Computerworld - Microsoft today announced it's struck a deal with Best Buy to create 600 stores-within-stores in the U.S. and Canada to sell customers on Windows 8, the Surface tablet line, and new PCs and devices from other OEMs.
The move, which Microsoft characterized as a strategic partnership but declined to disclose details of its financial commitment, earned cautious praise from analysts, some who saw it as long overdue. - More
Google on Wednesday downplayed its role in a secret government surveillance program, detailing for the first time how it typically hands over data to federal officials.
When faced with a court order, the tech giant said, it uses surprisingly simple and low-tech methods, including the delivery of information by hand or by using relatively common techniques to transfer files from one computer to another. - More
Here are a few tech stocks to watch on Tuesday, June 11: Round One to Sony?
Though the convention floor had yet to open, Microsoft and Sony both showed off their new consoles in press conferences at the Electronic Entertainment Expo Monday.
Both companies came into the day surrounded by a lot of buzz, but it was Sony that wowed the gaming community by making an aggressive play to undercut its chief competitor. - More
Hewlett-Packard co-CEO Meg Whitman said on Wednesday that revenue growth was "still possible" for the computer maker in its next fiscal year but that the performance of the overall PC market was a wild card.
HP shares rose 4 per cent to $25.22 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading after Whitman's comments in an interview on a private news channel. - More
Google is now the owner of a lot more traffic information.
The search giant today announced that it has acquired Waze, the popular iPhone and Android mapping app that works based off of crowd-sourced traffic data.
"To help you outsmart traffic, today we're excited to announce we've closed the acquisition of Waze. - More
The imminent takeover of the personal computer by tablets has been well documented, but the Pew Research Center today revealed that for the first time ever, one-third of American adults own tablet computers.
In one year, the number of people 18 and older who own some iteration of a tablet — Apple iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus, Kindle Fire — has almost doubled, from 18 percent in 2012 to 34 percent this year. - More
Stocks, bonds and commodities fell around the world as the Bank of Japan disappointed investors by failing to expand monetary stimulus and concern grew that the Federal Reserve will scale back debt purchases.
The MSCI All-Country World Index lost 0.2 percent as of 8:14 a.m. in London.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.6 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures slipped 0.2 percent. U.S. Treasuries declined for a third day, while yields on German, Spanish and Italian bonds all climbed. - More
U.S. employers added 175,000 jobs in May, maintaining the slow but steady gains of recent months and easing worries about a summer slowdown in the U.S. economy.
The unemployment rate rose slightly to 7.6% in May from 7.5% in April, as more people entered the workforce, the Labor Department said Friday in its monthly employment report. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast that payrolls would rise by 169,000 and that the unemployment rate would hold steady at 7.5%. - More
The U.S. Treasury said it plans to sell 30 million additional shares of General Motors Co. stock that it acquired as part of the 2009 bailout of the automaker.
The stock will be sold later this month in a public offering in conjunction with GM’s inclusion to the S&P 500 index effective as of the close of trading on Thursday. - More
Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP -1.42% reported that private-sector employment increased by 135,000 jobs in May, up from 113,000 in April.
A prior April estimate pegged private job gains at 119,000, and economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires expected ADP to report a 170,000 increase. U.S. stock futures SPM3 -0.32% extended losses after the ADP data.
The Labor Department separately reported the biggest drop in labor costs since at least 1947. - More
Chrysler, Ford and General Motors all reported strong May sales on Monday, raising hopes that April's softness was an anomaly and that brisk auto sales will continue to boost the economy. GM said sales rose 3 percent over May of last year on strong demand for pickup trucks, small cars and SUVs. - More
Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd., China’s biggest pork producer, agreed to acquire Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD) for about $4.72 billion to boost supplies for the nation that’s the biggest consumer of the meat.
Closely held Shuanghui, parent of Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co. (000895), will pay $34 a share for the Smithfield, Virginia-based producer, both companies said today in a statement. The offer is 31 percent more than yesterday’s closing share price. - More
In a trend accelerated by the recent recession and an increase in births to single mothers, nearly four in 10 families with children under the age of 18 are now headed by women who are the sole or primary breadwinners for their families, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.
The report reveals a sweeping change in traditional gender roles and family life over a few short decades: The number of married mothers who out-earn their husbands has nearly quadrupled, from 4 percent in 1960 to 15 percent in 2011. - More
Mexico said new U.S. rules for meat labeling were even more onerous than a set of regulations that the World Trade Organization (WTO) declared were unfair in June 2012, the ministry said in an emailed statement.
The Obama administration unveiled the new rule on Thursday, the final day to comply with the WTO decision that upheld complaints by Canada and Mexico. - More
Household-products giant Procter & Gamble Co., which sells Crest and Pampers, changed leaders Thursday, but it was unclear whether that would affect a joint venture with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
The two men leading the companies when PGT Healthcare was announced in March 2011 are both gone. - More
Twitter has added two-factor authentication to its social network, bolstering security after several high-profile account hacks including the Associated Press.
Users can set up the security measure by going into their Account Settings and choose to have a verification code sent to a smartphone. - More
Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) posted a lower-than-expected earnings performance for the first quarter of fiscal 2013. The company said that soft sales and weather related categories affected its results.
The company reported an income of $498 million or $0.77 per share for the first quarter.
During the same period last year, Target Corporation reported a profit of $697 million or $1.04 earnings per share. - More
A day after a Senate report blasted Apple for not paying U.S. taxes on billions of dollars in overseas income, Cook insisted that Apple pays the taxes it legally owes.
“There’s no shifting going on,” said Cook in his first appearance before Congress. “We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar.” Read recap of hearing on live blog. - More
Google is set to introduce a subscription music feature to compete against fast-growing streaming services like Spotify, according to several people briefed on its plans.
Google is planning to introduce the new service as early as Wednesday at Google I/O, the company’s annual conference for software developers. - More
A federal judge has again ordered Wells Fargo to pay $203 million to settle class action litigation accusing it of imposing excessive overdraft fees on checking account customers, reviving an award that had been thrown out last year.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup reinstated on Tuesday a penalty he first imposed in August 2010, saying the fourth-largest U.S. bank violated a California law that protects consumers against fraudulent misrepresentations. - More
Deere & Co. reported higher-than-expected quarterly results on Wednesday and forecast a record profit for the full year, but it said it was cautious because of weakness in the construction market.
The company, the world’s largest maker of farm equipment, slashed its forecast for sales to the construction industry, citing concerns about the outlook for U.S. economic growth and other factors. - More
Mexican shorter-term bond yields declined to record lows on speculation policy makers will further reduce benchmark borrowing costs amid signs of slowing economic growth.
Yields on peso bonds due in December 2014 dropped two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 3.77 percent at 10:22 a.m. in Mexico City, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. - More
Defense department to let Apple devices onto Pentagon network The U.S. Defense Department plans to let its employees use Apple's mobile devices on its military network.
Pentagon employees may soon start using Apple mobile devices, like iPhones and iPads, on the U.S. Defense Department's secure network.
The department expects to clear the devices for use on its network early next week, Bloomberg reported Friday. - More
The fewest Americans in more than five years applied for new unemployment benefits last week, a surprising decline that may reflect seasonal quirks more than a sudden improvement in the jobs market. Initial jobless claims — a rough gauge of layoffs — sank by 18,000 to a seasonally adjusted 324,000 in the week ended April 27, the Labor Department said Thursday.
That’s the lowest level since January 2008. - More
In an ad titled "It's No Secret," J.C. Penney took to Facebook and YouTube to issue an apology to its customers.
A voice over states, “Some changes you liked, and some you didn't. But what matters with mistakes is what we learn. We learned a very simple thing, to listen to you.”
The three major automakers posted their strongest sales in the month of April since 2007.
Trucks and SUV's lead the surge for Ford General Mothers and Chrysler. Ford Motor Co.'s sales rose 17.9% and both Chrysler and General Motors Co reported an 11% gain for the month.
Chrysler's Ram truck division saw sales rise 49% from a year earlier while GM's twin trucks, the GMC Sierra and the Chevrolet Silverado, were up 23.6%.
