Greek drama and Chinese data hits US – New York Report February 9, 2015 INTERNATIONAL economic news disappointed the US market yesterday as stocks fell on worries about Greek debt negotiations and disappointing Chinese economic data on top of uncertainty about US interest rates. After the market’s strong week last week, nine out of 10 S&P sectors finished down yesterday, with healthcare and utilities the worst performers. Only energy finished [...]
Alibaba moves into smartphone market with £400m investment February 9, 2015 Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has bought a $590m (£388m) minority stake in Chinese smartphone maker Meizu. The move signals Alibaba’s first major foray into smartphone hardware as it looks to build a platform for its YunOS mobile operating system. In a joint statement, the two companies said they will collaborate “to achieve [...]
Arm buys into the Internet of Things with acquisition of Dutch firm Offspark February 9, 2015 It looks like UK chip designer Arm Holdings sees its future in internet-ready fridges. The company has just announced the acquisition of Offspark, a Dutch firm which specialises in security software for the Internet of Things. There are signs the Internet of Things is finally making headway, with headline grabbers like Google's $3.2bn (£2bn) acquisition [...]
Hugo Boss sales disappoint after weak demand February 4, 2015 German fashion retailer Hugo Boss has reported lower than expected earnings, blaming sluggish consumer demand and one-off costs related to a shake-up of its Middle Eastern distribution network. In an unscheduled trading statement released yesterday, the company said pre-tax earnings edged up by one per cent in 2014 to €437m (£327.5m), compared with analyst expectations [...]
Apple overtakes Android in US smartphone sector for first time in three years February 4, 2015 Apple is on a roll. After posting record profits that put it in the history books and following that up with an all-time high share price, you might be thinking so what. But much of Apple's success in the three months to December 27 came from China, where revenues grew 70 per cent, [...]
Rocky market could prompt oil mega-mergers as price fall forces drastic decisions February 3, 2015 After six months of falling oil prices, analysts have pointed to a possible mega-merger between the majors. Chances of a shock deal have been heightened by firms slashing their spending in the face of oil prices that are expected to remain low for at least the next six months and possibly the next three years. [...]
Gold fix revamp to resist fiddling February 2, 2015 A NEW gold price benchmark will launch next month under the auspices of the Intercontinental Exchange group (ICE), replacing the near-century old gold fix. The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Gold Price should have more participants than the outgoing fix, which is set by just four banks. The pool of banks will be much wider, with Chinese [...]
Four things we know about China’s luxury consumers: Apple is most desirable but British brands rate among wealthy shoppers February 2, 2015 Chinese spending on luxury goods may be faltering as the economy slows down and the government clamps down on gift-giving of luxury items, but consumer spending is still expected to help carry the country’s economy ahead of the US as the world’s largest over the next decade. The rise of the luxury brand in Asian [...]
China fish firm gobbles £10m February 1, 2015 A CHINESE fish food company is set to list on the junior stock market tomorrow after raising close to £10m from investors. Aquatic Foods Group, which is based in the Shandong Province, has sold shares worth £9.3m to investors, giving the business a £79.3m price tag. The company specialises in producing frozen seafood for China’s [...]
Alibaba share price down in pre-market trading as Chinese etailer disappoints January 29, 2015 Alibaba's share price was down more than eight per cent in pre-market trading today as the Chinese etailing giant released below-expectations quarterly figures. The figures: Revenues in the three months to December 31 rose 40 per cent to $4.2bn (£2.8bn), while income was up just six per cent to $1.5bn. Analysts were expecting revenues [...]