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401
|
Investing
| 2018-04-02T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Apple plans to replace Intel chips in Macs with its own: Bloomberg (Reuters) - Apple Inc (O:AAPL) is planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, replacing processors from Intel Corp (O:INTC), Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The initiative, code-named Kalamata, is still in early developmental stages but is part of a bigger strategy to make Apple's family of devices work more similarly and seamlessly together, according to the report. Apple, which has used Intel chips in its computers since 2005, and the computer chipmaker both declined to comment. Intel shares closed down 6.1 percent at $48.92, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq (IXIC) ended down 2.7 percent. Stifel analyst Kevin Cassidy said in a note he believed the market was "over reacting" to the report on Apple's plans and that Intel's prospects remained good. "We do not expect any other PC manufacturers will consider designing its own CPUs," he wrote in the note. Other analysts said Apple would likely phase Intel's chips out over time. “While it’s possible that Apple may replace Intel in some of its lower-end product lines, we think it will be difficult for Apple to completely replace Intel by 2020, especially on its higher-end offerings," said Summit Insights group analyst Kinngai Chan. The Mac plays a small part in Apple's overall financial picture, with sales of 19.2 million units last year and accounting for 11 percent of Apple's $229.2 billion in revenue for fiscal 2017. But while the laptop and desktop computer market has been in a years-long slump amid the rise of smartphones and tablet computers, Mac sales rose 4 percent in 2017. The growth came even as PC sales declined slightly to 259.5 million units, the smallest drop since 2011, according to data from research firm IDC. While Apple's reported move away from Intel would be a major shift for its Mac lineup, it follows years of increasing focus on designing its own chips for its devices. The company has been designing its own iPhone processors since the release of the iPhone 4 in 2010 and has steadily increased the amount of chip work it handles itself. "We can push the envelope on innovation. We have better control over timing, over cost and over quality," Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said of Apple's chip efforts last year.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "INTC"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "AAPL"
}
] |
402
|
Investing
| 2018-04-02T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
NYSE sets Spotify reference price at $132 (Reuters) - The New York Stock Exchange on Monday set the reference price for shares of music streaming service Spotify Technology SA at $132. Spotify is pursuing an unusual direct listing to reach the public markets in place of an initial public offering, and shares are expected to start trading on Tuesday. The reference price is not an offering price for the shares, nor is it the opening public price for shares of the Swedish technology company. The opening public price will be determined by buy and sell orders collected by the NYSE from broker-dealers, the exchange said. Based on those orders, the opening price will be set based on a designated market maker's determination of where buy orders can be matched with sell orders at a single price. But the reference price will play a part in Spotify's eventual pricing. Though Spotify has not hired traditional underwriters - a move that will save it millions of dollars in fees - it has hired Citadel Securities as a market maker to set the opening price on the NYSE, with help from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). While their roles will be limited, the reference price will be used while building the order book. Early on Tuesday, Citadel and Morgan Stanley will analyze investors' buy and sell orders and then set an opening price for the stock.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "MS"
}
] |
403
|
Investing
| 2018-04-03T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Apple discloses gender pay gap at UK operations (Reuters) - Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) said on Tuesday that men earned 5 percent more on average than women at its UK operations, although the median pay gap was 2 percent in favor of women. Apple's report comes a day before the deadline for British employers with more than 250 staff to report their gender pay gap under new regulations. The iPhone maker said the gender pay gap was due to more men in senior positions than women which led to higher pay, bonuses and stock. Apple said 30 percent of its workforce in the UK was represented by women, with the number having risen from 28 percent in 2014. The company employs more than 6,000 workers in the UK and operates in three segments - Apple (UK) Ltd, Apple Europe Ltd and Apple Retail UK Ltd. The company said it would take a number of measures to close the gaps, such as to stop asking employees for their salary history, which it will start from this year.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "AAPL"
}
] |
404
|
Investing
| 2018-04-03T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Indian court orders tax dept to lift freeze on Cognizant's funds (Reuters) - IT services company Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (O:CTSH) said on Tuesday an Indian court had granted the company's application to lift the Indian income tax department's freeze on its bank accounts. The tax department had frozen the company's bank accounts last month for allegedly evading a dividend distribution tax of more than 25 billion rupees ($385 million) following a share buyback, according to reports in the Indian media. The court asked the company to deposit 15 percent of the disputed tax, amounting to 4.9 billion rupees ($75 million) as security deposit till it decides on the case. The company said the court further granted its request to address the tax department's collection actions and scheduled a hearing later in April 2018. Cognizant shares were up nearly 1 percent in later afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "CTSH"
}
] |
405
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Investing
| 2018-04-03T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Manhattan first quarter office leasing slips but market remains strong NEW YORK (Reuters) - Leasing activity for office space in Manhattan slipped in the first quarter, but strong jobs growth has kept availability rates low, data showed on Tuesday. New leasing fell 7.0 percent to almost 7.1 million square feet (660,000 square meters) in the first quarter, down from 7.6 million square feet a year earlier, with March the slowest month of the period, commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield reported. Leasing activity slid 17.8 percent from a year ago and declined 22.5 percent from the fourth quarter, according to different data from brokerage Colliers International. In part, that was because Twenty-First Century Fox and News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) signed new and expanded leases totaling 1.2 million square feet at their Sixth Avenue headquarters in the first quarter of 2017 that lifted the comparative numbers for last year's period, Colliers said. In addition, fourth quarter activity is generally higher than other quarters as brokers and tenants work to get deals done before the year's end, it said. Jobs growth in Manhattan rose 2 percent over the 12 months to February, a rate that was higher than the state's 1.2 percent and the U.S. rate of 1.8 percent, the New York State Labor Department has said. Office space availability has fluctuated around 10 percent in recent quarters, while sublet availability has been under 2 percent for a number of years, said Craig Caggiano, an executive director at Colliers. The steady rate of availability despite more office space being added to the market has shown "a remarkable recovery from our Great Recession lows," said Caggiano. Average asking rents declined to $73.05 a square foot from $73.92 a year ago, but rose from $72.74 in the fourth quarter of 2017, Colliers said. Since the market's trough in March 2010, asking rents have climbed 53.2 percent downtown, 49.2 percent in midtown south and 24.4 percent in midtown, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Building sales almost doubled to $5.2 billion from a year ago and from $2.58 billion in last year's fourth quarter as Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) closed on its record-breaking $2.4 billion purchase of Chelsea Market, Colliers said. The average price per square foot paid for a Manhattan building going for more than $10 million was $890, up from $837 a year earlier, it said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "GOOGL"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "NWSA"
},
{
"sentiment": "not stock",
"ticker": "GOOG"
}
] |
406
|
Investing
| 2018-04-03T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Knorr, Wabtec settle with U.S. over agreements to not poach workers WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Knorr-Bremse AG and Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corp (Wabtec) (N:WAB) have agreed to scrap an illegal agreement to refrain from poaching each other's employees, the Justice Department said on Tuesday in announcing a settlement with the two rail equipment suppliers. The two companies had agreed as early as 2009 not to recruit or hire each other's workers without prior approval, the department said. A third company, Faiveley Transport S.A., also participated in the agreement until it was purchased by Wabtec in 2016. No-poach agreements are illegal under antitrust law since they restrict competition for employees, and potentially deprive workers of better job opportunities, the department said. Wabtec said in a statement that it had settled even though it committed no wrongdoing. "We firmly believe that our recruiting policies have been consistent with the antitrust laws and have in no way diminished competition for talent in the marketplace," the company said. "We have elected to settle this matter to avoid the cost and distraction of litigation." The companies supply rail companies with train control, braking and door equipment for passenger rail vehicles. They are each other's top competitors, the department said in its complaint.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "WAB"
}
] |
407
|
Investing
| 2018-04-03T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
General Dynamics completes deal for peer CSRA (Reuters) - U.S. defense contractor General Dynamics Corp (N:GD) said on Tuesday it completed its purchase of peer CSRA Inc (N:CSRA) in a deal valued at about $9.7 billion. CSRA will now be part of General Dynamics Information Technology and all shares of CSRA common stock will be delisted from the NYSE. The deal is expected to add to General Dynamics' earnings per share and free cash flow per share in 2019, the company said. The announcement comes a week after peer CACI International Inc (N:CACI) withdrew its offer for CSRA amid the bidding war with General Dynamics.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "GD"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "CACI"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "CSRA"
}
] |
408
|
Investing
| 2018-04-03T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Trump Friend or Foe, Amazon and Sinclair Slump Amid Tweet Storm (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s been expressing support for Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., but that hasn’t insulated the conservative-leaning broadcaster from a wider market slump. Sinclair dropped more than 4 percent on Monday after Trump defended the Maryland-based company. That’s roughly the path taken by Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)., which plunged 5.1 percent Monday on a series of negative tweets by the president. The lesson may be that Trump’s tweets don’t change the expectation that Sinclair will win federal permission to buy more TV stations, while traders see Trump’s animosity as holding real potential to damage Amazon. The online retailer could be vulnerable to an antitrust probe or a hike in postal rates. “Neither President Donald Trump’s tweets nor a recent popular video about Sinclair’s sometimes centrally driven broadcast-news practices is likely to impact the FCC’s review of the Sinclair-Tribune deal,” Matthew Schettenhelm, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said in a note Tuesday morning assessing Sinclair’s path before the Federal Communications Commission. The agency is one of two vetting Sinclair’s proposed $3.9 billion purchase of Tribune Media Co. television stations, including outlets in New York and Chicago. Tribune dropped 1 percent Monday. Trump has unleashed a barrage of tweets accusing Amazon of not paying enough in taxes and underpaying the U.S. Postal Service. The online retailer was the biggest drag on the equity benchmark Monday, a position its held for a week as it plunged 12 percent since Axios reported that the president was “obsessed” with regulating the company. On Tuesday, Trump described several U.S. news outlets as "fakers" afraid of increased competition from Sinclair. A day earlier, he defended Sinclair from critics who focused on the company’s news readers in scattered cities reading identical texts. Both Sinclair and Amazon opened higher on Tuesday before dropping again.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "AMZN"
}
] |
409
|
Investing
| 2018-04-03T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Pfizer in talks with P&G for consumer health unit sale: CNBC (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) is in talks with Procter & Gamble Co for a sale of the largest U.S. drugmaker's consumer health business, CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing sources. The companies were far apart on a price for the business and Pfizer is considering other options, including a joint venture with other drugmakers, the report said. Pfizer said it is evaluating potential strategic options for the unit and expects to make a decision in 2018. GlaxoSmithKline, Reckitt Benckiser and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) have all exited from the bidding process, endangering an auction Pfizer hoped would bring in as much as $20 billion P&G said it declined to comment.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "PFE"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "JNJ"
}
] |
410
|
Investing
| 2018-04-03T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
JPMorgan's Kolanovic Warns of Liquidity Snarls But Stays Bullish (Bloomberg) -- A strong earnings season should bolster the rattled U.S. stock market, but potentially not without some further turmoil, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM).’s head of quantitative and derivative strategy, Marko Kolanovic. “Liquidity was a big problem in the market meltdown of early February, and hasn’t really recovered since then,” Kolanovic said in a March 29 interview in New York, referring to the worst selloff in the S&P 500 Index since August 2015. Buyers’ strikes could continue to plague the market as investors grapple with worries ranging from a global trade war to pressures on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)., he said. “A lot of these concerns are likely overblown -- it’s reflective of the psychology of fear driven by market volatility,” he said. “The only real problem now is low liquidity and market volatility,” he said. And liquidity should improve when the Cboe Volatility Index falls, he said. The problem is that it isn’t, for now: the gauge surged 3.65 points on Monday, when the S&P 500 fell 2.2 percent. At issue is the willingness of selloff-scarred buyers to step into a market in times of doubt, according to Kolanovic, who’s earned his reputation by forecasting dramatic ups and downs in markets. The structure of today’s market makes it more susceptible to sharper swings, he said: Kolanovic isn’t the only one warning about liquidity. Societe Generale (PA:SOGN) strategists led by Kokou Agbo-Bloua wrote in a note on March 30 that investors should be wary of the possibility for late-cycle volatility bursts fueled by distortions in liquidity. But conditions aren’t yet in place to fuel a broader bear market, and bets on the big downturn may be premature, according to Kolanovic. “Investors should just stick to facts and fundamentals," he said. "Earnings should alleviate many of the fears.”
