After BNP, U.S. targets range of firms in crackdown on illicit money flows

BNP Paribas’ guilty plea and agreement to pay nearly $9 billion for violating U.S. sanctions is part of a larger U.S. Justice Department shift in strategy that is expected to snare more major banks and other firms across the financial food chain. Two other major French banks, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale, Germany's Deutsche Bank AG, and Citigroup Inc's Banamex unit in Mexico are among those being investigated for possible money laundering or sanctions violations, according to people familiar with the matter and public disclosures. The Justice Department and other U.S. authorities, including the Manhattan District Attorney, are probing Credit Agricole and Societe Generale for potentially violating U.S. economic sanctions imposed against Iran, Cuba and Sudan, one of the sources said.

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Asian shares stay near highs, dollar soft

Asian shares were firm near a three-year high on Tuesday on upbeat Chinese manufacturing data and expectations that U.S. monetary policy will stay loose for some time, while the dollar was broadly soft. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.4 percent while the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan erased earlier losses to stand flat, staying within 0.2 percent from a three-year high hit three weeks ago. A string of fairly upbeat but relatively minor U.S. economic data published on Monday did little to weaken expectations, rekindled after surprisingly weak first quarter growth data, that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep an easy monetary policy for some time.

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BNP to pay $9 billion fine, faces dollar-clearing ban

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - French bank BNP Paribas on Monday agreed to pay almost $9 billion over charges it violated U.S. sanctions against countries such as Sudan, and faces a one-year suspension of parts of its U.S. dollar-clearing business. The bank's general counsel, Georges Dirani, briefly appeared in New York state court to plead guilty to one count of falsifying business records and one count of conspiracy. U.S. authorities found that BNP Paribas had evaded sanctions against a range of black-listed countries, in part by stripping information from wire transfers so they could pass through the U.S. system without raising red flags. "Through a series of egregious schemes to evade detection and with the knowledge of multiple senior executives, BNP employees concealed more than $190 billion in transactions between 2002 and 2012," the New York State regulator, headed by Benjamin Lawsky, said in a press release.

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Asian shares off to cautious start, dollar soft

Asian shares were off to a cautious start near a three-year high on Tuesday while the U.S. dollar was listless as investors took new bets that U.S. monetary policy will stay loose for some time. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS ticked down 0.1 percent, though it was still within 0.3 percent from a three-year high hit three weeks ago. A string of fairly upbeat but relatively minor U.S. economic data published on Monday did little to weaken expectations, rekindled after surprisingly weak first quarter growth data, that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep an easy monetary policy for some time. San Francisco Fed President John Williams said on Monday the U.S. central bank will probably need to keep interest rates near zero for at least another year, even as he expressed optimism the economy is on a recovery path.

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GM's ignition-switch crisis deepens; death toll rises to 16

General Motors Co's (GM.N) ongoing safety crisis over deadly ignition switches deepened on Monday with the recall of 8.23 million mostly older cars linked by the U.S. automaker to three deaths. The latest recalls boosted the number of deaths acknowledged by GM to at least 16. The automaker said it now knows of 61 crashes tied to faulty ignition switches, although U.S. lawmakers and safety regulators have said they expect the death toll to climb. A Reuters investigation in early June found that at least 74 people had died in GM cars in accidents with similarities to those that GM earlier had linked to 13 deaths involving defective ignition switches.

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GM appeases recall-scandal victims but still faces two big hurdles

A victim-compensation plan seems likely to earn back some trust with customers.



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U.S. jobs growth likely to be relatively strong in June

U.S. employers likely maintained a fairly healthy pace of hiring in June, consistent with data that have suggested a sharp economic contraction in the first-quarter was an aberration. Nonfarm payrolls probably increased 212,000, marking the fifth consecutive month of job gains above 200,000, according to a Reuters poll of economists. "The economy is certainly headed in the right direction," said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York. "While the momentum in the labor market has shifted modestly lower from the last two months, it's still quite strong."

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The coffee stock that could give your portfolio a jolt

Keurig Green Mountain is one of the best performing stocks in the S&P 500 year-to-date, but is it too late to buy?

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BNP Paribas to pay $8.8 billion in sanctions violation probe

BNP Paribas SA (BNP) pleaded guilty to charges tied to a U.S. probe of sanctions violations, resolving a wide-ranging state and federal investigation.

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BNP pleads guilty in U.S. sanctions case, to pay $8.8 billion

BNP Paribas on Monday pleaded guilty to two criminal charges and agreed to pay $8.83 billion in a broad agreement with U.S. authorities over charges the French bank violated U.S. sanctions laws. A lawyer for BNP briefly appeared in New York state court on Monday and pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying business records and one count of conspiracy. Assistant District Attorney Ted Starishevsky said the bank engaged in a "long-term, multi-jurisdictional conspiracy" to violate sanctions laws by facilitating transactions involving Sudan, Cuba, and Iran. "This conduct, this conspiracy was known and condoned at the highest levels of BNP," Starishevsky said.

