Easy money pushes S&P 500 index over 2,000 for first time August 26, 2014 US shares hit a record high yesterday, with the S&P 500 index breaking the 2,000-point mark during trading for the first time in its history. Global investors have piled into American stocks, pumped up by cheap money from central banks, and fleeing troubled economies in areas like the Eurozone and the wavering emerging markets. Federal [...]
eSports is Amazon’s big bet on the future – Bottom Line August 25, 2014 While eSports may look and sound like child’s play, it is in fact big business. Last year the industry attracted 71.5m online viewers worldwide, with Twitch being the destination of choice for over 75 per cent of viewers, and total prize money across eSport competitions reached $25m. While those viewer numbers are a drop in [...]
Jeremy Hunt should scrap plain cigarette packaging August 25, 2014 After Australia passed a first-of-its-kind law in 2012 mandating that all cigarettes be sold in plain brown packaging free of branding, UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt vowed to keep a close eye on the Australian law’s progress before introducing similar legislation in the UK. Two years later, the Australian bill has failed to reduce smoking, [...]
Venezuela plans to fingerprint shoppers to stop food shortages August 22, 2014 The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has announced plans for a major mandatory fingerprinting system to combat the increasingly dire food shortages and rampant smuggling afflicting the Latin American state. He said the fingerprinting system would be similar to the one the country uses for voting and was intended to stop Venezuelans buying too much [...]
iPhone 6 pictures leaked: Apple’s new smartphone flaunts curves and a higher resolution screen August 21, 2014 As the hype surrounding the iPhone 6 reaches fever pitch ahead of its supposed unveiling on 9 September, new images claim to show the complete design of Apple’s new device for the first time. The leaked pictures reveal a return to the design of Apple’s original iPhone model, flaunting its curves as one website might [...]
More billionaires born in London than any other European city August 20, 2014 If ever there was a suitable carrot to dangle in a bid to make us work harder, this might just be it. Wealth consultancy WealthInsight and Spear’s magazine have revealed more billionaires are born in London than any other city in Europe (unless you consider Moscow part of Europe, in which case we’re second). Globally, [...]
Flappy Bird founder Nguyen Dong takes off with Swing Copters sequel August 19, 2014 The creator of Flappy Bird, the smartphone phenomenon that generated over $50,000 a day in early 2014 before it was pulled from Apple’s App Store after just nine months, is set to return tomorrow with his next game. Vietnamese developer Nguyen Dong, who shut down Flappy Bird after notching up 50m players and finding the [...]
Core strength! Apple shares hit record high August 19, 2014 TECHNOLOGY giant Apple saw its share price rise to a record high yesterday, topping the previous price of $100.30 per share at $100.53 on market close. The two-year high comes as the company prepares to launch more gadgets in the coming months, including a new iPhone and a wearable device, dubbed the iWatch. A payments [...]
New York Report: Housing data lifts Wall St August 19, 2014 WALL Street yesterday was lifted by the US housing sector and strong earnings from Home Depot overshadowed lingering concerns about the conflict in Ukraine.. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 80.85 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 16,919.59, the S&P 500 gained 9.86 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 1,981.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added [...]
Apple share price hits record August 19, 2014 Apple saw its share price soar today to $100.53, beating September 2012's record of $100.30. Analysts have been advising investors to put their money in Apple despite a strong run up as expectation mounts regarding the new iPhone, expected to be released on September 9. iTunes Chief Eddy Cue has called Apple's 2014 product releases [...]