Online trading platform Plus500 gains approval to enter Canada's OTC market
The company, which provides equity, commodity and options trading services and is active in more than 60 countries, has made investments in new products and expanded into global markets.
In March, it bought Indian financial services company Mehta Equities for about $20 million.
Plus500 said in April that it expects annual results to exceed market expectations, supported by increased trading activity amid global market volatility.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
Home Depot sticks with annual sales, profit targets despite weak quarter
Aug 19 (Reuters) - Home Depot (HD.N), opens new tab missed estimates for quarterly revenue and profit but kept its annual forecasts intact on Tuesday, against the backdrop of homeowners reining in spending on large-scale renovations and focusing on do-it-yourself projects. The top U.S. home-improvement chain's results kick off a keenly watched earnings week for big-box retailers, including Walmart (WMT.N), opens new tab and Target (TGT.N), opens new tab, that will show how consumers are dealing with rising costs and sour economic sentiment. Home Depot and rival Lowe's (LOW.N), opens new tab are grappling with soft demand as higher rates prompt homeowners to invest in essential upgrades. A gauge of U.S. homebuilder sentiment fell unexpectedly in August to its lowest level in over two-and-a-half years. "The momentum that began in the back half of last year continued throughout the first half as customers engaged more broadly in smaller home improvement projects," CEO Ted Decker said. Comparable sales in the U.S. rose 1.4% in the second quarter, marking its third straight quarter of growth. Analysts said the stronger demand in July was due to the late start to spring. Shares of Home Depot were up about 1% in choppy premarket trading. Lowe's, which is set to report quarterly results on Wednesday, also rose marginally. Home Depot had said in May it would keep prices unchanged despite shifting tariff rates, a strategy the company plans to stick with. The company has not changed its pricing approach, Chief Financial Officer Richard McPhail told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday. Most of Home Depot's imported products sold in the quarter landed ahead of tariffs, he said. The improvement through the quarter and reaffirmed annual guidance, as well as Home Depot not needing to raise prices despite the current elevated tariff environment, are encouraging, Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joseph Feldman wrote in a note. Home Depot maintained its fiscal 2025 sales and profit targets. It expects overall sales growth of about 2.8% and adjusted per-share profit to decline 2% from last year. The company posted net sales of $45.28 billion for the quarter ended August 3, compared with analysts' estimate of $45.36 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Its adjusted profit came in at $4.68 per share, below expectations of $4.71.
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
US single-family starts, permits rise in July
Aug 19 (Reuters) - Groundbreaking for new U.S. single-family homes and permits for future construction rose in July even as high mortgage rates and economic uncertainty continued to hamper home purchases. Single-family housing starts, which account for the bulk of homebuilding, increased 2.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 939,000 units last month, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Tuesday. Permits for future single-family homebuilding edged up 0.5% to a rate of 870,000 units. Overall residential project starts, including apartments, jumped 5.2% to a rate of 1.428 million units and permit issuance fell 2.8% to 1.354 million units. Economists polled by Reuters had estimated housing starts at 1.290 million and permits at 1.386 million. President Donald Trump's sweeping import tariffs have kept the Federal Reserve from lowering interest rates this year, with most central bank policymakers wary of easing borrowing costs until they have more confidence the levies will not rekindle inflation, which has yet to return to the Fed's 2% target. Recent indications of softening in the job market, however, have largely convinced investors that the Fed will cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point when it meets in mid-September, and that expectation has helped bring down mortgage rates in recent weeks. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the most common U.S. home loan, fell to 6.58% last week, the lowest level since October, data from mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac showed. That rate is down by nearly half a percentage point since January. Still, mortgage rates are well above the levels that prevailed in the years just before and through the COVID-19 pandemic, and that change along with high home prices has kept a lid on demand. The slump in demand has increased the supply of homes on the market, discouraging builders from breaking ground on new housing projects. New housing inventory is near levels last seen in late 2007. A National Association of Home Builders survey on Monday showed more than a third of builders are cutting prices to attract buyers. Residential investment, which includes homebuilding, contracted in both the first and second quarters and was a drag on overall U.S. economic output.
Reuters
10 minutes ago
- Reuters
Canada's annual inflation rate eases to 1.7% in July, core measures stay firm
OTTAWA, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Canada's annual inflation rate eased to 1.7% in July from 1.9% in the prior month as lower year-on-year gasoline prices kept the consumer price index low, but core measures of inflation stayed sticky, data showed on Tuesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast the annual inflation rate at 1.8% and the monthly inflation rate at 0.3%. The CPI increased by 0.3% in July from 0.1% in June on a monthly basis, Statistics Canada said. Gasoline prices dropped by 16.1% on a yearly basis in July, following a 13.4% decline in June. On a monthly basis the price of he fuel dropped as geopolitical tensions eased and crude oil producing nations increased output. The elimination of carbon levy on purchase of petrol has helped bring down the cost of the fuel on a yearly basis and is expected to maintain a downward pressure on the CPI basket for another eight months. This has helped the overall consumer price index to clock a rate below the mid-point of the Bank of Canada's 1% to 3% target range, even as there are signs of rising prices of food. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 2.5% in July, Statscan said. The main drivers of the increase in costs were rise in food prices and shelter costs, StatsCan said. Food prices, which contributes close to 17% to the overall CPI basket, rose by 3.3% in July from 2.9% in June. Shelter costs, the biggest component of the CPI basket, rose 3% in July from 2.9% in June, marking the first increase since February last year. This was driven by a smaller decline in cost of natural gas and rise in rents by 5.1%. Core measures of inflation, which are closely tracked by the Bank of Canada have remained resilient and hovered around the top of the bank's preferred range of CPI. One of the core measures the CPI-median - or the centermost component of the CPI basket when arranged in an order of increasing prices - was at 3.1% in July, from 3% in June. The CPI-trim, which excludes the most extreme price changes, was unchanged at 3%. The share of the CPI basket which is above 3% continues to be elevated at over 37%, data showed. Money markets are betting the odds of a rate cut on Sept. 17 at 32% after the bank has stayed put at 2.75% for its last three rate decision meetings. The Canadian dollar weakened and was trading down 0.11% after the inflation data to 1.3817 to the U.S. dollar, or 72.37 U.S. cents. Two-year government bond yields were down 0.3 basis points to 2.735%.
