China's insurance regulator to reject $9.4 billion HSBC deal - reports

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's insurance regulator is expected to reject HSBC's sale of its $9.4 billion (5.8 billion pounds) stake in Ping An Insurance to Thai conglomerate CP Group, media reports said on Wednesday.The failure of the deal would be a blow to HSBC and an embarrassment to the various parties involved in a corporate deal that was set to be Asia's second-largest last year.The China Insurance...

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Short-sellers circle stocks as confidence wavers

LONDON (Reuters) - How durable is the Wall Street bounce following last week's U.S. budget deal? Not very, some speculators believe.Hedge funds are betting that a rally in U.S. stocks after a retreat from the "fiscal cliff" will reverse as doubts grow that politicians are ready to sacrifice party interests to keep the world's economic engine running, early data shows.On the cusp of a January 1 deadline,...

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FTSE 100 hits highest level since May 2008

LONDON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Britain's blue-chip share indexhit its highest point since May 2008 on Wednesday, resuming itsJanuary rally after a two-day pause, led up by the bankingsector.At 1505 GMT, the FTSE 100 was up 58.38 points, or 1percent, at 6,112.01, breaking through the 2011 high of6,105.77. Lloyds Banking Group led banking sectorgainers after being upgraded by UBS.A positive open on Wall...

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Wall Street edges off five-year high, awaits earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits.Shares of financial companies dipped after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government inquiry into faulty mortgage foreclosures. The KBW bank index <.bkx>,...

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Wall St edges off 5-year high, awaits earnings

 U.S. stocks lost ground on Monday, as investors drew back from recent gains that lifted the S&P 500 to a five-year high, in anticipation of sluggish growth in corporate profits.Shares of financial companies dipped after a group of major U.S. banks agreed to pay a total of $8.5 billion to end a government inquiry into faulty mortgage foreclosures. The KBW bank index, a gauge of U.S. bank...

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Stocks sink, pulling S&P 500 down from 5-year high

 Investors started the week on a cautious note, pulling the Standard & Poor's 500 index down from the five-year high it reached Friday.The move lower on Monday is likely the result of traders taking some winnings off the table after the stock market's surge last week, said Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ.Investors are also preparing for corporate America's seasonal...

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Wall St Week Ahead - 'Cliff' concerns give way to earnings focus

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors' "fiscal cliff" worries are likely to give way to more fundamental concerns, like earnings, as fourth-quarter reports get under way next week.Financial results, which begin after the market closes on Tuesday with aluminum company Alcoa , are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results. As a warning sign, analyst current estimates...

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Wall Street economists see Fed's Treasury buying ending in 2013: Reuters poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most economists at Wall Street's top financial institutions expect the Federal Reserve in 2013 to end the program with which it bought Treasury debt in an effort to stimulate the economy, according to a Reuters poll on Friday.Economists at nine of 16 primary dealers -- the large financial institutions that do business directly with the Fed -- said they expect the current Fed...

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Fed's policy "thresholds" plan surprised dealers: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Very few Wall Street economists expected the U.S. Federal Reserve to adopt policy thresholds at its last meeting, results from a New York Fed poll of primary dealers showed on Friday, highlighting how surprising was the decision.The 20 dealers, who have access to the central bank's discount window, were polled before the Fed's December 11-12 policy meeting. At the meeting the...

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Are We Regulating Ourselves Back Into Recession?

Let us put an end to self-inflicted wounds," President Gerald Ford told Congress in 1975. "And let us remember that our national unity is a most priceless asset." While Ford was talking about the scars from the Vietnam War, his words seem relevant today. Our nation grapples with not one divisive issue, but a basket of them, each pulling and undermining our already battered confidence, while testing...

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Judge asks Hostess to mediate with union

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) -- Twinkies won't die that easily after all.Hostess Brands Inc. and its second largest union will go into mediation to try and resolve their differences, meaning the company won't go out of business just yet. The news came Monday after Hostess moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court citing a crippling strike last week.The bankruptcy judge hearing the...

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Just Explain It: What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

Eliminating America's dependency on foreign oil has been a policy goal for at least the last two U.S. Presidents.  According to the International Energy Agency, by 2020,  the U.S. will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's number one oil producer.However, there's still some work to do.  The United States Energy Information Administration reported that 45% of the petroleum consumed by...

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Apple to produce line of Macs in the US next year

NEW YORK (AP) -- Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers from China to the United States next year.Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public-relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the U.S. as wages rise in China.Cook made the comments in part of an interview taped for NBC's "Rock...

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US economy adds 146K jobs, rate falls to 7.7 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The pace of U.S. hiring remained steady in November despite disruptions from Superstorm Sandy and employers' concerns about impending tax increases from the year-end "fiscal cliff."Companies added 146,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent — the lowest in nearly four years — from 7.9 percent in October. The rate declined mainly because more people stopped looking...

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Judge asks Hostess to mediate with union

 Twinkies won't die that easily after all.Hostess Brands Inc. and its second largest union will go into mediation to try and resolve their differences, meaning the company won't go out of business just yet. The news came Monday after Hostess moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court citing a crippling strike last week.The bankruptcy judge hearing the case said Monday that...

Read More..

Just Explain It: What is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

Eliminating America's dependency on foreign oil has been a policy goal for at least the last two U.S. Presidents.  According to the International Energy Agency, by 2020,  the U.S. will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's number one oil producer.However, there's still some work to do.  The United States Energy Information Administration reported that 45% of the petroleum consumed by...

Read More..

Apple to produce line of Macs in the US next year

Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will move production of one of its existing lines of Mac computers from China to the United States next year.Industry watchers said the announcement is both a cunning public-relations move and a harbinger of more manufacturing jobs moving back to the U.S. as wages rise in China.Cook made the comments in part of an interview taped for NBC's "Rock Center," but aired...

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US economy adds 146K jobs, rate falls to 7.7 pct.

The pace of U.S. hiring remained steady in November despite disruptions from Superstorm Sandy and employers' concerns about impending tax increases from the year-end "fiscal cliff."Companies added 146,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent — the lowest in nearly four years — from 7.9 percent in October. The rate declined mainly because more people stopped looking for work and weren't...

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Just Explain It: Why the Fiscal Cliff May Trigger a Recession

Lawmakers in Washington appear to be making little to no progress in avoiding the impending so-called fiscal cliff.  House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Friday the negotiations are "almost nowhere." On Thursday Boehner rejected a proposal from the Obama administration saying that the Democrats need to "get serious about real spending cuts."President Obama's offer continues to call for higher...

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Judge asks Hostess to mediate with union

 Twinkies won't die that easily after all.Hostess Brands Inc. and its second largest union will go into mediation to try and resolve their differences, meaning the company won't go out of business just yet. The news came Monday after Hostess moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court citing a crippling strike last week.The bankruptcy judge hearing the case said Monday that...

Read More..