The precious metals were mixed in November, with silver outshining the rest with a 13.6 percent jump, followed by palladium which rose 7.75 percent. Gold managed to end the month with marginal gains of 1.87 percent while platinum fell 2.7 percent from its end-October level.
Futures on major U.S. stock indices point to higher opening on Wednesday as better-than-expected manufacturing reports from China and Europe buoyed sentiment.
Manufacturing in the eurozone expanded in November at its fastest pace in four months, boosted by strong activity in France and Germany, while manufacturing production in the U.K. touched a 16-year high, according to a survey.
Standpoint Research has downgraded American Eagle Outfitters to hold from buy, expressing concerns over the apparel retailer's store count.
China's manufacturing activity expanded in November, pointing to more inflationary pressure in the near term.
Toyota Motor Corp. is negotiating a deal to license its expertise in hybrid vehicles and to supply car parts to its Chinese partner, FAW Group Corp by 2012.
European plane-maker, Airbus, is expected to announce today its plans to upgrade its best-selling A320 passenger jets with new engines supplied by General Electric Co. and Pratt & Whitney, sources familiar with the plans informed Reuters.
The financialization of commodities threatens to divert capital from economically useful purposes and use it instead to drive up the cost of essential commodities for end users.
As investors continue to shovel mountains of cash into U.S. Treasuries and U.S. bonds, investors seeking yield and price outperformance are advised to look at bonds issued by the emerging markets nations.
While it was high public debt that did Greece in and a collapsed banking sector that sunk Ireland, Portugal's problems are low economic growth prospects and high private sector debt.
Gold touched a 1-week high for Dollar investors but broke new all-time records for Euro and Sterling buyers on Tuesday morning, as industrial commodities slipped and the US currency rose against all competitors bar the Japanese Yen.
Federal prosecutors have indicted six people in a $32 million Internet collections scam that has snared 80 lawyers in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Alabama and Georgia.
The East Asian bond market, especially corporate bonds, continues to expand and draw strong demand from return-starved Western investors.
Shipments of PCs are up 14.3 percent from last year, but that's below expectations.
China has said it will revise penalties on price manipulations, stepping up its measures to tackle inflation.
Oppenheimer has initiated coverage on China's ShangPharma with an outperform rating and price target of $17, saying the company is well positioned to benefit from the rising Chinese clinical/contract research organization (CRO) industry.
Jefferies & Co. upgraded its rating of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) to 'buy' from 'hold' and increased its price target to $80 from $55.
The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Zoltek Companies, Seagate Technology, Maxygen, Comverge, China Medical Technologies, Porter Bancorp, TICC Capital, Approach Resources, Shanda Games, and Johnson Outdoors.
Many countries have taken it upon themselves to negotiate regional or bilateral trade agreements to match evolving economic realities as the multilateral Doha Round negotiations stall.
Surging demand from China, the world's second-largest gold buyer, is changing seasonal patterns in Gold Price trends for investors everywhere. At this current pace, private Chinese demand may overtake India's by 2014 (if not sooner).
While investors currently grapple with a number of very troubling geopolitical and economic issues -- namely the threat of war in Korea and the potential sovereign debt contagion in Europe, interest rate hikes by China, among others – some might take solace in the fact that December has consistently been the best-performing months for U.S. going back more than sixty years.
India's Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said on Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire 70 percent interest in South Korea's Ssangyong Motor Company Limited (SYMC) for $463.6 million, in an attempt to gain momentum in global markets.
