NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures fell sharply on Wednesday, with markets rattled by Germany’s decision to ban naked short selling of certain financial instruments and comments from its chancellor that the euro was in danger.
Germany
Germany banned naked short sales of euro-denominated government bonds, credit default swaps based on those bonds and shares in the country’s 10 leading financial institutions in a move that appeared to surprise its partners in the European Union, who said they were not consulted.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech to parliament the euro was in danger and urged speedy action to stop market “extortion” and said the EU needed a process for “orderly” insolvency of its members.
European shares fell sharply as Germany’s move sparked concerns of tighter regulation, and the euro fell to a four-year low of $1.2145 before bouncing slightly above the $1.22 level.
“Since the announcement of the rescue plan there seems to be a leakage of confidence as to how much it is going to cost, how it is going to get paid for.
Read more…
PHOENIX, May 19 /PRNewswire/ — Employers facing rocketing increases to health insurance budgets can offset some of the multi-million dollar increases by cutting workers’ compensation payouts through Merchants Information Solutions Pre-employment Integrity Test. Merchants’ CEO Russ Johnson is so confident that he can cut workers’ comp payouts (average employer savings 60%), he has created The Merchants Challenge: If mutually agreed upon workers’ comp reductions aren’t achieved, Merchants will refund its fees less any savings realized.
“Our ability to reduce workers’ compensation loss rates by double digits — typically a 60% reduction — through the use of Merchants Pre-employment Integrity Test has been proven for decades. W
Read more…
(Reuters) – Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.1 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.4 percent at 0836 GMT (4:36 a.m. ET).
Applied Materials Inc (AMAT.O), the world’s largest producer of chipmaking gear, will be in focus after posting a second-quarter profit as customers added capacity to take advantage of growing demand for consumer electronics, especially in emerging markets. The company’s shares traded in Frankfurt (AMAT.F) were up 0.6 percent.
On the M&A front, Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) agreed to buy VeriSign Inc’s (VRSN.O) widely used technology for securing payments over the Internet in a deal worth $1.28 billion, the companies said on Wednesday.
Read more…
