street, minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting, published on Thursday, showed a growing reticence about further increases in the...

Read More..

Shares steady after rally, dollar jumps

 World stocks stalled on Thursday as traders were cautious after equities hit an 18-month high, while the U.S. dollar climbed to a three-week high against a basket of currencies on concerns about more budget wrangling in Washington.Data suggesting some momentum in the U.S. economy as the year ended showed private-sector employers stepped up hiring in December, allowing for the upward tick in...

Read More..

Stocks edge lower as next fiscal showdown looms

Stock indexes turned lower Thursday afternoon after the Federal Reserve said its policymakers are split over how long to continue a bond-purchasing program intended to stimulate the economy.The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index treaded water for much of the day, then dipped into the red after 2 p.m. Eastern, when the Fed released minutes from its December policy...

Read More..

Fed split on stimulus plans nudges stocks lower

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are fading into the close of trading on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve revealed a split among its policymakers over how long to continue an economic stimulus program.The market started on a weak note Thursday following mixed holiday sales reports from retailers and the prospect of another fiscal fight looming in Congress over the nation's borrowing limit.The Dow Jones...

Read More..

Private sector job gains offer hope for labor market

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Private-sector employers shrugged off a looming budget crisis and stepped up hiring in December, offering further evidence of underlying strength in the economy as 2012 ended.While other data on Thursday showed an increase in the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits, the trend remained consistent with steady job growth."The underlying economy has momentum,...

Read More..

Stocks fade after Fed discloses split on stimulus

A two-day rally in the stock market came to an end Thursday afternoon when an account of the Federal Reserve's last meeting revealed a split between bank officials over how long the Fed should keep buying bonds to support the economy.The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index treaded water for much of the day, then slid into the red around 2 p.m. Eastern, after the Fed...

Read More..

Egypt's leader sees currency stabilizing "within days"

 Egypt's pound fell to a record low on Monday as the president signaled his government would allow it to depreciate slowly for several more days to stop a drain on foreign reserves that has driven the economy into crisis since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.Hit by a new bout of political turmoil in the last month, the pound had weakened to a record low on Sunday at a new dollar auction brought in...

Read More..

TSX rises with hope for "fiscal cliff" deal

 Canada's main stock index rose more than 1 percent on Monday, boosted by the materials sector, as U.S. lawmakers pushed for a last-minute agreement to avoid the "fiscal cliff" that could put the U.S. economy into recession.Gold rallied in the afternoon after news of a potential deal, and held its gains as President Barack Obama said a deal to prevent the tax hikes and sharp spending cuts was...

Read More..

Equities rally as U.S. "cliff" deal nears; oil up

Wall Street rallied on Monday and global equities finished their best year in the last three as U.S. lawmakers closed in on a deal to avoid a budget crisis that many fear could cripple the world economy in 2013.U.S. President Barack Obama said Congress was close to an agreement that would start chipping away at the deficit without raising middle-class taxes.Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell...

Read More..

A surprisingly good vintage as market logs gains

If you'd told investors what was going to happen in 2012 — U.S. economic growth at stall speed, an intensifying European debt crisis, a slowdown in China, fiscal deadlock in Washington, decelerating corporate earnings growth — and asked how the stock market would perform, few would have predicted a good year.But that's just what they got.The Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard & Poor's...

Read More..

Housing and jobs key to lifting S&P toward record

It may be a big if, but assuming Washington lawmakers can get past the "fiscal cliff," many analysts say that the outlook for stocks next year is good, as a recovering housing market and an improving jobs outlook helps the economy maintain a slow, but steady recovery.An advance of 10 percent in 2013 would send the S&P 500 toward, and possibly past, its record close of 1,565 reached in October...

Read More..

Asia stocks rise as Japan gets new government

 Asian stock markets rose Wednesday as traders snapped up stocks before the end of the year, while the Tokyo benchmark hit a nine-month high after a new, pro-business government prepared to assume leadership in a country plagued for years by economic lethargy.Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 1.5 percent to close at 10,230.36 as a further weakening yen gave momentum to the country's major exporters....

Read More..