NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The percentage of U.S. individual investors expecting a decline in stock prices has hit a three-month high, according to the American Association of Individual Investors' weekly sentiment survey.Bearish sentiment rose 6.3 percentage points to 35 percent, putting it above the historical average of 30.5 percent for the first time in nine weeks. Conversely, bullish sentime...Read More
MOSCOW, Feb 8 (Reuters) - IPSCO Tubulars, U.S. subsidiary of Russian oil and gas pipemaker TMK , said on Thursday it had halted an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares due to "adverse market conditions", IPSCO said on Thursday.TMK had commenced IPSCO's IPO on Jan. 29, a day before publication in Washington of the so-called "Russian oligarchs list".While the U.S. Treasury...Read More
By Mark WeinraubWASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department cut its forecast for U.S. soybean exports by 2.8 percent on Thursday as top exporter Brazil is expected to take an even bigger share of the market amid rising crop expectations for that South American nation.The government projected U.S. soybean exports at 2.1 billion bushels. The 60-million bushel decline marks the thir...Read More
Volatility continues to run rampant on Wall Street today, with the Dow last seen down over 600 points. Among individual stocks moving lower today are automaker Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and high-end retailer Canada Goose Holdings (NYSE:GOOS), though tech concern Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ:INFN) is soaring. Here's a closer look at what's moving shares of TSLA, GOOS, and INFN today.Tesla Stock Stall...Read More
Option open interest is the number of outstanding calls or puts that have been bought or sold to open, but have yet to expire or be closed. To analyze stocks, we often use option open interest as a means of measuring the relative levels of investor optimism and pessimism. More specifically, we utilize the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) as a sentiment indicator to gauge near-term t...Read More
Richard Cowan, David MorganWASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers were expected to vote on Thursday on a two-year budget deal that would avert another government shutdown but add $300 billion to the federal deficit and leave the thorny issue of immigration unresolved.The plan faced resistance from conservatives in the Republican Party, who favor less spending on domestic government programs.At the...Read More
(Adds central bank comments)MEXICO CITY, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Mexico's central bank raised interest rates on Thursday to a nine-year high and said it could act again, if needed, to contain worries that inflation may not cool as quickly as forecast.Banco de Mexico's governing board unanimously voted to hike the key rate by 25 basis points to 7.50 percent, its highest since February 2009, as forecast...Read More
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said on Thursday that as long as the U.S. economy continue to grow at an above trend pace, he would be in favor of another interest rate rise at the U.S. central bank’s upcoming meeting in March.“We have above-trend growth, we have buoyant financial conditions, we still have an easy monetary policy and this is all...Read More
On Thursday gold lifted from the 2018 low the metal struck yesterday, exchanging hands for $1,320.40 near the close of trading.Despite recent weakness gold is still up by $75 an ounce since mid-December after large-scale speculators increased their exposure to gold on derivatives markets for the seventh week in a row. Hedge funds have more than doubled net long positions - bets that gold will be m...Read More
Earnings season will continue to roll along next week. Leading the pack are blue chips Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), alongside other notables including Under Armour Inc (NYSE:UAA), PepsiCo, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEP), and Deere & Company (NYSE:DE). On the economic front, Wall Street will digest the latest round of inflation data -- a hot topic of late -- on top of monthly re...Read More
* Gold flat, bounces after slide to one-month low* Bank of England statement feeds rate-hike jitters* Palladium breaks below technical support (New throughout; updates prices, market activity and comments; adds second byline, NEW YORK dateline)By Renita D. Young and Peter HobsonNEW YORK/LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Gold prices were flat on Thursday, slumping early on concern about rising U.S. bond yi...Read More
Volatility has ramped back up on Wall Street, with the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) earlier this week topping the key 50 handle for the first time since August 2015. Most of the price action for stocks has occurred to the downside, and the tech sector has not been immune. More specifically, the PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQ) has plunged 8.5% from its late-January record high of $170.95 -- a move that...Read More
Subscribers to our Weekend Trader service recently doubled their money on Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) April 90 puts. We're going to dissect the options trade below, looking back at what originally attracted us to TAP and how the stock performed after we recommended the puts. We entered the trade back on Jan. 16, when the stock was trading near $85. The shares had been trending lower fo...Read More
(Adds auction results, quotes; updates prices)* Bank of England may accelerate rate increases* Treasury has soft demand for $30-year bond auction* Choppy stocks trading sways bond prices By Karen BrettellNEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields rose on Thursday in choppy trading as stocks pared some of their earlier weakness and after the Bank of England said interest rates probably need...Read More
Very few stocks have avoided the market headwinds of late. However, a handful of securities could be on sale at current levels, if history repeats. While these stocks tend to rally after major stock market dips, car rental concern Hertz Global Holdings, Inc (NYSE:HTZ) could also be flashing a short-term "buy" signal right now, if historical technical trends prevail. Below, we take a look at HTZ st...Read More
By Huw JonesLONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Global banking rules should focus only on cross-border banks to avoid burdening local lenders and help reduce populist backlash against globalisation, Bundesbank board member Andreas Dombret said on Thursday.Dombret is Germany's representative on the Basel Committee, which finally completed in December its global capital rules for banks, aimed at avoiding a re...Read More
Gold settled higher Thursday, with a steady dollar and a drop in the U.S. stock market giving prices enough support to recoup some of the losses suffered over the last four sessions. April gold GCJ8, +0.52% rose $4.40, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,319 an ounce, after scoring its lowest finish for a most-active contract since Jan. 9 on Wednesday, according to FactSet data. It had posted losses in each...Read More
* Dermapharm prices IPO at 28 euros per share* Total proceeds seen at 377 mln eur* Gross proceeds for Dermapharm would be 108 mln eur (Adds final pricing, background)FRANKFURT, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Dermapharm shares are being placed at 28 euros ($34.33) apiece in the German drugmaker's initial public offer (IPO), at the middle of an indicative price range of 26 to 30 euros, the company said on Thursd...Read More
MEXICO CITY, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Mexico's central bank raised interest rates on Thursday to a nine-year high, as expected, in order to contain worries that inflation may not cool as quickly as forecast.Banco de Mexico's governing board unanimously voted to hike the key rate by 25 basis points to 7.50 percent, as forecast by 17 of 20 analysts polled by Reuters last week.(Reporting by Michael O'Boyle;...Read More
By Ben MartinLONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Activist investor Sandell Asset Management plans to oppose Tesco's 3.7 billion pound ($5.2 billion) takeover of Booker Group unless the wholesaler secures a better offer from Britain's biggest retailer.The New York based hedge fund said in a statement on Thursday that it holds a 1.75 percent stake in Booker and that it had expressed its concerns about the Tes...Read More