US stocks rise with tech firms poised to rally – New York Report April 20, 2015 CHINA also boosted Wall Street yesterday as shares ended sharply higher, also buoyed by investors snapping up technology stocks on cautious optimism over upcoming earnings reports. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 208.63 points, or 1.17 per cent, to end at 18,034.93. The S&P 500 gained 19.22 points, or 0.92 per cent, to 2,100.4, and [...]
Strategy rules: Five key lessons from tech titans April 20, 2015 Focus on platforms rather than products and be smart about risk. There's no shortage of advice on how to run a business like Steve Jobs. Anecdotes abound about how the titans of tech have designed products, managed people, and charted their companies’ growth, but it can be hard to distil practical lessons from them. A [...]
Time’s 100 most influential people: This is the most important age April 17, 2015 You won't see Janet Yellen or Alexis Tsipras running in the same circles together with Kimye (that's celeb power couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West), but they have one thing in common – influence. Along with head honchos like Apple boss Tim Cook, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, politicians Angela Merkel and Putin, and comedians John Oliver [...]
FTSE off its record high as Pearson’s shares are knocked – London Report April 16, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index slipped off record highs on Thursday, with media group Pearson underperforming after a newspaper report of a glitch in a lucrative contract. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index initially rose to an all-time high of 7,119.35 points but then edged back and closed down 0.5 per cent at 7,060.45 points. Pearson fell [...]
Earnings fears hit US stocks – New York Report April 16, 2015 US STOCKS ended marginally lower yesterday as lingering worries about upcoming corporate earnings reports offset enthusiasm about a trio of soaring Wall Street debuts. Weighing on the S&P 500 were Apple and General Electric, which is expected to report its first-quarter results today before trading begins. Netflix closed 18.21 per cent higher after the video [...]
London Marathon 2015: How does it compare to New York, Berlin, Tokyo, Chicago and Boston? April 16, 2015 For the 35th year running, thousands of professional athletes, competitive amateurs and fundraisers in fancy dress will fill the capital's streets for the London Marathon. The race is the most popular of its kind in the UK as each year hundreds of thousands of budding Mo Farahs apply to take part, while millions watch on TV. [...]
General Election 2015: The boozy way to cast your vote – coalition cocktails April 16, 2015 If the many insults and photo-ops of the election campaign are already enough to drive you to drink, at least there's now an altogether more civilised way to cast your vote: an upmarket London hotel has come up with range of five cocktails which "capture the personalities of the main parties". Yep – it's the [...]
Park life: Portable speaker systems to see you through summer April 15, 2015 Make the most of those lazy-hazy-crazy days of summer with these excellent portable speaker systems. Bang & Olufsen A2, £299 Built from a rock-solid combination of extruded aluminium and a tough plastic polymer, this speaker is the perfect outdoor companion. As you’d expect from Bang & Olufsen, the sound is silky smooth and designed [...]
Europe vs Google: EU accuses search giant of market dominance abuse in EU antitrust case and launches Android probe April 15, 2015 Five years after the European Commission first began investigating Google's dominance of internet search, formal charges against the search giant have finally been filed, accusing Google of anti-competitive behaviour. The EC's competition commissioner claims Google favours its own comparison of shopping products in search result pages over those of other shopping sites and has taken the [...]
Strong results provide Wall Street a boost – New York Report April 14, 2015 US STOCKS were buoyed yesterday, aided by the energy sector and March quarterly earnings reports topping modest expectations following worries about a strong dollar. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 59.66 points, or 0.33 per cent, to close at 18,036.7. The S&P 500 gained 3.41 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 2,095.84 and the Nasdaq [...]