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Fear thaws out as online brokers defy funk

While analysts say earnings will fall this year for firms including Goldman Sachs. and JPMorgan Chase, profits are poised to surge 20% or more at their discount brethren.

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Will we ever see another big bank merger?

Despite lush profits, strong capital levels and a broad corporate acquisition boom, financial mergers have been scarce. Regulatory pressure on big banks has suppressed finance CEOs once-strong merger appetite, and this looks unlikely to change. Might we see the banking giants shrink instead?

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Sex video new twist in GSK China bribery scandal

SHANGHAI/LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (GSK.L) tangled web of problems in China, including a sex video of its former China chief and anonymous emails alleging corruption, are highlighted in a lengthy draft report prepared for the British drugs firm and seen by Reuters. The report into the origin of the video and emails was compiled at the request of GSK by ChinaWhys, a Shanghai-based company founded by British investigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife Yu Yingzeng. Five days after their detention, police accused GSK of funneling up to 3 billion yuan ($482 million) through travel agencies to bribe doctors and officials in China. He also said GSK, Britain's biggest pharmaceutical firm, had hired ChinaWhys to investigate the video.

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GM adds 8.45 million cars to ignition-switch recall

General Motors has widened the list of older model vehicles it is recalling for potentially deadly ignition switches, adding 8.45 million compact and midsize sedans that have been linked to seven crashes and three fatalities.

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Passive money managers are crushing active stock pickers

The stock market is beating the tar out of professional stock pickers again this year. According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal more than 74% of actively managed mutual funds are lagging the S&P 500 so far in 2014.

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The real reason Americans are disgusted with government

Some thought the government's approval ratings couldn't get any lower. They were wrong.

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U.S. safety agency probes 2005 Chrysler trucks over axle issue

U.S. safety regulators have opened an investigation into an estimated 260,000 model year 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup trucks of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FIA.MI) because a loose fastener may cause the rear axle to lock up or detach. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported the investigation over the weekend on its website. NHTSA said it has received 15 consumer complaints on the issue. NHTSA also said the consumers who had complained about the problem said there was little or no noise or other warning before the lock-up or separation of the rear axle.

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Apple has a hot quarter, MannKind rebounds, Zillow zips higher

Today's trending tickers highlights moves in Apple, MannKind, and Zillow

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Jobs data in focus, American Apparel on death watch in week ahead

The Yahoo Finance team runs down the biggest stories to watch in the week ahead.

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Double the wealth gap? Double the pleasure (for heirs)

The upside of an expanding wealth gap is there's more money for the haves to leave to their kids when they go to that great country club in the sky. Gregory Mankiw says that's a good thing -- for all of us.

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Offshore tax crackdown opens with 30% penalties for banks

The Internal Revenue Service is about to get an unprecedented look at bank accounts and investments U.S. citizens hold abroad, through a law that is making it harder to hide assets from the tax collector. Tomorrow, the U.S. government will start imposing 30 percent taxes on many overseas payments to financial institutions that don't share information with the IRS. No one knows yet how successful the law will be in combating tax evasion. Still, it allows the U.S. to scoop up data from more than 77,000 financial institutions and 80 governments about its citizens' overseas financial activities.

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Why bond contrarians are beating the vigilantes

Long-term interest rates have dropped in recent months, giving voice to a minority of contrarians who aren’t yet ready to bet low rates are gone forever.

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White House: Court ruling risks women's health

The White House says women's health will be jeopardized by a Supreme Court's decision that allows corporations with religious objections to opt out of a requirement that they cover contraceptives. White ...

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Fed won't raise interest rates for 'some time': Williams

The U.S economy will likely have returned to full employment and a healthy level of inflation by the end of 2016, a top Federal Reserve official predicted on Monday, even as he reiterated his view that interest rates will need to stay near zero for some time. "The bottom line is, it has worked," San Francisco Fed President John Williams said of the Fed's extraordinarily stimulative policies since the Great Recession, including its purchases of trillions of dollars of long-term securities and its near-zero interest-rate policy since December 2008. Likening the Fed's super-easy monetary policy to a cast on the broken leg of the economy, Williams told members of the Utah and Montana Bankers Association that it would have been a mistake to end the stimulative policies before now. Doing so would only have hurt the economy and forced the Fed to take even more aggressive action later on, he said.

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A stronger summer? Pending homes sales surge in May

Signed contracts to buy existing homes surged 6.1 percent in May, the biggest monthly gain since April, 2010.