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "JPM"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "SOGN"
}
] |
411
|
Investing
| 2018-04-04T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
GE to restate two years of earnings by April 13 (Reuters) - General Electric Co (N:GE) said on Wednesday that it planned to provide restated results for 2016 and 2017 to reflect a new accounting standard by April 13. The updated accounting standard takes into account revenue from long-term contracts, which are being scrutinized by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. GE had said in February that it expected to take a $4.2 billion accounting charge as it switches to the new standard. The company also said it would report its first-quarter earnings on April 20 under the new standard and that it would have no impact on its 2018 forecast.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "ambiguous",
"ticker": "GE"
}
] |
412
|
Investing
| 2018-04-04T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Amazon may offer to buy India's Flipkart: report (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) may make a rival offer to buy Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart, which is in tie-up talks with Walmart (NYSE:WMT) Inc, local media reported, as the two U.S. retail giants jostle for dominance in India's booming online industry. Amazon held early exploratory talks to buy control of Indian rival Flipkart but a deal with Walmart is more likely, daily newspaper Mint said on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. One person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the probability of a deal with Amazon was low, and that any such deal could spark monopoly concerns as Flipkart and Amazon dominate India's e-commerce market. The person declined to be identified as discussions were private. Amazon declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Flipkart and Walmart did not respond to requests for comment. Walmart is in talks to buy over 40 percent of Flipkart in potentially one of its biggest overseas deals, Reuters reported in February. A deal would give the world's largest brick-and-mortar retailer access to an e-commerce market that Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) estimated to be worth $200 billion in a decade's time. The deal would also represent a direct challenge to Amazon in Asia's third-largest economy. Amazon has committed to investing $5 billion in India as it expands into online grocery delivery. Walmart will buy a majority stake in Flipkart through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases in a deal that could value the Indian firm at $21 billion, Mint reported. Flipkart, founded by former Amazon employees Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal in 2007, controls nearly 40 percent of India's online retail market, ahead of Amazon, showed estimates by researcher Forrester. Like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the pair began by selling books and diversified rapidly, including by selling smartphones through exclusive flash sales. Flipkart now competes with Amazon on almost all product categories. Flipkart's success has attracted a bevy of deep-pocketed and tech-savvy investors including U.S. hedge fund Tiger Global Management LLC, online marketplace eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) and software maker Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), as well as Chinese technology firm Tencent Holdings Ltd. It was valued at around $12 billion when Japan's SoftBank Group Corp's Vision Fund bought roughly a fifth of the firm last year for $2.5 billion.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "MSFT"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "EBAY"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "AMZN"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "WMT"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "MS"
}
] |
413
|
Investing
| 2018-04-04T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
India's Jet Airways agrees to buy 75 Boeing 737 MAX jets worth $8.8 billion NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Jet Airways Ltd (NS:JET) has entered into an agreement to buy 75 Boeing Co (N:BA) 737 MAX narrowbody jets, worth $8.8 billion, to meet passenger demand which has shown no sign of abating after years of growth. Jet Airways, in a filing to the stock exchange late on Tuesday, did not say whether the agreement was a formal order or a non-binding memorandum of understanding. Boeing did not respond to a request for comment. The jets would be worth $8.8 billion at list prices, though airlines typically receive significant discounts from manufacturers. Shares of Jet Airways rose as much as 3.2 percent in Wednesday morning trade, and were trading up 1.4 percent at 0610 GMT. The wider Mumbai market (BSESN) was up 0.25 percent. The latest agreement comes as Indian airlines rush to expand fleets to meet ever-increasing demand for domestic as well as international flights, making it one of the most targeted sales markets for Boeing and European rival Airbus SE (PA:AIR). Boeing said in July it expected Indian airlines to order up to 2,100 aircraft worth $290 billion over the next 20 years, calling it the highest-ever forecast for Asia's third-largest economy. Domestic passenger traffic increased 17.9 percent in January from a year earlier for the 41st consecutive month of double-digit growth, showed data from the International Air Transport Association. Jet Airways Chief Executive Vinay Dube last month told reporters the airline was hoping to close the latest deal by the end of March. The airline finalised a separate deal to buy 75 other Boeing 737 MAX aircraft last year.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "BA"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "AIR"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "JET"
}
] |
414
|
Investing
| 2018-04-04T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Brazil's BRF places workers from two plants on furlough SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Embattled Brazilian food processor BRF SA (SA:BRFS3), reeling from a food safety scandal, will place 3,500 workers on paid leave at two plants, the latest move to adjust capacity following a government-imposed trade ban affecting exports to the European Union, the company said on Wednesday. BRF said it would send 1,300 workers on leave at its Carambeí plant in southern Brazil, in addition to 2,300 people from its Rio Verde poultry production line in central Brazil. The leaves, effective from April 21 and April 14 respectively, will last 30 days at both plants, it said. "As is in the public domain, Brazil's agriculture ministry decided to temporarily and preemptively suspend production and certification of BRF poultry exports to the European Union from March 16," BRF said in a statement. The move raises the tally of employees affected by measures to adjust capacity to demand to around 7,000. Last month BRF said it would send around 3,000 people on furlough at its Capinzal plant state effective May 7. BRF also sent more than 1,000 workers on leave at its Mineiros plant, one of the units involved in the food safety investigation that preceded the trade suspension related to Europe. Some 623 people at Mineiros' chicken production line have since returned to work, BRF said on Wednesday. BRF shares fell 0.5 percent to 23.06 reais in mid-afternoon trading, reaching a low of 37 percent this year, as the company still reels from the food probe, which accused managers of acting to evade safety checks. The stock price is also impacted by an imminent management shakeup being pushed by controlling shareholders after the company posted its largest ever loss last year.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "BRFS3"
}
] |
415
|
Investing
| 2018-04-04T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Philadelphia Energy Solutions gets court nod over RINs burden relief (Reuters) - A federal bankruptcy judge approved a settlement on Wednesday between Philadelphia Energy Solutions and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allowing the refiner to shed a significant portion of financial obligation under the nation's biofuel laws. The approval marks the end of a break-neck-pace bankruptcy that began in late January, when the Carlyle Group-backed company sought Chapter 11 relief and blamed the costs of complying with the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for its financial woes. "This is another important milestone in our quest to strengthen our financial foundation and ensure that PES can successfully emerge from the restructuring process," the company said in a statement. The RFS requires refiners to blend biofuels such as ethanol into their fuel or buy credits, known as RINs, from those that do. PES needed to submit some 470 million credits to the EPA to prove compliance for 2016 and 2017, but only had 210 million on hand. The refiner said it did not have the money to go into the market and buy the additional credits. Under the settlement agreement, PES was only required to turn in the credits it had acquired to prove compliance, including a portion of this year's credits, saving close to $200 million. Reuters reported that other factors may also have played a role in the company's bankruptcy, including the withdrawal of more than $590 million in dividend-style payments from the company by its investor owners. The settlement angered the biofuel industry, which said it rewarded a company for ignoring the law. Growth Energy, a pro-biofuels trade group, sought to intervene in the bankruptcy and force Carlyle (O:CG) to pay the outstanding compliance costs. "The EPA's sue-and-settle-style settlement will give the Carlyle Group a free pass for skirting the law, even after they neglected the refinery while pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars in cash payouts" Emily Skor, Growth Energy's chief executive officer, said in statement.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "CG"
}
] |
416
|
Investing
| 2018-04-05T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Second Japanese shipping firm admits to cartel conduct in Australian court By Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) - Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (T:9107) (K-Line) has pleaded guilty to criminal cartel conduct in the transport of vehicles, Australia's competition regulator said on Thursday, the second Japanese shipping company to make such an admission. The conduct relates to the shipping of cars, trucks and buses to Australia between 2009 and 2012, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision (ACCC). Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) (T:9101) was convicted last year by Australia's Federal Court and fined A$25 million ($20 million) for its part in the activity. The ACCC on Thursday declined to disclose details relating to the K-Line complaint. During the NYK case the court found that cartel members fixed freight prices for carrying Nissan, Suzuki, Honda, Toyota and Mazda vehicles to Australia and agreed not to try and win business from each other from as early as February 1997. Senior managers from NYK were in regular contact with rivals over such matters, even taking telephone calls in hallways or lift lobbies to avoid being overheard by more junior employees who may have reported their conduct, Justice Michael Wigney said last August in his judgment. Australian law only criminalized the cartel behavior in 2009. A spokesman in K-Line's headquarters in Tokyo confirmed the ACCC announcement was true, but declined to comment further as the case was ongoing. NYK's fine was the second-largest ever imposed by the regulator, however it was lower than what it could have been due to an early guilty plea, contrition, and cooperation with investigators. The matter against K-Line will now proceed to sentencing and is next scheduled for a hearing in the Australian Federal Court in November, the ACCC said in a statement. The penalty for cartel conduct under Australian competition law is the greater of A$10 million, triple the benefit attributed to the offense, or 10 percent of the corporation's annual turnover in Australia. The regulator added that its investigation into other alleged cartel participants would continue, though it did not name them in its statement.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "9101"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "9107"
}
] |
417
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Investing
| 2018-04-05T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Clariant expects sales of about $2 billion in North America by 2021 ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss specialty chemicals maker Clariant (S:CLN) said on Thursday it expected North America to become its second-largest market with sales of about $2 billion by 2021. Key elements in this growth strategy include advancing its research and development competencies, a CAPEX investment of $250 million to further increase both its manufacturing footprint and technical capabilities, and the leveraging of shale gas opportunities, Clariant said in a statement. Clariant has over 50 sites and more than 2,400 employees in the U.S. and Canada and currently generates a turnover of around $1.25 billion in the region, it said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "CLN"
}
] |
418
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Investing
| 2018-04-05T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Wells Fargo to integrate corporate and investment bank: WSJ (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (N:WFC) is planning to integrate its corporate and investment bank in an effort to reduce costs, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The bank's plans, which could lead to layoffs in the future, will affect some industry coverage groups, advisory teams, equity and debt capital markets origination and certain corporate-banking relationship managers, according to the WSJ report. Wells Fargo's corporate bank and investment bank, though not fully merged, will now share profit and loss targets across industry verticals, the Journal said. The Journal also reported that the bank has told staff of several dozen layoffs as recently as on Wednesday in its markets division, which is part of Wells Fargo's wholesale division along with corporate and investing banking. Those layoffs affect senior and junior employees in areas including credit sales and trading units and are based on a review of the business and staffing level adjustments, one of the people told WSJ. The layoffs are not directly tied to the corporate bank and investment bank integration, the person said. The San Francisco-based bank declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "WFC"
}
] |
419
|
Investing
| 2018-04-05T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Vivendi presents board candidates for Telecom Italia in bid to please investors PARIS (Reuters) - France's Vivendi (PA:VIV) presented a new list of candidates for the board of Telecom Italia (MI:TLIT) (TIM) on Thursday in a bid to alleviate concerns raised by activist fund Elliott Advisors on the governance of the group. The list of ten candidates is led by Telecom Italia's boss Amos Genish and includes his counterpart at Vivendi, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, who is proposed as non-executive chairman. Vivendi released the list for the general meeting on May 4. This follows the sudden resignation of TIM's former board on March 22. That move was widely perceived as pre-empting Elliott's bid to change the way Vivendi, TIM's top shareholder with a stake of close to 24 percent, runs the company. "In putting forward this list, we have listened carefully to the views of shareholders and other key stakeholders," de Puyfontaine said in a written statement. "We have made changes to strengthen the technical competence of the Board as well as drawing on a wider range of expertise and opinions." Vivendi has built up its stake in TIM since 2015, progressively tightening its grip on the group. It appointed two-thirds of the Italian phone group's board last year. The hands-on approach of the media giant, itself controlled and led by billionaire Vincent Bollore, has fueled tensions with the Italian government. Rome, which considers TIM of strategic national importance, eventually used its so-called "golden power" to ensure it had a say in some strategic decisions at TIM. Elliott has built a potential holding of 5.7 percent in TIM and made its demands public last month. Italian state lender CDP confirmed late on Thursday that it would buy up to 5 percent of TIM, in a move intended to safeguard Rome’s interest the group.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "TLIT"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "VIV"
}
] |
420
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Investing
| 2018-04-05T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Nike executive says company needs to step up promotion of women, minorities (Reuters) - Nike Inc's (N:NKE) chief human resources officer, Monique Matheson, said on Wednesday that the company needs to accelerate representation of women and people of color at leadership levels. Twenty-nine percent of the sportswear company's vice presidents are women, while the company's global workforce is split between 52 percent men and 48 percent women, Matheson said in an emailed statement. To accelerate the process of representation the company will launch targeted training programs, invest in a diversity sourcing team as well as "Unconscious Bias training" for all managers, Matheson said. Nike was conducting a review in March of its human-resources systems and practices for elevating internal complaints. Nike brand president Trevor Edwards resigned last month, while the company announced probes into workplace complaints. Earlier on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal, citing an internal memo, reported that Matheson told employees the company "has failed to gain traction" in hiring and promoting women and minorities, weeks after complaints of inappropriate workplace behavior led to a leadership change.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "NKE"
}
] |
421
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Investing
| 2018-04-05T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Pratt & Whitney wins JetBlue engine order By Alana Wise NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. airline JetBlue Airways Corp (O:JBLU) said on Thursday it has awarded Pratt & Whitney a contract to supply engines for its total fleet of 85 Airbus (PA:AIR) A320neo aircraft, more than doubling the carrier's previous contract with the engine maker. Pratt & Whitney is owned by Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp (N:UTX). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The new agreement adds 45 aircraft to an earlier arrangement under which Pratt agreed to supply JetBlue with engines for 40 twin-engine jets. The deal also includes 13 spare engines and maintenance of the products. "Number one was making sure that we had the right engine with the right technology for the future of JetBlue," JetBlue Chief Financial Officer Steve Priest said in an interview on Thursday. Pratt beat out rival General Electric (N:GE) for the order, in a boost to the manufacturer after earlier issues with the engine. Some Pratt A320neo deliveries were halted after problems arose in January, which Pratt had said stemmed from an engineering change it made last summer to the "knife-edge seal" in the high-pressure compressor near the rear of the engine. "There have been some teething issues with the engines that have been well-publicized, but the one thing I will say: the trust that we have with Pratt is fantastic. They have been incredibly transparent about what those issues have been," Priest said. JetBlue plans to begin taking delivery of the A320neo jets in 2019.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "AIR"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "JBLU"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "GE"
}
] |
422
|
Investing
| 2018-04-05T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
South Korea's Hyundai Mobis to meet Elliott next week: sources SEOUL/NEW YORK (Reuters) - South Korea's Hyundai Mobis (KS:012330) plans to meet U.S. activist hedge fund Elliott Management next week, two sources told Reuters, after Elliott launched a campaign to pressure Hyundai Motor Group to improve governance and boost returns. The meeting would take place in Europe as part of Hyundai Mobis' investor conference sponsored by Citi, one of the two sources familiar with the matter said, without providing more details on what would be discussed or who would attend. A Hyundai Mobis spokesman declined to comment. Auto-to-steel giant Hyundai Motor Group announced a plan last week to streamline its complex ownership structure as it responds to calls from the government and investors for greater transparency and better governance at family-controlled conglomerates, or chaebols. Elliott Management revealed on Wednesday that it held more than $1 billion worth of shares in three Group affiliates, including auto parts-maker Hyundai Mobis which would become Hyundai's de facto holding company under the restructuring plan. The plan, which requires approval from two-thirds of shares that are voted, has been criticized by some investors for stripping Mobis of valuable assets and favoring the controlling Chung family at the expense of shareholders. Questions about synergies arising from the deal also have been raised. Shareholder activism is rare in South Korea but the chaebols are under mounting pressure to reform after a corruption scandal last year led to the jailing of Samsung (KS:005930) Group's heir apparent and the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye. South Korean brokerage NH Investment & Securities (KS:005940) said it is advising Hyundai on the reorganization plan.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "12330"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "5930"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "5940"
}
] |
423
|
Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Eletrobras shares plunge on shakeup at Brazil energy ministry By Luciano Costa and Rodrigo Viga Gaier SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Shares of Brazil's biggest utility, Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras SA (SA:ELET6), fell more than 10 percent in Sao Paulo on Friday after news of a shakeup at the Mines and Energy Ministry that could threaten a government plan to privatize the company. The decline in shares of Eletrobras, as the company is known, wiped nearly $1 billion off its market capitalization. Paulo Pedrosa, second in charge at the ministry, decided to step down from his post, a source familiar with the decision told Reuters, adding to upheaval on the day that Minister Fernando Coelho Filho is stepping down to run for the Congress. Pedrosa, an experienced technocrat, had been seen as a likely replacement for Coelho Filho, according to analysts. He has been leading efforts to overhaul electricity sector rules and played a key role in government plans to privatize state-controlled Eletrobras. Gustavo Miele, an analyst with the equity research team at investment bank Itau BBA, said Pedrosa's departure was negative. "We believe that Mr. Pedrosa would be one of the best names to replace Mr. Coelho Filho in the Ministry of Mines and Energy," he said in a note. "The announcement has a relevant impact on Eletrobras' capitalization. We believe that this process strongly depends, among other points, on a pro-market name taking over the ministry," Miele said in a note to clients. The ministry declined to comment immediately on the matter. Fernando Coelho Filho is one of a dozen cabinet ministers who are leaving the government to run in the October general election. Coelho Filho had brought Pedrosa and a team of officials with technical profiles to the ministry, many with experience in private-sector power companies, which improved investors' outlook for the sector. Another source told Reuters on Friday that Moreira Franco, the secretary of the Presidency and a leading figure in the governing Brazilian Democratic Movement party, is a top candidate to take over the ministry. The Eletrobras privatization has faced opposition from several politicians, including members of the MDB, and the prospect of a person with a strong political profile taking over the energy post is seen as negative by investors.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "ELET6"
}
] |
424
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Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
