Remy Cointreau SA, French liquor producer, stated that its first-half profit increased by 22% with 11% revenue rise. The total profit for half ended in September was €61.5 million as compared with €50.6 million in the previous period. Remy Cointreau shares gained 3% after release of the report.
Crude oil futures decreased after a yesterday's rapid growth that pushed prices above USD100-a-barrel. On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for January delivery cost USD97.74 a barrel at the early European trade, losing 0.48%. Analysts say the fall in oil demand was caused by high investors' attention to the today's summit of the EU finance ministers.
1. Moody's Investors Service announced it is considering reducing credit ratings for financial institutions in 15 European countries to mirror the prospective exclusion of government support. Banks in France, Spain, Italy and Austria are most exposed to review of ratings as their governments face restrained fiscal flexibility.
US stocks rebounded on Monday experiencing the best trading in 4 weeks as European officials are expected to reach a consensus on its fiscal policy to solve sovereign debt crisis. Higher than expected Black Friday's retail sales also boosted the stock price. S&P 500 Index gained 2.9% or 33.88 points closing at 1,192.55, Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.6% or 291.23 points ending trading at
Although Fitch still assigns US to top AAA grade, it emphasized in its statement that reduced outlook indicates diminishing confidence that appropriate fiscal actions will be undertaken to put in order US finances. Fitch said the probability of downgrade in two years has exceeded 50%. Fitch cut the outlook after super-committee failed to agree on budget deficit reductions.
Aussie and Kiwi are recovering rapidly from previous week's losses as European Finance Ministers meet today in Brussels boosting optimism that they will be able to provide a quick solution to Eurozone's debt crisis. Australian dollar gained 0.6% against US dollar reaching $0.9969 in Sydney trade, while its New Zealand's peer added 0.4% to $0.7585. AUD/USD currently is trading at $0.9957 whereas NZD/USD is trading
1. President Obama pushes European officials to avoid knocking down the common currency ahead of today's meeting in Brussels. 17-member countries' Finance ministers today will attempt to develop details how the EFSF will increase its firepower to back national debts with guarantees. Officials are preparing for the summit scheduled on December 9 to recoup investors' confidence.
According to economists familiar with the region, Asian national banks might be preparing to reduce interest rates, as the increasing negative impact from European debt trouble hurts growth. Thailand is planning to cut its borrowing rate tomorrow, while Philippines is expected to lower its benchmark on December 1. Last week Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley lessened economic estimates for Asian countries.
Japan's unemployment rate soared more than was predicted by economists. In October jobless rate surged to 4.5% compared to 4.1% in September. The actual rate exceeded the forecast by 0.3 percentage points and reached 3-month high. Rising unemployment level pushes central bank to intervene an increase stimulus package as Europe's crisis spreads.
Asia's stocks closed higher on Tuesday expressing investors' optimism about European leaders' ability to provide solution for debt turmoil. Shanghai Composite rose 0.6%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.5%. South Korea's Kospi added 1.7%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index experienced modest increase of 0.2% and Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surged 1%.
Standard & Poor's may decrease France's triple-A credit rating to negative in a period between seven to 10 days, reported La Tribune, France's newspaper. The newspaper referring to anonymous source announced the agency planned to report about credit downgrade last Friday but delayed it for unknown reasons.
Panasonic Corp. announced it will supply lithium-ion batteries for Toyota's new plug-in version of hybrid car Prius. It is the first time Panasonic provides its lithium-ion rechargeable batteries for car manufacturer. Toyota plans to launch the new model on January 30 in Japan and estimates sales around 35,000-40,000 units.
The dollar decreased against the euro in Asian trading as hopes for solving the debt crisis in the euro-zone increased investors' confidence in common currency. The euro climbed to $1.3363 from $1.3307 in late North American trade yesterday. The British pound also added against greenback to $1.5520. The dollar index declined to 79.094 from 79.236.
China is going to send a delegation to Europe in 2012 aimed at buying European assets, said Chen Deming, Chinese Minister of Commerce. More than 25% of country's forex reserves are in euro –denominated assets and it seems viable to invest or even to buy European equities. Moreover, Europe needs FDI and China is willing to invest, Deming added.
India's growth rate is expected to have declined in the period between July and September; the rate is projected to fall below 7%, being two-years low. The decrease indicates the necessity to cease the central bank's policy aimed at lowering inflation rate. However, despite changing interest rates for 13 times since March last year, the inflation rate is still above 9%.
Steel stocks increased after the news about takeover bid for Commercial Metals Co. Carl Icahn, one of the investors, offered $1.73 billion for the company or $15 a share. Carl Icahn already has a 10% stake in Commercial Metals Co. Shares of other steel producers increased after the announcement. Shares of United States Steel Corp. gained 7.5% and shares of AK Steel Holding Corp. added 6.8%.
Canadian stocks increased on news about European agreement on the regional bailout that lifted investors' sentiment. Toronto's benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 267.23 points or 2.3%. The Canadian dollar was higher against USD by 1.1%. All stocks were mainly higher with the leading metal and mining stocks, surging by 5.8%.
CPI in Germany remains stable in November, according to official preliminary data. Analysts expected CPI to increase by 0.1% in November. Yearly CPI rose to 2.4%, mainly in compliance with forecast after increasing to 2.5% in October, the German Federal Statistics Bureau reported.
Electronic Arts Inc. shares advanced 6% in morning trading after Citigroup increased company's rating to buy from neutral. EA shares currently have high appeal after losing 17%; it seems to be a promising start for the company in pre-Christmas time, said Neil Doshi, Citigroup analyst. The target share price remained at $26 a share.
The Euro experienced gains against the yen hitting 9-day high as hopes for combating with the crisis in the Eurozone increased demand for the Euro. EUR/JPY achieved 104.23 at the European afternoon trading, the pair consolidated at 104.37 with euro gaining 1.42%.
Sales of new US homes edged up 1.3% in the previous month to an annual rate of 307,000, according to the government report. Experts expected sales to reach an annual rate of 320,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. The sales gained 8.9% as compared to the previous year but the market remains in the worst condition in modern times.
Energy stocks have followed the trend of mainly growing stock prices on more optimistic outlook on the Eurozone developments. The NYSe Arca Oil Index increased by 3.7%, the NYSe Arca Natural Gas Index gained 3.5%. Top performers among energy companies were Alpha Natural Resources Inc. gaining 8% and Peabody Energy Corp. adding 5.6%.
Experts of bankrupt MF Global UK Ltd. announced a timeline when clients of the company can get their funds back. The clients have to submit claims from December 8 to March 30 with the purpose to get back their funds back in 14 days after the claim was accepted by administrators. A timeline creates more certainty about the number and scale of claims thus allowing
Consumer credit risk fell for seventh consecutive quarter as consumers try to strengthen financial position, reported TransUnion, a credit data firm. The company's risk index declined by 4.9% in the Q3 to 120.62. However, the decrease in credit risk seems to ease as there is slight increase in the usage of credit cards and applications for credit, said Chet Wiermanski, global chief scientist at TransUnion.