OPEC oil output rises in January as key members stand firm: survey

LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC's oil supply has risen this month due to more Angolan exports and steady to higher output in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers, a Reuters survey showed, a sign key members are standing firm in refusing to prop up prices.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries at a November meeting decided to focus on market share rather than cutting output, despite concerns from members such as Iran and Venezuela about falling oil revenue.
Supply from OPEC has averaged 30.37 million barrels per day (bpd) in January, up from a revised 30.24 million bpd in December, according to the survey based on shipping data and information from sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.
At the Nov. 27 meeting, OPEC retained its output target of 30 million bpd, sending oil prices to a four-year low close to $71 a barrel. Crude since fell to a near six-year low of $45.19 on Jan. 13 and was trading above $49 on Friday.
OPEC Secretary General Abdulla al-Badri, speaking in London on Monday, defended the no-cut strategy and said prices may have reached a floor, despite oversupply. Other OPEC delegates have since echoed this message.
"Prices are stabilizing," said a delegate from a Gulf producer. "But the world economy is not very strong and stocks are too high."
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Crude oil rallies over 1% but supply glut worries still weigh

Crude oil futures rallied over 1% on Friday, on the back of a weaker dollar but the commodity still remained within close distance of a nearly six-year low as ongoing concerns over a glut in global supplies continued to weigh.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, U.S. crude oil for delivery in March traded $0.56 or 1.26% higher to $45.10 a barrel during European early afternoon trade.
Prices rose $0.08 or 0.18% on Thursday to settle at $44.53.
Futures were likely to find support at $43.58, Thursday's low and a nearly six-year low and resistance at $46.55, the high from January 27.
Oil prices have fallen nearly 60% since June as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted calls to cut output, while the U.S. pumped at the fastest pace in more than three decades, creating a glut in global supplies.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slipped 0.27% to 94.71, moving away from last Friday's more than 11-year highs of 95.77.
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Wall St. closes down for January, Shake Shack rallies in debut

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed down on Friday after a volatile session as investors worried at the end of a rough month for the market about weak U.S. growth data and whether instability in Europe could hurt corporate earnings in the United States.
U.S. economic growth slowed sharply in the fourth quarter as weak business spending and a wider trade deficit offset the fastest pace of consumer spending since 2006.
This came after Greece's finance minister said the government would not cooperate with the European Union and International Monetary Fund mission.
A brief afternoon rally from rising oil prices failed to stick as investors, nervous about U.S. and global economies, fled to bonds from equities and even sold off utilities stocks, the worst performing sector on the day.
"It feels like a flight-to-safety trade on a month-end. People are putting money into assets that have done well this month," said Peter Coleman, head trader at ConvergEx Group in New York, who said Friday was a good reflection of the month.
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China money rates rise on seasonal cash pressure, stock exchange repos spike

SHANGHAI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - China's money markets rose on
Friday, with the major benchmark money rate gaining over 24
basis points on cash demand for month-end tax payments and the
looming lunar new year holiday that will close markets for a
week.
    The seven-day bond repurchase agreement closed
out the week averaging over 4.16 percent up from 3.92 percent
the previous Friday, the first time it has done so since
December. Other commonly traded tenors also rose.
    Liquidity conditions remain a subject of intense focus this
week given the condition of the stock market, where regulators
have been moving to tighten up the routing of credit out of the
interbank market and into stocks. 

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Finance and retail stock drive share market gains, but Aussie dollar loses ground

The local share market has risen despite falls for other key markets around the globe, but it has been a different story for the Australian dollar.

Having risen a full cent against the greenback yesterday after the release of official inflation data, the local currency has lost all that ground and more.
Most of the fall came as local currency traders clocked on this morning, though the Aussie slipped further this afternoon to around 78.7 US cents at 5:00pm (AEDT).
The stock market began today's session lower after significant overnight losses on Wall Street, but bounced back despite similar falls on Asian markets.
The All Ordinaries index closed up 16 points or 0.3 per cent at 5,532.

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UPDATE 2-Nomura's quarterly profit boosted by strong share market

* Q3 profit Y70 bln yen vs Y39.5 bln analyst view
* Retail pretax income Y50.5 bln, strongest in six quarters
* Fixed income falls, overseas ops post loss (adds analyst comments, recasts)
TOKYO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Nomura Holdings Inc reported a 45 percent rise in third-quarter net profits on Thursday, the biggest jump in its quarterly profits in a year, thanks to a strong performance by its retail equity business.
Nomura, Japan's largest investment bank and brokerage, has benefited along with nearest rival Daiwa Securities Group Inc from a renewed appetite for equities which propelled the Nikkei index to a 7-1/2 year high in the period.

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Three months on, fruitless CEO search overshadows Sanofi

PARIS (Reuters) - Barring a last-minute breakthrough, drugs firm Sanofi's Chairman Serge Weinberg may have to acknowledge in his results presentation next week that the hunt for a new chief executive is not going well.
At least three potential candidates in a narrow field have turned their back on the job heading France's largest company.
The manner of Chris Viehbacher's shock dismissal three months ago, and the surprisingly small pay-off he won last week, have cast a long shadow over the process.
"I think it is going to take time," said a source close to the company. "What we risk missing in the meantime is a strategic vision that you cannot have without a deep knowledge of the pharmaceuticals sector."
Last week Christophe Weber, the French chief operating officer of Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, told Reuters he had rejected an approach.
Paris-schooled Olivier Bohuon, chief executive of British medical devices maker Smith & Nephew, told staff in November he had no plans to leave, and in the same month, former Wyeth boss Bernard Poussot joined the board of Sanofi's rival Roche.
AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot, another prominent French pharma executive, has played down any interest by saying he sees himself as more Australian than French.
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4 0 inShare Link Comment Investor Alert FREE Access to Cramer's $2.7 Million Charitable Trust Portfolio Stock Markets Surge in Late Rally as Volatility Causes Waves

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Volatility has quickly become the new normal on Wall Street. Thursday's session was characterized by blink-and-you'll-miss-it turns in direction with all benchmark indexes posting gains by the afternoon session after losses earlier.
The S&P 500 had recovered from losses by the afternoon, adding 1%. The Nasdaq was up 0.94%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.25%, boosted by a jump in McDonald's  (MCD) shares. The world's largest fast food chain was more than 5% higher after announcing that CEO Don Thompson would be leaving the company. Thompson had held the position since July 2012 during some of the its worst years of draining sales and weak profits. 

STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more.

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Cheech And Chong Go To The New York Stock Exchange

There is still, to the best of our knowledge, no such thing as a pot hedge fund. But soon there will be pot stocks, which means that a pot hedge fund cannot be far off. To say nothing of pot analysts. And pot ETFs. And pot mutual funds.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has allowed a share registration to proceed for a company whose business model includes cultivation and sale of marijuana, which are both illegal under federal law, though legal under some state laws.

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Forex - UK Preview: due 2 Feb, 09:30GMT - Jan manufacturing PMI survey

We look for a small increase in the manufacturing PMI survey to 53 in January following its fall to 52.5 in December. This will keep the survey far below the levels seen in January last year and is also weaker than the last year's average of 54.8. Weaker economic activity abroad is certainly having a negative impact on the sector and Markit stated with the December survey 'that the main weak spot remains exports, with overseas new order inflows stagnating amid weaker economic growth in key markets and the ongoing lethargy of the euro area'. Domestic demand is however still faring rather well and it is also positive to see employment continue to edge higher.

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Marten Transport Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Strong Earnings (MRTN)

Marten Transport (NASDAQ:MRTN) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement, American Banking News reports. Approximately 296,410 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 114% from the previous session’s volume of 138,464 shares.The stock last traded at $21.01 and had previously closed at $21.32.
The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $173.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. Marten Transport’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

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NZD/USD Technical Analysis: Support Now Below 0.73 Mark

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Talking Points:

• NZD/USD Technical Strategy:Short at 0.7783
• Support: 0.7275, 0.7130, 0.6951
• Resistance:0.7420, 0.7519, 0.7599

The New Zealand Dollar fell against its US namesake as expected, with sellers now eyeing support below the 0.73 figure. A daily close below the 50% Fibonacci expansion at 0.7275 exposes the 61.8% level at 0.7130. Alternatively, a move above the 38.2% Fib at 0.7420 opens the door for a challenge of channel floor support-turned-resistance at 0.7519.

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Forex Market: EUR/GBP daily trading forecast

Yesterday’s trade saw EUR/GBP within the range of 0.7513-0.7433. The pair closed at 0.7489, gaining 0.48% on a daily basis.
At 7:11 GMT today EUR/GBP was down 0.07% for the day to trade at 0.7485. The pair held in a daily range of 0.7472 – 0.7497.
Fundamentals
Euro area
French consumer confidence
Confidence among consumers in France probably improved in January, with the respective index coming in at a reading of 91.0, according to the median forecast by experts, from 90.0 in December. If so, this would be the highest level of confidence since May 2012.

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PROGRESS to run "Islamic Finance in the wider economy" seminar

Nada Saeed, Managing Director, PROGRESS Training & Consultancy.