South Korea urges GM, union to reach wage deal swiftly as tension rises SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea on Friday urged General Motors (NYSE:GM) Co's local subsidiary and labor union to reach a wage deal swiftly, saying the government will be able to discuss support for the money-losing unit on condition of an agreement. GM, which in February announced it would shut one of its South Korean factories, said it will file for bankruptcy should the union refuse to make concessions by April 20. GM has also asked for financial support from the government. The latest comments, made by the industry minister during a meeting with GM Korea's chief executive officer (CEO), came as tension escalates after the automaker was unable to make bonus payments agreed last year and planned for Friday. Union members protested on Thursday, entering the CEO's office and removing and breaking chairs and desks, showed a CCTV video clip from broadcaster TV Chosun and verified by GM Korea. "Should the industrial conflict seen yesterday and today happen again, it will be difficult for (GM Korea) to gain public support and government support," Paik Un-gyu, minister of trade, industry and energy, said in a statement. GM's union accepted the company's demand for a wage freeze and no bonuses for this year, but opposes a proposal to cut benefits as well as its plan to shut down the Gunsan plant. "We appreciate the ministry's interest and encouragement," a GM Korea spokesman said. A union official did not have immediate comment, beyond saying talks with the minister and the union leader were ongoing.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "GM"
}
] |
425
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Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Union at Volkswagen's Skoda Auto accepts 12 percent wage increase offer PRAGUE (Reuters) - Union representatives at Volkswagen-owned Skoda Auto (DE:VOWG_p) said on Friday they had accepted management's offer to raise wages by 12 percent, averting a strike at one of the largest manufacturing plants in the Czech Republic. The leadership of the Kovo union, which represents industrial workers, plans to vote on the proposal next Wednesday, which would cover the period from April 1, 2018 to the end of March 2019, although that is seen as a formality. The offer also includes increases in bonuses and incentives. Czech wages have been rising rapidly across sectors, putting pressure on employers, following strong economic growth in recent years and a fall in unemployment to its lowest level in two decades. Skoda, the country's biggest exporter, has blossomed under nearly 30 years of Volkswagen ownership to become one of the group's profit drivers, even beating operating margins at luxury brands Audi (DE:NSUG) and BMW (DE:BMWG) last year.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "BMWG"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "VOWG_p"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "NSUG"
}
] |
426
|
Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
CBS nominates former Time Warner CEO to its board amid Viacom talks (Reuters) - CBS Corp (N:CBS) said on Friday it nominated Richard Parsons, a former chairman of Citigroup Inc (N:C) and Time Warner Inc (N:TWX) as an independent director, as the company renews its push to merge with Viacom Inc (O:VIAB). If elected, Parsons would be the board's 14th member and 10th independent director, the company said. (https:// Parsons, 70, led Time Warner as chief executive officer from 2002 to 2007 and as chairman from 2003 to 2009. He has also served as chairman of Citigroup and as an interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers. He currently works as a senior adviser at private equity firm Providence Equity Partners LLC. Parsons' nomination comes as Shari Redstone, who with her father Sumner Redstone controls both CBS and Viacom, pushes to recombine the media giants after failing in an attempt to do so in 2016. Shari Redstone had been gathering names of possible candidates for CBS's board, as the company plans on replacing several of its directors at its annual shareholder meeting in May, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal in January. In March, CBS made a verbal offer for Viacom valuing it at below its market value of around $12.5 billion, sources told Reuters. On Wednesday, however, sources told Reuters that Viacom was preparing a counterproposal to CBS's first share exchange offer, which it deemed inadequate. "Mr. Parsons brings to the board significant leadership expertise from his roles at global financial and media companies, including extensive experience in various executive officer positions and as legal counsel," CBS said in a filing on Friday.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "exclude",
"ticker": "C"
},
{
"sentiment": "exclude",
"ticker": "TWX"
}
] |
427
|
Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman pay up 20 percent in 2017 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (N:MS) Chief Executive James Gorman's overall pay rose 20 percent to $27 million last year during a period that saw the firm's net revenues rise 10 percent and pre-tax profit margin rise 18 percent, according to bank filings released on Friday. Gorman's total compensation includes a base salary of $1.5 million plus cash bonuses of about $5.6 million awarded in the early part of 2018, deferred cash and equity awards of nearly $7.2 million, and a long-term incentive plan based on performance worth $12.8 million. Gorman, 58, has been chief executive of the Wall Street bank since 2010. New this year, the bank reported the ratio between Gorman's total compensation and the median annual total pay for all other employees to be 192 to 1, with the median 2017 compensation for employees being $127,863. Gorman's pay was below that of JPMorgan Chase & Co (N:JPM) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, who made $29.5 million last year, but higher than Citigroup Inc (N:C) CEO Michael Corbat’s annual compensation of $23 million. Morgan Stanley President Colm Kelleher's total compensation rose to $23 million and Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Pruzan's total pay rose to $11.5 million.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "C"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "JPM"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "MS"
}
] |
428
|
Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
LatAm currencies down as global trade tensions escalate By Bruno Federowski BRASILIA (Reuters) - Latin American currencies weakened on Friday after China fought back against a new U.S. threat to increase tariffs on Chinese goods. China warned it was fully prepared to respond with a "fierce counter strike" of fresh trade measures if the United States follows through on President Donald Trump's threat to slap tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods. The warning came after Trump upped the ante on Thursday by ordering U.S. officials to identify extra tariffs, escalating a high-stakes confrontation with potentially damaging consequences for the world's two biggest economies. "It's still a battle of words at this time but that is enough to pull down prices," Guide Investimentos analysts wrote in a client note. The currencies of Brazil (BRBY), Mexico , Chile and Colombia weakened between 0.1 and 0.9 percent in early trading, despite data showing the U.S. economy in March created the fewest jobs in six months. A weak labor market could drive the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates at a slower pace than expected in coming months, potentially boosting the allure of emerging market assets. Stock markets were also down across the region due to global risk aversion, with MSCI's Latin American index (MILA00000PUS) down 1.75 percent, its biggest daily loss in two months. Brazil's benchmark stock index (BVSP) led the declines, falling 1.1 percent. Shares of drug retailer RD (SA:RADL3) were among the biggest decliners after Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN) cut its recommendation for the stock to "underperform" from "outperform" in the wake of hefty losses.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "CSGN"
},
{
"sentiment": "not stock",
"ticker": "BRBY"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "RADL3"
}
] |
429
|
Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Levi Strauss sues LVMH's Kenzo over jeans pocket tab By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - That little tab on the rear pocket of your Levi's jeans is now the subject of a lawsuit. Levi Strauss & Co on Friday sued the French luxury house Kenzo, accusing the unit of LVMH (PA:LVMH) of trademark infringement for putting tabs on its pants pockets, including in a new clothing line featuring singer Britney Spears. The complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, where Levi is based, said Kenzo's activities threaten to cause Levi to lose sales and suffer "incalculable and irreparable damage" to its goodwill, and confuse shoppers. Kenzo did not immediately respond to requests for comment after business hours. A lawyer for the Paris-based company could not immediately be located. Levi said it has put distinctive tabs bearing its name, in the form of folded cloth ribbons, in the seams of its pants pockets since 1936, to provide "sight identification" for its products. It said Kenzo has not complied with its cease-and-desist letters to stop selling its own clothing bearing similar tabs, including in its "Kenzo presents Britney Spears-La Collection Memento No. 2" line launched last month. The complaint quoted Leo Christopher Lucier, Levi's national sales manager in 1936, as having said "no other maker of overalls can have any other purpose in putting a colored tab on an outside patch pocket, unless for the express and sole purpose of copying our mark, and confusing the customer." Levi is seeking to recoup lost profits, compensatory and punitive damages, and halt further infringements. The case is Levi Strauss & Co v Kenzo Paris USA LLC et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-02106.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "LVMH"
}
] |
430
|
Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
South Korean prosecutors raid Samsung Elec over alleged union sabotage By Ju-min Park and Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors searched offices at a Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) unit on Friday as part of a probe into allegations the conglomerate had sabotaged workers' efforts to strengthen labor unions, the prosecutors' office said. The tech giant has often come under fire from politicians and civics groups for not engaging with organized labor and its existing unions tend to be small and weak. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors office told reporters in a brief text message that it raided Samsung's repair service unit outside Seoul. "I think the administration is trying to put a brake on Samsung's no-union policy, which labor has long criticized," said Kim Tai-gi, an economics professor at Dankook University, referring to the labor-friendly government of President Moon Jae-in. Samsung Group, the country's top family-run business empire, has come under greater scrutiny since heir apparent Jay Y. Lee received a suspended jail term in February for bribing a former president. "Samsung was already cornered in the wake of Jay Y. Lee's case. It does not seem easy for Samsung to stick to the existing stance on unions," Kim said. During a bribery probe involving another former president earlier this year, investigators found thousands of documents suggesting the conglomerate had developed union-busting strategies, domestic media outlets reported. A Samsung Electronics spokeswoman said the company was aware that prosecutors had secured labor-related documents. She declined to comment further on the probe and had no immediate comment on whether a raid had taken place at the unit which carries out repairs for Samsung Electronics products. Prosecutors investigated similar accusations after a lawmaker disclosed a document in 2013 that she claimed contained Samsung's guidelines on how to stop its employees from organizing unions. However, the case was dropped as prosecutors could not verify the source of the document.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "5930"
}
] |
431
|
Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Japan's FSA orders two cryptocurrency exchanges to halt business TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Financial Services Agency on Friday ordered two cryptocurrency exchanges to suspend business for two months as it cracks down on regulatory lapses following the massive theft of digital money at Tokyo-based Coincheck. The FSA told Eternal Link to halt operations from April 6 and ordered FSHO to suspend business from April 8. It issued a business improvement order to a third exchange, Last Roots. Earlier on Friday, online brokerage firm Monex Group Inc (T:8698) said it would buy Coincheck for 3.6 billion yen.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "8698"
}
] |
432
|
Investing
| 2018-04-06T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Ford wins approval for German banking license LONDON (Reuters) - Ford (N:F) said it had won approval from the European Central Bank for its application to set up a bank in Germany as part of its strategy to mitigate any risk from Britain leaving the European Union. "The European Central Bank has approved Ford Credit Europe (FCE) Bank's application for a banking license in Germany. We expect to establish this bank in the second half 2018," a spokesman said. FCE sought a German banking license, to run alongside its existing British one, last year because the future of passporting, which allows financial firms to serve the whole EU from a single base, is uncertain after Brexit. FCE has said it would keep its headquarters in Britain and that the plan would not include job losses or significant changes to where employees are based. FCE, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Ford, provides financial services to dealers, retail, fleet and business customers in Britain and 11 other countries in Europe.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "F"
}
] |
433
|
Investing
| 2018-04-08T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Adidas to close stores in online push: CEO in Financial Times FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Adidas (DE:ADSGN) expects to close down stores in the coming years as part of a shift towards selling more goods online, its chief executive told a newspaper. In an interview with the Financial Times, Kasper Rorsted said "over time, we will have fewer stores but they will be better", adding that over the coming year the number of Adidas stores was expected to contract slightly. "Our website is the most important store we have in the world." Adidas, which wants to more than double its ecommerce sales to 4 billion euros ($4.91 billion) by 2020 from 1.6 billion last year, has 2,500 stores globally and 13,000 additional mono-branded franchise stores, the Financial Times said. ($1 = 0.8143 euros)
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "ADSGN"
}
] |
434
|
Investing
| 2018-04-09T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
SEC ends probe into Puerto Rico's $3.5 billion 2014 bond issuance: sources By Nick Brown NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped a probe into whether former Puerto Rican officials misled investors when they sold $3.5 billion of general obligation bonds in March 2014, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Ex-Puerto Rican leaders who had been interviewed as part of the SEC's investigation received letters last week from the agency, saying the SEC would not recommend enforcement actions, said the sources. The issuance came during the administration of ex-Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla and then-Puerto Rico Treasury Secretary Melba Acosta, as the U.S. territory slid precipitously toward bankruptcy. Prices on the bonds began to fall shortly after they were sold, leading the SEC to look into whether issuers painted too rosy a picture of Puerto Rico's finances. The probe targeted Puerto Rican officials and underwriters at Morgan Stanley (N:MS) and Barclays (L:BARC). In June, the SEC made preliminary recommendations to file enforcement actions against brokers at Barclays and Morgan Stanley, but the underwriters are now off the hook as well, the sources said. A spokesman for Barclays declined to comment, while a representative for Morgan Stanley could not be immediately reached on Monday night. The bonds, now held largely by hedge funds and mutual funds, were the last big debt issuance from Puerto Rico, which declared the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. government history in May. As the island was trying to restructure some $120 billion in bond and pension debt, Hurricane Maria devastated its infrastructure in September, cutting power to the entire island and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage. Puerto Rico's GO bonds, which had traded at roughly 60 cents on the dollar, plummeted to about 20 cents after the storm. They have rebounded somewhat over the last two months, trading at just over 40 cents on Monday, according to Thomson Reuters data. GO holders are locked in a legal battle with creditors who hold so-called COFINA debt, which is backed by the island's sales tax revenue. Both sides claim an ironclad right to Puerto Rico's sales tax, and a hearing on the matter is scheduled for Tuesday in New York, before U.S. Judge Laura Taylor Swain.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "BARC"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "MS"
}
] |
435
|
Investing
| 2018-04-09T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Lufthansa cancels half Tuesday's flights due to Verdi strike BERLIN (Reuters) - Lufthansa (DE:LHAG) has canceled more than 800 flights planned for Tuesday, around half of its scheduled services, after public sector union Verdi said it was extending walkouts to airports. Most of the cancellations are short-haul services, but 58 long-haul flights have also been scrapped, Lufthansa said. Verdi, which is asking for a 6 percent pay rise for around 2.3 million employees in various public sector roles across Germany, earlier said ground staff and some fire services staff would be on strike on Tuesday at Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne and Bremen airports.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "LHAG"
}
] |
436
|
Investing
| 2018-04-09T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
U.S. airline industry boasts overall improvements: study By Alana Wise NEW YORK (Reuters) - Despite a steady stream of headlines highlighting U.S. airlines' customer-service failures, carriers have actually improved in several key areas over the last year, including bumping fewer passengers and losing less baggage, according to a study released on Monday. The annual Airline Quality Rating (AQR), compiled by researchers at Wichita State and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical universities, found that U.S. carriers in 2017 recorded improvements in the number of passengers denied boarding, mishandled baggage and customer complaints, even as high-profile instances of customer-service failures continue to plague the industry. The study's findings showed that airlines improved their performance in everything but on-time arrivals, the most heavily weighted of the four components. In that category, there was a decline of 1.2 percent versus the previous year. Airlines have sought to improve their public perception in the months following an April 2017 incident in which a 69-year-old United Airlines (N:UAL) passenger was dragged from his seat to make way for crew members. "A year ago, everyone watched a video of a passenger being dragged off of a plane, and even in recent months, airlines have had to deal with negative publicity via traditional media and social media for everything from mishandled bags and extended delays to fights onboard and cancellations," study researcher Brent Bowen said in a statement. "But the results of the study show that they are making the effort – even if it may seem incremental to the traveling public." Based on data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the AQR rated Alaska Airlines (N:ALK) the top carrier, followed closely by Delta Air Lines (N:DAL) on the basis of on-time performance, denied boarding, mishandled baggage and customer complaints. Ranked lowest of the 12 reported airlines were ultra-low-cost and low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines in 11th place and Spirit Airlines (N:SAVE) at the bottom of the heap. "Spirit Airlines is committed to improving reliability, Guest service, and the in-flight experience," Spirit Airlines spokesman Derek Dombrowski said in a statement. "It’s also important to note the Airline Quality Report does not factor other things that Guests love about Spirit, including the lowest fares in the industry and newest fleet of planes in the U.S." Frontier did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "DAL"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "UAL"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "SAVE"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "ALK"
}
] |
437
|
Investing
| 2018-04-09T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
HSBC to expand further in China, cut red tape under new management team LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC (L:HSBA) will seek to cut internal bureaucracy and expand investment in China's southern region to the rest of the country, executives at the bank said on Monday, in the first hints of the strategy to be pursued by its new leadership duo. Mark Tucker, the bank's first externally appointed chairman, told analysts and investors at a meeting in Hong Kong that trimming the bank's bloated governance structure was one of his top priorities. Tucker, who took over as chairman last October, has already cut the lender's board from over 20 people down to 14 and plans to slash more committees and processes, according to analysts present at the meeting. The presentation, meanwhile, offered the first sign for investors that the bank's new Chief Executive John Flint will double down on HSBC's 'pivot' to Asia and China in particular, despite some setbacks in the plan launched in June 2015. HSBC said at that time it would hire 4,000 new staff and invest billions to make the Pearl River Delta its gateway to China, a retail and corporate banking push that bet on a tech boom, infrastructure spending and a growing middle class. But the presentation to investors on Monday showed the bank's profits in mainland China retail banking in 2017 fell by 7 percent compared with a year earlier. Chinese regulations that stipulate customers must visit a branch to open an account have slowed HSBC's technology-based push, analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods said, since the lender only has 227 outlets in China versus local banks that have thousands each. The presentation gives the clearest indication yet that HSBC's new management team will intensify its focus on China, betting on the country's economic growth to bolster profits that have sagged in recent years amid low global interest rates, restructuring costs and ever-tighter regulation. Tucker said investors would get a fuller picture of CEO Flint's new strategy before the bank announces its first-half results in July, analysts at the meeting reported.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "HSBA"
}
] |
438
|
Investing
| 2018-04-09T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Rusal shares plunge over 40 percent on U.S. sanctions HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shares of Russian aluminum giant United Company Rusal Plc (HK:0486) plunged as much as 41.8 percent on Monday as investors bailed on the stock after it was included in a new list of U.S. sanctions targeting Russian companies and their owners. Shares in Rusal, one of the world's largest aluminum producers, fell to HK$2.70 in late morning trade, its lowest since October 2016. That compared with 1.76 percent rise in the benchmark Hang Seng index (HSI). "Investors were rushing to square their position or doing what they need to do with their exposure to the stock and to those shares which are sanction and trade war sensitive," said Steven Leung, a sales director at UOB Kay Hian. Washington imposed sanctions on Friday on seven Russian oligarchs, including Rusal's former President Oleg Deripaska, 12 companies they own or control, as well as 17 senior Russian government officials. The Russian individuals and companies were targeted for profiting from a Russian state engaged in "malign activities" around the world. Rusal's shares (MM:RUAL) dropped 16 percent on the Moscow Exchange on Friday. The company on Friday said that it regretted its inclusion on the new U.S. sanctions list, adding that its advisors were studying the situation. "The company's initial assessment is that it is highly likely that the impact may be materially adverse to the business and prospects of the group," the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong bourse on Monday. It said further evaluations were being carried out to assess the impact of the sanctions. Rusal assesses that the sanctions may result in technical defaults in relation to certain credit obligations of the group, and the company is evaluating the impact of such technical defaults on its financial position. (https:// A Hong Kong-based equity sales director said on Monday the stock prices are under pressure because the sanctions require investors subject to U.S. jurisdiction to ditch the stocks within a month. The U.S. Treasury Department said investors have until May 7 "to divest or transfer debt, equity, or other holdings" in EN+, Rusal and Russian vehicle maker GAZ (MM:GAZA).
