Reuters - Daily Investor Update

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Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Energy, consumer shares lift S&P 500 to slight gain

(Reuters) - The benchmark S&P 500 eked out a gain on Wednesday as strength in the energy and consumer sectors offset declines in financial shares and investors began looking ahead to first-quarter earnings season.

Samsung launches Galaxy S8 and dreams of recovery from Note 7

SEOUL/NEW YORK - (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone as it battles to regain the market leadership it lost to Apple Inc after the embarrassing withdrawal of the fire-prone Note 7s.

Santander to pay $25.9 million to resolve subprime auto loan probes

BOSTON (Reuters) - Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc has agreed to pay $25.9 million to resolve investigations by the attorneys general in Massachusetts and Delaware into its financing and securitization of sub-prime auto loans.

BlackBerry, freed of handsets, looks to software for return to glory

TORONTO (Reuters) - Although BlackBerry Ltd has extricated itself from the smartphone handsets that weighed on its recent fortunes, the Canadian firm faces a tough slog to convince skeptics it can return to its glory days through an enlarged software business.

OPEC compliance with oil curbs rises in March as UAE joins cut: survey

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - OPEC oil output is likely to fall for a third straight month in March, a Reuters survey found on Wednesday, as the United Arab Emirates made progress in trimming supplies while maintenance and unrest cut production in exempt nations Nigeria and Libya.

EU vetos Deutsche Boerse-London Stock Exchange merger deal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An attempted merger between the German and British stock exchanges was struck down by European regulators on Wednesday, formally ending a deal that unraveled in the wake of Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

U.S. pending home sales surge to ten-month high ahead of spring

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes jumped to a 10-month high in February, pointing to robust demand for housing ahead of the busy spring selling season.

Banks to London staff: no panic as Britain launches EU divorce process

LONDON (Reuters) - Banks in Britain have tried to reassure their London staff over possible Brexit disruption, including a shift in jobs to continental Europe, as Prime Minister Theresa May triggered formal EU divorce proceedings on Wednesday.

Shares of Turkey's Halkbank sink after executive arrested in U.S.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Shares of Turkish state lender Halkbank suffered their biggest one-day fall on Wednesday after U.S. prosecutors charged a senior executive with participating in a multi-year scheme to violate sanctions against Iran.

U.S. stocks' rally may be near peak, but some gains ahead: Reuters poll

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. stock rally fueled by optimism President Donald Trump will boost the economy may be near its peak, according to a Reuters poll of strategists who forecast U.S. shares will gain less than 3 percent between now and year-end.