Prices of pre-owned homes in the Dallas area rose 7.1 percent in February — a record increase for North Texas in the monthly Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. But Dallas’ prices couldn’t keep up with the nationwide 9.3 percent increase from a year ago.
Home price gains in the Dallas area are less than half what they are in places like Phoenix, San Francisco and even Detroit, according to Case-Shiller. - More
The website and mobile app for Charles Schwab & Co. went offline for more than an hour Tuesday and continued to be unavailable at times on Wednesday because of a denial-of-service attack, according to the company.
"Shortly before the stock market closed today, we experienced an exceptionally high volume of website traffic which we believe was related to a denial-of-service attack," the company said in a statement... - More
Capital One Financial Corp. is paying $3.5 million to settle federal civil charges of underreporting as much as $123 million in losses on auto loans in the months preceding the financial crisis.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that Capital One understated its auto loan losses in financial reports for the second and third quarters of 2007, when they came in higher than the bank expected. - More
Qualcomm today reported record fiscal second-quarter revenue and boosted its forecast for the full year, a direct reflection of its dominant position as a supplier of chips for smartphones and tablets.
However, the San Diego chipmaker also projected weaker-than-anticipated fiscal third-quarter per-share earnings.
Its shares dropped 5 percent to $62.64 in after-hours trading. - More
General Electric is pouring $105m into Pivotal, a skunkworks cloud and big data company spun-out of VMware and EMC.
The investment was announced on Wednesday, several hours before Pivotal held its coming out party first major press conference.
"It's no secret that the cloud and big data are driving dramatic business transformation," Bill Ruh, leader of GE's global software center, said in a canned statement. - More
Ford Motor Co. topped Wall Street’s already optimistic earnings estimate with a 16 percent jump in first-quarter net income of $1.6 billion, or 40 cents per share.
That compared to last year’s 35-cent earnings and a 37-cent consensus estimate for the latest quarter among analysts polled by FactSet. - More
MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) shareholders approved a sweetened deal to merge with Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE)’s T-Mobile USA in a crucial vote that gives the German company a chance to revive its U.S. business.
The transaction will probably be completed by May 1 after today’s ballot cleared the final hurdle for the combination of the country’s fourth- and fifth-largest wireless carriers, Bonn- based Deutsche Telekom said in a statement. - More
Netflix’s stock shot up 24% in after-hours trading Monday after the Internet film and TV delivery service said it had added 3 million new members, bringing its total number of global subscribers to more than 36 million.
The high-profile original series, "House of Cards," which debuted Feb. 1, generated a halo effect for Netflix, producing enormous media and social-media buzz. - More
A German regulator on Monday fined Google Inc., about $190,000 for illegally recording data from WiFi networks while taking mapping photos for its Street View service.
The regulator complained the amount, limited by law, was too little to dissuade large companies from violating privacy laws. - More
Two years ago, George Soros' son bought a townhouse in Little Italy with a domed basketball court on the roof for $11,999,900. Now he's selling it for $12 million, says Curbed NY.
Wonder what he'll do with that extra $100... - More
General Electric Co. (GE) fell the most since 2011 after a first-quarter slide in its Power & Water business pulled total industrial earnings down 11 percent. Profit at GE’s manufacturing businesses fell to $2.94 billion as sales slid 5.7 percent to $22.7 billion, the company said in a statement.
The decline was led by a 39 percent drop in earnings at the power and water unit, which makes products including gas-powered and wind turbines. - More
Microsoft said on Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein was leaving the company, as it struggles with sharply declining personal computer sales and a lukewarm reception for its new Windows 8 operating system.
Klein, an 11-year Microsoft veteran with 3 1/2 years as CFO, is the latest in a line of top-level executives to leave the company, following Windows head Steven Sinofsky last November. - More
Yahoo has released two new mobile apps, for weather and email, suggesting the company may be on track toward delivering on its promise of offering users a range of new mobile products over the next several months.
The company, formerly one of Silicon Valley’s most esteemed tech players, has been under pressure in recent years to demonstrate its value to users as more people have migrated to mobile devices, social apps and social networks. - More
Bank of America Corp. led the Dow Jones Industrial Average lower today after shortfalls in mortgage banking and trading marred first-quarter earnings and slowed the company’s turnaround.
While net income quadrupled to $2.62 billion, or 20 cents a share, analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted 23 cents a share, and revenue dropped 8.4 percent on an adjusted basis to $23.9 billion. - More
Google Drive and Gmail have both experienced service disruptions today.
As of about 6 a.m. PT, Google's Apps Status Dashboard was updated to say that Google was investigating reports of issues with both services and would provide more information shortly. - More
TAIPEI--Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world's largest contract electronics maker, is planning to launch a 70-inch TV in Taiwan in May, in a follow-up effort to penetrate the big-screen TV market.
J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) drew $850 million from its revolving credit facility as new Chief Executive Officer Myron Ullman hunts for cash in the wake of his predecessor’s failed overhaul.
A week after replacing Ron Johnson as CEO, Ullman is trying to improve J.C. Penney’s liquidity following the first year in which retailer’s operations consumed cash in decades. - More
Japan is in the midst of a high-wire act: It is trying to reawaken its economy while not sparking a currency war.
The country is trying to beat 15 years of deflation -- falling prices that have a chilling effect on economic growth because consumers hold back on spending in the belief that prices will fall. - More
When it comes to service, McDonald’s customers just aren’t lovin’ it.
The burger behemoth is fielding an increasing number of gripes about its employees’ friendliness, professionalism and speed of service, so much so that an executive warned, “service is broken” at a recent internal webcast.
The company told franchisees during a webcast last month that 20 percent of complaints were related to workers’ attitudes, “and it’s increasing,” according to the Wall Street Journal. - More
Twitter's new music site went live this morning. Well, almost.
Users can currently log in with their usual Twitter credentials, but there are no features as of yet. According to AllThingsD, only a select few will get access to the service over the coming days, with Twitter planning a more extensive rollout after that. - More
Mexico’s National Action Party supports a possible constitutional change to open the state- controlled oil industry to more private investment and will work with other parties to pass such legislation, according to the PAN’s top Senator on the energy commission.
The PAN wants to allow private companies to invest in oil and natural gas production and development, an area the nation’s charter now limits to state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, Salvador Vega said. - More
Applications for unemployment benefits in the United States fell more than forecast last week, Bloomberg reported.
Jobless claims fell by 42,000 to 346,000 in the week ended April 6, from a revised 388,000, according to figures released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a drop to 360,000. - More
Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda are recalling about 3.3 million vehicles worldwide because the passenger-side air bag could deploy with too much force, sending shards of metal into the passenger area, the automakers said Thursday.
Worldwide, the recalls announced in Tokyo include about 1.7 million Toyotas, 1.1 million Hondas, 480,000 Nissans and 20,000 Mazdas. - More
Mark Zuckerberg's entry into politics via an immigration reform group is now official.
As noted by TechCrunch, Zuckerberg has teamed up with a number of high-profile technology executives and venture capitalists to form FWD.us — a group that will work to "promote policies to keep the United States and its citizens competitive in a global economy." - More
Bloomberg's Stephanie Ruhle examines the loss incurred by Bill Ackman on his 18 percent stake in J.C. Penney as Ron Johnson was ousted as CEO. Ackman brought Johnson to the company from Apple in 2011. She speaks on Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop."...
China’s exports rose less than forecast for the first time in four months, leaving the world’s second-largest economy with weaker global demand to support a recovery than previous figures indicated.
Shipments abroad increased 10 percent from a year earlier, the customs administration said today in Beijing. - More
The Senate on Monday confirmed Mary Jo White as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, dismissing concerns about her close ties to the Wall Street banks she will now oversee.
White, a former federal prosecutor who spent the last decade defending JPMorgan Chase and other big banks, secured Senate approval by unanimous consent. White is expected to join the agency in the coming days, replacing Elisse B. Walter, who was running the SEC since the departure of Mary L. Schapiro in December. - More
Huawei Technologies Co. said it doesn’t pose a U.S. security threat as China’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment defends itself against foreign governments’ concerns that it aids intelligence agencies. - More
The U.S. economy will face the brunt of massive federal spending cuts just as growth in private sector jobs is plunging, according to government data released Friday.
