Tag: market news

U.S. home prices rise by most in nearly 7 years

Posted on by The INO.com Team

U.S. home prices rose in February compared with a year ago by the most in nearly seven years, as a growing number of buyers bid on a limited supply of homes.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index climbed 9.3 percent in the 12 months ending in February. That's up from an 8.1 percent gain in January.

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U.S. economy accelerates at 2.5 percent rate in Q1

Posted on by The INO.com Team

U.S. economic growth accelerated to an annual rate of 2.5 percent from January through March, buoyed by the strongest consumer spending in more than two years. Government spending fell, though, and tax increases and federal budget cuts could slow growth later this year.

The Commerce Department said Friday that the economy rebounded from an anemic 0.4 percent annual growth rate in the October-December quarter. Much of the gain reflected a jump in consumer spending, which rose at an annual rate of 3.2 percent. That was the biggest such jump since the end of 2010.

Growth was also helped by businesses, which responded to the greater demand by rebuilding their stockpiles. And home construction rose further.

But government spending fell at a 4.1 percent annual rate, led by another deep cut in defense spending. The decline kept last quarter's increase in economic growth below expectations of a 3 percent rate or more. Continue reading "U.S. economy accelerates at 2.5 percent rate in Q1" →

How a phony tweet and computer trades sank stocks

Posted on by The INO.com Team

For a few surreal minutes, a mere 12 words on Twitter caused the world's mightiest stock market to tremble.

No sooner did hackers send a false Associated Press tweet reporting explosions at the White House on Tuesday than investors started dumping stocks eventually unloading $134 billion worth. Turns out, some investors are not only gullible, they're impossibly fast stock traders.

Except most of the investors weren't human. They were computers, selling on autopilot beyond the control of humans, like a scene from a sci-fi horror film.

"Before you could blink, it was over," said Joe Saluzzi, co-founder of Themis Trading and an outspoken critic of high-speed computerized trading. "With people, you wouldn't have this type of reaction." Continue reading "How a phony tweet and computer trades sank stocks" →

Markets solid after drop in U.S. jobless claims

Posted on by The INO.com Team

The mood in financial markets remained fairly buoyant Thursday after an improvement in weekly jobless claims figures in the U.S. and as the main Wall Street stock indexes eyed new highs.

On Wednesday, both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones hit all-time closing highs, giving a positive tone to trading in Asia and Europe.

A 42,000 drop in weekly U.S. jobless claims to 346,000 maintained the mood as U.S. trading got underway again. The surprisingly big fall came after a run of disappointing jobs figures that had raised concerns over the pace of the U.S. economic recovery. Continue reading "Markets solid after drop in U.S. jobless claims" →

KPMG resigns as auditor for Herbalife, Skechers

Posted on by The INO.com Team

Accounting firm KPMG has resigned as the auditor for Herbalife (NYSE_HLF), a dietary supplements maker, and the shoe retailer Skechers (NYSE_SKX) after a rogue partner allegedly leaked information about the companies to someone who used it for insider trading.

KPMG said it has fired the partner and had no reason to believe there were any problems with the financial reports of the two companies. KPMG did withdraw its recent audit reports on both companies because it felt its independence had been compromised.

KPMG didn't reveal the partner's identity. It announced the dismissal in a statement late Monday in which it also said it was resigning as auditor for two companies that it didn't identify.

Herbalife and Skechers made their own announcements on Tuesday confirming that they were they companies involved. Skechers said KPMG told it that the ex-partner provided the inside information in exchange for money and is under federal investigation. Continue reading "KPMG resigns as auditor for Herbalife, Skechers" →