OPEC oil output falls 130,000 barrels a day in December: Platts

Oil production from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell by 130,000 barrels a day in December from a month earlier, to 32.28 million barrels a day, according to a Platts survey of OPEC oil industry officials and analysts released Friday. Platts attributed the decline to output cuts in Iraq, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. The Saudis lowered output by 50,000 barrels a day to 10.1 million barrels a day, but haven’t given any indication that they are ready to abandon the “market-share strategy that it persuaded OPEC to adopt in November 2014,” Platts said.

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From:: Stock Market News

WTI oil books best one-day gain since August

Oil futures rocketed higher on Friday, stretching their rally to a second straight session and marking the best one-day jump since August, according to FactSet data. March West Texas Intermediate crude finished at $32.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose $2.66, or 9%, for the session. For the week, it gained 9.4% based on Friday’s closing level for the February contract, which expired Wednesday.

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From:: Stock Market News

Auction firm hired to sell $50M of oceanfront land out of bankruptcy

By Brian Bandell

Two sections of oceanfront land in wealthy Hillsboro Beach are being offered for sale by SVN Moecker Realty Auctions as part of a bankruptcy case.

The land is valued by the Broward County Property Appraiser at just over $50 million, although the broker hopes to score an even higher price. It’s zoned residential and part of it could have multifamily.

The property along Hillsboro Mile was part of a Chapter 11 filing in September 2015 by eight companies owned by homebuilder John B. Kennelly. The… …read more

From:: biz journal foreclosures

One death, 12 hospitalizations tied to listeria found in Dole packaged salad, says CDC

One person has died and 12 have been hospitalized by a multistate listeria outbreak that has been tied to Dole packaged salads, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The 12 infected people come from Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. The CDC has been working with public health officials since Sept. 2015 to investigate the outbreak, it said in a statement. The Ohio Department of Agriculture found the listeria in Dole branded Field Greens salad, which was made in a Springfield, OH Dole processing center. Epidemiologic and lab evidence points to that single facility as the likely source of the outbreak. The salad was also sold under the Dole, Fresh Selections, Simple Truth, Marketside, The Little Salad Bar and President’s Choice brand names. Dole reported to the CDC that it had stopped production in the Springfield facility on Thursday, and the company is currently pulling all salads produced there from the market. There is no evidence that packaged salads produced at other Dole facilities in the U.S. are tied to the illness.

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From:: Stock Market News

United plane skids off runway at Chicago O’Hare airport

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – A United Airlines flight partially skidded off the runway after landing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in snowy conditions, according to several news reports. Officials said no one was reported injured on the Boeing 737 plane, United’s flight #734 from San Francisco.

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From:: Stock Market News

Gold futures gain 0.5% for the week

Gold futures settled with a modest loss on Friday, as a rally in U.S. equities helped dull interest in the metal. Prices still ended the week 0.5% higher ahead of a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting that concludes Wednesday. February gold fell $1.90, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,096.30 an ounce on Comex.

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From:: Stock Market News

Appraisal Institute falls victim to Twitter hack

If you’re a follower of the Appraisal Institute on Twitter, some strange tweets began showing up on your timeline lately. Instead of tweets about the appraisal industry, tweets emanating from the Appraisal Institute’s account for the last 18 hours have more to do with Playboy Magazine, Hooters, David Hasselhoff, links to “sexy” videos, and other inappropriate tweets. That’s because the Appraisal Institute has fallen victim to a Twitter hacking. …read more

From:: Real Estate Wire

Baker Hughes reports U.S. oil rig count down by 5

Oil prices continued to trade higher after data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs fell by 5 to 510 as of Friday. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes natural-gas rigs, was down 13 at 637. Compared to last year, the total U.S. rig count has fallen by 996, with oil rigs down by 807. March crude was at $31.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $2.17, or 7.3%. It was at $31.57 before the data.

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From:: Stock Market News

Starbucks closing four Teavana locations in New York and Beverly Hills

Starbucks Corp. said it’s closing four Teavana locations in New York and California. Teavana is the Starbucks brand focused on tea. Three locations in New York will be converted to Starbucks stores and a Beverly Hills location that’s adjacent to a Starbucks will shut down. There are 350 Teavana locations total. The company said it will help staffers affected by the closures find new positions at nearby Teavana or Starbucks locations. Starbucks shares are down 0.6% in Friday trading, but up 41.8% for the past 12 months. The S&P is down 8% for the past year. See also: Starbucks outlook is bright as investmetns in tech and salaries pay off

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From:: Stock Market News

S&P upgrades Greece’s credit rating to ‘B-‘, outlook stable

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on Friday raised Greece’s sovereign credit rating to B- from CCC+, noting that the government is “broadly” complying with the terms of its 86-billion euro financial aid program. The ratings agency also expects Greece to meet the conditions of the bailout by the end of March, paving the way for an official debt relief effort. “Our prognosis for the Greek economy is for one more year of essentially flat growth, followed by a more robust recovery,” said the ratings agency in a statement, noting that the economy has proven to be more resilient than expected. The outlook on the rating is stable. B-grade rating is generally referred to as “speculative” while CCC-grade is viewed as “may default” in the credit market.

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From:: Stock Market News