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "GAZA"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "RUAL"
}
] |
439
|
Investing
| 2018-04-09T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
China's HNA to sell Hilton stake in secondary offering (Reuters) - Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc's (N:HLT) main shareholder HNA Tourism Group will sell about 63 million shares of Hilton common stock in a secondary offering, making good on signals it would exit its stake in the U.S. hotel operator. Hilton announced the issue on Monday in a statement that also raised its first-quarter profit forecast. HNA held a 26 percent stake, or about 82.5 million shares, in Hilton as of April 5. Its parent, HNA Group Co Ltd, said last week it would sell some or all of the $6.3 billion stake in Hilton. Hilton, which also owns the Waldorf Astoria brand, said it now expects first quarter adjusted earnings per share in a range of 52-54 cents per share, up from 43-47 cent per share previously. Hilton also raised its quarterly forecast for revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key performance metric for the hotel industry, to 3.5 to 4 percent, from 1 to 3 percent. The company said underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 9.4 million shares of its common stock from HNA. Hilton has agreed to repurchase from HNA 10 million shares of its common stock at a price equal to the one at which the underwriters will purchase shares from HNA, less 1 percent of the public offering price per share. Hilton will have the option to repurchase from HNA up to an additional 6.5 million shares of its common stock at the same price. The company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares in this offering, Hilton said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "HLT"
}
] |
440
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Investing
| 2018-04-09T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Colombia's Nutresa to open 50 new restaurants this year - CEO BOGOTA (Reuters) - Nutresa (CN:NCH), Colombia's largest producer of processed foods, will invest about $94 million in the opening of 50 restaurants and ice cream parlors this year, as well as in its distribution, the company's chief executive said on Monday. Investment planned for this year exceeds 2017's by almost 10 percent and Nutresa will also look at possible acquisitions in the 14 countries where operates, Carlos Ignacio Gallego told Reuters in a telephone interview. Nutresa (CN:NCH) produces processed meats, biscuits, chocolates, coffee, pasta, ice cream and owns restaurants Hamburguesas El Corral, Beer Station, Lenos & Carbon and Taco Bell, Papa John's, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) and Krispy Kreme franchises. It has more than 46,500 employees. "The consumer food business has a good dynamic, with significant growth, it is a very dynamic business where we are going to continue managing openings (...) it has enormous potential," Gallego said. The new restaurants and ice cream stores will be opened in Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Central America. Gallego did not say which brand the new restaurants will belong to, but Nutresa's restaurant and ice cream parlor interests represent 8 percent of the company. Despite moderate 2017 total revenue growth of 2.5 percent, because of a slowdown in consumption in Colombia, Gallego said the company improved its leverage profile. Colombia represents 62 percent of total sales. "We will continue to be very active, trying to grow in what we already have, but also exploring possible acquisitions in areas of interest," Gallego said. "Since we now have a renewed purchasing capacity due to the improvement of debt indicators, it is a possibility (purchasing capacity) will increase." Gallego said acquisition opportunities could include not only the purchase of entire companies but also lines of business or brands that complement the presence Nutresa already has in Chile, Peru, Central America, some regions of the United States and in Southeast Asia. Gallego said that although he has an "open mind" about raising funds from the market, he does not plan to issue any bonds in the short term. In 2013, Nutresa set a goal to double its total revenue to 11.9 trillion pesos ($4.2 billion) by 2020. "We remain firm in that goal, in 2017 we closed at 8.6 trillion pesos, there is still a gap but the goal is alive," he said. ($1 = 2,791.88 Colombian pesos)
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "NCH"
}
] |
441
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Boeing first quarter plane deliveries rise 9 percent, orders ahead of Airbus (Reuters) - Boeing Co's (N:BA) aircraft deliveries rose about 9 percent year-over-year in the first quarter as the world's biggest planemaker benefited from higher demand for its best-selling single-aisle 737 jetliners. Chicago-based Boeing delivered 184 commercial aircraft in the quarter ended March, it said on Tuesday. Boeing booked 221 net new aircraft orders in the first quarter, well ahead of the 45 bagged by chief rival Airbus SE (PA:AIR) during the same period. Boeing adopted a new revenue accounting standard during the quarter, which reduced its backlog of unfilled orders by 66 to 5,835 aircraft.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "BA"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "AIR"
}
] |
442
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Nestle to launch ruby chocolate KitKat in Europe and Americas ZURICH (Reuters) - Nestle (S:NESN) will launch a ruby chocolate version of its KitKat brand in Europe next week after it made its debut this year in Japan and South Korea, the Swiss food group said on Tuesday. KitKat became the first consumer brand to market the new chocolate variety developed by Barry Callebaut (S:BARN). The move is part of a wider effort by Nestle, the world's largest packaged food company, to push its confectionery creations upmarket with special innovations. The four finger KitKat made with ruby chocolate will be available exclusively at Tesco (LON:TSCO) stores in Britain from April 16 for 85 pence ($1.20) a pack, Nestle said. "Following the UK launch, the product will be introduced to consumers across Europe and the Americas," it said. Germany will be the next European market to get the product in early May, a spokeswoman said. She gave no other details on the rollout timetable. Swiss cocoa and chocolate specialist Barry Callebaut unveiled the ruby variety in September, creating a fourth kind of chocolate in addition to dark, milk and white. After more than 10 years of development, it is the first new kind of chocolate in decades. Ruby chocolate is made from the ruby cocoa bean. No berries, berry flavor or color are added. Chocolate companies, under pressure by consumers' increasing health consciousness, are looking for ways to make their products more interesting. Alexander von Maillot, Nestle's global head of confectionery, said the company was very pleased with the ruby product's launch in Japan and Korea. "The products were sold out in our KitKat Chocolatory stores within 30 minutes every day for the first week after it was launched in January. To date, many consumers are also still visiting our stores to taste and purchase the new product," he said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "NESN"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "TSCO"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "BARN"
}
] |
443
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
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MUFG to book half-billion-dollar writedown on branch closings: sources TOKYO (Reuters) - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) (T:8306) plans to book a nearly half-billion-dollar charge to write down the value of branches as the Japanese megabank seeks to consolidate retail outlets in a shrinking domestic market, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday. The 50 billion yen ($470 million) charge for the year ended in March comes as Japan's largest lender prepares to close or merge unprofitable domestic branches as part of a broader cost-cutting drive. MUFG has about 500 branches in Japan. An MUFG spokesman declined to comment. The bank had forecast a net profit of 950 billion yen for the financial year. At the end of the first nine months, it had already earned 90 percent of the full-year profit forecast. The bank is scheduled to announce its annual results in May.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "8306"
}
] |
444
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Wall Street Sees Keytruda Cancer Drug Lifting Merck's Fortune Investing.com - Barclays (LON:BARC) became the latest firm to upgrade Merck (NYSE:MRK) because of its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda. The firm gave Merck an overweight rating and raised its stock price target from $62 to 64. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) recently upped its price target from $60 to $63 while Leerick Partners upgraded Merck to outperform. Keytruda is expected to gain a larger share of the market treating non-small cell lung cancers as it competes with Bristol-Myers Squibb. Sales of Keytruda more than doubled in 2017 to $3.8 billion and are expected to reach $8.2 billion by their peak in 2020. The drug is already approved for lung, skin and several other cancers types and is being tested for still others.Merck shares, however, are down 13% in the past 12 months.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "MRK"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "BARC"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "MS"
}
] |
445
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Australia to investigate tax body over abuse-of-power allegations By Paulina Duran SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's government will investigate the country's taxation body after former staffers of the revenue-raising institution told local media it unscrupulously targeted individuals and small businesses to meet budgetary targets - allegations the tax office denies. Citing two whistle-blowers, the Australian Broadcasting Corp and Fairfax Media Ltd (AX:FXJ) on Monday reported instances of abuse of power by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) including claims of unethical tactics used to raise revenue at the expense of fairness. "The Minister has requested a thorough investigation of all allegations raised," a spokesman for the financial services minister told Reuters in an emailed statement. "The Government will be responding once it has had an opportunity to consider that in detail." The claims were primarily made by Richard Boyle and Ron Shamir, former employees of the ATO, which collected A$360 billion ($278.14 billion) in revenue last year. Among the claims were instances where Boyle and his tax collection colleagues were instructed by superiors to seize funds from the bank accounts of individuals assessed to owe money, regardless of their particular circumstances. The reports also quoted Inspector-General of Taxation Ali Noroozi, ATO's key supervisory figure, in an interview estimating the tax office would get about one in 20 cases wrong. "There is absolutely no evidence that in roughly 5 per cent of cases the Tax Office gets it wrong," the ATO said in a statement on its website Tuesday. The feedback it receives from "credible sources" is "consistently positive ... about how we listen and respond to their needs," it said. "The media have taken a handful of isolated cases, presented only one side of the story, and then extrapolated these to suggest systemic issues with our administration," the ATO said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "FXJ"
}
] |
446
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Starboard seeks four board seats at Newell: filing By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP said on Tuesday it plans to seek four board seats at consumer products group Newell Brands (N:NWL), arguing more work is needed to repair the company even after rival activist Carl Icahn was handed board seats. "We are seeking your support for the election of our four (4) nominees at the Company’s annual meeting of stockholders scheduled to be held on Tuesday, May 15, 2018," Starboard's chief executive officer Jeffrey Smith wrote in a filing. The New York-based hedge fund, which owns 3.8 percent of the Rubbermaid container maker, earlier this year planned to oust the entire board. It scaled back its ambitions and now seeks to replace four incumbent directors with its own people, including two women. It is urging investors to elect Pauline Brown, Gerardo Lopez, Bridget Ryan Berman and Robert Steele. Starboard has argued that even with Icahn's nominees to the board more change is needed to salvage the company and boost its lagging share price. "Poor execution and a series of operational missteps have resulted in severe share price underperformance compared to both industry peers and the broader market," Smith wrote, adding "the current situation is unacceptable." Newell's share price has lost roughly 17 percent since January. The stock was up 1.2 percent to $25.83 on Tuesday. Three weeks ago Icahn reached a settlement with Newell that immediately gave him four board seats in a deal that was seen undercutting Starboard's campaign. Starboard had planned to oust Newell CEO Michael Polk and wanted to slow the pace of planned asset sales. It had stocked its slate with a group of former Newell directors who had resigned from the board earlier in the year after disagreements over strategy.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "NWL"
}
] |
447
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
BofA to stop lending to some makers of military firearms: Bloomberg (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (N:BAC) plans to stop lending to companies that make military-style firearms for civilians, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, making it the second major U.S. lender to address gun sales after the Florida high school shooting that left 17 dead in February. The company is in discussions with a few manufacturers who make military-style firearms for civilians, Bank of America's vice chairman, Anne Finucane, told the news agency in an interview. "It is not our intent to underwrite or finance military style firearms on a go-forward basis," she said. A spokesman for Bank of America declined to comment on the report. Last month, Citigroup Inc (N:C) added restrictions on firearm sales for new retail sector clients, requiring them to sell firearms only to customers who passed a background check, restricting sales for buyers under 21, and not sell so-called bump stocks or high-capacity magazines. The second-deadliest shooting at a U.S. public school re-ignited the long-running national debate over gun rights, pitting many of the students who survived the Feb. 14 high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, against powerful gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "C"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "BAC"
}
] |
448
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Amid Venezuela default, Goldman receives 'hunger bond' payment: sources CARACAS (Reuters) - Despite being in default on most of its debt, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has made a $90 million interest payment on a bond largely purchased by Goldman Sachs Group Inc (N:GS) last year in an operation that generated backlash in the crisis-stricken nation, finance industry sources said on Tuesday. Opposition leaders in Venezuela, which is suffering from malnutrition and hyperinflation, at the time accused Goldman of giving President Nicolas Maduro a financial lifeline through the $2.8 billion deal. They added that the operation, which provided Goldman a yield of around 50 percent, would fuel hunger in Venezuela by depriving the government of foreign exchange to import food - leading the securities to be dubbed "hunger bonds." PDVSA completed the payment in recent days, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified. PDVSA in December said it had initiated the payment. PDVSA and Goldman did not immediately respond to requests for comment. News of payment on the PDVSA 2022 was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. Maduro's government has halted almost all foreign debt payments, leaving Venezuela and PDVSA in default on around $40 billion in bonds, according to Thomson Reuters data. The U.S. government has barred its citizens from buying newly issued Venezuelan debt, which has effectively locked the country out of financial markets. Leftist Maduro says the country is victim of an "economic war" led by the opposition with the help of United States.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "GS"
}
] |
449
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Investing
| 2018-04-10T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
German minister rejects joint fund with industry to refit diesel cars BERLIN (Reuters) - German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer denied the government was considering setting up a joint fund with carmakers to pay for exhaust systems to make diesel cars cleaner, citing legal and technical concerns about retrofitting older cars. Der Spiegel magazine reported last week the government could ask carmakers to contribute 5 billion euros ($6 billion) to such a fund, which would also include government payments. Scheuer told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper on Tuesday there had not yet been any discussion about funding, and he remained committed to meeting emissions targets using measures already being implemented and without costly hardware retrofits. "The discussion about hardware retrofits is not appropriate at this point, and definitely not with the participation of taxpayers," he told the newspaper in an interview. The issue is being closely watched by major German carmakers Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p), Daimler and BMW. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her cabinet are due to discuss vehicle emissions and how to avert driving bans during their cabinet retreat this week after Germany's top administrative court ruled in February that local authorities could bar heavily polluting diesel cars. There has been a global backlash against diesel-engine cars since Volkswagen (VW) admitted in September 2015 to cheating U.S. exhaust tests. The scandal has spread across the industry and boosted investment in electric vehicles. Of the 15 million diesel cars in Germany, only 2.7 million are equipped with the latest Euro-6 emissions technology. Scheuer said there was "no reason to panic," noting a combination of incentives and specific measures could help lower emissions in cities now exceeding permitted levels. He said software updates of some 5.3 million diesel cars to be completed by the auto industry by the end of the year would reduce emissions by up to 30 percent. He said he had already released the first 20 million euros of 175 million euros in government subsidies to fund the acquisition of electric vehicles for public infrastructure agencies. The initial funds would pay for 2,000 such vehicles, he said. ($1 = 0.8097 euros)
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "VOWG_p"
}
] |
450
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Investing
| 2018-04-11T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Airbus sees backloaded deliveries in 2018, reaffirms target (Reuters) - Airbus (PA:AIR) Chief Executive Tom Enders said on Wednesday the planemaker expects deliveries of narrowbody jets once again to be backloaded towards the latter part of the year - possibly even more so than before - due to ongoing engine issues. Deliveries have been delayed by delivery and quality problems on engines provided by Pratt & Whitney, and most recently engines from French-U.S. venture CFM (PA:SAF) (N:GE). Pratt-powered A320neo deliveries have been suspended. Both engine suppliers for Airbus narrowbody jets remain "stressed," but Airbus - whose main rival is Boeing (N:BA) - is sticking by a target of delivering some 800 aircraft this year, Enders said. "We are quite optimistic they can meet (goals) but it is not going to be a walk in the park," he said at the company's annual shareholder meeting, monitored by webcast.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "BA"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "AIR"
},
{
"sentiment": "ambiguous",
"ticker": "SAF"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "GE"
}
] |
451
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Investing
| 2018-04-11T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Goldman Sachs Sees Up Year For Stocks Despite Trade Conflict Investing.com - Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) expects the S&P 500 to post a gain in 2018, despite the trade rift between the U.S. and China.In a note to clients, the Wall Street firm says trade tensions represent a "minimal risk" to the profits of S&P 500 companies.Goldman estimates that Chinese imports amount to just 3% of the U.S. GDP, while U.S. exports to China account for only 1% of the nation's overall goods and services.Goldman says the Trump administration's mention of $100 billion in additional tariffs is a "negotiating tactic."The firm reiterated its 2018 price target for the S&P 500 of 2,850. That's just about where the benchmark peaked in late January and would represent a 6% annual gain.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "GS"
}
] |
452
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Investing