Businesses created a paltry 88,000 jobs in March, less than half what Wall Street had expected. The news sent stock markets tumbling by more than 1 percent during morning trading. - More
Maybe you were hoping for something radically new and different from a Facebook phone.
If so, Zuck just broke your heart. But so what.
Facebook never does anything new.
New doesn’t matter in the blue. What matters is this: What Mark Zuckerberg announced today runs software called Facebook Home that makes it easier for people to spend more time with Facebook.
And that’s all he really needed to pull off. - More
The collapse of brokerage firm MF Global in October 2011 was another reminder of how fragile the financial system can be. But the firm was under a microscope also because it was led by Jon Corzine, a former New Jersey governor who had also been co-chairman of Goldman Sachs.
And a report filed today by MF Global bankruptcy trustee Louis Freeh emphasizes what many had already concluded: MF Global’s failure was largely due to Corzine’s mismanagement and risky behavior. - More
Major automakers posted strong monthly U.S. car sales last month, helped by growing confidence in the economic recovery, amid strong demand for pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. Both General Motors and Ford saw a six percent rise in U.S. sales, with GM selling nearly 246,000 vehicles during March. - More
The unemployment rate in the 17-nation Eurozone was a record high of 12% in February as Europe continued to struggle with its debt crisis.
The February rate was the same as January, which was revised up slightly from an initial figure of 11.9%, the region's statistical office, Eurostat, said Tuesday. - More
The best April Fool's pranks are absurd but also have a kernel of believability at their core just big enough to reel people in.
While the notion that YouTube has been a 8-year-long contest and Google is finally choosing a winner and shutting the site down tonight is pretty hard to swallow on its face, Google did shock many people by announcing the shutdown of Google Reader recently.
Perhaps Larry and Sergey are beginning to go all Howard Hughes on us? - More
Internet search leader Google is taking another step beyond information retrieval into grocery delivery. The new service, called Google Shopping Express, will initially provide same-day delivery of food and other products bought online by a small group of consumers in San Francisco and suburbs located south of the city. - More
The broad Standard & Poor's 500 index broke a half-decade-old record, another sign of stocks' continuing rally this year.
The S&P 500 added 6.34 points, or 0.41%, to 1,569.19 Thursday, the last trading day of the first quarter. The S&P 500 fell short of its all-time intra-day high of 1,576.09, however. - More
In a bid to expand global commerce, Mexico hopes for a trade deal between the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the European Union that could leverage the economic powers of both unions and consolidate trade deals already in the works.
Mexico currently has a free trade deal with the EU, while Canada and the United States – the other two nations in NAFTA – are currently in talks their own trade deals with Europe. - More
Fewer Americans signed contracts to purchase previously owned homes in February as limited inventory and access to credit held back a more robust recovery in housing.
The index of pending home sales fell 0.4 percent to 104.8, the second-highest level since April 2010, after a revised 3.8 percent increase the prior month, the National Association of Realtors reported today in Washington. - More
Housing data released Tuesday was mixed, showing home prices jumped while new home sales dropped, prompting renowned economist Robert Shiller to call the housing recovery positive in the short-term, but not without many headwinds. There might even be a bubble, he said. - More
PepsiCo is changing the look of its single-serve bottles for the first time in nearly two decades. Set to roll out next month in Chicago, the 16- and 20-ounce bottles feature a slightly wider bottom and swirled grip meant to make it easier to hold. - More
That sound you just heard was Microsoft officially shattering a ceiling within the Windows Store.
According to an unofficial tally by the site MetroStore Scanner, Microsoft has pushed past 50,000 total apps within the Windows Store.
While it's a great number on its face, a deeper dive into developer activity on the Windows Store suggests that the Windows 8 platform still has a little bit of catching up to do. - More
With BlackBerry about to launch the Z10 at the end of this week — the flagship of its BlackBerry 10 line — this isn't the best time for one of the company's largest customers to bow out.
Especially not when that customer is the U.S. military. But that's about to happen, according to a report from Electronista.
The site has "well-placed sources" inside the Department of Defense's mobile device testing program, currently underway. - More
Hewlett-Packard investors will get the chance to voice dismay over the $8.8 billion writedown of Autonomy when they're asked to re-elect Chairman Ray Lane and other directors at an annual meeting today.
Betty Liu reports on today's "Movers & Shakers" on Bloomberg Television's "In The Loop."
Starbucks, the world's biggest coffee chain, said Tuesday that it bought its first coffee farm, where it will research the leaf rust that is devastating Central American crops as well as harvest its own beans.
Starbucks, known for its coffee shops around the world, has purchased an active farm on roughly 600 acres in Costa Rica... - More
A federal crackdown on the Florida pain pill market will pit Walgreens against the Drug Enforcement Administration in a high-level and multi-front legal battle that comes to a capital courtroom this week.
Represented in part by the former U.S. solicitor general, the nation’s largest retail pharmacy company is challenging the DEA’s effort to stop a major South Florida distribution center from shipping controlled substances like oxycodone, a powerful painkiller. - More
Canadian stocks edged lower Tuesday as Europe's sovereign-debt woes weighed on energy and base-metal mining stocks. Strength in gold shares capped losses.
The S&P/TSX Composite index edged down 7.89 points, or 0.1%, to 12773.87, and declines led advances 822 to 805, preliminary data showed.
The blue-chip S&P/TSX 60 index was steady at 733.64. Trading was lighter than usual, with volume falling to 297.7 million shares from 330.0 million Monday. - More
Builders began work on more houses in February and permits for future construction climbed to the highest level in almost five years, pointing to a sustained rebound that will help power the U.S. expansion.
Housing starts climbed by 0.8 percent last month to a 917,000 annualized pace, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. Permits (NHSPATOT) rose 4.6 percent to a 946,000 rate, the most since June 2008. - More
Electronic Arts Inc. said Monday its Chief Executive John Riccitiello is stepping down and that its fourth-quarter results could fall short of expectations.
The videogame company's board has appointed Larry Probst as executive chairman to ensure a smooth transition while the board searches for a permanent CEO. - More
Nicosia, – President Anastasiades on Sunday urged MPs to vote in favour of the Eurogroup decision to impose a one-off levy on deposits on the island.
Parliament meets on Monday afternoon to discuss the bill, amid conflicting reports on whether the government commands enough votes to push it through the 56 member parliament. - More
Like his company’s stock, Tim Cook’s employee approval ratings are down this year, at least according to job hunting and review site Glassdoor.
In 2012 Apple’s Cook was the highest-rated CEO on Glassdoor’s rankings, with his employees giving him a 97 percent job approval rating. In 2013, he didn’t register in the top 10 tech CEOs list, but he did come in at No. 18 in the more general Top 50 Highest-Rated CEOs list with an employee approval rating of 93 percent. - More
Redbox Instant by Verizon, a movie-streaming site formed by Coinstar and Verizon, ended testing and began commercial service Thursday.
Joining a small but growing group of companies that compete in the nascent streaming business, Redbox Instant is seeking to differentiate itself by mixing streaming with its network of 35,000 kiosks nationwide that offer newly released DVDs. - More
J.P. Morgan, the nation’s largest bank by assets, suffered a double blow on Thursday after it was charged by a Senate committee with misleading regulators and investors over massive credit derivatives losses and saw its plans to return capital to shareholders questioned by the government.
The combination of the Senate’s report on the so-called London Whale trading losses and the Federal Reserve’s skepticism about the bank’s capital planning process suggests the bank and Jamie Dimon — its vocal chief executive — can expect continued scrutiny from government regulators in the months ahead. - More
If you’re Samsung, then the answer is three; the Korean firm just elevated two of its top execs to the role of co-CEO, with President Boo-keun Yoon and President J.K. Shin joining Vice Chairman Oh-Hyun Kwon.
The new roles are being billed as recognition of the particular inputs the divisions of the two presidents make to Samsung’s business overall. - More
Buick’s first commercial for its 2013 Encore features the small luxury crossover going against some heavy, pre-historic competition.
