Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open June 23, 2016 Polls are open for the UK's European Union membership vote. Markets are betting people will opt to stay however and rallying around the world. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 2:30pm London time. In the pre-market the S&P is up by 0.95 per cent, while the Nasdaq is one per cent higher. [...]
Elon Musk’s Tesla to snap up the US’ biggest solar energy provider June 22, 2016 Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk shocked markets yesterday by announcing plans to merge his electric car maker with America's biggest solar provider. Tesla Motors wrote in a blog post late last night that it has offered to buy SolarCity in an all-stock deal worth as much as $2.8bn (£1.9bn), more than the solar provider's market capitalisation of $2.1bn. Read more: Ikea [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open June 22, 2016 It's the calm before the storm as investors await a second round of testimony from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and the UK Brexit referendum approaches. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 14:30 London time. In the pre-market US futures are up, albeit barely. The S&P is up by 0.05 per cent. [...]
Meet Rolls-Royce’s crazy driverless supercar and the glass-fronted Mini concept car of the future June 16, 2016 Rolls-Royce has created a super luxury car of the future ditching a chauffeur and any kind of driver entirely while serving the super rich with a robot concierge. The car delivers passengers to their destination in the style of Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" with a canopy roof opening up to allow owners to stand up fully as [...]
Hire a hacker: Cyber security needs some fresh ideas June 16, 2016 Today, cyber security is one of the major issues keeping chief executives awake at night. Cyber crime is on the rise. According to Juniper Research, data breaches are projected to cost companies $2.1 trillion by 2019. High profile hacks have highlighted the significant risks in the digital world. But while news outlets focus on the [...]
Rarer than a unicorn? This venture capital firm just floated in London June 15, 2016 Draper Esprit, the European firm which has backed startups such as LoveFilm, Graze and Lyst has made its stock market debut in a rare move for a venture capital firm.. With a dual listing on Aim and Ireland's Enterprise Securities market (ESM), shares on London's junior market were up as much as four per cent on the [...]
General Electric backs German renewable battery start-up Sonnen June 7, 2016 General Electric has bet on renewable energy storage with a stake in a lithium battery start-up. GE Ventures, the engineering giant's venture capital arm, paid a "double-digit million sum" for a slice of Bavaria-based start-up Sonnen, which has become Europe's largest maker of lithium-battery energy storage systems. Read more: Oil major Total makes near €1bn wager on renewable energy Sonnen, [...]
Firing up innovation in Japan: Entrepreneurship has been frowned up in Japan but a new breed of youngsters are hoping to make the country a world class technology player once again June 6, 2016 The eighties were a boom time for Japan, when the country’s high-tech innovations meant the likes of Sony, Nintendo, Mitsubishi and Toshiba were global leaders. Its technology had changed society, from the appearance of the first bullet train in 1964, to Sony’s Walkman in 1979, through to the Nintendo GameBoy in 1989. Japan’s dominance in [...]
Before the bell: What you need to know before the US market open May 31, 2016 It's the last day of May, people are back at their desks after a long weekend in the UK and the US and markets in New York are pointing up. Here's what you need to know before the US market open at 14:30 London time. Ahead of the open the S&P is up by 0.04 [...]
The Slovakian makers of the 700mph Hyperloop have invented their own super-safe material which is 10 times stronger than steel May 24, 2016 Remember Hyperloop, the 700mph mass transportation system invented by Tesla founder Elon Musk? The technology – which is still at prototype stage – has been seized on by a company in Slovakia, which today announced that it has come up with a new, super-safe material to ensure passenger safety. “Vibranium” may sound suspiciously close to Avatar’s Unobtainium, [...]