| 2018-04-11T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Samsung Electronics rejects 2018 lobbying allegations SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) has rejected allegations made by a South Korean broadcaster that it was involved in improper lobbying to bring the 2018 Winter Olympics to Pyeongchang. Broadcaster SBS has reported that a prosecution investigation into the corruption scandal that led to the downfall of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye had uncovered e-mails linking the tech giant to efforts to secure votes for Pyeongchang's third bid to host the Games. SBS said it had obtained copies of e-mails between Samsung officials and Papa Massata Diack, who has been accused by France's financial prosecutor of being part of a corruption racket involved in determining the Olympic host cities. Diack is the son of the former head of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Lamine Diack, who is under investigation for alleged corruption in France. Samsung sponsored the IAAF's Diamond League circuit between 2010 and 2012. As a member of the IOC's TOP sponsorship program, Samsung is not allowed to lobby for a candidate host city. In a statement posted on its internal newsroom website on Tuesday, Samsung denied it had lobbied illegally for Pyeongchang and said there was nothing wrong with its financial backing of the IAAF. "The company has reviewed everything and found that, just like all the other general sponsorship contracts, its sponsorship with the federation was legal," it said. In 2009, former Korean President Lee Myung-bak pardoned then-Samsung chief and International Olympic Committee member Lee Kun-hee after he had been convicted of tax evasion and handed a three-year suspended jail sentence a year earlier. Samsung's Lee was instrumental in bringing the Games to Pyeongchang, which easily beat out Munich and France's Annecy in the first round of voting at the IOC session in Durban in 2011. Pyeongchang hosted the Winter Games in February.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "5930"
}
] |
453
|
Investing
| 2018-04-11T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Air France to meet unions over pay dispute as strike hits flights PARIS (Reuters) - Air France unions leading a strike on Wednesday over wage demands agreed to meet management for further negotiations after the airline improved its salary offer. The industrial action by Air France pilots, cabin crew and ground staff has so far cost the airline 170 million euros ($210 million) and contributed to travel disruption in the country at a time rail workers are also protesting against planned reforms. A pilots union official said talks were slated for Thursday and that a notice for future strikes could be withdrawn if a suitable pay offer was forthcoming. Air France raised its 2018 pay offer to the unions late on Tuesday to 2 percent - double its previous offer but still well below unions' demands for a 6 percent increase. Air France said it expected to run 70 percent of its scheduled flights on Wednesday, the seventh day company staff have walked out. The head of the overall Air France KLM (PA:AIRF) group had earlier denounced the unions' demands for a 6 percent pay increase as unrealistic. "The offer made by the management of Air France is both strong and reasonable," Air France KLM's chairman and chief executive Jean-Marc Janaillac told Europe 1 radio on Wednesday. "It would be irresponsible if the trade unions did not enter into talks, now that the management has held out its hand to them," said Janaillac, who also reiterated that the unions' demands for a 6 percent rise were "unrealistic."
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "AIRF"
}
] |
454
|
Investing
| 2018-04-11T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
VW CEO Mueller's removal has been planned for months: Bild FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The replacement of Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) Chief Executive Matthias Mueller has been planned for months and board members Francisco Garcia Sanz and Karlheinz Blessing are also due to be ousted, Germany's Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday. The small circle of executives planning Mueller's ouster included VW Chairman Hans Dieter Poetsch, labor chief Bernd Osterloh, and two member's of VW's controlling family: Wolfgang Porsche and Hans Michael Piech, Bild reported. Mueller will be replaced before VW's annual general meeting on May 3 and be replaced by VW brand chief Herbert Diess, Bild said. A leak to the media forced Volkswagen to make a hasty disclosure on Tuesday, Bild said. Volkswagen is set to replace Mueller with the head of its core VW brand, Herbert Diess, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "VOWG_p"
}
] |
455
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Investing
| 2018-04-11T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
VW board to decide on new HR chief at Friday meeting: sources BERLIN/HAMBURG (Reuters) - Volkswagen's (DE:VOWG_p) supervisory board will on Friday decide on a replacement for personnel chief Karlheinz Blessing as part of a broader management overhaul, two sources said. The German carmaker is poised to replace group Chief Executive Matthias Mueller with the head of its core brand, Herbert Diess as it aims to boost efficiency amid a post-dieselgate strategic shift, sources said on Tuesday. One of the sources said that Blessing will be replaced by Gunnar Kilian, a general secretary at VW's works council who worked directly under labor boss Bernd Osterloh. German magazine Der Spiegel was first to report that Kilian could replace Blessing who joined VW in January 2016. Blessing's removal will be part of a broader reshuffle that could affect other senior executives, the source said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "exclude",
"ticker": "VOWG_p"
}
] |
456
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Investing
| 2018-04-12T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Broadcom to buy back up to $12 billion of shares (Reuters) - Chipmaker Broadcom Inc (O:AVGO) said on Thursday it would buy back up to $12 billion of its common stock, sending its shares up 4.5 percent to $250 in extended trading. The company, which last month ended its efforts to acquire rival Qualcomm Inc (O:QCOM), said the repurchase program is effective immediately until the end of Broadcom's fiscal year 2019. Broadcom moved back to the United States from Singapore earlier this month, following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to block its $117 billion offer to buy Qualcomm on national security concerns. The San Jose, California based company has about 411 million outstanding shares and a market value of about $98.71 billion as of Thursday's close. (This version of the story corrects to say "end of Broadcom's fiscal year 2019" instead of "end of its fiscal year on Nov. 3" in paragraph 2)
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "QCOM"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "AVGO"
}
] |
457
|
Investing
| 2018-04-12T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Qatar raises $12 billion in jumbo bond despite blockade By Davide Barbuscia and Dmitry Zhdannikov DUBAI/LONDON (Reuters) - Qatar raised $12 billion in a bond issue on Thursday, the largest placement by an emerging market sovereign this year, marking a successful comeback to the international debt markets despite a 10-month-long rift with its Gulf neighbors. The issuance will be seen as a big success for Doha amid a boycott imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, which severed diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the charge and says the pressure is aimed at stripping it of its sovereignty. Saudi Arabia launched a rival $11 billion bond during the same week, in a move seen as an attempt to absorb demand from the market and force Qatar to offer higher yields to attract interest. But the sale in the tiny Gulf state and major gas exporter was heavily oversubscribed. "The overall success of the issue clearly reflects the strength of the Qatari economy and the confidence the state enjoys from international investors," a Qatari government official said when asked about the outcome of the bond placement. U.S. President Donald Trump said this week ties with Qatar were working “extremely well” as he welcomed Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to the White House for bilateral talks. The meeting marked a major turnaround for Qatar as Trump has previously accused Qatar of sponsoring terrorism. On Thursday, Qatar raised a triple-tranche U.S. dollar-denominated bond with orders estimated to have exceeded $52-53 billion. Qatar gave initial price guidance earlier on Thursday, with the five-year tranche marketed at around 170 basis points (bps) over U.S. Treasuries, the 10-year at 200 bps over Treasuries and the 30-year at around 230 bps over. It then tightened the guidance to final spreads of 135 bps over U.S. Treasuries for $3 billion in five-year notes, 170 bps over the benchmark for $3 billion in 10-year notes and to 205 bps over for $6 billion in 30-year paper. Al Khaliji, Barclays (LON:BARC), Crédit Agricole CIB, Credit Suisse (SIX:CSGN), Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn), Mizuho Securities, QNB Capital and Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) Bank were joint lead managers and joint bookrunners.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "BARC"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "CSGN"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "DBKGn"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "STAN"
}
] |
458
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Investing
| 2018-04-12T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
BlackRock sails to higher profit despite market churn (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (N:BLK), the world's largest asset manager, reported first-quarter profit that exceeded Wall Street estimates on Thursday, benefiting despite higher volatility in global markets. BlackRock said its iShares family of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) added $34.65 billion in new money in the quarter, down from $64.48 billion a year earlier. The new assets helped BlackRock boost its revenue from managing money and lending out the stocks in its funds faster than its expenses on sales and compensation, bulking profits. The market swung wildly during the quarter, with enthusiasm over the effect of U.S. corporate tax cuts enacted last year blunted by concerns about inflation, a global trade war and U.S. central bank policy. BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink said in a statement the company's institutional clients reacted dramatically, for instance by stocking away cash in the bond market, selling investments to fund investments, share buybacks or acquisitions. "In a challenging environment, BlackRock continued to perform well," Fink said. Total revenue rose 15.9 percent to $3.6 billion from the same quarter in 2017, while expenses rose just 9.8 percent to $2.2 billion. Assets under management were $6.32 trillion on March 31. BlackRock shares climbed 2.4 percent in premarket trading. Overall, the New York-based company's net income rose to $1.09 billion, or $6.68 per share, in the quarter ended March 31 from $859 million, or $5.21 per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, BlackRock earned $6.70 per share, which the company said was partly driven by a lower tax rate. Analysts on an average expected BlackRock to report $6.39 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "BLK"
}
] |
459
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Investing
| 2018-04-12T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Two Wall Street Firms Up Netflix Stock-Price Targets Ahead Of Earnings Investing.com - Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) may be under pressure, but Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) rolls on.Two Wall Street firms have raised their 12-month, stock-price targets on the video streaming company. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) lifted its target from $285 to $328 a share, saying it expects strong earnings when the company reports first-quarter results next week.The firm said Netflix will continue to thrive on the disruption of traditional TV and grow its subscription base through quality original content. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upped its price target from $275 to $350, focusing on Netflix's ability to expand globally. The firm called Asia the "largest untapped opportunity." Netflix shares have doubled in the past 12 months.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "JPM"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "AMZN"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "MS"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "NFLX"
}
] |
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Investing
| 2018-04-12T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Disney must offer to buy all of Sky, Britain's takeover regulator rules By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's takeover regulator said Walt Disney (N:DIS) must offer to buy all of Sky if it acquires Twenty-First Century Fox's 39 percent stake and if Rupert Murdoch's Fox is prevented from purchasing all of the European pay-TV company itself. Fox (O:FOXA) agreed an offer to buy all of Sky (L:SKYB) 17 months ago but is still waiting regulatory approval, while Disney has agreed to buy Fox assets, including its stake in Sky, in a separate deal subject to its own regulatory clearance. The ruling means that if Fox's bid to buy Sky is blocked by the government in June because of Murdoch's media influence, Disney will have to step in to make the same offer to shareholders if and when it becomes the owner of Fox's assets. Disney had said it should not be required to make a bid for the whole of Sky in line with Fox's existing offer if it bought the Fox assets, but Britain's Takeover Panel ruled on Thursday that it must match Fox's 10.75 pounds-a-share price. Analysts had said Disney wanted a special dispensation to give it more flexibility on whether or when it would bid for the rest of Sky if it only bought the 39 percent stake from Fox. The Takeover Panel, however, said it considered that securing control of Sky might reasonably be considered to be a significant purpose of Disney's acquiring control of Fox, and it must make an offer within 28 days of buying the Fox assets. FOX COMMITTED The Panel's ruling will not stand if Fox has acquired 100 percent of Sky by the time Disney buys the Fox assets, or if Comcast Corp or any other third party has acquired a stake of more than 50 percent in Sky. U.S. cable company Comcast (O:CMCSA) said on Feb. 27 that it was considering making an offer for Sky. Sky said it noted the Takeover Panel's ruling, and it advised shareholders to take no further action at this time. Twenty-First Century Fox said that under the ruling, any mandatory offer by Disney would only be required after Disney's acquisition of Fox is completed, which Fox currently expects to occur after completion of Fox's offer for Sky. "21CF (Fox) remains committed to its recommended cash offer for Sky announced on 15th December 2016," it said. The offer was supported by revised remedies it had offered to Britain's Competition and Markets Authority, it added.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "DIS"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "CMCSA"
}
] |
461
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Investing
| 2018-04-12T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Volkswagen rushed revamp triggers labor concern: sources BERLIN/MUNICH (Reuters) - Labor representatives at Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) are concerned by a sudden rush by the German carmaker's board to approve sweeping changes on Thursday, sources said, while Handelsblatt reported that its finance chief could step down. As part of what could be the biggest shake-up at Volkswagen in a decade, Chief Executive Matthias Mueller is due to be replaced by Herbert Diess, head of VW's core autos brand, who has repeatedly clashed with unions over cost cuts. Volkswagen announced the CEO change on Tuesday in a short and cryptic statement, abruptly ending the reign of Mueller who took over at VW a week after it was plunged into its biggest-ever corporate scandal. Other changes before the board include a public stock market listing of VW's truck and bus division, a management board seat for a labor representative and a reorganization of its 12 brands into four categories, sources said. Volkswagen's efforts to reform have often been stifled by powerful labor unions who command half of the seats on the board of directors, and the German state of Lower Saxony, which controls a 20 percent voting stake. Volkswagen shares were up 2.5 percent ahead of the board meeting due to start at 1400 GMT on Thursday at the carmaker's Wolfsburg base, and were one of the top gainers on the German blue-chip DAX (GDAXI). "Nobody knew anything," a source at one of VW's brands told Reuters. "What's going on there is plain folly." "The way in which changes of such a magnitude were communicated internally is more than questionable," a source close to VW's supervisory board said. Sources close to VW said the controlling Porsche-Piech families and Lower Saxony had decided they could not afford to wait because of the risk of the changes being leaked. They had brought Thursday's board meeting forward from Friday afternoon for the same reason, the sources said. German business daily Handelsblatt reported that Finance Chief Frank Witter was enraged about how the supervisory board had piloted the changes and that there was a risk that he could step down, citing unnamed sources at VW. Witter did not want to comment, a VW spokesman said, while the carmaker's headquarters and works council declined comment. The management reshuffle could affect other senior VW executives, a source told Reuters on Wednesday.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "ambiguous",
"ticker": "VOWG_p"
}
] |
462
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Investing
| 2018-04-12T00:00:00
| 2,018
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VW's Diess to become head of volume brand division: sources FRANKFURT/BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) brand chief Herbert Diess will head up a volume brands division which includes responsibility for Skoda and Seat, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The newly-created volume brand group will also include VW's commercial-vehicle division, one of the sources said. "Diess will get immense power," he said. Volkswagen's board member for procurement Francisco Javier Garcia Sanz will leave his post, the sources further said. Porsche Chief Executive Oliver Blume will join the management board of VW Group, one of the sources said. AutomobilWoche was first to report that Sanz would leave.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "VOWG_p"
}
] |
463
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Investing
| 2018-04-12T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Activist investor Barington nominates two directors at Xerium By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - Activist investor Barington Capital Group LP has launched a fight for two board seats at machine industry company Xerium Technologies Inc., according to a regulatory filing made on Thursday. The New York-based hedge fund, which owns 5.05 percent of Xerium, nominated two directors to sit on the company's eight member board. It named Jared Landaw, the firm's chief operating officer, and Michelle Applebaum, a former steel market industry analyst, on March 13. On March 19, six days after Barington nominated its candidates, the company said it would explore strategic alternatives. One day after making that announcement, Xerium's chairman, James Wilson, met with Barington representatives. The company did not return requests to comment. On Thursday, the share price climbed 2 percent to $6.57. Since the start of the year, the stock has surged 51 percent. Barington is urging the company, which makes products used primarily in the production of paper, to consider selling itself or to find a way to refinance its $480 million of 9.5 percent senior notes. The hedge fund currently has representatives on the boards of three industrial companies; A. Schulman, Inc., OMNOVA Solutions, Inc. and The Eastern Company. In February, LyondellBassell Industries NV agreed to buy Schulman in a deal valued at $2.25 billion. James Mitarotonda, who runs Barington, tends to invest in industrial companies or retail companies. Barington, along with Shah Capital and NuOrion Partners, reached an agreement with Avon Products Inc (NYSE:AVP). last month to put Mitarotonda on the board.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "AVP"
}
] |
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Investing
| 2018-04-13T00:00:00
| 2,018
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VW labor chief backs new CEO Diess to steer overhaul By Maria Sheahan FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen's (DE:VOWG_p) top labor representative has backed the company's management shake-up, signaling that new CEO Herbert Diess could face less resistance in his efforts to revamp Europe's biggest carmaker than in his previous role. Diess was appointed late on Thursday to succeed ousted group chief Matthias Mueller as part of an overhaul that includes the streamlining of VW's multiple car brands into three groups while preparing its truck business for a potential listing. "We are convinced that, with Diess, we have the right man on board," works council chief Bernd Osterloh said in a letter to employees on Friday. Osterloh's comments come after repeated clashes over Diess's drive to cut costs and improve profits at the carmaker's core VW brand, where Diess was handed the reins only three months before the Dieselgate emissions scandal erupted. The labor chief had accused Diess of betraying workers and trying to use the emissions scandal as a pretext for pushing through job cuts. "Back then, we were not immediately on the same page," Osterloh said in his letter. "But, as is well known, that issue was laid to rest a long time ago." Osterloh and Diess struck a deal in November 2016 on cost savings and job cuts through natural attrition, and on Friday Osterloh said job security and profitability were now equally important at the company. The planned group overhaul is Volkswagen's biggest revamp since it became a multi-brand conglomerate under former CEO Ferdinand Piech, a grandson of VW Beetle designer Ferdinand Porsche. Osterloh said that labor representatives also back Volkswagen's decision to prepare its truck and bus division for "capital market readiness" by making it a public limited company. "The works councils of Scania and MAN support this next step because it continues the work done so far," he said. Shares in Volkswagen rose 0.8 percent to 178.04 euros by 0800 GMT, against a 0.5 percent rise for the STOXX 600 automotive index (SXAP).