The 30-second spot, called “Dinosaur,” features a young couple weaving through dinosaurs (representing “the age of the oversized luxury car”) in the newly released Encore.
It ends with a voiceover saying, ''Clearly, the next big thing in luxury is small.'' - More
Andy Rubin has stepped down as the executive in charge of Google’s Android operating system for smartphones and tablet computers, ending a seven-year reign that reshaped the technology industry.
The unexpected change announced Wednesday may raise new questions about Android’s direction as Google duels with Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and a long list of other companies in the increasingly important mobile computing market.
Google is replacing Rubin with Sundar Pichai, an executive in charge of the company’s Chrome Web browser and operating system for lightweight laptop computers. - More
Hostess Brands said it will sell its Twinkies and Dolly Madison snack cake businesses to Apollo Global Management a APO and Metropoulos & Co. for $410 million.
The sale was agreed on after no other bidders emerged for the iconic brand.
The agreement now only requires a bankruptcy judge’s signature. - More
Google Inc will pay $7 million to 38 states and the District of Columbia to settle an investigation into a controversial incident in which its Street View mapping cars collected passwords and other personal data from home wireless networks between 2008 and 2010.
The deal, details of which were reported last week, ends a nearly three-year investigation. - More
The U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, California’s tallest building, will be bought by Overseas Union Enterprise Ltd. (OUE) for $367.5 million as the real estate company seeks to expand beyond its base in Singapore. The office property, owned by a unit of MPG Office Trust Inc., was completed in 1989 and has a height of 1,018 feet (310 meters), OUE said today in a statement. - More
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. named Jonathan Lu to succeed founder Jack Ma as chief executive amid growing expectations that the Chinese e-commerce company is gearing up for a potential multibillion-dollar initial public offering.
The company portrayed Mr. Lu as a Mr. Fix It—an experienced manager put in place to run Alibaba's growing operations. - More
China’s industrial output had the weakest start to a year since 2009 and lending and retail sales growth slowed, toughening challenges for a new leadership that wants to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
Production increased 9.9 percent in the first two months and retail sales rose 12.3 percent, government data showed March 9, trailing economists’ estimates. New local-currency loans in February fell to 620 billion yuan ($99.6 billion), the People’s Bank of China said yesterday, lower than the estimates of 27 out of 28 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. - More
Employers added 236,000 jobs in February, far more than analysts had expected, offering some much-needed momentum to the long-sluggish U.S. labor market.
The headline unemployment rate dropped to four-year low of 7.7% last month, down from 7.9% in January. - More
JCPenney has a lot to lose if its planned Martha Stewart line falls through. Macy's took Stewart and JCPenney to court after she announced a home goods line with the retailer. Macy's says that Stewart's contract with them was exclusive, and a line with JCPenney would hurt sales of her existing products. - More
Citigroup Inc. (C), the third-biggest U.S. bank, asked the Federal Reserve for permission to buy back $1.2 billion of shares without seeking a dividend increase a year after its previous request was rejected.
The planned repurchases would “offset estimated dilution created by annual incentive compensation grants,” the New York- based company said yesterday in a presentation on its website.
The Fed won’t disclose whether it approved the capital plans of the 18 biggest U.S. banks until next week. - More
Hey caffeine addicts: Your morning just got a little easier. Next month, Wrigley will start selling a caffeinated gum with the equivalent of about half a cup of coffee.
Alert Energy Caffeine Gum, Wrigley's effort to tap into the growing market for energy drinks, will be sold in convenience stores and food and drug retailers.
It's not the first caffeinated chewing gum, but it'll be the first with Wrigley's brand and marketing strength behind it. No other caffeine gum has wide distribution. - More
Job growth surged last month as auto makers, builders and retailers pushed the unemployment rate to a four-year low, defying concerns that budget battles in Washington would harm the economic expansion.
Employment rose 236,000 last month after a revised 119,000 gain in January that was smaller than first estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. - More
After laying the cornerstone for Heineken's third and largest brewery plant, Johan Doyer, general manager of Heineken Ethiopia , Lilianne Ploumen, Netherland's minister for Foreign Trade & Development Corporation (centre) and Khalid Bomba, chief executive officer of ATA, relaxed with a Heineken beer on Thursday, February 28, 2013.
Ambitious in the Ethiopian beer market, the Dutch brewing giant, Heineken, is building Ethiopia's biggest brewing plant, with the capacity for 1.5 million hecto-litres a year, in Akaki Kaliti District, one kilometre from the Kaliti Correctional Facility. - More
The U.S. economy added 236,000 jobs in February, according to a Labor Department report released Friday. That's much stronger growth than in January, when employers hired a revised 119,000 workers. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dipped to 7.7%, as 12 million workers were counted as unemployed. - More
The project is a venture between Choice Hotels, Concord Hospitality and Roadside Development, the developers of CityMarket at O.
Concord Hospitality is an award-winning hotel management and development company managing more than 90 upscale select-service and full-service hotels across 24 states and two Canadian provinces; Roadside Development is a Washington DC-based real estate firm whose current portfolio of projects include over 1.5 million square feet of retail, 1,500 residential units, and over a half million square feet of office space. - More
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) has been spending big bucks to expand its lineup in China, and recent sales results suggest that Chinese consumers are liking what they're seeing:
The Blue Oval's sales through the first two months of 2013 were up 46% over year-ago totals.
That's huge. How huge? It trounced market leader General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)' 7.9% gain over the same two months – itself a good result for a period in which sales at rivals Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:TM) and Honda Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (NYSE:HMC) actually declined. - More
Facebook has redesigned its News Feed to be more engaging for users and more profitable for the company.
Speaking at a media event Thursday at the company's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "What we're trying to do is give everyone in the world the best personalized newspaper we can."
The new design is more consistent across the Web, tablets and mobile phones and more visually appealing, thanks to a greater emphasis on images over text. - More
The Chancellor is expected to unveil “new schemes to get credit flowing” on March 20, after the Bank left both interest rates and quantitative easing (QE) unchanged this month.
Measures targeted at small businesses are most likely, said economists.
The Prime Minister fuelled the speculation by hinting at a new round of “monetary activism” in his speech yesterday, saying:
“The Bank of England must support the recovery without putting financial stability at risk.” - More
Facebook is holding a major press event Thursday, which means that Mark Zuckerberg and company are going to make at least one big announcement.
That is expected to be a big change to our news feeds. Sources close to Facebook told TechCrunch on Wednesday that the new News Feed intends to keep us reading and seeing new posts for as long as we continue to scroll down on our homepages. - More
Dell Inc.'s proposed $24.4 billion buyout is attracting interest from at least two rival computer makers and from billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who has amassed a stake in Dell and is pushing it to pay out a $9 per share special dividend.
Hewlett-Packard Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. have gained access to information available only to prospective buyers during the so-called go-shop period, Bloomberg reports. - More
The U.S. economy grew at a modest to moderate pace across most of the country amid rising consumer demand for homes and autos, the Federal Reserve said.
“The majority of districts reported modest improvements in labor market conditions, although hiring plans were limited in several districts,” the central bank said in its Beige Book business survey, which is based on reports from the Fed’s 12 regional banks. - More
Employment in the private sector rose by 198,000 jobs in February, according to payroll giant ADP, fueled by a long-awaited rebound in the construction industry and healthy increases in a broad array of other sectors.
ADP also revised upward Wednesday its January 2013 report of 192,000 jobs by 23,000 jobs, for a total of 215,000 jobs (see ADP Sees 192,000 Private Sector Jobs Added in January). - More
The headaches never stop at the European Central Bank. Last month, President Mario Draghi faced questioning over the rise in the euro, which had climbed swiftly to a 16-month high against the dollar of $1.37 at the start of February, sparking concerns about its impact on growth.
Since then, the euro has fallen back to $1.30, and seems likely to continue downward—but the fears about growth, if anything, have deepened. - More
Yesterday, when Martha Stewart took the stand at the New York State Supreme Court to testify in the bitter legal battle between Macy's and J.C. Penney, she exuded the loose confidence of a domestic doyenne on top of her game.
