(Adds details from letter)By Svea Herbst-BaylissBOSTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb praised food group Nestle's chief, but is keeping up the pressure with demands that the company move faster to overhaul its strategy."We hope now that Dr. Schneider has completed his first year and there is new blood on the board, the company is able to move with greater alacrity,"...Read More
By Tuomas ForsellHELSINKI, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Europe's next financial crisis may be averted with the help of a new "safe asset" aimed at breaking a vicious circle of lending by banks to their national governments, the man in charge of creating it said on Monday. Philip Lane, the head of a taskforce working on a synthetic bond backed by the sovereign debt of all EU countries, said Safe Bo...Read More
Array Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:ARRY) is up 13.7% to trade at $14.93, and earlier touched a 16-year high of $15.66, after Leerink upgraded the cancer treatment specialist to "outperform" from "market perform," while issuing a price-target hike to $19 from $12. The upgrade comes after the biotech stock reported strong clinical results over the weekend from its BEACON cancer treatment trials, with Leeri...Read More
MOSCOW, Jan 22 (Reuters) - International Bank of Azerbaijan has applied to a local district court for a 180-day extension to its restructuring proceeding, D.F. King, an agent to the lender on the restructuring, said in a statement.IBA, which is Azerbaijan's biggest lender and is controlled by the state, is undertaking a $3.3 billion debt restructuring. (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Writing by Chr...Read More
* Juno Therapeutics jumps after Celgene's $9 bln deal* AIG to buy reinsurer Validus for $5.6 bln* Senate to vote on extending U.S. funding at noon* Indexes: Dow flat, S&P up 0.2 pct, Nasdaq up 0.26 pct (Updates to open)By Sruthi ShankarJan 22 (Reuters) - The S&P and the Nasdaq were marginally higher on Monday, while losses in industrial stocks such as General Electric and Boeing as well as...Read More
HONG KONG, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Beijing Electric Vehicle Co (BJEV) will gain a stock market listing through a share issue and asset swap deal valuing the state-backed electric car manufacturer at 28.8 billion yuan ($4.5 billion), according to a Shanghai stock exchange filing.ChengDu QianFeng Electronics Co , one of the listed arms of Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC Group), will buy BJEV in an asset s...Read More
Cybersecurity stock Palo Alto Networks Inc (NYSE:PANW) touched an annual high last week after an upgrade from Evercore ISI, who said the company has "room to flourish." It's a different story today, however, with PANW stock sliding 3.1% to trade at $152.29 following bearish attention from Goldman Sachs. The firm downgraded the shares to "neutral" from "buy" and trimmed its price target to $168 fro...Read More
Despite a stellar year on the charts, tech titan Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trading 0.7% lower at $177.49 today, after the FAANG stock received its second downgrade in as many weeks. This time, the bearish note came from Atlantic Equities, which cut its AAPL rating to "neutral" from "overweight, " citing softening iPhone demand. The brokerage firm also reduced its current-quarter revenue estimate...Read More
* Signs deal with Sobeys; shares up more than 20 pct* Hedge funds had bet on share price fall* Ten funds had short positions over 0.5 pct - filings By Simon JessopLONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Hedge funds which have bet on a fall in the share price of Ocado will have taken a hit after the online retailer unveiled a new international technology deal which sent its stock up by more than a fifth.Canadi...Read More
(Adds background, more commissioner comments)BRUSSELS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers will decide on Monday whether Greece is eligible for the next tranche of bailout loans after listening to an expert review of reforms recently adopted by Athens, top euro zone officials said.To pay out 6.7 billion euros ($8.2 billion) of new loans, probably in more than one tranche, international...Read More
Jan 22 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index rose for the first time in nearly two weeks on Monday as rates of panamax segment firmed up, but gains were capped by a slide in capesize rates.* The overall index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose 4 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,129 points, after falling for the previous eight consecutive sessions.* Ba...Read More
TORONTO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Monday as declines for the materials and industrial groups offset gains for financial shares.The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index fell 38.41 points, or 0.23 percent, to 16,315.05, shortly after the open. Seven of the index's 10 main groups were lower. (Reporting by Fergal Smith Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) Disclaimer:...Read More
(Corrects spelling of company name in 7th paragraph to "OppenheimerFunds" instead of "OpperheimerFunds")* Republicans scramble for funding deal before midnight deadline* Some see modest market effect from a U.S. government shutdown* Euro near 3-year high, yen close to 4-month high vs dollar* Rising U.S. yields fail to lift greenback By Richard LeongNEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) -...Read More
By Andrew TorchiaDUBAI, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Iran's central bank chief on Monday warned investors speculating on the fall of the rial that they were heading for losses because his bank could control the foreign exchange market and the currency was likely to rebound in the next couple of months.Goveror Valiollah Seif was quoted by Iran's Tasnim news agency as the rial sank to record lows versus the d...Read More
Jan 22 (Reuters) - The benchmark S&P 500 index opened lower on Monday, weighed down by losses in Boeing, Apple and General Electric, and as a U.S. government shutdown entered its third day.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 88.26 points, or 0.34 percent, to 25,983.46. The S&P 500 lost 1.7 points, or 0.060492 percent, to 2,808.6. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.83 points, or 0.01 percent, t...Read More
(Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Monday revised up its forecast for world economic growth in 2018 and 2019 saying that sweeping U.S. tax cuts were expected to boost investment in the world’s largest economy and help its main trading partners.In an update of its World Economic Outlook, the IMF however warned that U.S. growth would likely start weakening after 2022 as temporary s...Read More
FRANKFURT, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Deutsche Boerse has launched an index that tracks companies that are leaders in artificial intelligence (AI) by using an algorithm to identify early adopters of the technology.Companies in the index include Apple , Deutsche Telekom , Bank of America and Facebook , the German stock exchange operator said on Monday.It said it had found a way to identify AI-related paten...Read More
* Instone seen valued at more than 1 bln eur -sources* Instone to issue new shares worth 150 mln eur* Two thirds of proceeds for investments in new projects (Adds deal value)FRANKFURT, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Instone Real Estate Group, a German residential property developer, said on Monday it planned to list its shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange this year.The company is expected to be valued at m...Read More
U.S. stock futures are trading below fair value, as the government shutdown extends to a third day. The Senate failed to pass a short-term spending bill over the weekend, though Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has scheduled a vote for 12 p.m. ET today for a stopgap bill that would fund the federal government through Feb. 8. Among individual stocks, Netflix (NFLX) will likely be in focus ahead of t...Read More
Africa-focused gold producer Randgold Resources (LON:RSS) said Monday it expected its Democratic Republic of the Congo mine to achieve full production this year, following the commissioning of its underground operation's automated ore handling and hoisting system.Mine is on track to produce its target of 700,000 ounces of gold in 2018.The company, which has five operating gold mines across west...Read More