Month: September 2015

China has reached an agreement with Boeing Co. to buy up to 300 aircraft in a deal valued at $38 billion at list prices, the airplane manufacturer said Wednesday. Boeing will sell 190 737s and 50 widebody planes to Chinese airlines and another 60 737s to leasing firms. Boeing will also establish a joint venture with Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China Ltd. to operate a facility in the Asian country for the completion and delivery of Boeing 737 aircraft to Chinese clients. Shares of Boeing were mostly flat in after-hours session.

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U.S. stocks closed lower for a second day in a row Wednesday, shedding modest early session gains, after a morning rally in oil fell apart and crude prices settled below $45 a barrel. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 50.58 points, or 0.3%, to close at 16,279.89, after trading up as much as 25 points and down as many as 118 points. The S&P 500 Index fell 3.98 points, or 0.2%, to close at 1,938.76. The index had been up as many as 7 points and down about 10 points earlier in the session. The Nasdaq Composite Index also slid 3.98 points, or less than 0.1%, to finish at 4,752.74. The tech-heavy index had been up as many as 24 points and down as many as 22 points.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – President Barack Obama and Pope Francis spoke alone on Wednesday for 40 minutes in the Oval Office, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Earnest said that there was no transcript of the discussion between the two men and no more details would be released. The two leaders avoided any disagreements in their public remark, speaking mainly about immigration and climate change, about which there is general agreement between them. Earnest said that only time would tell how Pope Francis’ remarks would impact the U.S. political debate.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Pope Francis on Wednesday addressed the child sex-abuse scandal that rocked the U.S. Roman Catholic Church, saying that he hoped it would never be repeated. Speaking in Italian to U.S. bishops, the pontiff said he was aware of how the pain of recent years had weighed on the church’s spirit. He said he was joining the effort to bring succor to victims. “When we bring succor, then the victims are healed, and we have to hope that such crimes will never repeat themselves,” Francis said. A church official told CNN that the pope would meet privately with victims of abuse in Philadelphia during his visit.

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From:: Stock Market News

The Brazilian real fell to a record low against the dollar Wednesday as weak manufacturing data out of China weighed on commodity-linked emerging-market currencies. The real traded as low as 4.14 to the dollar, before recovering slightly to 4.11 in recent trading. The real has shed more than a third of its value against the dollar so far this year, and about half of its value since the beginning of 2013. Like other emerging-market currencies, the real has been hurt by expectations of an impending interest-rate hike from the Federal Reserve and slowing growth in China. Brazil’s economy is largely dependent on commodity exports, and China is one of its largest trading partners. Political instability in Brasil has added to pressure on the currency, scaring away investors. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has had difficulty passing fiscal reforms through the country’s legislature. Rousseff’s pull with lawmakers evaporated in the wake of a wide-ranging corruption scandal at state-owned energy firm Petrobras.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – The U.S. central bank is playing “bad baseball” in its decision last week to hold interest rates steady, said St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. In an interview with Business Insider, Bullard compared the Fed to a baseball team that shifted its infielders over towards one side of the diamond to defend against a pull-hitter and then never moves them back for the next batters. Like the baseball team, the Fed’s zero-rate policy was set up for a weak economy that no longer exists. “Inflation’s going to return to target and our policies are a long ways out of position compared to where we should be,” the St. Louis Fed president said. Bullard will be a voting member of the Fed policy committee next year and is a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals.

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The chief executive of Volkswagen AG said Wednesday that he is stepping down in the wake of the scandal that broke Friday over the company’s use of special software to thwart U.S. emissions standards. “I am shocked by the events of the past few days,” Winterkorn said in a statement. “Above all, I am stunned that misconduct on such a scale was possible in the Volkswagen Group.” Volkswagen shares rose on the news and were last up 7.5%. The stock has lost about 30% of its value since the Environmental Protection Agency said Volkswagen used a sophisticated software algorithm that detected when cars underwent emissions tests, turning on full emission controls only during the tests but not during normal driving conditions. Winterkorn said the company needs a fresh start, “also in terms of personnel.” Volkswagen said about 11 million cars are affected and apologized to its customers for breaching their trust.

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From:: Stock Market News

Oil prices gained more ground on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a decline of 1.9 million barrels in crude supplies for the week ended Sept. 18. Analysts polled by Platts forecast a crude-stock fall of 700,000 barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute Tuesday said supplies dropped by 3.7 million barrels, according to sources. Gasoline supplies climbed by 1.4 million barrels while distillate stockpiles fell 2.1 barrels last week, according to the EIA. November crude was at $46.74 a barrel, up 38 cents, or 0.8%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at $46.45 before the report.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – Pope Francis on Wednesday said that climate change is a problem that can’t be left to future generations. Speaking slowly in English at a White House ceremony, Pope Francis said he was encouraged President Barack Obama had put forward plans to reducing air pollution. Pope Francis urged more attention be paid to the millions in poverty now overlooked by society, quoting Martin Luther King that “we have defaulted on a promissory note and now it is time to honor it.” Pope Francis said he will encourage Congress to guide the U.S. in fidelity to its founding principles including religious liberty. He referred only briefly to the issue of immigration, saying “as a son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country which was largely built by such families.”

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Square Inc., which offers financial systems to small businesses, said on Wednesday it opened a new office in St. Louis, Mo. The San Francisco-based company was founded by St. Louis natives Jim McKelvey and Chief Executive Jack Dorsey, who is also serving as interim CEO of Twitter Inc. . In a statement, Square said the growing economy and amount of talent from top universities, research centers and training programs in the St. Louis area make it a prime location to meet Midwest-customer’s needs. Square plans to hire 40 full-time employees immediately for its new office, and grow to more than 200 over the next five years, according to a news release. Reports say Square has filed confidentially for an initial public offering.

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From:: Stock Market News