Gold Edges Higher On Dollar Weakness

Gold edged up slightly on Wednesday and the dollar weakened sharply amid signs of progress in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine to end their weeks-long conflict.

Spot gold was marginally higher at $1,920.12 per ounce while U.S. gold futures were up 0.3 percent at $1,918.50.

Moscow pledged to cut military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv in an effort to de-escalate war.

Ukraine reacted with skepticism to the promise while the United States warned the threat isn’t over.

U.S President Joe Biden asked whether the Russian announcement was a sign of progress in the talks or an attempt by Moscow to buy time to continue its assault.

Moscow’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said that there is still “a long way to go” to reach a mutual agreement with Ukraine.

In economic releases, ADP private payrolls figures for March and final GDP data for the fourth quarter will be featured in the New York session.

Newmont To Acquire Properties In Tahltan Territory From Skeena Resources

Newmont Corp. (NEM, NGT.TO) announced Wednesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Skeena Resources Ltd. to acquire certain properties located in Tahltan Territory in northwestern British Columbia conditional upon the successful completion of Skeena’s proposed acquisition of QuestEx Gold & Copper Ltd.

Newmont will work in collaboration with the Tahltan Nation, the Iskut community and the British Columbia government to make available portions of the acquired properties to support the land use planning objectives of the Tahltan Nation and the Iskut community.

The planned acquisition is intended to protect and conserve lands under Tahltan Stewardship Initiative

Skeena Resources has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of QuestEx Gold & Copper Ltd.

Following the completion of this proposed transaction by way of a plan of arrangement, which is subject to QuestEx shareholder approval, regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions, Skeena will sell to Newmont the northern properties of Castle, Coyote, Heart Peaks, Moat and North ROK.

Woman found shot dead in Aurora parking lot overnight

The Aurora Police Department is investigating a shooting this shooting that killed a woman.

Elizabeth McGregor from APD says officers responded to a parking lot on 9796 East Mexico Ave. at 12:50 a.m. Wednesday. They found an adult woman suffering from a gunshot wound in the lot. She died on the scene.

Police say in initial reports there were multiple gunshots fired.

Officials are still working on a suspect description and are asking anyone who witnessed the incident or has information about it to call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers.

The Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office has not released the woman’s name yet.

U.S. Consumer Confidence Unexpectedly Improves In March

The Conference Board released a report on Tuesday showing an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of March.

The report showed the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index rose to 107.2 in March from a revised 105.7 in February.

The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to dip to 107.0 in March from the 110.5 originally reported for the previous month.

The unexpected uptick by the headline index came as the present situation index jumped to 153.0 in March from 143.0 in February.

Meanwhile, the report showed the expectations index fell to 76.6 in March from 80.8 in the previous month.

“The Present Situation Index rose substantially, suggesting economic growth continued into late Q1,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “Expectations, on the other hand, weakened further with consumers citing rising prices, especially at the gas pump, and the war in Ukraine as factors.”

She added, “Meanwhile, purchasing intentions for big-ticket items like automobiles have softened somewhat over the past few months as expectations for interest rates have risen.”

Apollo No Longer Evaluating Cash Offer For Pearson

Apollo Global Management, Inc. (APO) and its subsidiaries, on Wednesday, stated that Apollo has been unable to reach agreement with the board of Pearson (PSO,PSON.L) as to the terms of an offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Pearson plc. As a result, Apollo confirmed that it does not intend to make an offer for Pearson.

Separately, the Board of Pearson confirmed that, on 28 March 2022, it received a third proposal from Apollo regarding a possible cash offer at 870 pence per share. Including the previously announced fiscal 2021 dividend of 14.2 pence per share, the total value of the third proposal was 884.2 pence per share. The Board of Pearson unanimously rejected the third proposal. The third proposal followed two previous proposals from Apollo which were unanimously rejected by the Board of Pearson.

US companies add 455,000 jobs in March, ADP report shows

February jobs blow past expectations with 678,000 additions

FOX Business’ Cheryl Casone reports on the ‘strong’ February jobs report. 

U.S. companies hired employees at a healthy clip in March, suggesting the labor market is still strong and that businesses are eager to fill a near-record of open positions, according to the ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday morning. 

Companies added 455,000 jobs in March, slightly above the 450,000 gain that economists surveyed by Refinitiv had predicted but below the revised 486,000 increase in February. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Paychex Inc. Q3 Profit Increases, beats estimates

Paychex Inc. (PAYX) revealed a profit for its third quarter that increased from last year and beat the Street estimates.

The company’s earnings came in at $430.7 million, or $1.19 per share. This compares with $350.5 million, or $0.97 per share, in last year’s third quarter.

Excluding items, Paychex Inc. reported adjusted earnings of $419.4 million or $1.15 per share for the period.

Analysts on average had expected the company to earn $1.05 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company’s revenue for the quarter rose 15.3% to $1.28 billion from $1.11 billion last year.

Paychex Inc. earnings at a glance (GAAP) :

-Earnings (Q3): $430.7 Mln. vs. $350.5 Mln. last year.
-EPS (Q3): $1.19 vs. $0.97 last year.
-Analyst Estimate: $1.05
-Revenue (Q3): $1.28 Bln vs. $1.11 Bln last year.