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "VOWG_p"
},
{
"sentiment": null,
"ticker": "STOXX"
},
{
"sentiment": "not stock",
"ticker": "SXAP"
}
] |
465
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Investing
| 2018-04-13T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Ford's March China vehicle sales down 11 percent year on year BEIJING (Reuters) - Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Co's sales in China fell 11 percent in March from a year earlier to 83,666 vehicles, as its business in the world's biggest auto market remains hampered by a dearth of fresh products. The company, whose sales fell a sharp 30 percent in February, said on Friday its sales in the first three months of this year totaled 207,139 vehicles, down 19 percent from a year earlier. The big decline in February volume was due in part to fewer working days in the month because of a late Chinese lunar new year holiday, but Ford's first-quarter numbers reveal the continued difficulty facing the Michigan-based automaker. Company officials have said Ford's business in China this year will remain pressured by a dearth of new or significantly redesigned cars models in its product lineup – a situation they indicated should last through the end of 2018 or through early 2019.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "F"
}
] |
466
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Investing
| 2018-04-13T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Russia's deputy PM calls Siemens an unreliable partner: RIA MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said Siemens (DE:SIEGn) could not be relied upon as a partner after a clash between the German industrial group and Russian companies, RIA news agency quoted him as saying on Friday. Last year, Siemens requested the return of gas turbines which were sent to the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Russia, in violation of European Union sanctions. The EU and the United States imposed sanctions on two Russian high-ranking energy ministry officials and two Russian companies involved in delivering the turbines to Crimea. "How can we work with Siemens any longer after what it did, imposing in fact sanctions on our colleagues Unfortunately, they (Siemens) can not be a reliable partner anymore," RIA cited Dvorkovich as saying at a forum in Krasnoyarsk. "We are still working with them because we believe that our colleagues have time to change and hope for such a change but you can not betray our trust," Dvorkovich said, according to RIA. Siemens declined to comment.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "SIEGn"
}
] |
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Investing
| 2018-04-13T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Jaguar Land Rover to cut production and jobs due to Brexit, diesel slump: ITV LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (NS:TAMO) will cut production and jobs due to Brexit and the fall in demand for diesel models, ITV's business editor tweeted on Friday. "Formal announcement will be made on Monday. I’m told around 1,000 roles will be affected and that JLR will blame Brexit and sharp fall in demand for diesel," Joel Hills tweeted. JLR did not offer an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. In January, the firm said it would temporarily reduce production at its northern English car plant in Halewood later this year in response to weakening demand due to Brexit and tax hikes on diesel cars but did not detail any job losses.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "TAMO"
}
] |
468
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Investing
| 2018-04-13T00:00:00
| 2,018
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GM's troubled Korea unit says annual net loss widens to $1.1 billion DETROIT/SEOUL (Reuters) - General Motors' (N:GM) South Korean unit said on Friday its annual net loss widened to $1.1 billion, its fourth straight year in the red after GM's decision to pull its Chevy brand from Europe led to reduced exports. GM Korea said its 2017 net loss came in 1.16 trillion won ($1.1 billion), 84 percent bigger than its loss the previous year. It made an operating loss of 854 billion won, compared to 531 billion won in 2016. GM Korea said the result was due to large fixed costs for unused facilities and "continuously rising labor costs," adding that business conditions in South Korea and overseas had deteriorated. In 2017, the company sold 1.068 million vehicles, including 524,547 complete built up (CBU) units and 543,665 complete knock down (CKD) units, down from 1.259 million the previous year.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "GM"
}
] |
469
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Investing
| 2018-04-13T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Citigroup profit beats on strength in consumer banking, equity trading By Sweta Singh and David Henry (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (N:C) reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday, driven by strength in its consumer banking business and a surge in equities trading. Global consumer banking revenue increased 7 percent on gains in North America, Mexico and Asia. Equity markets revenue jumped 38 percent, gaining from increased volatility in the quarter. But weakness in the lender's investment banking business was a sore point for investors. Citi's stock was down nearly 3 percent in afternoon trade as the bank reported a 10 percent drop in revenue from the business. Larger rival JPMorgan Chase & Co's (N:JPM) quarterly profit was also dented by a 7 decline in investment banking revenue. "There were a lot of deals announced, but there were not a lot of deals closed on a year-over-year basis," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley FBR in New York. "I think that's going to impact all of those involved in investment banking, Citigroup included." Still, Citi's net income rose 13 percent in the first quarter. On a per share basis, Citi earned $1.68, topping analysts' average estimate of $1.61, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. "Good quarter for Citi as they continue to show progress in their return of & return on capital mantra," Evercore analyst Glenn Schorr wrote in a note to clients. The results benefited from a busy trading desk as volatility rocked global markets amid inflation fears and heightened trade tensions, in contrast to a calm 2017. Total revenue rose about 3 percent to $18.87 billion, while operating expenses rose 2 percent to $10.92 billion. The rise in equity markets revenue offset a 7 percent drop in Citi's bigger fixed income trading business. Combined, the two were up 1 percent. Investment banking revenue fell to $1.13 billion from $1.29 billion and Citi blamed "declines in the overall market wallet and the timing of episodic deal activity." Return on tangible common equity, a measure of profitability, reached 11.4 percent in part to the company having had to mark down its equity value in the fourth quarter because of the tax law change. Citi said in January it expected return on common tangible equity at 10.5 percent for the full year. Shares of the fourth largest U.S. bank by assets were down 2.8 percent at $70.10. They have gained 23 percent in the last 12 months.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "C"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "JPM"
}
] |
470
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Investing
| 2018-04-13T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Deutsche Bank's S&P rating put on credit watch after CEO change BERLIN (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank's (DE:DBKGn) sudden change in chief executive could prolong the lender's restructuring, ratings agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) said as it placed the bank on "credit watch negative" late on Thursday. Last weekend retail banking specialist Christian Sewing replaced John Cryan as Deutsche's CEO, raising the prospect of radical change at Germany's flagship lender, which has been slower than rivals to reform after the financial crisis. S&P said the placing of the bank's "A-" long-term issuer credit rating on credit watch with negative implications reflected its view that the restructuring could now take longer and cost more than current expectations. The agency affirmed its ratings on Deutsche Bank's subordinated debt issues. S&P said it believed that Sewing and the leadership team had the expertise to carry out the bank's restructuring, adding that it would be better placed to assess the management's strategy in coming weeks once Sewing's priorities are known. "This change could still act as a springboard for the bank to move more rapidly toward a sustainable, solidly profitable business model. However, in our view, it also implies that the bank may need to broaden the restructuring effort," S&P said. The agency said it would decide by the end of May at the latest whether to downgrade Deutsche Bank's credit ratings once further details of the new leadership's strategy are known. Deutsche Bank said it respected S&P's decision and appreciated the agency's statement showing trust in the new leadership team. "We note that this credit watch refers specifically to our preferred or structured senior debt and that Deutsche Bank’s other key ratings are reaffirmed," it said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "DBKGn"
}
] |
471
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Investing
| 2018-04-13T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Aberdeen urges voting system change to replace Brazil's BRF board By Ana Mano SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A campaign by Aberdeen Asset Management Plc (LON:ADNl) and other activist shareholders urging Brazilian food company BRF SA (SA:BRFS3) to adopt a new voting system is aimed at bringing transparency to the process of replacing the board of directors, an Aberdeen executive said on Friday. The firm, which owns 5 percent of BRF, wants the food processor to adopt a system in which shareholders can vote on individual board candidates, rather than a slate of previously agreed candidates, Peter Taylor, its head of Brazilian equities, said in an interview on Friday. BRF declined to comment. Certain BRF shareholders are pushing for a management shake-up after the company posted its worst ever annual results. BRF also faces accusations that it acted to evade food safety rules and a trade ban on its chicken exports to Europe. The proposed voting shift signals a deepening rift between shareholders and the company's board. Its shares fell almost 4.6 percent on Friday. BRF formally disclosed Aberdeen's request to change the voting system on Thursday. Pension funds Petros and Previ, which own a combined 22 percent of BRF, have been leading the charge to replace the board. The funds had been attempting to negotiate a slate of candidates for the board with a faction led by Chairman Abilio Diniz, although talks fell apart. Instead, a competing slate of candidates has emerged, prompting Aberdeen to call for adoption of a system known as cumulative voting, Taylor said. "The reason why we have called for the adoption of cumulative voting is to provide clarity and transparency for foreign investors who are facing voting deadlines in the next few days," Taylor said. A cumulative voting system is generally regarded as a strategy to ensure minority shareholders greater representation in the board of a company. Petros said in a statement the cumulative vote requested by Aberdeen "aims to preserve the rights of BRF's entire shareholder base." Aberdeen supports the pension funds' list, Taylor said, adding that he expected their group to elect the majority of board members at a shareholder meeting on April 26. Other investors would be free to nominate competing names, he said. A dissolution of BRF's board would likely entail the removal of Diniz, a retail magnate who took the reins five years ago and owns nearly 4 percent of the company. Diniz did not have an immediate comment.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "ADNl"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "BRFS3"
}
] |
472
|
Investing
| 2018-04-15T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Partners Group, Charlesbank near deal for Hearthside Food: sources By Harry Brumpton and Greg Roumeliotis (Reuters) - Private equity firms Partners Group Holding AG (S:PGHN) and Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC are nearing a deal to acquire Hearthside Food Solutions LLC, a U.S. contract manufacturer used by food and drink companies such as Kellogg Co (N:K) and PepsiCo Inc (O:PEP), for more than $2.4 billion, including debt, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday. The deal reflects the U.S. food manufacturing outsourcing sector's appeal to private equity firms. Major food and drink companies turn to contract manufacturers such as Hearthside to cut production costs and boost their profitability. The consortium of Partners Group and Charlesbank outbid other private equity firms in the auction for Hearthside, and is negotiating final terms with the company's existing owners, Vestar Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Group Inc's (N:GS) private equity arm, the sources said. Partners Group and Charlesbank have agreed to pay the equivalent of about 11 times Hearthside's 12-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, the sources added. If the negotiations are completed successfully, a deal could be announced as early as Monday, the sources added, cautioning there was always a possibility that talks fall apart at the last minute. The sources asked not to be identified because the deal discussions are confidential. Vestar and Goldman Sachs declined to comment, while representatives for Partners Group, Charlesbank and Hearthside did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hearthside produces baked foods and snacks, including energy bars, cookies and pretzels, out of 24 manufacturing facilities in the United States and Europe for the world’s premier food companies, according to its website. The company, based in Downers Grove, Illinois, was created in 2009 by private equity firm Wind Point Partners and Rich Scalise, a former Ralcorp Frozen Bakery Products president and veteran of ConAgra Foods Inc (N:CAG). Scalise now serves as Hearthside’s chairman and chief executive officer. Goldman Sachs and Vestar acquired Hearthside for $1.1 billion from Wind Point in 2014. Hearthside has since acquired other companies, including Standard Function Foods Group last year.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "GS"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "CAG"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "K"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "PEP"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "PGHN"
}
] |
473
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Investing
| 2018-04-15T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
South Korea minister says GM Korea needs to be able to survive on own in long-term SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's finance minister said on Monday that public funds could only be used to support the South Korean auto unit of General Motors Co (N:GM) if it was clear that the business could survive on its own long-term. Speaking to reporters after a policy meeting in Seoul, Kim Dong-yeon said major shareholders and other parties involved need to swiftly come to an agreement on sharing the burden of improving the loss-making operation. GM shocked South Korea in February with plans to close one local plant and leaving the fate of three others unclear. It is seeking government funding and incentives as well as wage concessions to save the unit, which just posted an annual net loss of $1.1 billion, its fourth straight year in the red.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "GM"
}
] |
474
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Investing
| 2018-04-15T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Goldman Sachs buys personal finance start-up Clarity Money By Jessica Resnick-Ault NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) bought Clarity Money, a personal finance startup, to bolster its Marcus online lending business, it said Sunday. Buying Clarity Money, a free app that helps consumers manage their personal finances, is expected to add over 1 million customers to the financial service firm's Marcus business. Marcus offers tools to help customers save and borrow. Clarity Money will be re-branded as Marcus by Goldman Sachs over time, the company said. Terms were not disclosed. Goldman launched Marcus in October 2016 as a way to court Main Street borrowers saddled with credit card debt. It offers loans from $3,500 to $40,000 and targets credit card borrowers who can benefit from consolidating debt into a single loan with a lower interest rate. GS Bank, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, is making the acquisition. Clarity Money CEO Adam Dell will join Goldman Sachs as a partner. (This version of the story corrects in paragraph 4 to say that Marcus offers loans up to $40,000, not $30,000)
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "GS"
}
] |
475
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Investing
| 2018-04-16T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Opel-Vauxhall to scrap dealerships as Peugeot cuts costs LONDON (Reuters) - Opel and its sister car brand Vauxhall will cut their number of dealerships as new owner Peugeot (PA:PEUP) continues to reduce costs at the firm it acquired last year in the face of sliding sales in major market Britain. Peugeot parent company PSA bought Opel and Vauxhall last year when it acquired General Motors’ loss-making European arm and has been pursuing a restructuring plan to return it to profitability. Vauxhall's new boss Stephen Norman is tasked with turning around falling sales in what has traditionally been Opel-Vauxhall's biggest market, where demand fell 22 percent in 2017, compared with an overall market decline of 5.7 percent. "The requirements of the industry going forward and the requirements of the brands Opel and Vauxhall ... would not require as many retail outlets as the brands currently have," Norman told reporters. Consumers are increasingly going online rather than making multiple visits to showrooms. The chief executive of a dealership group, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters last month that Vauxhall wants to cut its showrooms by roughly a third to around 200 outlets to ensure its sales per outlet are "in a good place".
