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Friday, December 29, 2017

Wall Street quiet on last trading day of a strong year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - There were no fireworks on Wall Street for the last trading day of the year, as U.S. stocks closed out their best year since 2013 on a down note, with losses in technology and financial stocks keeping equities in negative territory for the session.

Trump wants Postal Service to charge 'much more' for Amazon shipments

SEATTLE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump called on the U.S. Postal Service on Friday to charge "much more" to ship packages for Amazon , picking another fight with an online retail giant he has criticized in the past.

Goldman warns of $5-billion earnings hit from U.S. tax law

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc said on Friday it would take a $5 billion earnings hit in the fourth quarter for the new U.S. tax law, becoming the first major U.S. bank to detail the law's one-time impact on corporate profits held overseas.

Pershing Square, Valeant arrive at settlement split for Allergan lawsuit

(Reuters) - Activist investor William Ackman's Pershing Square and Valeant Pharmaceuticals on Friday decided to pay $290 million to settle a lawsuit that accused them of insider trading before bidding for Allergan Plc in 2014.

BA owner IAG to buy insolvent Austrian holiday airline Niki

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - British Airways' owner IAG said on Friday it would buy Niki, Air Berlin's insolvent Austrian holiday airline, for 20 million euros ($24.01 million) and provide additional liquidity to the company of up to 16.5 million euros.

Brazilian regulator accuses Petrobras ex-executives of graft

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's securities regulator formally accused eight former executives of state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA of corruption on Friday, as the world's largest graft investigation stretches deep into its third year.

AT&T says all U.S. states will use its public safety netwowrk

NEW YORK (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Friday that all 50 U.S. states had decided to participate in the nationwide broadband network it is building for first responders as part of a $6.5 billion government contract.

Gold soars toward largest annual gain since 2010 on dollar boost

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Gold extended its rally to a three-month high on Friday, leaping toward its biggest one-year rise in seven years as a wilting U.S. dollar, political tensions and receding concerns over the impact of U.S. interest rate hikes fed into its rally.

Amazon ordered not to pull in customers who can't spell 'Birkenstock'

A German court has ordered Amazon not to lure internet shoppers to its online marketplace when they mistakenly search for "Brikenstock", "Birkenstok", "Bierkenstock" and other variations in Google.

Airbus sprints from behind in bid to upset Boeing order lead

PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus is pulling out the stops to try and take the lead in its annual order contest with Boeing, lining up a spree of multi-billion-dollar deals to close a traumatic year haunted by management upheaval and corruption investigations.