NEW YORK, Oct 18- Wall Street posted record closing highs on Wednesday, driven by strong earnings, while U.S. All three Wall Street major indexes posted record closing highs. "People are of the mindset that there is no alternative to equities and therefore they're continuing to pour into them," said Ian Winer, head of equities at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.
*Wall Street at records; Dow above 23,000 on IBM boost. NEW YORK, Oct 18- Wall Street again posted record highs on Wednesday, driven by strong earnings, and Treasury yields rose as investors focused on monetary policy, but the dollar slipped to snap a four-day rally. Investors focused on global economic strength and expectations for gradual monetary policy...
ROME— Malta, a tiny archipelago nation in the southern Mediterranean, is so attractive to those looking to shelter funds or operate under the radar of authorities that it's got a nickname to prove it: "treasure island." That means investigators have many tangled paths to follow to discover who wanted the anti-corruption crusader dead as she drove down a country...
*Challenges rival offer from Italy's Atlantia. DUESSELDORF/ MILAN, Oct 18- German builder Hochtief, controlled by Spain's ACS, made a 17.1 billion euro bid for Spanish toll road operator Abertis on Wednesday, topping a rival offer from Italy's Atlantia. However, a source close to ACS- whose chairman Florentino Perez also heads Real Madrid soccer club- has told...
If successful, Milan- based F2i's new fund- called Fund III- could raise more than 3 billion euros with Italy's CDP also touted as a possible investor, the sources said. F2i, led by former A2A utility executive Renato Ravanelli, is one of Italy's leading renewable energy players with joint investment platforms with Europe's biggest utility Enel and EDF's Italian...
BRUSSELS— European Union chief Donald Tusk says Britain needs to come up with much more concrete proposals to reinvigorate stalled Brexit negotiations. The European Council president said Wednesday that for the two sides to meet the goal of completing the first phase of talks by year's end, Britain must translate the intentions Prime Minister Theresa May...
MILAN, Oct 18- Dealmaking activity helped European shares inch higher on Wednesday as the focus turned to a flurry of third-quarter company earning updates. Spanish road toll operator Abertis soared to a record high after German builder Hochtief tabled a $20.1 billion bid, topping a rival offer from Italy's Atlantia. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy...
Oct 18- German builder Hochtief, controlled by Spain's ACS, made a 17.1 billion euro bid for Spanish toll road operator Abertis on Wednesday, topping a rival offer from Italy's Atlantia. **April 27- Atlantia agrees to sell 10 percent of its domestic motorway unit to a series of investors for 1.48 billion euros as it presses ahead with plans to bid for Abertis.
*Wall Street at records, IBM earnings boost indexes. NEW YORK, Oct 18- Wall Street hit new records on strong earnings and the dollar extended a winning streak on Wednesday, boosted by rising Treasury yields as investors focused on monetary policy. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was boosted by strong earnings from heavyweight International Business Machines, which...
*Challenges rival offer from Italy's Atlantia. DUESSELDORF/ MILAN, Oct 18- German builder Hochtief, controlled by Spain's ACS, made 17.1 billion euro bid for Spanish toll road operator Abertis on Wednesday, topping a rival offer from Italy's Atlantia. Hochtief is offering 18.76 euros in cash, or 0.1281 Hochtief shares, for each Abertis share and has set a minimum...
ROME— Italian actress and filmmaker Asia Argento says being sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein "smashed all my dreams" and "changed the perception I had of myself." Argento revealed for the first time in an interview published in The New Yorker magazine last week that in 1997 Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at a hotel in France when she was 21 years...
*Oil prices rise on tighter US market, Middle East tensions. MILAN, Oct 18- World stocks stayed near all-time peaks and the dollar extended a winning streak on Wednesday as the focus on upcoming changes to monetary policies in the U.S. and the euro zone grew. The start of China's Communist Party conference, the extension of talks over the North American Free Trade...
MILAN— Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi threw his political weight behind a non-binding referendum on autonomy in his native region of Lombardy— though he said Wednesday he wasn't sure whether he can vote himself. Berlusconi joined Roberto Maroni, president of the prosperous Lombardy region, to show his support for its autonomy.
MILAN, Oct 18- World stocks stayed near peaks and currencies moved in tight ranges on Wednesday as China's Communist Party conference opened and the focus in Europe turned to speeches from top euro zone central bankers before next week's key policy meeting. European shares steadies around four-month highs with a raft of company results in focus and euro zone...
*Tunisia- Sicily route seen as shorter, safer than Libya-Lampedusa. *Italy urges more patrols in Tunisia to stop departures. *Europe worried about influx of jihadists from Tunisia.
*EU unmoved by May's Monday trip to Brussels. LUXEMBOURG/ BRUSSELS, Oct 17- Theresa May will make a pitch to fellow EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday as she tries to break a deadlock in Brexit talks that has left Britain's future trading position up in the air. But EU officials expect no movement in negotiating positions from either side before the other 27 leaders...
*EU unmoved by May's Monday trip to Brussels. LUXEMBOURG/ BRUSSELS, Oct 17- Theresa May will make a pitch to fellow EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday as she tries to break a deadlock in Brexit talks that has left Britain's future trading position up in the air. But EU officials expect no movement in negotiating positions from either side before the other 27 leaders...
Caruana Galizia, 53, died Monday as she drove near her home on Malta. "Now what was many times foretold, threatened, wished for by people who despised her has finally happened," read an editorial in The Malta Independent, a daily newspaper for which Caruana Galizia wrote twice weekly. Caruana Galizia relentlessly investigated Joseph Muscat, a politician who is now...
LONDON/ MILAN, Oct 17- European shares dipped on Tuesday, falling from a four-month peak as weakness among commodities stocks outweighed gains spurred by results from companies including food group Danone and education firm Pearson. UK's FTSE ended 0.1 percent lower following comments by Bank of England policymakers which were taken as dovish by market...
VALLETTA, Malta— A Dutch forensic team arrived in Malta on Tuesday to help investigate the car bomb slaying of a journalist who scrutinized the country's top politicians and other powerful figures, an official said, as angry Maltese demanded the truth about who killed the anti-corruption crusader. Maltese Home Minister Michael Farrugia said FBI agents also...