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "PEUP"
}
] |
476
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Investing
| 2018-04-16T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Morgan Stanley Upgrades Nvidia, Sees Outperformance In 2019 Investing.com - Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has upgraded Nvidia, saying the chipmaker will beat earnings expectations in its 2019 fiscal year.In a note to investors, the Wall Street firm raised its rating from equal-weight to overweight and also reiterated its 12-month, stock-price target of $258 a share.Morgan Stanley said strength in Nvidia's gaming and artificial intelligence businesses will drive profits. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) also recently upgraded Nvidia, calling it "one of the more unique investments in semis/technology".Two other brokerage firms recently downgraded Nvidia because of concerns about a decline in its cryptocurrency mining business.Both Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, however, downplayed that impact on its overall performance.Nvidia shares are up about 120% in the past 12 months..
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "BAC"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "MS"
}
] |
477
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Investing
| 2018-04-16T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
HSBC sets out new structure for private bank in Europe LONDON (Reuters) - HSBC (L:HSBA) said on Monday it would create a single regional structure for its private bank in Europe which includes its businesses in the UK, Channel Islands, France, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg. The new structure, which will be called HSBC Global Private Banking, EMEA, will be led by Chris Allen, who has been appointed regional head of global private banking. "This will create a regional private banking business that is more integrated, strategically aligned and well positioned to deliver continued growth for HSBC Private Banking," the bank said in a statement. The move comes ahead of HSBC's annual shareholder meeting on Friday - the first under new Chairman Mark Tucker, who joined last October, and Chief Executive John Flint, who joined in February. Tucker, who has already spearheaded an initiative to streamline the bank's board, and Flint gave their first hints of what strategy they would pursue at an analyst presentation earlier this month, outlining a plan to cut internal bureaucracy and expand investment in China. Allen's current role as CEO of HSBC's private bank in the UK will be taken by Charles Boulton, who has held a number of senior roles in the bank, HSBC said. Meanwhile, Franco Morra, CEO of HSBC's private bank in Switzerland, will leave the bank with a permanent replacement to be decided in the coming months. Christophe Guillemot, CFO of global private banking, will take up the position on an interim basis. HSBC's global private banking business accounted for just over 3 percent of the bank's adjusted global revenues in 2017, according to HSBC's annual report for that year.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "HSBA"
}
] |
478
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Investing
| 2018-04-16T00:00:00
| 2,018
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Carl Icahn sells Tropicana casinos in $1.85 billion deal By Ankit Ajmera (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is cashing out of casino business Tropicana Entertainment (PK:TPCA) in a $1.85 billion deal that will see Eldorado Resorts (O:ERI) picking up Tropicana's casino operations including its crown jewel in Atlantic City. Under the deal announced on Monday, six of the eight casino properties run by Tropicana will be sold by Icahn Enterprises LP (O:IEP) to real estate investment trust Gaming and Leisure Properties (O:GLPI) for $1.21 billion. The casino operations will be taken over by Eldorado, which will pay the remaining $640 million and lease the properties from GLPI for an initial 15-year period. Eldorado's shares jumped as much as 21 percent to an all-time high of $43.15, while those of Gaming and Leisure Properties were up 4.7 percent at $34.85. "(Tropicana Entertainment's) assets are in very good shape. Tropicana Atlantic City, Lumiere and Evansville - all stand out as top notch assets," Union Gaming Research analyst John DeCree said. The deal is the latest in a series of mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. gambling sector in recent years as companies expand their reach, diversify their businesses and take advantage of recent legalization of gaming in some states. "We did not foresee any need for near-term capital investments of any scale across the properties," Eldorado Chief Executive Officer Gary Carano said. The addition of Tropicana's "high quality" assets will allow Eldorado to save about $40 million in the first year following the close of the deal later in 2018. This is Icahn's second major sale in as many weeks. Last week, he agreed to sell auto parts maker Federal-Mogul to Tenneco Inc (N:TEN) in a $5.4 billion deal, unloading an investment he has held for nearly two decades. Icahn Enterprises said in its statement that the deal did not include Tropicana's Aruba casino and resort in the Caribbean, which would be sold separately as a condition of closing the deal. Reno-based Eldorado owns and operates twenty properties in 10 U.S. states, including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The company, which bought Isle of Capri Casinos in a $1.7 billion deal in 2017, on Monday also agreed to acquire Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Illinois for $327.5 million in cash.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "IEP"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "TEN"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "GLPI"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "TPCA"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "ERI"
}
] |
479
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Investing
| 2018-04-17T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
India's CBI probing Surya Pharmaceuticals in $95 million bank fraud case NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian police have launched an investigation into a Delhi-based pharmaceutical company for allegedly defrauding state-run Punjab & Sind Bank and four other banks of 6.21 billion rupees ($94.57 million), police said. "Investigation is continuing," Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the federal police, said in a statement on Tuesday. The CBI said the searches were conducted at seven locations and recovered some documents. The police acted following a complaint from the Punjab & Sind Bank against Surya Pharmaceuticals (NS:SURP), its two promoters and a Dubai-based company, alleging they had defrauded the banks and siphoned off funds through group companies, a police report reviewed by Reuters showed. Reuters' attempts to contact officials of Surya Pharmaceuticals and Punjab & Sind Bank officials through phone and email outside office hours remained unanswered. The finance ministry had earlier asked all banks to step up vigilance following a $2 billion fraud in February at India's second-biggest state-run lender Punjab National Bank (NS:PNBK).
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "PNBK"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "SURP"
}
] |
480
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Investing
| 2018-04-17T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
UnitedHealth profit beats and it raises 2018 outlook (Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group Inc (N:UNH), the largest U.S. health insurer, on Tuesday posted quarterly profit that beat estimates as it kept medical costs within expectations despite the added demand for services due to a strong flu season and raised its 2018 outlook. Shares of UnitedHealth rose 2.9 percent to $237 in premarket trading. ISI Evercore analyst Michael Newshel said in a research note that he believed the earnings beat came from the Optum business, which includes its pharmacy benefit manager, data analysis and physician groups. UnitedHealth has added more doctors, urgent care centers and surgery centers through a series of acquisitions. UnitedHealth's medical care ratio, or the percentage of premiums paid out for medical services, improved to 81.4 percent from 82.4 percent a year earlier. The company raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to a range of $12.40 to $12.65 per share from a range of $12.30 to $12.60. The health insurance sector has gone through a number of big takeover deals in the past year as companies consider how to stay competitive. Recent deals include insurer Aetna Inc's (N:AET) $69 billion merger with CVS Health Corp (N:CVS) and smaller rival Cigna Corp (N:CI) acquisition of Express Scripts Holding Co (O:ESRX), the largest U.S. independent pharmacy benefit manager, for $54 billion. UnitedHealth's net earnings rose to $2.84 billion, or $2.87 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31 from $2.17 billion, or $2.23 per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned $3.04 per share. Total revenue rose 13.3 percent to $55.19 billion. Analysts, on average, expected earnings of $2.89 per share on revenue of $54.86 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "ESRX"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "CI"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "AET"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "CVS"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "UNH"
}
] |
481
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Investing
| 2018-04-17T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
United Airlines profit rises with higher fares NEW YORK (Reuters) - United Airlines (N:UAL) said on Tuesday quarterly profit rose, as higher fares helped offset the costs of fuel and a rash of winter storms. The third-largest U.S. airline by passenger traffic reported first-quarter net income of $147 million, or 52 cents per share, compared with $99 million, or 32 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding some one-time items, it reported earnings of 50 cents per share. That beat Wall Street's average estimate of 43 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Operating revenue rose to $9 billion from $8.4 billion a year ago, meeting analysts' estimates. The Chicago-based carrier adjusted its plans for capacity growth for the year, aiming for a rate of between 4.5 percent and 5.5 percent. Its previous expected range was between 4 percent and 6 percent. Last quarter United sent airline industry shares lower by sparking concerns about fare wars with its aggressive capacity expansion plans. For the second quarter, United said it would increase the number of seats it flies by between 4 percent and 5 percent.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "UAL"
}
] |
482
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Investing
| 2018-04-17T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Twitter surges after Morgan Stanley raises from 'underweight' By Noel Randewich SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Twitter Inc (N:TWTR) surged nearly 11 percent on Tuesday and were on track for their best session in two months after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) upgraded its recommendation on the social network to "equal-weight" from "underweight". Investors are likely to continue to pay a premium for Twitter's stock due to expectations of faster revenue growth in 2018 and signs of progress in a company turnaround, Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak wrote in a report. Nowak raised his target price for Twitter by a dollar to $29. Twitter traded at $31.69 on the New York Stock Exchange at midday. "Constructive advertiser conversations, improving user growth, and positive revisions make a more compelling risk/reward," Nowak wrote. A surprise return to revenue growth sent Twitter's stock 12 percent higher after its last quarterly report on Feb. 8 and it is up 32 percent year to date. The social network is popular with celebrities, professional athletes and politicians and is ubiquitous in the media, but it has struggled to turn a profit and consistently grow its revenue. Overall, analysts are cautious. Nine recommend selling Twitter, 21 have neutral ratings and seven recommend buying, according to Thomson Reuters data. On average, they expect Twitter's stock to decline to $27.58. The stock is trading at 45 times expected earnings, compared with Facebook's (O:FB) valuation of 21 times earnings, according to Thomson Reuters data. Twitter is expected on average by analysts to post a 10 percent increase in revenue to $605 million and non-GAAP earnings per share of 12 cents when it reports its March-quarter results on April 25. Under GAAP, analysts on average expect a net loss of $23 million.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "MS"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "TWTR"
}
] |
483
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Investing
| 2018-04-17T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Blue Harbour CEO Robbins says Open Text could be acquired By Liana B. Baker (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Blue Harbour Group LP CEO Cliff Robbins told a conference in New York on Tuesday that Canadian business information management software company Open Text Corp (TO:OTEX) could be acquired. "There is potential for a strategic sale down the road," Robbins said during a presentation at 13D Monitor's Active-Passive Investor Summit, adding that there has been significant consolidation in the software sector. Open Text shares rose 4 percent to $35.95 on Tuesday. Robbins said that a company sale is "always possible in the software space." "I think the return opportunity is significantly higher than this," referring to where Open Text shares were trading. Blue Harbour owns a 3.49 percent stake in Open Text, according to Thomson Reuters data. An Open Text spokeswoman declined to comment.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "OTEX"
}
] |
484
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Investing
| 2018-04-17T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Goldman may acquire its way to a bigger consumer bank By Lauren Tara LaCapra NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (N:GS) is likely to expand its consumer bank through small acquisitions, its finance chief said on Tuesday, without ruling out the idea that it might buy a traditional lender, too. During a conference call to discuss quarterly results, Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) analyst Mike Mayo listed the ways Goldman is trying to generate $5 billion more in annual revenue and asked Chief Financial Officer R. Martin Chavez whether it would simply buy a brick-and-mortar bank. After explaining that Goldman has a history of building businesses internally, and a preference for "bolt-on" acquisitions, if any, Chavez suggested that management routinely considers more transformative deals. "We are evaluating all these acquisitions, including things that you describe," he said. "We are open-minded and it's all part of the consideration." Goldman got into consumer lending much later than big U.S. banking peers, and analysts have asserted on and off through the years that acquiring a big consumer lender would help even out volatile results from businesses like trading and investment banking. Unlike most rivals, Goldman did not make any significant acquisitions during the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Such a deal could be more difficult to accomplish now, as the industry has consolidated, values have risen and more regulatory hurdles have been put in place. Since launching its digital consumer bank Marcus in 2016, Goldman has been growing the business by paying up for deposits, offering new products like home improvement loans and recently acquiring Clarity Money, a personal finance smartphone app. Marcus is now lending out $3 billion of its more than $20 billion in deposits, Chavez said, making it a much smaller bank with a much lower loan-to-deposit ratio than lenders like JPMorgan Chase & Co (N:JPM), Bank of America Corp (N:BAC), or even its closest peer, Morgan Stanley (N:MS). Goldman looked at "well over 100" businesses to potentially acquire before launching Marcus, Chavez said, but none were the right fit. The company is still examining whether and how to expand offerings in credit cards, wealth management, retirement products and personal finance, he said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "BAC"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "GS"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "JPM"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "WFC"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "MS"
}
] |
485
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Investing
| 2018-04-17T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
JPMorgan Chase Sees Blockbuster First-Quarter Earnings Investing.com - JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) says first-quarter earnings will be better than expected, driven by more than the benefit of lower corporate taxes.In a note to clients, the Wall Street firm said it expects earnings to rise by 21%, well above the consensus forecast of 17.5%.JPMorgan says earnings will be lifted by a host of economic factors, including rising disposable income and consumer confidence.The firm says strong corporate profits and record share buybacks will drive stock prices higher, after a unusually volatile period in which the market suffered two corrections in a little more than a month.Earnings rose just under 15% in the fourth quarter and are forecast to grow by 18.5% for all of 2018.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "JPM"
}
] |
486
|
Investing
| 2018-04-17T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Morgan Stanley Warns Markets the Best Times May Be Near an End (Bloomberg) -- Investors need to prepare for downside as the end of the economic cycle is near and U.S. markets are priced for best-case scenarios, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) says. While fiscal stimulus is supportive of growth in the near term, the benefits are already likely “in the price” and increase potential downside for markets at the end of the cycle, Morgan Stanley strategists including Michael Zezas, Matthew Hornbach and Andrew Sheets wrote in a note Tuesday. They also said U.S. stock valuations peaked before the tax bill was enacted with a cyclical top for equities later this year, while peak margins and rate of change on organic earnings growth coming by late 2018 or early 2019. “There’s less reason to behave like it’s ‘morning in America’ than ‘Happy Hour in America,”’ the report said. Markets are “closer to the end of the day than the beginning.” The report said the fiscal expansion factor supports a range-bound path for stocks, as well as a flatter U.S. Treasury yield curve with a lower yield bias. “We advocate a focus on sector and stock-specific alpha as these late-cycle dynamics portend narrowing markets and a cyclical top for equities later this year, in our view,” the strategists said. “In Treasuries, we see the curve continuing to flatten on Fed hikes, and yield downside as the year progresses and the economic outlook becomes more mixed.”
