REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
A surprise rate cut in India has lifted stocks overnight.
Blackberry Shares Soared And Then Slumped On A Samsung Buyout Rumour. BlackBerry soared over 29% after Reuters reported that Samsung was talking about buying the company for as much as $7.5 billion. But then the stock got hammered after Blackberry issued a statement denying that it's in negotiations with with Samsung. It fell by more than 14% after hours.
Congress Just Voted To Wait Until 2019 For Banks To Apply The Volcker Rule. The House of Representatives voted 271-154 Wednesday to amend the Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law, in particular to postpone implementation of the Volcker Rule. That rule, a provision of the Dodd-Frank act, prohibits banks from trading in collateralized-loan obligations (CLOs), which are widely considered risky. Current legislation requires banks to adopt the measure by 2017.
European Oil Companies Are Putting Billions Of Dollars Of Investment On Hold. Companies like Shell, Premier Oil and Statoil are putting exploration in the higher-cost fields they had previously planned on hold, reversing plans for billions of dollars of investment, according to the Financial Times.
GM Just Broke Its Own Sales Record. US auto giant General Motors announced Wednesday it sold 9.92 million cars worldwide in 2014, setting a new record despite its recall of some 30 million vehicles over faulty ignitions blamed for at least 42 deaths.GM's 2014 sales, which bested last year's record by two percent, still lag those of German giant Volkswagen, which logged 10.14 million cars last year.
China's Uber-Like Taxi App Gained $600 Million (£394.01 Million) In Funding. Chinese taxi-hailing application operator Travice Inc has received a combined investment of some 70 billion yen ($600 million) from Japan's SoftBank Corp, Alibaba and others, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The US And Iran Unexpectedly Resumed Nuclear Talks. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif unexpectedly resumed talks on Tehran's nuclear program in Geneva on Wednesday evening, officials said.
Asian Markets Are Having A Solid Session. Japan's Nikkei closed 1.86% higher, erasing some of the fall it's made so far in 2015, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is currently up 0.54% and the Shanghai Composite index is also 2.86% higher.
Oil Saw A Rally In US Trading. WTI crude oil climbed by more than 5% yesterday, to back above $48 per barrel. Brent saw a slightly smaller increase, which still pushed it back above $50. This morning, Brent is down by about 1.7% and WTI is down by about 1.4%.
The Bundesbank's Jens Weidmann Is Speaking Later. Weidmann is one of the biggest sceptics on the European Central Bank's likely upcoming QE programme. With the latest ECB meeting in just a week's time, he's likely to make a big deal of his concerns this afternoon.
India Just Announced A Surprise Cut In Interest Rates. As central banks around the world seek to avoid deflation, the Reserve Bank of India cut its main policy rate from 8% to 7.75%, according to the Financial Times. Consumer price inflation is still at 5% in India, but that's significantly down from the 7.5% it started 2014 with.