The Traderszone Network

Premier Li Keqiang said he was confident China has the ability to meet its 2015 economic growth target of around 7 percent, the official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday. China is set for its slowest growth in a quarter of a century this year and has rolled out a series of measures since last year to shore up the flagging economy and reduce the risk of falling short of its official growth targets. “We have the ability and confidence to meet this target and to maintain medium-to-high speed economic growth,” Li said, according to Xinhua.

Representatives at CVS Health and Omnicare were not immediately available for comment. Shares of Omnicare, the top U.S. provider of pharmacy services to the elderly, rose as much as 6.7 percent at $101 in after-hours trading on Wednesday. The deal between CVS and Omnicare was first reported by Bloomberg News.

Thousands of McDonald’s workers seeking a minimum wage of $15 per hour swarmed the fast-food giant’s headquarters for the first of two days of protests to coincide with the fast-food chain’s annual meeting on Thursday. Protests by low-wage fast-food and retail workers have helped fuel a national debate about pay levels. Companies such as McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) are raising starting pay and cities like Seattle and Chicago are boosting their minimum wages over time.

Physicists have identified space as the greatest opportunity for our highly evolved capitalist civilization.
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Among the companies whose shares are expected to see active trade in Thursday’s session are Hewlett-Packard, Best Buy, and Dollar Tree.
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As private market valuations in tech soar, merger and acquisition volume is down, PricewaterhouseCoopers reports.

Japan’s stocks trade at a 15-year high while Australia also rises, although weaker-than-expected Chinese manufacturing data keep a cap on gains in the region.
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