According to the New York Times and other news reports, the 71-year-old former Chanel model and self-made billionaire got rave reviews by wearing Lanvin, putting on lip gloss during courtroom breaks, referring to herself as "the über-designer" of her eponymous housewares company, and cracking wise about her then-controversial decision to sell her upscale products in Kmart years ago. - More
Led by Peter Burrows, a veteran tech reporter with more than two decades under his belt, Bloomberg has taken a second crack at the Apple (AAPL) iWatch story that the New York Times and Wall Street Journal broke three weeks ago. - More
The Obama Administration on Monday said cell-phone unlocking should be legalized.
R. David Edelman, White House senior adviser for Internet, Innovation and Piracy, responded to an online petition signed by more than 114,000 people in favor of a consumer right to unlock cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties.
The White House went one step further, with Edelman saying he believes the same principle should also apply to tablets. - More
The giant Monterrey glassmaker Vitro said Monday that it had reached an agreement with bondholders, ending a dispute among powerful financiers that had ricocheted between Mexican and American courts.
Under the agreement, Fintech, which is owned by the Monterrey-born investor David Martinez, will buy the bonds held by a group of hedge funds and pay additional cash to cover legal fees.
In return, Fintech will receive a 13 percent stake in a Vitro subsidiary and a $235 million note issued by the subsidiary. - More
HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA) Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver received a 1.95 million-pound ($2.9 million) bonus for 2012 even after the British lender paid a record fine for breaking anti-money laundering rules.
The award, down from 2.2 million pounds in 2011, reduced Gulliver’s total compensation to 7.4 million pounds, from 8 million pounds a year earlier, HSBC said in its annual report published today.
The London-based bank paid staff 3.7 billion pounds in bonuses for last year, a 7 percent drop from 2011. - More
KOREAN PHONE MAKER Samsung has teased the Galaxy S4 on video ahead of its unveiling in New York next week.
We spotted the first Samsung Unpacked teaser video on Samsung's Youtube channel on Monday, which gives little away about the firm's upcoming flagship smartphone.
Instead, it shows a short story about a pint-sized Samsung fan who is trusted with keeping the Galaxy S4 under wraps, a story that soon turns into a story about the boy being hounded by fellow fandroids who want a sneak peek at Samsung's next top of the line Android handset. - More
China’s stocks fell, led by the biggest slump among developers since 2008, after the Cabinet ordered more measures to cool property prices and after growth in the nation’s services industries slowed.
The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slid 2.9 percent, the most since Feb. 21, to 2,292.14 as of the city's 11:30 a.m. break.
The CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) lost 3.8 percent to 2,568.21. China Vanke Co. led a gauge of developers to the biggest tumble since June 2008 after the State Council urged higher down-payments and interest rates for second-home mortgages. - More
Google Inc. (GOOG) and other news aggregators may continue to show short news items on their Internet sites without being required to pay, German lawmakers decided in a parliamentary vote today in a blow to publishers including Axel Springer AG (SPR) and Bertelsmann SE.
A majority of lawmakers from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition allowed companies such as Google to display “single words or very small text excerpts” referring to publishers’ websites at no cost.
For content exceeding these limits, publishers retain the exclusive right of use, according to the bill. - More
Consumer spending rose marginally in January, despite a sharp drop in incomes, the Commerce Department said Friday. Personal incomes dropped 3.6 percent in the month, with incomes down by $505.5 billion. Discretionary funds, concurrently, dropped by 4 percent or by $491.4 billion, the department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said. - More
"I don’t think that I would consider myself a feminist. I think that, I certainly believe in equal rights. I believe that women are just as capable, if not more so, in a lot of different dimensions.
But I don’t, I think, have sort of the militant drive and sort of the chip on the shoulder that sometimes comes with that.
And I think it’s too bad, but I do think feminism has become, in many ways, a more negative word.
There are amazing opportunities all over the world for women, and I think that there’s more good that comes out of positive energy around that than negative energy."
Net profit for 2012 at EADS rose 19% to 1.23bn euros ($1.61bn; £1.06bn). Revenues rose 15% to 56.48bn euros. Revenues at Airbus rose 17% to 38.59bn euros, mostly due to commercial sales.
However, EADS's profit in the fourth quarter fell sharply after taking one-off charges at its helicopter and defence electronics divisions. - More
Amid high security and a palpable buzz, Apple (AAPL) shareholders filed into the company's headquarters Wednesday for their annual meeting, which was expected to produce fireworks after a dramatic plunge in the stock price and calls from a high-profile investor for Apple to share its wealth of cash.
Always a newsworthy event, the run-up to this year's annual shareholder event has caused even more speculation and hubbub, with Apple's share price more than 30 percent below record highs set in July of 2012 and activist investors making waves. - More
Japanese brands, led by Lexus, Subaru and Mazda, continue to dominate Consumer Reports' rankings of the best light vehicles on the market, claiming "top pick" honors in seven out of 10 product segments and capturing the top seven spots for overall brand reliability and performance.
The brands that scored best on the magazine's report cards for 2013 were Lexus, with a score of 79 out of 100, followed by Subaru and Mazda, which both scored a 76.
Toyota, Acura, Honda and Scion rounded out the top seven. - More
Adobe today patched new vulnerabilities in Flash Player that hackers are now exploiting in attacks aimed at Firefox users, the company said.
Today's surprise update to Flash Player was the second emergency fix this month, the third overall for February, and the fourth since the start of 2013.
In the accompanying advisory, Adobe confirmed it was patching three vulnerabilities in the popular media player browser plug-in.
Two of the trio, said Adobe, are being used by attackers. - More
Mexico registered a moderate current account deficit in 2012, as its first trade surplus in 15 years and transfers from Mexicans working abroad offset deficits in interest payments and services.
The Bank of Mexico said Monday that the country registered a $9.25 billion current account deficit last year, equivalent to 0.8% of gross domestic product.
The deficit was similar to the $9.67 billion deficit in 2011. - More
“When our shareholders spoke last year about Citi’s compensation structure, we listened,” said Michael O’Neill, Chairman of the Board. “Since last spring, we have stepped up our efforts to solicit feedback from investors to better understand their concerns. As a result of this process, we are introducing a new compensation structure that more strongly connects compensation with performance, emphasizes strong risk management, and is both competitive and in line with regulatory standards,” - More
Hewlett-Packard Co. reported shares increasing as much as 11% after it released better forecasts and quarterly results despite claims from analysts over its continuous problems in the PC market.
The world's number one personal computer maker was able to minimize expenses under the turnaround plan of chief executive Meg Whitman amidst the decreasing sales of PCs and sluggish corporate spending for information technology. - More
Carlos Gutierrez, the vice chairman of its institutional clients group, resigned to become chairman of Republicans for Immigration Reform.
Gutierrez, 59, who led the Commerce Department under President George W. Bush, helped to found the super-political action committee last year.
Born in Havana, Gutierrez joined New York-based Citigroup in December 2010 and worked in a division that includes the lender’s trading, investment-banking and corporate lending operations. - More
The ax has finally fallen. The U.K. late Friday saw its triple-A credit rating from Moody's chopped one notch to Aa1.
The news isn't as bad as it might have been: importantly, Moody's has assigned a stable outlook.
But it is a political blow for Chancellor George Osborne and probably means the slide in sterling and rise in gilt yields that is under way will continue.
Moody's key concern is that the U.K.'s dismal growth picture—gross domestic product has essentially flat-lined since 2010—will persist, and thus make harder the task of bringing down the budget deficit and ultimately reversing the rise in public debt. - More
The euro-zone economy is expected to shrink in 2013 for the second consecutive year, European Commission officials said this week, citing uncertainty and adjusting balance sheets, among other factors.
Real gross domestic product is expect to contract 0.3% this year, following a contraction of 0.6% last year. - More
Silicon Valley Business Journal By : Staff Reporting
Nissan Motor Co. has joined several other car companies bringing R&D to Silicon Valley.