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "MS"
}
] |
487
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Out of bankruptcy, Seadrill eyes closer ties with oil service firms By Nerijus Adomaitis OSLO (Reuters) - Offshore oil driller Seadrill (OL:SDRL) aims to expand relations with Schlumberger (N:SLB), the world's largest oil services firm, and other suppliers to the global oil and gas industry, its chief executive told Reuters on Wednesday. Seadrill plans to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in late June or early July, following a U.S. court's approval on Tuesday of its multi-billion dollar debt restructuring plan, CEO Anton Dibowitz said. "The confirmation is the most significant milestone in the process, and now we need to implement the plan over 60-90 days. Obviously, we would like to do it as fast as possible," he added. Seadrill is already cooperating with Schlumberger in India to offer integrated services and may expand this to other locations and partners, although the company has no immediate consolidation plans. "Equally, we are in discussions with all major oil service companies, and if there are opportunities that makes sense for both of us, we will certainly entertain that," Dibowitz said.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "SDRL"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "SLB"
}
] |
488
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
ICE exchange to launch three-month Sonia futures contract in June LONDON (Reuters) - The Intercontinental Exchange (N:ICE) said on Wednesday it will launch a three-month futures contract based on "Sonia", the Bank of England's interest rate benchmark which aims to replace Libor. Central banks across the world want to substitute Libor, the London Interbank Offered Rate that banks were fined billions of dollars for trying to rig, with "risk free" rates like Sonia or sterling overnight index average. The move by ICE puts it in direct competition with the London Stock Exchange Group (LON:LSE), which will launch its own three-month Sonia futures contract on April 30. ICE launched a one-month futures contract based on Sonia in December.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "ICE"
}
] |
489
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Deutsche Bank names institutional client group head in China HONG KONG (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank AG (DE:DBKGn) has appointed Beng-Hong Lee as China head of its institutional clients group, a business unit that distributes fixed-income and equities products to institutional investors, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. Lee, who joined Deutsche Bank in 2003 and was most recently its global markets head in China, will take up the newly created role with immediate effect and will continue to be based in Shanghai, said the memo sent to the bank's internal staff. A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong confirmed the content of the memo. Stefan Hoops, global co-head of institutional client group, said with China's capital market and its linkages with global markets growing at a rapid pace the new position would help it tap the growing demand for products from institutional investors. "We have thus decided to be one of the first international banks to lead this effort from Shanghai rather than from offshore," he said in a separate statement to Reuters.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "DBKGn"
}
] |
490
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Korean Air to inspect engines of Boeing 737 fleet by November: official SEOUL (Reuters) - Korean Air Lines (KS:003490) plans to inspect engines used in its entire Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 fleet by November, a company official said on Wednesday. This comes on the heels of an engine failure at U.S. carrier Southwest Airlines Co (N:LUV) that involved a fan blade separating from a Boeing 737 engine on Tuesday. Korean Air said about 20-30 percent of its Boeing 737s use the same type of fan blade as the one on the Southwest jet, and that Korean Air voluntarily plans to run checks on the fan blades on all its 737s by November.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "BA"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "LUV"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "3490"
}
] |
491
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Saudi's Riyadh airport privatization plans on hold: sources By Hadeel Al Sayegh and Marwa Rashad DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has put on hold privatization plans for King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, the kingdom's second biggest airport, sources familiar with the matter said. The Gulf Arab state is launching a privatization drive as part of wider economic reforms aimed at boosting efficiency, easing pressure on state finances and diversifying the oil dependent economy. In July, sources told Reuters that Goldman Sachs (N:GS) was hired by the government to manage Saudi Civil Aviation Holding Company's (SAVC) plans to sell a minority stake in Riyadh airport. "Right now they are looking at the plan again because it is starting to look more like a concession rather than privatization," said one source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it is not yet public. Another source familiar with the deal said the privatization is on hold, without elaborating. Neither source gave a timeline. Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the issue when contacted by Reuters. A Saudi aviation authority spokesman was not immediately available for comment. SAVC Chairman Faisal Hamad al-Sugair had said in December that the goal was for airports in the kingdom to be "corporatized", or turned into private companies, in 2018 and that privatization would follow later. Officials have highlighted transport as a priority sector for privatization, however the process has taken time to get underway. The kingdom had said in November 2015 it expected to begin privatizing airports in the first quarter of 2016. The airport privatization plan is expected to move faster than those for more complex sectors such as healthcare and electricity, one of the sources said. The Saudi government has said that it planned to raise about $200 billion through its privatization program in coming years, in addition to some $100 billion through the planned sale of a stake in national oil giant Saudi Aramco .
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "GS"
}
] |
492
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
JPMorgan mulls moving 200 bankers to Paris post-Brexit: Les Echos PARIS (Reuters) - JPMorgan (N:JPM) is considering moving almost 200 banking jobs from London to Paris after Britain leaves the European Union, Les Echos newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources. Boosted by reforms undertaken by President Emmanuel Macron, Paris has overtaken Frankfurt as the most popular destination for the number of finance jobs to be shifted out of Britain after Brexit, a Reuters survey found last month. "Paris has become attractive again, even from a tax point of view," Les Echos cited an anonymous source as saying. JPMorgan's Daniel Pinto, who holds the shared positions of president and chief operating officer, discussed the issue with Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau during a meeting in New York on Wednesday, the paper said, adding that the bank had yet to make a final decision. Macron, a former investment banker, and his government are pushing through social and economic reforms to re-shape the French economy and restore France's image among investors. He has already made hiring and firing easier by easing labor regulations, slashed a wealth tax, introduced a flat 30 percent tax rate on capital income and scrapped the highest bracket of payroll tax for banks. JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon was also one of the guests at Macron's pre-Davos summit at the palace of Versailles in January where the French president pitched his country to some of the world's most powerful business executives.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "JPM"
}
] |
493
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
AmEx profit tops estimates as record splurge on rewards woos customers By Pallavi Dewan (Reuters) - Credit card issuer American Express Co (N:AXP) easily topped Wall Street targets for quarterly profit as record investments in card rewards and a strengthening U.S. economy contributed to higher customer spending. Shares of AmEx, which ended 1.4 percent higher on Wednesday, added another 3.5 percent in after-hours trading. New York-based AmEx spent a record $2.35 billion in customer rewards during the first three months of the year, seeking to woo more high-spending customers and counter competition from major U.S. banks. JPMorgan Chase (N:JPM), Citigroup (N:C) and Bank of America (N:BAC), which have all begun offering premium cards, each saw their card businesses grow in the first quarter. "Today's results are showing good returns on the investments we've been making to drive growth in the premium sector," AmEx Chief Executive Stephen Squeri said in a statement. Higher marketing expenses are the "table stakes" in the premium card category, analysts at Jefferies Group said last week, forecasting that industry-wide investments will continue to grow because of high competition. AmEx on Wednesday also said it expects 2018 earnings at the high end of its estimated range of its $6.90 to $7.30 per share. Analysts on average were expecting $7.11 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. The company said first-quarter card customer spending increased 3 percent in the United States and 7 percent worldwide. Consumer spending in the United States rose in January and February. AmEx's net income rose to $1.63 billion or $1.86 per share in the quarter ended March 31, from $1.25 billion or $1.35 per share a year earlier. Analysts had expected earnings of $1.71 per share. Total revenue, net of interest expense, climbed 12 percent to $9.72 billion, topping analysts' forecasts of $9.46 billion. AmEx is confident of resuming stock buybacks in the second half of 2018, Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Campbell said on a call with analysts.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "C"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "BAC"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "JPM"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "AXP"
}
] |
494
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Shareholder group VEB plans lawsuit against three banks over Steinhoff: FT (Reuters) - A Dutch shareholder group has given notice that it plans to file a class action lawsuit against Barclays Plc (L:BARC), Commerzbank AG (DE:CBKG) and Absa Bank Ltd (J:ABSPp) over their roles in a 2015 share sale by South African retailer Steinhoff International (J:SNHJ), the Financial Times reported on Wednesday. As required by Dutch law, shareholder group VEB gave the three banks two weeks' notice of its plan to file the lawsuit and invited them to open talks on "an amicable settlement", the report said. VEB maintained the banks are "liable for damages incurred by Steinhoff shareholders" because of their roles in the listing of Steinhoff on the Frankfurt and Johannesburg stock exchanges as part of its creation of a holding company in Amsterdam, the FT said. Steinhoff declined to comment. VEB, Barclays, Commerzbank, and Absa were not immediately available for comment outside regular business hours. Steinhoff, which has more than 40 retail brands including France's Conforama and British chain Poundland, faced a fight for survival after admitting accounting irregularities in December, wiping about 85 percent off its market value and triggering a liquidity crisis.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "BARC"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "CBKG"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "SNHJ"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "ABSPp"
}
] |
495
|
Investing
| 2018-04-18T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Avenue Capital to launch 'impact' investment fund, source says By Lawrence Delevingne (Reuters) - Avenue Capital Group LLC, a New York-based investment firm with $9.4 billion in assets under management, plans to launch a fund this year that will focus on so-called impact credit investments, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Avenue fund will primarily make debt investments, along with some equity, in North American companies, the source said. That could include businesses that aspire to have a social or environmental impact in sectors like agriculture, water, renewable energy, energy efficiency and storage, affordable housing and infrastructure resiliency, the source added. Avenue, led by billionaire Marc Lasry and best known for its bets on distressed debt, is seeking to raise about $500 million for the new fund, said the source, who requested anonymity because the information is confidential. A spokesman for Avenue declined to comment. The new fund, Avenue's first foray into the sector, will be run by John Larkin, a senior managing director who is now head of impact investments, the source said. Two recently hired deputies, Rhys Marsh from CIT Group Inc (N:CIT) and Thomas "Jamie" Devine from J.H. Whitney Investment Management LLC, will assist him, according to the source. Such impact funds are few and far between in the world of alternative investments, especially hedge funds, though investor demand for them is rising. Recent entrants include activist hedge fund JANA Partners LLC and ValueAct Capital Management LP. The Avenue fund's credit focus would be a rarity as most investment vehicles driven by environmental, social and governance criteria focus on equity bets, often through publicly traded stocks. Like other Avenue funds, the new "impact" fund will require investors to commit capital for multiple years, a so-called lockup structure that is something between a hedge fund and a private equity fund, according to the source.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "ambiguous",
"ticker": "CIT"
}
] |
496
|
Investing
| 2018-04-19T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Wells Fargo nears $1 billion settlement for loan abuses: source By Patrick Rucker (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (N:WFC) is close to settling a record fine of $1 billion imposed by two U.S. regulators for its risk management business, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Last week, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) proposed Wells Fargo to pay the penalty to resolve probes into auto insurance and mortgage lending abuses at the third largest U.S. bank. Wells Fargo declined to comment. The CFPB had been readying sanctions alongside the OCC, Wells Fargo's day-to-day regulator. The bank, still smarting from a prolonged sales scandal in its retail banking business, found inconsistencies at its auto lending and mortgage in the summer of 2017, leading to further probes by regulators. To appease investors and regulators, the bank overhauled its operational structure, shook up its board and hired a new compliance officer.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "WFC"
}
] |
497
|
Investing
| 2018-04-19T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
TSMC shares slide as revenue estimate cut; other Apple, chip stocks also fall By Clare Jim TAIPEI (Reuters) - Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd tumbled and other Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) supplier and chip stocks fell after it cut its full-year revenue target on softer demand for smartphones. Also citing uncertainty in the cryptocurrency mining market, the world's largest contract chipmaker said revenue for 2018 is likely to grow 10 percent rather than the earlier forecast of 10-15 percent. TSMC's shares slid as much as 6.8 percent in morning trade to its lowest level since Dec. 29. A raft of analysts read a prediction of softer-than-expected smartphone demand as driven chiefly be concern about demand for iPhones. Apple is believed to account for nearly 20 percent of the Taiwanese company's revenue. Barclays (LON:BARC) said on Thursday some Apple suppliers will likely see choppiness into June due to weakness in handset sales, while Mizuho Securities USA said it sees limited upside to 2018 iPhone unit shipment estimates. In the United States, shares of Apple and its suppliers including Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Inc, Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC), Qorvo Inc, Skyworks Solutions Inc and Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Inc fell by 2 percent to 5 percent. In Japan, shares of semiconductor equipment makers and electronic component makers, including Tokyo Electron and Advantest Corp also lost ground.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "INTC"
},
{
"sentiment": "not stock",
"ticker": "BARC"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "QCOM"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "AAPL"
},
{
"sentiment": "negative",
"ticker": "AVGO"
}
] |
498
|
Investing
| 2018-04-19T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
EU court adviser snubs Nestle KitKat trademark appeal LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - A legal adviser to the European Union's top court advised judges on Thursday to reject an appeal by Nestle (S:NESN) in defense of its EU trademark for its KitKat chocolate wafer biscuit. In the latest twist of a decade-long legal battle between the Swiss food giant and its U.S. rival Mondelez (O:MDLZ), Advocate General Melchior Wathelet advised the European Court of Justice to uphold a lower court ruling which found that public recognition across Europe of the shape of the four-fingered bar was not enough to merit the KitKat trademark granted in 2006. Wathelet also called an appeal by Mondelez against a part of the lower General Court's findings to be "manifestly inadmissible" because the U.S. firm's overall complaint against the Nestle trademark had been successful. ECJ justices generally follow such advice when giving their rulings several months later, although not always. A decision by the Court of Justice will be final. Duelling between the two companies has also seen Nestle challenge Mondelez's British trademark for the shade of purple wrapper on its Cadbury's Daily Milk chocolate bars.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "NESN"
},
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "MDLZ"
}
] |
499
|
Investing
| 2018-04-19T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Puerto Rico restores power to over 70 percent of customers after blackout NEW YORK (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's power company said it had restored power to over 1.1 million homes and businesses by Thursday morning after a transmission line failure cut service to almost all of the island's 3.4 million residents the day before. The Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority, known as PREPA, was working to restore power to the less than 30 percent of customers in the U.S. territory still without power after Wednesday morning's blackout. The power line failure in southern Puerto Rico was the latest in a string of operational and political headaches for the bankrupt, storm-ravaged power utility. The utility has struggled to escape the headlines since Hurricane Maria wiped out power to all of Puerto Rico on Sept. 20. Maria, the worst storm to hit the island in 90 years, devastated Puerto Rico's electrical grid, and thousands were still without power at the time of Wednesday's blackout. PREPA said on Twitter that several power plants were back in service, including units at Central Aguirre, EcoElectrica, Central Costa Sur, Yabucoa and Palo Seco. The blackout was caused by the failure of a 230-kilovolt transmission line between the oil-fired Aguirre generating complex in Salinas and AES Corp's (N:AES) coal-fired power plant in Guayama, PREPA said in a statement on Wednesday. PREPA estimated on Wednesday that it would take 24 to 36 hours to restore service to all customers that had power before Wednesday's blackout. Before the outage, PREPA said 1.43 million homes and businesses had electric service. That is 97.2 percent of the utility's 1.47 million total customers. (For a graphic, see: Many of the remaining 40,000 customers have been without power since Hurricane Maria. PREPA has suffered several blackouts since the storm, including an outage last week affecting about 870,000 customers, and has been in bankruptcy since July, owing some $9 billion to mutual funds, hedge funds and other investors.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "neutral",
"ticker": "AES"
}
] |
500
|
Investing
| 2018-04-19T00:00:00
| 2,018
|
Exclusive: Allergan in talks to acquire Shire, competing against Takeda - sources (Reuters) - Botox maker Allergan (NYSE:AGN) Plc is in talks to acquire Shire Plc (LON:SHP), competing against Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd for the London-listed drugmaker, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. It is not clear whether Allergan has submitted an offer, and there is no certainty of a bid, the sources said. Shire on Thursday said it had rejected an offer worth around $61 billion from Takeda. The sources asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Allergan declined to comment, while Shire and Allergan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
|
[
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "SHP"
},
{
"sentiment": "positive",
"ticker": "AGN"
}
] |
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