Historic drop in Apple profits but iPhone sales please investors October 28, 2013 APPLE’S year-on-year profits fell for the third quarter in a row, the technology giant revealed yesterday, as weak computer sales and falling margins ate into its fourth quarter finances. But healthy iPhone sales meant the results were better than expected and shares held steady in after-hours trading. Profits came in at $7.5bn in the fourth [...]
New York Report: S&P 500 closes at record figure on US Fed talks October 28, 2013 THE S&P 500 closed at another record high yesterday as expectations were lifted that the Federal Reserve will keep its stimulus in place when it meets this week. But the overall market was little changed, with the Dow and Nasdaq ending down slightly, after the recent sharp run-up in the stock market lost some momentum. [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 28 October 2013 October 28, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Big Six face challenge over bills Britain’s energy regulator is on course to clash with the “Big Six” power companies this week over the importance of wholesale gas and electricity prices in rising customer bills. Data from energy regulator Ofgem show wholesale prices have been almost flat over the past year, rising by [...]
Wall St The Week Ahead: Facebook and Apple to report in busy week October 27, 2013 THE FEDERAL Reserve meeting this week is not on the minds of as many people as when it last met in September, but its decision to do nothing last month is providing the fuel for more share gains in Apple and Facebook, which report results this week. Facebook is only slightly off an all-time high, [...]
Amazon still rises despite losses October 24, 2013 ONLINE retail titan Amazon defied profits again last night as it reported a narrowed loss of $41m (£25.3m) on revenues that increased 24 per cent to $17.1bn. The loss did not put off Amazon shareholders which led to an eight per cent rise in after hours trading after the company beat revenue expectations of $16.8bn. [...]
Icahn repeats call for Apple buyback October 24, 2013 BILLIONAIRE investor Carl Icahn fired his latest salvo at Apple chief exec Tim Cook yesterday, urging the iPhone maker again to initiate a $150bn (£92.5bn) buyback. He also revealed that he has increased his stake by about 22 per cent to just over 4.7m shares.
Watchdog forces capital rules on crowdfunding loan websites October 24, 2013 PEOPLE using peer-to-peer (P2P) lending sites will have more protection from being ripped off next year under plans unveiled by the city watchdog yesterday. P2P companies, a form of crowd funding linking savers and borrowers, will be forced to hold a percentage of their loaned funds or £20,000 – whichever amount is higher – as [...]
Five facts about the modern world that will make you think October 23, 2013 1 IN the US, over 8,000 waiters have PhDs or equivalent qualifications, as have 5,057 cleaners. Roughly 317,000 waiters have university degrees, as have 80,000 bartenders and 18,000 parking attendants. These figures have been highlighted by Richard Vedder of the University of Ohio, and are based on official statistics from 2010; today’s situation is unlikely [...]
Birds eat berries as BlackBerry app takes flight October 23, 2013 IT’S OFFICIAL. BlackBerry, once the giant of the smartphone world and the nemesis of every holidaying chief executive, is now little more than an app developer – albeit a very successful one. As its updated BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app for Android and iPhone finally went live (a month after leaked software botched the original launch), some [...]
HTC scales back production as smartphone sales start to slow October 23, 2013 TAIWANESE smartphone maker HTC has halted at least one of its four main manufacturing lines, accounting for at least a fifth of total capacity, and is outsourcing production as a sales slump puts pressure on its cash flow, according to sources with direct knowledge of the situation. A Reuters reporter who visited an HTC factory [...]