The car company opened a research center in Sunnyvale that will employ more than 60 engineers and technicians and focus on "self-driving vehicles and Internet-connected auto technology." - More
As malls close, big-box stores try to shrink, and the overall prospects of physical retail range from stagnant to apocalyptic, one sector of the market is enjoying an unlikely growth spurt: stores opened by the big technology companies.
Apple has spawned about 400 Apple (APPL) Stores in the last decade, Microsoft (MSFT) is opening new locations, and now—according to tech blog and news reports—Google (GOOG) is developing plans to open showrooms in the U.S. to highlight its devices running the Android and Chrome operating systems. - More
Google's stock price topped $800 Tuesday for the first time amid renewed confidence in the company's ability to reap higher profits from its dominance of Internet search and prominence in the growing mobile market.
The milestone comes more than five years after Google's shares initially hit $700. Not long after breaking that barrier in October 2007, the economy collapsed into the worst recession since World War II and Google's stock tumbled into a prolonged malaise that eventually led to a change in leadership. - More
A better-than-expected reading of German confidence pushed stock markets firmly into positive territory by Tuesday lunchtime.
The ZEW Institute’s index that measures economic sentiment index in Germany surged to 48.2 in February, ahead of last month’s reading of 31.5 and well ahead of the 35 forecast. - More
Oh those poor saps at the Federal Reserve. Let’s have a good laugh at the econo-nerds running the money pumps around the clock, flooding with cheap credit an economic engine that just won’t turn over.
They might not realize that high unemployment is a disease best left to run unchecked, the only known cure being to liquidate labor and capital alike until the forces of chaos are appeased and someone buys the wreckage for a song. - More
Microsoft has not pulled any punches in its campaign to smear the top search engine.
They have launched several television ads of the Bing vs Google onscreen comparisons to indicate Bing's search tool produces more relevant content and now we're seeing the Scroogled campaign that characterizes Google Gmail as evading the privacy of unknowing users of it popular web based email.
Will this have any effect on the world's leading search engine? Chances are they won't, but sustained ads over a period of time could have some effect. The ads show Microsoft's desperation at a search engine that has become so ingrained into a browser's quest for information online.
Both Microsoft and Apple are trying to dismantle their own products that make it easier for users to use Google services. Browser settings are now defaulted to block Google from sucking out user info for its Google Advertising and Analytics services. Apple has recently had to squash it own inferior mapping feature. Google is supreme in the search and online advertising realm and this won't change for some time, but Google must recognize competitors like Facebook, Microsoft and Apple's advance.
Earlier today, we reported that Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet is now available in the United States and Canada.
Now a few hours later, reports are rolling in showing that the 128GB model is out of stock at many retailers, including Microsoft’s online store in the US.
Staples and Best Buy are also reported as having no 128GB model stock left. - More
Apple says a possible change to its corporate charter would not prevent it from issuing preferred shares, directly contradicting the comments made earlier today by hedge fund manager David Einhorn.
Einhorn pushed shareholders to vote down a proposal at the company’s annual meeting this month that he says would prevent future preferred stock.
Einhorn, the activist investor behind Greenlight Capital, has criticized Apple’s capital allocation strategy and says preferred shares would be a sensible step.
Apple retains a massive amount of cash—almost a third of its total market capitalization. - More
If you’ve ever been to Mexico City, chances are you’ve sat in an old Volkswagen Bug taxi, painted in muted red and gold, stuck in Mexico City’s notorious traffic.
“Here we call them ‘Donkeys,’” says Victoriano Luna, a taxi driver who has been driving a Bug for 32 years.
“A horse can run fast, but it doesn’t endure. A donkey does endure, just like this car.” Volkswagen first came to Mexico in 1967, when it opened a plant in Puebla, a few hours drive from Mexico City. For decades, the Bug was the biggest-selling car in the country. - More
When Facebook introduced its next-generation search product in Menlo Park, Calif., this week, the announcement was no doubt being watched closely in
nearby Mountain View. The data that Google engineers have craved for years -- rich portraits of connections between people, places, and things, all tied to real
identities -- was suddenly searchable on Facebook. - More
Honda is recalling about 748,000 of its popular sport utility vehicles and minivans because the driver’s side air bag may not deploy properly, the automaker informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. - More
The sell-off in Apple stock continued Tuesday, with shares falling below $500...again. Shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) declined 2.8% to $487.41 in morning trading.
Apple shares drifted below $500 on Monday, following reports the company had cut orders for certain iPhone parts due to weaker-than-expected demand for the latest version
New criminal charges were filed in federal court Friday against southern Utah businessman Jeremy D. Johnson by the Utah US Attorney’s Office. The new allegations accuse
the defendant of bank fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting. - More
American International Group Inc. decided Wednesday to pass on a shareholder lawsuit that accuses the U.S. government of unfairly burdening the company during its financial-crisis rescue, in a move that could snuff out a brewing controversy for the insurer. - More
Apple Inc. is working on a lower-end iPhone, according to people briefed on the matter, a big shift in corporate strategy as its supremacy in smartphones has slipped. - More
American International Group Inc. (AIG), the insurer that’s weighing whether to join a shareholder suit alleging its 2008 bailout was unconstitutional, would face tough odds in court, a former government watchdog said. - More
While the focus of last week's agreement between the Federal Trade Commission and Google Inc was search, the deal's restrictions on how Google uses its patents could have a broader impact on the technology industry. - More
Avocados flew out of U.S. grocery stores over the holidays, and the Super Bowl shouldn’t be any different. Mexico, by far, will be the largest supplier of avocados
Arab television network Al-Jazeera said on Wednesday it will buy Current TV, the cable channel founded by Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt in 2005, for undisclosed terms. - More
Enrique Peña Nieto, sworn in as president of Mexico Dec. 1, told the Financial Times he will not privatize state-controlled oil company Petroleos Mexicanos SA, or Pemex,
but will seek to open up the monopoly to private investment to boost development.
The company is one of the world’s top oil producers, controlling Mexico’s oil reserves, estimated in slightly more than 10 billion barrels as of the end of 2011. - More
Despite a late October wallop from Superstorm Sandy and Washington’s ongoing pummeling of business and consumer confidence, the U.S. economy isn’t down for the count.
The fiscal cliff, though, could still deliver a knockout punch. - More
Amazon.com Inc has asked a federal judge to throw out Apple Inc’s false advertising claim in a lawsuit challenging the online retailer’s use of the “app store” name.
The claim is part of a March 2011 trademark lawsuit in which Apple, which this year became the world’s largest company ever by market value, accused Amazon of misusing its “App Store”
name to solicit developers for a mobile software download service. - More
HTC's reveal of its "signature" Windows Phones yesterday had plenty of Ballmer bada-boom, but missed one major factor:
Windows Phone 8 itself. As the iPhone parachutes into the hands of new owners everywhere, we're still not allowed to touch Windows Phone 8.
Just like at the Nokia Lumia launch, at HTC's Windows Phone 8X launch no one other than official demonstrators were allowed to go beyond three screens:
The home screen, the music player, and the camera app. - More
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) seems to have trouble getting out of its own way when it comes to privacy issues among users in Europe.
Now, a consumer group in Germany is threatening to sue if the social-networking company does not provide a consent form or users who access the App Center on the Web site.
Hewlett-Packard Co swung to an $US8.9 billion quarterly loss as personal computer sales shrank again and it swallowed a huge write-down linked to its $US13.9 billion purchase of Electronic Data Systems Corp.
The No.1 personal computer maker, which employs more than 300,000 people globally, is undergoing a multi-year restructuring aimed at focusing the sprawling corporation on enterprise services, in the mould of IBM. The plan calls for reducing its employee base by 8 per cent.
The Siri personal assistant application was one of the main selling features for Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone 4S. And while having a voice-controlled application with an actual personality
is a novel idea, its popularity quickly cooled off. Part of the reason is that the Siri could only be integrated into native applications in the iPhone operating system. Nuance Communications
(Nasdaq: NUAN) – the company behind the voice recognition technology that allows Siri to understand your voice – could change that, though. The company already offers a voice-control app
called Dragon Go!, and it provides useful features that Siri doesn’t offer. Now it’s created new voice-control software that not only understands natural language like Siri can, but it can also be
incorporated into existing mobile applications. - More
The worst drought in over 50 years has prompted government economists to slash their forecasts for the nation's corn and soybean production, triggering fears of rising food costs and stirring worries of a global food crisis. - More
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) posted their earnings report today, which included major losses due to derivatives.
