Reuters - Daily Investor Update

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Thursday, August 31, 2017

Wall Street ends higher on tax reform hopes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors reacted to economic data and took cautious hope from Washington's latest promises for long-awaited details of a tax reform plan.

Cash flowing again from Fed's flood-threatened Houston branch

(Reuters) - Cash has begun flowing again from the Federal Reserve's steel and cement vault in Houston, heading for banks in the hurricane-ravaged region after several days of flooding halted armored-truck deliveries and stranded employees overnight.

Oil rises, gasoline jumps 10 percent as U.S. refineries reel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gasoline futures surged 10 percent on Thursday as almost a quarter of U.S. refining capacity remained offline and traders scrambled to reroute millions of barrels of fuel, while oil prices rose nearly 3 percent.

Energy Secretary: U.S. gas prices will rise in Storm Harvey's wake

(Reuters) - U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said on Thursday that gasoline prices are going to rise in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey and he warned that state attorney generals would be on the watch against price gouging at fuel pumps, according to a White House press pool report.

NAFTA nations plan talks progress under barrage of Trump threats

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Trade negotiators plan to take small steps forward in a second round of talks to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) this weekend, trying to ignore daily threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to tear it up if he does not get his way.

U.S., Canada, Mexico aim for NAFTA deal by year-end: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a telephone call on Thursday, expressed hope the two nations and Mexico could reach an agreement to recast the NAFTA trade pact by year end, the White House said.

U.S. data sends stocks higher; yields slip

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose and Treasury prices gained slightly on Thursday after data showed U.S. inflation increased at its slowest pace since late 2015, boosting expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold off from increasing interest rates again this year.

U.S. releases 1 million barrels of oil from strategic reserve

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department said on Thursday it would release a second batch of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve totaling 1 million barrels as Tropical Storm Harvey's disruption of the petroleum industry has spiked motor fuel prices.

GE's new CEO preparing job cuts in bid to reduce costs: source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric Co is making plans to significantly reduce corporate staff in an effort to cut spending and boost profits under its new chief executive, and the company already has halted hiring in certain technology positions, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Yahoo must face litigation by data breach victims: U.S. judge

(Reuters) - A U.S. judge said Yahoo must face nationwide litigation brought on behalf of well over 1 billion users who said their personal information was compromised in three massive data breaches.