Half-day session offers an introduction to the burgeoning USD2 trillion sector Dubai, UAE: Progress Training and Consultancy, the UAE's premier professional training specialists, have today announced that they will be running a seminar, on 21 February, entitled: "Concepts of Islamic Finance". The half-day seminar is seen as an introductory session to the six-month, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) course that PROGRESS currently offers to career professionals looking to enhance their skills in this rapidly growing, USD2 trillion sector.

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Consumer confidence index reaches record high

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Thanks to falling oil prices and stable price levels in general, the local consumer confidence index (CCI) rose to all-time high of 88.23 points in January, according to a study conducted by the National Central University.
The sub index, which measures economic outlook over the next six months, went up across the board. The stock investment index rose 4.4 points, the highest among the sub index, to 92.3.
In a press conference held by the National Central University's Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development, Taiwan Research Institute researcher Day Jaw-yang (戴肇洋) explained the reasons for being optimistic over Taiwan's stock market performance.

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Best ways to profit from beaten-down energy stocks

An investor could drive themselves to the point of paralysis trying to figure out the exact moment for an opportunistic energy stock investment. One day the oil prices are back up 5 percent—signaling a "bottom" has been reached—until the next day, when oil prices are back down by an equal amount—signaling that oil prices can, and will, continue to surprise to the downside.
It's hard not to be interested in the energy sector, but it's also wise to simplify your thinking. There are too many factors—and too many unknowns—to make a call with conviction that "it's straight up from here" with oil prices and that energy stocks will follow.

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Personal Finance: Stock investment styles -- growth versus value

The plethora of choices available to stock investors can seem bewildering at first blush. Some 14,000 companies trade in U.S. Dollars on American stock exchanges and thousands more in their native currencies on foreign bourses. Large cap, small cap, international, domestic, high-octane or steady Eddie; sometimes the mind reels. A good starting point is to separate the choices into basic style categories seeking to broadly describe the general tenor of each potential investment.
Equities are traditionally divided into two style categories: growth and value. While there are other possible classifications and many shades of grey, this broad distinction is useful in assessing the appropriateness of an individual stock or stock fund with regard to a particular investor's goals and risk tolerance.
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Invoice Manager: Create, Send Invoices and Manage Sales

"THE BEST PDF INVOICE APP FOR IPHONE AND IPAD".The only Invoice application on the App Store with one-time purchase, no monthly fees and no Internet access required that allows you to create and send UNLIMITED professional invoices with 20 different styles and professional templates. Also, Sync as many devices as you want in order to use the same data. Invoice Manager is 6 apps in one with all the tools you need: Invoices, Time Sheets, Receipt Tracker, Inventory Tracker, Cost Calculator and Currency Converter. Manage all your business activities in one app with passcode protection.

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Wall Street falls 1 percent on earnings; Apple rallies late

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed more than 1 percent lower on Tuesday as disappointing results from a number of bellwether companies pointed to weakening conditions, while an unexpected decline in durable goods orders also weighed on sentiment.
The day's losses were broad, with nine of the 10 primary S&P 500 sectors lower on the day, though tech <.SPLRCT> was the biggest drag by far. The group lost 3.3 percent in its biggest one-day drop since November 2011, in the wake of results from industry bellwether Microsoft. Industrial shares fell, led by Caterpillar.
The two names were the biggest decliners on the Dow, but fellow components Procter & Gable (N:PG) and DuPont Co (N:DD) also tumbled.
Microsoft (O:MSFT) fell 9.3 percent to $42.66 a day after the main engine of its historic earnings power - selling Windows and Office to big businesses - showed signs of waning.
Heavy machinery marker Caterpillar (N:CAT) gave an outlook below expectations, warning the recent plunge in oil prices would hurt its energy equipment business. Shares dropped 7.2 percent to $79.85.
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Australia stocks higher at close of trade

Australia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Gold, Consumer Discretionary and Energy sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.10% to hit a new 3-month high.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Medusa Mining Ltd (ASX:MML), which rose 10.19% or 0.080 points to trade at 0.865 at the close. Meanwhile, BC Iron Ltd (ASX:BCI) added 8.14% or 0.035 points to end at 0.465 and Crown Ltd (ASX:CWN) was up 7.54% or 0.96 points to 13.70 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN), which fell 35.77% or 1.470 points to trade at 2.640 at the close. Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd (ASX:MRM) declined 8.74% or 0.080 points to end at 0.835 and Seven Group Holdings Ltd (ASX:SVW) was down 5.11% or 0.290 points to 5.380.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 294 to 276 and 41 ended unchanged.
Shares in Bradken Ltd (ASX:BKN) fell to 5-year lows; down 35.77% or 1.470 to 2.640. Shares in Mermaid Marine Australia Ltd (ASX:MRM) fell to 3-year lows; losing 8.74% or 0.080 to 0.835.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was up 1.04% to 14.468.
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