These losses totaled a 9% drop from last year, yet Buffett remains highly optimistic.
Warren Buffet’s company generally backs away from derivatives, but he does have one very large on in the portfolio.
Even though he has repeatedly stated that this position will be profitable over time, it generated nearly $700 million in losses in the last quarter. - More
The US added 163,000 new jobs in July, ahead of economists' expectations and offering some relief for President Barack Obama as the economy emerges as the key battleground of the 2012 election.
Private companies added 172,000 jobs last month, while governments shed 9,000 positions. Most economists had expected the latest nonfarm payroll figure to be around 95,000. The US added just 64,000 jobs in June. - More
In time for the Olympics, MetroPCS is selling the first phone that can receive local TV signals, potentially lending TV stations some relevance in the age of the smartphone.
MetroPCS Communications Inc., the country's fifth-largest cellphone company, started selling the Samsung Galaxy S Lightray 4G for $459 on Friday.
It has a built-in, extendable antenna that can receive special TV signals, broadcast from regular TV towers for reception by cellphones and other small gadgets. - More
Apple has asked Judge Lucy Koh to impose a significant sanction against Samsung as punishment for what Apple alleges was a deliberate effort to pollute the jury pool.
Apple told the court that Samsung is using “litigation misconduct” as a strategy, and that declaring Apple’s patents valid and infringed would be a suitable remedy,
DirecTV Aug. 2 said it lost 56,000 domestic net subscribers in the second quarter, which ended June 30, compared to a gain of 26,000 net subs during the previous-year period.
The El Segundo, Calif.-based No. 1 satellite TV operator, unlike most cable operators, has generated consisted subscriber gains over the past several years due in large part to aggressive marketing and discounted programming bundles. - More
Skype has published a blog post denying that it made changes to its architecture to give police access to users' calls and chats.
Although Skype was loathe to comment earlier in the week when some woolly quotes sparked the speculation, Mark Gillett, corporate VP at Skype, wrote the post to address the issues. - More
Motorola Mobility will move its Libertyville headquarters — and 3,000 workers — to downtown Chicago, taking the top four floors and rooftop of the Merchandise Mart and becoming the landmark building’s largest tenant with 600,000 square feet, Motorola Mobility CEO Dennis Woodside and Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Thursday.
HSBC Mexico, a unit of London-based HSBC Holdings,
Wednesday paid a $27.5 million fine imposed in November 2011 by local regulators for non-compliance of money laundering prevention controls.
This is the largest fine imposed so far by Mexico's National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) and amounts to 51.5% of HSBC Mexico's 2011 net income. - More
NBC says it has topped the $1 billion mark in advertising sales for the Olympic Games beginning this week in London.
The network said Wednesday it is the biggest advertising haul ever for an Olympics and topped the $850 million in ad sales for Beijing in 2008.
There's a lot more room for advertising, since NBC Universal is showing more than 5,000 hours of competition on NBC, its cable affiliates and online. - More
Moody's just changed the outlook on three of Europe's strongest AAA countries—Germany, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg—to negative. It affirmed Finland's stable outlook. - More
Cisco Systems is preparing to lay off about 1,300 workers just a few months after the world's largest maker of computer networking equipment warned that growing economic uncertainty is making it tougher to close sales with its customers.
The cuts announced Monday represent about 2 percent of Cisco System Inc.'s payroll of 65,000 workers.
Google has decided to stop taking orders from its online store, assumedly because it has such a huge backlog it doesn’t even know when it will be able to fulfill new customer purchases.
The 16 GB $249 tablet had been showing up as being delayed for one to two weeks.
Today, Sparrow's Dom Leca announced that his third party email client company had been purchased by Google, and we just talked to sources familiar with the situation.
The talks have been ongoing for a while; Sparrow was well known, and our sources say Google recognized that the five-person-team had a "lot of expertise in how to make mail communication really simple."
Sumner Redstone may be relieved that Viacom has ended its nine-day standoff with DirecTV, but that may not be the last headache he gets this year from the satcaster.
The mogul's other conglom, CBS Corp., has an affiliate deal of its own with DirecTV set to expire at the end of the year.
The company's assets range from broadcaster CBS to premium cabler Showtime.
Credit Suisse Group, Switzerland's second-largest bank, has reported a 2.6 percent rise in second-quarter profits and announced it will try to raise 8.7 billion Swiss francs ($8.9 billion) from investors to boost its capital buffers.
Marissa Mayer added another twist on Monday to her surprising announcement that she had quit Google Inc. to be Yahoo Inc.'s new CEO — she expects a baby boy in October. "Another piece of good news today — @zackbogue and I are expecting a new baby boy!" she tweeted Monday night.
A trio of new studies highlights the promise and challenges of preventing the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS: Giving anti-AIDS drugs to healthy but high-risk patients can dramatically reduce the risk of infection.
Google was charged with bypassing Apple Safari user privacy settings in order to track those who had previously blocked that type of tracking Google may have to pay the largest fine ever given by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a privacy settlement regarding Apple's Safari users.
Eurozone ministers have agreed to grant Spain an extra year until 2014 to reach its deficit reduction targets in exchange for further budget savings and set the parameters of an aid package for Madrid's ailing banks.
The decisions were aimed at preventing the currency area's fourth largest economy, mired in a worsening recession, from needing a full state bailout which would stretch the limits of Europe's rescue fund and plunge it deeper into a debt crisis.
Cisco Systems has done a 180 in the face of customer complaints, announcing Thursday night that their Connect Cloud service would no longer be the default setting for certain Linksys Wi-Fi routers.
According to Stephen Lawson of IDG News Service, the San Jose, California-based networking equipment designer and manufacturer changed the default management method of their Linksys EA Series Wi-Fi routers back to traditional setup and management over the local network.
That's coming from a weekly mortgage market survey from Freddie Mac.
The new numbers show the rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan dropped to 3-point-62 percent. The 15-year fixed rate fell to 2-point-89 percent, that means if you're looking to take out a home loan for 200-thousand-dollars, your mortgage payment will run you an estimated $911.00 a month.
Alabama to produce A320 passenger planes will give Europe's jet maker a strategic foothold on U.S. soil while breathing life into American manufacturing.
A team from Covington & Burling in Washington represented the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline LLC in a record-setting $3 billion criminal and civil settlement over drug misbranding.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole announced the deal today at the U.S. Justice Department, calling it "unprecedented in both size and scope." No executive was charged today.
US technology giant Apple has paid $60 million to a Chinese firm to settle a long-running dispute over the iPad trademark in China, a court said Monday.
The government body overseeing trademarks has been asked to immediately recognise Apple's rights to the iPad name, the High Court of the southern province of Guangdong said in a statement on its website.
Apple last week paid $60 million to settle the dispute, according to the statement.
The Chinese manufacturing sector remained in contraction for an eighth consecutive month in June, as output, incoming new orders and employment continued to decrease, final results of a survey by Markit Economics and HSBC showed Monday.
The purchasing managers' index, that measures the performance of the manufacturing sector, fell to 48.2 in June from 48.4 in May. The preliminary report showed a reading of 48.1. A PMI reading below 50 suggests contraction.
The owner of Budweiser splashed out £12.9bn acquiring the remaining half of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo it did not own.
Anheuser-Busch InBev will take control of the group that owns Corona beer as it seeks to cash in on fast growing markets.
The cash offer from the world’s biggest brewer values Grupo Modelo at 583p per share, a 30 per cent premium to June 22 – the day before news of the deal first emerged.
The United States lost the bulk of its appeal against a World Trade Organization ruling on meat labeling rules on Friday, meaning it may have to stop forcing retailers to display the country of origin on meat they sell.