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GM’s payout formula for the dead: $1 Million and up

After years of delay, the automaker is moving rapidly to try to settle death and injury claims from accidents caused by a faulty ignition switch in its cars.

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Wall Street firms challenge Puerto Rico restructuring law

A pair of Wall Street investment firms is challenging Puerto Rico's new law allowing some public agencies to restructure their debt, saying it violates the U.S. Constitution. Funds managed by Franklin Templeton Investments and OppenheimerFunds Inc. asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico to block the law, arguing that only Congress is allowed to create bankruptcy rules. The funds hold about $1.7 billion combined in debt from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which they say they believe will seek to restructure its debt under the act "imminently." Franklin Templeton declined further comment.

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Argentina bond battle enters new phase

BUENOS AIRES—Argentina's feud with a small group of creditors is poised to enter a critical phase. Argentina is on track to miss an interest payment on Monday, setting in motion a 30-day grace period for the country to make the payment and avoid its second default in 13 years. U.S. legal rulings bar Argentina from making payments to creditors that have accepted the country's debt restructurings since it defaulted in 2001, unless it also pays a group of hedge funds that have refused to sign off. Still, Argentine bonds are trading at levels that suggest investors believe a deal will be reached between Argentina and the so-called holdout creditors.

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Holdout investors says Argentina not at negotiating table

Holdout investors in Argentine sovereign debt said on Monday they have not met with the government to negotiate a settlement on defaulted debt, and accused the government of refusing to enter talks. "Argentina’s professed willingness to negotiate with its creditors has proven to be just another broken promise. NML is at the table, ready to talk, but Argentina has refused to negotiate any aspect of this dispute," said Jay Newman, senior portfolio manager at Elliott Management, which runs NML Capital Ltd, one of the lead holdouts in the case. Argentina on Thursday deposited a regularly scheduled coupon payment due June 30 for restructured bonds without also making a court ordered payment to holdout investors at the same time.

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GM victims fund to have wide eligibility

Kenneth Feinberg, in an interview ahead of Monday's announcement on how the fund will operate, said he had no idea how many people would file claims or whether the number of deaths linked to the faulty switch would rise from the 13 GM has identified. In February, GM began recalling 2.6 million older-model cars, including Chevrolet Cobalts and Saturn Ions, linked to the defective switch, which can be jarred out of the run position and deactivate power steering, power brakes and air bags.

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U.S. pending home sales hit eight-month high in May

Contracts to buy previously owned U.S. homes hit an eight-month high in May, the latest indication that housing was pulling out of a recent soft patch. The National Association of Realtors said on Monday its Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed last month, increased 6.1 percent to 103.9, the highest level since September of last year. Home sales fell last summer after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled it would soon reduce its economic stimulus efforts, which pushed interest rates higher.

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Think college is out of reach now? Just wait.

The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task talks with Jen Wang of Young Invincibles about the impact of student loan rates, which increase on July 1.

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Wall Street to open flat, quarter set to end positive

U.S. stocks were set to open little changed on Monday ahead of business activity and home sales data, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes set to close a sixth straight quarter of gains - a streak not seen in more than 14 years. * The Chicago Purchasing Manager Index is due to be released at 9:45 a.m. EDT (1345 GMT) and the National Association of Realtors will publish its pending home sales index at 10:00 a.m. (1400 GMT).

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Live: GM to reveal victim compensation plan; Facebook mood study backlash

Join Hot Stock Minute live now for the latest premarket headlines.

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'Common sense' says look out for a market drop

What if stocks hit record highs and no one really cared? Hugh Johnson weighs in on the market.

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American Apparel deadline looms

Shares of American Apparel (APP) spiked 27% in less than half an hour on Friday after word leaked out that former CEO Dov Charney had found a sugar daddy backer to help him regain control of the company.

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Facebook scores record 1 bln interactions for World Cup

With 1 billion posts, likes and comments in just the first half of the World Cup, the soccer tournament is already the most talked-about event in Facebook Inc's decade-long history, data obtained by Reuters showed. The soccer conversation measured between June 12 and June 29 involved 220 million people and 1 billion interactions, the Facebook data showed. "People are having conversations on Facebook about what they watch in a really unprecedented scale," Nick Grudin, the company’s director of partnerships, told Reuters. Facebook is the latest social media company to capitalize on TV-related traffic around big events like the World Cup, a trend started years ago by the microblog website Twitter Inc.

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Fear thaws out as online brokers defy funk

While analysts say earnings will fall this year for firms including Goldman Sachs. and JPMorgan Chase, profits are poised to surge 20% or more at their discount brethren.

