White House memo confuses Wall Street on fate of fiduciary rule

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Conflicting signs from the White House have left brokerage firms and lobbyists unsure whether a controversial rule governing retirement advice will ever be put in place, but they are taking no chances and complying anyway. President Donald Trump's Friday memorandum ordered the Labor Department to review the so-called “fiduciary” rule, which requires brokers to put their clients' interests first when advising them about 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. Trump's memo did not go as far as White House early guidance to reporters that the memo would ask the department to “defer implementation” of the rule.

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White House memo confuses Wall Street on fate of fiduciary rule

Wall Street stands with two Fed-hike outlook for 2017: Reuters poll

Wall Street's top banks expect just two rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this year and see only modest risk to the U.S. central bank being pressed into a more aggressive pace of monetary policy tightening, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. The poll of primary dealers – the 23 banks that do business directly with the Fed – indicated none expect the next rate hike to occur before the second quarter, despite a report on Friday that employers added far more workers than expected in January. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly non-farm payrolls report showed employment growth continues to be healthy, wages are not keeping pace, leading many to predict the Fed will stick to a leisurely pace of rate hikes.

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Wall Street stands with two Fed-hike outlook for 2017: Reuters poll

Warren Buffett: I bought $12 billion of stock after Trump won

Buffett revealed that he has bought $12 billion of stock for his company Berkshire Hathaway Inc since the Republican Donald Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. In an interview with talk show host Charlie Rose that aired on Friday night, Buffett suggested that Berkshire's post-election stock purchases overall were even higher, reflecting stocks that his deputies Todd Combs and Ted Weschler bought.

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Warren Buffett: I bought $12 billion of stock after Trump won

Wall Street slips after soft GDP data, earnings

U.S. stocks edged lower for a second consecutive session on Friday as some underwhelming corporate earnings and gross domestic product data offset recent enthusiasm over policy actions by President Donald Trump. The stock was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average indexes.

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Wall Street slips after soft GDP data, earnings

Wall Street Week Ahead: Optimism among S&P 500 CEOs as Trump takes power

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is only hours old, but already a small parade of S&P 500 companies' chiefs have voiced optimism that his promised tax cuts, stimulus spending and deregulation will boost corporate profits. In the days ahead of Friday's inauguration, senior executives from Morgan Stanley , Delta Air Lines and other major U.S. corporations said the Trump White House has already sparked a brighter outlook for business. “There is certainly more reason to be optimistic as we enter 2017 than there was at the beginning of 2016,” Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman said on Tuesday after his bank said profit doubled in the fourth quarter.

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Optimism among S&P 500 CEOs as Trump takes power

Xi to be first Chinese leader to attend Davos World Economic Forum

BEIJING/GENEVA (Reuters) – President Xi Jinping this month will become the first Chinese head of state to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, which this year will dwell on the rising public anger with globalization and the coming U.S. presidency of Donald Trump. Xi will take centre stage at the Jan. 17-20 forum with China presenting itself as a champion of globalization. The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday confirmed Xi's widely expected attendance at the annual gathering of global political leaders, CEOs and celebrities in the Swiss Alps.

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Xi to be first Chinese leader to attend Davos World Economic Forum

WTI prices fall on surprise build in U.S. crude stocks

By Mark Tay Singapore (Reuters) – U.S. oil prices fell on Thursday after an industry report showed a surprise build in the country's crude inventories, while Brent futures came off early lows to trade marginally higher. Meanwhile, a committee of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC producers responsible for monitoring compliance with a production cut agreement will meet in Vienna on Jan. 21-22, Kuwaiti oil minister Essam Al-Marzouq told state news agency KUNA, in a sign that the output cut deal is likely to be adhered to.

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WTI prices fall on surprise build in U.S. crude stocks

Where’s the Reddi-wip? ConAgra lowers product profile during shortage

By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) – Reddi-wip, the top-selling U.S. ready-made whipped cream, is going into hiding for the holidays. ConAgra Brands , maker of Reddi-wip, is scaling back on promotions and merchandising as the nation faces a shortage of ready-made whipped cream, Chief Executive Sean Connolly said in an interview on Thursday. The short supply is due to an August explosion at an Airgas Inc facility in Florida that killed one worker and disrupted the supply of nitrous oxide, the gas used to propel whipped cream from containers and keep it airy and light.

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Where’s the Reddi-wip? ConAgra lowers product profile during shortage

Yen up after attacks in Germany, Turkey, stocks steady on Yellen comments

The safe-haven Japanese yen was up in early Asian trade on Monday after attacks in Germany and Turkey spooked investors, while regional stocks were steady as financial markets pondered upbeat comments from the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. Traders were also looking ahead to the Bank of Japan's rates decision later in the day, and while policy settings are set to be kept steady the focus will be on Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's take on surging global bond yields and the impact on rates in Japan. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 percent in early trade on Tuesday, while Tokyo's Nikkei was flat.

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Yen up after attacks in Germany, Turkey, stocks steady on Yellen comments

Wells Fargo says account openings fall in November

The bank agreed in September to pay regulators $185 million to settle charges that its staff opened as many as 2 million accounts without customers' knowledge. Wells Fargo said on Friday consumer checking account openings fell 9 percent in November from the previous month, and were down 41 percent from a year earlier. The bank started reporting monthly figures on retail banking activity last moth as part of an effort to win back the trust of investors.

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Wells Fargo says account openings fall in November