The WTO Appellate Body said the U.S. country-of-origin labeling rules, commonly known as COOL, were wrong because they gave less favorable treatment to beef and pork imported from Mexico and Canada, which brought the case, than to U.S. meat.
BlackBerry maker Research in Motion reported a wider-than-expected loss and yet another delay of its long-awaited BlackBerry 10 operating system on Thursday, marking a new low point in the company's downward spiral.
Google unveiled the Nexus 7 on Wednesday, a new 7-inch tablet, that will feature the latest version of Android with faster rendering, a smoother motion and scrolling, as well as support for Google Play, a cloud-based system which allows users to get updated programs and access thousands of apps, songs, books and movies.
Americans bought new homes in May at the fastest pace in more than two years. The increase suggests a modest recovery is continuing in the U.S. housing market, despite weaker job growth.
The Commerce Department said Monday that sales of new homes increased 7.6 percent in May from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 369,000 homes. That's the best pace since April 2010, the last month that buyers could qualify for a federal home-buying tax credit.
In the midst of one of Apple’s numerous patent lawsuits, Federal Judge Richard Posner has begun to question the frivolity of their lawsuit against Motorola. While no official ruling has been made yet, the judge has admitted that the patent system in the United States could lead to a lot of chaos.
For those unaware of the situation, Apple has been trying to file an injunction against Motorola to stop their phone sales, claiming that the latter is using their patented technology.
Insurers and other health care companies are facing costly new restrictions and fees under the new law. The Republicans, the party most associated with big business, hate it. So if President Obama's health care overhaul is repealed by the Supreme Court this month, companies would rejoice, right?
The euro fell the most in five months against the dollar as Moody's Investors Service lowered credit ratings on 15 global banks, adding to concern Europe's debt crisis is worsening.
The 17-nation currency weakened amid reports of possible downgrades and remained lower after the announcement late in the New York trading session Thursday.
Asian markets climbed on Wednesday on hopes for a fresh stimulus drive by the US Federal Reserve to kick-start its economy while G20 leaders pledged to “restore confidence” in the world economy.
European heads at the G20 summit in Mexico also vowed to begin looking at a region-wide banking union as they attempted to soothe investor concerns over the debt-riddled Eurozone.
Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 8 today, its next-generation smartphone operating system. But what exactly does that entail, when can we expect to see devices, and what does it mean for people who have Windows phones now?
On Monday, while waiting for Microsofts special media event to begin, I read the dumbest thing Id seen on Twitter all day. I was in a conversation with someone and he claimed that Microsoft was unlikely to ever produce a competitive tablet. Thats the point at which I rolled my eyes and stopped replying.
Opec members will reduce the group's production to adhere to its 30 million barrels per day (bpd) output ceiling and the effects should be seen in July, Opec secretary-general Abdullah Al Badri said yesterday. Opec members agreed at a meeting in Vienna on Thursday to maintain the 30m bpd production ceiling. Al Badri said that would entail curbing actual supplies by 1.6m bpd. - More
Microsoft is mad as hell that Apple owns the tablet market and is not going to take it anymore. The company has issued invitations for a press event to take place in Los Angeles Monday, June 18, for what it calls a "major announcement." What could this huge announcement, scheduled with mere days notice, be? A Windows 8 tablet made by Microsoft, perhaps. - More
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) gained 2.3 percent as a person familiar with the matter said the company will announce plans next week to sell a tablet computer running the next version of Windows. IntercontinentalExchange Inc. added 4.7 percent as its bid for the London Metal Exchange was rejected in favor of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.’s offer. Facebook Inc. (FB) jumped 6.1 percent and capped the first weekly gain since it went public. - More
Coca-Cola has announced that it would return to Myanmar after a gap of more than six decades, leaving Cuba and North Korea as the only countries without the iconic American fizzy drink. - More
In early May, Argentina’s Congress passed the Executive-driven Hydrocarbons Sovereignty law by an overwhelming majority. The entirety of the ruling party and a large part of opposition parties approved the legislation, which expropriated 51 percent of YPF’s shares that were held by Spanish oil firm Repsol. - More
Mobile phone giant Nokia reveals it is cutting another 10,000 staff from its worldwide workforce by the end of 2013, as it struggles to keep pace with rivals. - More
The Internal Revenue Service said Wednesday it has reached a settlement with BDO USA LLP under which the accounting firm will pay a civil penalty of $34.4 million for violating tax laws concerning tax shelters. - More
When the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided to expand the domain landscape -- letting brands and anyone else with the money apply for the rights to own and run .anything -- it did so to create competition in a world of expanding demand. - More
Burger King, a restaurant that has suffered a slide in its market share, is staking its claim on the bacon sundae this summer to woo customers back to the chain. The restaurant has recently changed its ad presentation in market around the country by showcasing stars like David Beckham and Mary J. Blige.
Starbucks today debuted its first line of American-made merchandise, including coffee mugs, available in cafes around the country. The line supports Starbucks' Create Jobs for USA fund, created in 2011. - More
European finance ministers asked the EU Commission to approve a $125 billion bailout of Spain's banking system amid growing financial woes. Eurogroup said in a June 9 statement that it supports the efforts of Spanish authorities to address the restructuring of its financial sector, and "welcomes their intention to seek financial assistance from euro area member states to this effect." - More
Japan should do its utmost to improve the country's fiscal health by at least raising its sales tax rate to "15 percent", local media cited the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as saying on Tuesday. - More
European stocks are expected to start in the red and the euro is set to remain weak against the dollar after hopes were dashed that there would be a round of stimulus plans from the world's central banks. - More
Greece is the cradle of democracy. However, if current trends continue, it is going to be the crypt of the Euro. Greek police have cautioned people to not withdraw their savings from the banks to avoid theft. More
Netflix, which streams nearly 1 billion hours of video monthly over the Internet, is shifting to deliver data directly to broadband service providers via its own content delivery network at no cost to ISPs. - More
You are invited to Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) webcast at 1:30 p.m. PDT today, hosted by Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and ceo, Cliff Burrows, Starbucks president, U.S. and Americas, and Troy Alstead, Starbucks chief financial officer and chief administrative officer, in which they will discuss an initiative to further strengthen Starbucks core U.S. retail business. - More
The Euro climbed to a high of 1.2465 as Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for a 'banking union' in Europe, and it seems as though the EU will increase its push to recapitalize the banking system through the permanent bailout fund as the group struggles to restore investor confidence. - More
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the officials from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund conducted their fourth evaluation of the country on Monday. According to Finance Minister Vitor Gaspar, in his speech after the proceedings, the 78 billion euros bailout program is on track and doesn't need any adjustments. - More
Toyota dominated the sales landscape in May, with sales up 87%. That's versus a weak May 2011, when Japan's tsunami had shoppers thinking Toyota, Lexus and Scion showrooms would have few cars in stock. It actually wasn't the case, noted Toyota spokeswoman Carly Shaffner; Automotive News data show Toyota maintained higher inventory in May 2011 then it did in the month just ended May, but the perception dried up demand and the automaker lost a third of its sales.
JPMorgan has been selling profitable securities to prop up second-quarter results after the bank’s chief investment office and the trader known as the London Whale incurred billions in losses. The asset sales may be tax inefficient, and will deprive the lender of future gains, which is just too bad for Jamie Dimon’s firm.
With its share price down 18 percent from the day before the trading losses were first reported, JPMorgan is under pressure to generate earnings. - More
Three television studios and Dish Network are suing one another over an ad-skipping digital video recorder technology that the satellite TV company debuted earlier this month. Read More...
Spain's fourth-largest bank, Bankia, asks for a bailout worth 19bns euros ($24bn; 15bn), and admits that it made a massive loss last year. Read More...
Given his long record of success, Jamie Dimon will likely be back in the saddle in short order. And years from now, relatively few people will remember J.P. Morgan's trading blunder. Read More...
U.S. investment bank JP Morgan Friday lowered its forecast for Australian economic growth, but kept in place upbeat expectations that the country's mining boom will continue to provide a solid base for the economy. Read More...
Gen. James E. Cartwright, a former commander of the United States nuclear forces, is adding his voice to those who are calling for a drastic reduction in nuclear warheads. Read More...
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