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China banks' profit growth to slow, risks rising

Annual profit growth of China's banks could slow to 9 percent in 2014 as they face increased liquidity and lending risks due to slower economic growth and Beijing's battle on excessive factory capacity, the banking industry body said a report. Concern about huge growth in Chinese corporate debt since the global financial crisis and the risk of defaults has intensified this year as growth slows and authorities allow markets to play a bigger role in deciding winners and losers. "Banking financial institutions face challenges from increased volatility of short-term liquidity and rising credit risks due to the impact from economic slowdown, structural adjustment and efforts to reduce overcapacity," the China Banking Association said in the report. "Market risks will rise along with interest rate liberalisation, increased exchange rate flexibility and more frequent capital flows, but there will be no large-scale outbreak of liquidity risks."

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GOP bucking business priorities on Capitol Hill

The Republican Party has long been closely allied with the business community but strains in the relationship are showing on Capitol Hill. The most recent fight was over reauthorizing the Export-Import ...

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Sony confident TV business will swing to profit this year - exec

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp is confident its TV division will move into the black this financial year after a decade in the red, even if it falls short of its volume sales target, the head of the newly ...

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Is low volatility a sell signal?

With market volatility at pre-crisis lows, concerns are rising that complacency may herald a selloff, but some analysts believe fundamentals are driving the decline in risk.

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Global stock markets mostly inch higher

Global stock markets mostly inched higher Monday as investors prepared for a busy week of economic news that will give new clues about the strength of the global recovery. European markets were steady ...



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Euro zone price inflation stays low but stable in June

Euro zone inflation in June was flat, official data showed on Monday, easing immediate pressure on the European Central Bank to act again soon to tackle slow price rises. The year-on-year June inflation rate in the 18 countries sharing the euro stood at 0.5 percent for the second month in a row, the European Union's statistics office Eurostat said. It was the ninth straight month that inflation remained within what European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has called a "danger zone" of below 1 percent. Earlier this month, the ECB reacted to vanishing price inflation with a raft of measures, including cutting the deposit rate below zero and offering long-term loans to banks aimed at boosting lending to business.

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Stocks set for quarterly gains, euro zone inflation eyed

Global stocks rose on Monday, on track for their fourth straight quarter of gains, as investors bet that a raft of U.S. and European economic data due this week will soothe recent worries over the pace ...

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Boeing, Airbus enter bids for $1.38 billion South Korean refueling plane order: sources

Boeing and Airbus were among three bidders in South Korea's roughly 1.4 trillion won program to buy four refueling tanker aircraft, two people briefed on the matter said on Monday. South Korea kicked off ...

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BlackRock ETFs near $1 trillion as it loses market share to Vanguard

Even as BlackRock Inc is set to amass $1 trillion in exchange-traded fund assets in its iShares business, U.S. retail investors increasingly prefer to send their money to low-cost leader Vanguard Group, highlighting a weak spot for the world's biggest money manager. With $998 billion in ETF money, BlackRock has more than the next contenders, Vanguard and State Street Corp, combined. Retail investors now account for more than half of the $1.8 trillion in ETF assets under management in the U.S, according to consulting firm PwC. So far this year, Vanguard has pulled in about $30.3 billion in net new ETF money in the U.S., or about 43 percent of the market, while iShares is second with $24.7 billion, or about 35 percent.

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Asia stocks make cautious gains, yen edges higher

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.24 percent. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gives a speech on "financial stability" on Wednesday and will take questions.

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Asia stocks make cautious gains before data splurge

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was steady in morning trade. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gives a speech on "Financial Stability" on Wednesday and will take questions.

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Global bank profits hit $920 billion as Chinese lenders boom

China's top banks accounted for almost one-third of a record $920 billion of profits made by the world's top 1000 banks last year, showing their rise in power since the financial crisis, a survey showed on Monday. China's banks made $292 billion in aggregate pretax profit last year, or 32 percent of the industry's global earnings, according to The Banker magazine's annual rankings of the profits and capital strength of the world's biggest 1,000 banks. Last year's global profits were up 23 percent from the previous year to their highest ever level, led by profits of $55 billion at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) . China Construction Bank , Agriculture Bank of China and Bank of China filled the top four positions.

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Sex video is new twist in GSK China bribery scandal

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) on Sunday confirmed the existence an intimate video recording of its former China head Mark Reilly, which the Sunday Times reported kicked off a bribery investigation that has damaged the drugmaker's business in China.

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Ex-BP executive can be charged with obstructing Congress: U.S. court

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Friday said a lower court judge misinterpreted the obstruction statute in dismissing the charge against David Rainey, a former BP exploration vice president. In May 2013, U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt dismissed the obstruction charge, calling it uncertain whether the law, which refers to "any committee of either House," applied to subcommittees as well.

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