S&P hits new record but Nasdaq falters – New York Report November 17, 2014 THE S&P 500 edged up to close at a record high on Monday as deal activity worth $100bn offset concerns about overseas growth after Japan’s economy slipped into recession. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 13.01 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 17,647.75, the S&P 500 gained 1.5 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 2,041.32. [...]
Britain must do more to scale up tech firms says LoveFilm and Zoopla investor Sherry Coutu November 16, 2014 Britain is great when it comes to helping tech startups, but we lag behind many countries when it comes to scaling-up these companies to reach their full potential, a report will reveal. The Scale-Up report is to be launched today at an event at Bloomberg’s London offices by its author, the investor and entrepreneur [...]
Park Hyatt New York: First major NYC hotel in over 10 years November 16, 2014 It takes big bucks to open a new luxury hotel in Manhattan – and even bigger cojones. Clearly, the idea has not been tempting for some time. New York’s last mega-launch was the Mandarin Oriental in 2003. Eleven years and one recession later, confidence has finally returned to the Big Apple – and, [...]
McDonald’s made bubblegum flavoured broccoli to get kids to eat healthier November 16, 2014 How to get children hooked on healthy food? McDonald’s attempted to solve that conundrum by making it taste like unhealthy food. The company's chief executive, Don Thompson, has been quoted as admitting that the restaurant tried to get kids to eat healthier by designing broccoli that tasted like bubblegum. According to reports [...]
Apple is now worth more than the entire Russian stock market November 14, 2014 An interesting viewpoint from Bloomberg this afternoon, whose chart of the day shows how Apple is now bigger than the whole of the Russian stock market. (Source: Bloomberg) Thanks to various factors, including sliding oil prices and sanctions from Western economies against Russian companies, the value of Russian shares has fallen $234bn (£150bn) this year, reckons Bloomberg. [...]
Energy stocks slide with oil – New York Report November 13, 2014 ENERGY shares fell their most in a month, as crude prices slid, dragging on Wall Street despite gains in Wal-Mart and consumer and tech stocks. Brent crude prices fell below $78 a barrel, leaving the S&P 500 little changed yesterday despite gains in Wal-Mart, which closed up 4.7 per cent, and other bellweathers. The Dow [...]
Dow and S&P fall on oil drop – New York Report November 12, 2014 THE DOW and S&P 500 ended slightly lower yesterday, breaking their five-day streak of record closing highs as energy and utility shares lost ground, while the Nasdaq climbed. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.7 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 17,612.2, the S&P 500 lost 1.43 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 2,038.25 and [...]
The Nokia is dead: We look back at the best of the Finnish brand’s phones from the last 30 years November 12, 2014 It's been a long time coming but Microsoft has today killed the Nokia brand. The software giant, which bought the Finnish mobile phone group for around £4.4bn last year, unveiled its low-end Lumia 535 smartphone this morning. Those in the know claim that dropping the name is part of a “lofty” strategy that will enable [...]
Apple design chief Sir Jony Ive had fun with Lily Allen and Daisy Lowe at Sushi Samba anniversary party November 11, 2014 Apple’s notoriously quiet design chief Sir Jony Ive may have only been back in the UK for a few days, but he took time to rub shoulders with the likes of Lily Allen and Daisy Lowe at Sushi Samba’s second anniversary party last night. Ive and PR guru Matthew Freud propped up the bar [...]
Taylor Swift’s withdrawal signals trouble for Spotify – Brand Index November 11, 2014 To the dismay of fans the world over, in the last week Taylor Swift decided to remove all her songs and albums from the music streaming service Spotify. But what does this say about the future of the service, the way we engage with music, and the industry itself? The numbers leave us in no [...]