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Europe Stocks Fall Third Day as Energy Drop Outweighs Tech Gain

European stocks declined for a third day as sliding energy shares outweighed a rebound in tech companies. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.4 percent to 395.63 at 10:25 a.m. in London. Tumbling media companies pulled European stocks down on Friday, while U.S.-payrolls data fueled bets the Federal Reserve will raise rates this year. Stocks gained 0.2 percent last week. Greece’s ASE Index extended its rebound to three days today, advancing 0.8 percent for the best performance among western-European markets. “While the fall in commodity prices, especially oil, could help European markets in the medium term, on a first look it’s a bad sign for a cyclical upturn,” said Christian Zogg, a fund manager who helps oversee about $10 billion at LLB Asset Management in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. “The nearer we get to the first Fed move, the more nervous the market gets, but best guess is it will stay […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil down, heads for 6th weekly loss on gasoline glut

A customer holds a nozzle to fill up his tank in a gasoline station in Nice December 5, 2014. Crude oil dipped on Friday, plumbing multi-month lows and heading for a sixth straight week of losses, as the approaching end of the U.S. summer driving season suggested a growing surplus in gasoline supply. Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes’ report that the U.S. oil rig count rose by six this week added to the bearish sentiment for crude as it signaled production could creep up from higher drilling activity. Drillers have added a total of 32 oil rigs over the past three weeks. [RIG/U] Traders and investors await Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data at 3:30 p.m. EDT to determine if money managers again had slashed their bullish exposure to U.S. crude in the week to Aug 4. Hedge funds’ net longs in U.S. crude fell to near five-year lows […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Natural Gas Slips as Traders See Summer Peak Passing

By Timothy Puko Natural gas made small price losses Friday as some traders see the peak of summer is passing. The front-month September contract lost 1.5 cents, or 0.5%, to $2.798 a million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 8.2 cents, or 3% for the week. The boost sent gas back to near dead-center of the 23-cent range it has settled in every session for nearly two months. Volatility has plummeted as bulls and bears have balanced each other out, analysts said. Bulls got support Thursday from new stockpile data showing the lowest summer addition in nearly three years. But storage levels are still healthy, 2.2% above their five-year average, and hot weather on the horizon likely isn’t extreme enough to keep demand as strong as it has been, analysts said. "At the end of the day, this market still looks like a standoff […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Sen. Schumer’s opposition to Iran nuclear deal draws swift backlash

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday night he would the oppose the Iran agreement. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) The White House aggressively struck back Friday after Sen. Charles E. Schumer announced his opposition to President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal, suggesting the New York Democrat could lose support to become party leader in the Senate in 2016 if he helps block the accord. The response was the latest example of the president’s take-no-prisoners approach to ensuring the survival of a pact he views as a legacy-defining achievement that could help remake the security situation in the turbulent Middle East. The White House and its allies expressed confidence that Schumer’s opposition would not be enough to derail the Iran deal. Senate Democratic aides said 15 members of the caucus have expressed support, and Schumer is the only one to publicly oppose it. But both sides acknowledged that the debate is now […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Fears of Lasting Rift as Obama Battles Pro-Israel Group on Iran

WASHINGTON — President Obama had a tough message for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee , or Aipac, the powerful pro- Israel group that is furiously campaigning against the Iran nuclear accord , when he met with two of its leaders at the White House this week. The president accused Aipac of spending millions of dollars in advertising against the deal and spreading false claims about it, people in the meeting recalled. So Mr. Obama told the Aipac leaders that he intended to hit back hard. The next day in a speech at American University , Mr. Obama denounced the deal’s opponents as “lobbyists” doling out millions of dollars to trumpet the same hawkish rhetoric that had led the United States into war with Iraq. The president never mentioned Aipac by name, but his target was unmistakable. The remarks reflected an unusually sharp rupture between a sitting American president […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Opposing Iran Nuclear Deal, Chuck Schumer Rattles Democratic Firewall

Photo Senator Chuck Schumer in Washington last month. On Thursday, he said he would vote against President Obama’s deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear program. Credit Zach Gibson/The New York Times WASHINGTON — The decision by Senator Chuck Schumer to oppose President Obama ’s deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program rattled the Democratic firewall around the accord, but supporters said Democratic defections in New York and South Florida would not be enough to bring down the agreement. Republican leaders in the House and Senate have promised a vote in mid-September on a resolution to disapprove the nuclear accord between Iran and the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China, which in itself would be a blow to Mr. Obama’s prestige. But to scuttle the Iran nuclear deal, opponents have two high hurdles. They will need 60 votes in the Senate for a resolution of disapproval to overcome a filibuster […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Blows for Obama as key lawmakers come out against Iran deal

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) gestures at a news conference on Amtrak funding on Capitol Hill in Washington May 21, 2015. U.S. President Barack Obama’s hopes of preserving the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers were dealt a setback on Thursday when Chuck Schumer, one of the top Democrats in the U.S. Senate, said he would the oppose the agreement. Schumer’s opposition, announced in a lengthy statement, could pave the way for more of Obama’s fellow Democrats to come out against the nuclear pact, announced on July 14, between the United States, five other world powers and Iran. The New York senator is among the most influential Jewish lawmakers in the United States. He was the first Senate Democrat to announce his opposition to the agreement. Another influential Jewish lawmaker, U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, also said on Thursday […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Lenders back Azeri gas project with European focus

Asian and European lenders offer support for Azeri gas project that would help diversify a European energy sector dependent on Russia. Photo by tcly/Shutterstock MANILA, Aug. 7 (UPI) — Asian and European lenders unveiled a $1 billion finance package Friday to help fund an Azeri natural gas field meant to diversify the European energy sector. The Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, with support from the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, announced funding support for the second stage of the Shah Deniz natural gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan. The ADB said the project is "crucial" for energy security in the European economy. "This project is one of the European Union’s highest priorities for the energy sector," EBRD Managing Director for Energy and Natural Resources Riccardo Puliti said in a statement. "It is key for energy security because it diversifies routes and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple