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The Securities and Exchange Commission fined RBC Capital Markets LLC on Wednesday for $2.5 million for allegedly making materially false and misleading disclosures in its fairness opinion valuation analysis for a proxy statement for Rural/Metro Corporation’s sale in 2011 to a private equity firm. An SEC investigation found that RBC’s presentation as the lead financial adviser to Rural/Metro, a medical transportation services provider, contained allegedly materially false and misleading statements which made the bid look more attractive. Although RBC’s presentation described one of its valuations as being based on Wall Street analysts’ “consensus projections” of Rural/Metro’s 2010 adjusted EBITDA, it did not reflect any analysts’ research or a “consensus” view, according to the SEC. RBC received a $500,000 fee for the fairness opinion presented to Rural/Metro’s board as it considered the sale. RBC neither admitted nor denied the findings.

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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Wednesday he is looking for core inflation to tick up before the central bank raises interest rates. “I’m very interested to see core inflation,” Kashkari said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “We haven’t seen it yet. That’s what I’m looking for.” The Minneapolis Fed President is not a voting member of the Fed’s policy committee this year.

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Oil futures fell further on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 26. That was above the 600,000-barrel climb expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported an increase of 942,000 barrels, according to sources. Gasoline supplies fell 700,000 barrels, while distillate stockpiles climbed by 1.5 million barrels, according to the EIA. October crude fell 91 cents, or 2%, from Tuesday’s settlement to $45.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices traded at $46.01 before the data.

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The South African rand dropped to its weakest level against the dollar in eight weeks after Bloomberg reported that one of the country’s largest fixed-income money managers would stop lending to six of the country’s largest state companies. The dollar was up 1%, buying 14.64 rand in recent trade, compared with 14.50 rand late Tuesday. The asset manager’s reported decision comes at a time when confidence in South Africa’s government is faltering. The country’s long-serving President Jacob Zuma is fighting a court’s ruling that he face nearly 800 charges of corruption.

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From:: Stock Market News

U.S. stocks on Wednesday kicked off trading in the red, following a report of monthly private-sector employment that came in slightly better than Wall Street expectations, potentially adding more reasons for the Federal Reserve to follow through with talk of lifting interest rates in the coming months. The dollar ticked higher and stocks inched down after the ADP report showed the U.S. economy added 177,000 private-sector jobs in August, compared with estimates of 175,000 from economists polled by MarketWatch. The S&P 500 index declined 2 points, or 0.1%, at 2,173, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 30 points, or 0.2%, at 18,423, while the Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 6 points, or 0.1%, to 5,215. Among company movers, Deutsche Bank was in the spotlight amid reports that Germany’s largest bank considered combining with rival Commerzbank AG .

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Rovi Corp. said on Wednesday it’s named Pete Thompson as chief operating officer, effective Sept. 6. Thompson previously served as senior vice president of the Mediaroom Business Group at Ericsson, where he was responsible for defining the future of home entertainment, according to a news release. Thompson will oversee product integration of the combined Rovio and TiVo Inc. companies after Rovi’s acquisition of TiVo closes.

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Brown-Forman Corp. said Wednesday it had net income of $144 million, or 37 cents a share, in its first fiscal quarter to end July, down from $156 million, or 37 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales slid to $661 million from $699 million. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 37 cents and sales of $674 million. The owner of alcohol brands including Jack Daniel’s, Finlandia and Korbel, said the results were “largely as anticipated considering the absence of previously disposed brands and the difficult comparisons against last year’s launch of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire in the United States.” The company is now expecting full fiscal-year EPS to range from $1.71 to $1.81, wrapped around the current FactSet consensus of $1.77. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 1.4% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 6%.

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From:: Stock Market News