The falling oil price below $30 per barrel is impacting Canadian economy, which mostly depends upon commodities. Along with oil price, Canadian currency Loonie too declined against the US dollar. The weaker Loonie has eroded the purchasing power of Canada and is making imports costlier. Canada imports vegetables from the US. The surging US dollar made vegetables prices expensive by three folds for Canadian consumers.
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Indian stock market at bear zone; Asian stocks gain
Despite economy growth rate of over seven percent, the Indian stock markets are suffering from the selloff by foreign investors. The domestic stock markets may enter bear territory soon after the fall in Shanghai and Tokyo markets. The cash-strapped foreign investors are offloading in Indian stocks since November 2015. On the other hand, Asian stocks gaining momentum following the marginal rebound in oil price.
Copper prices dancing to the tunes of China
The stockpiles levels in China, the biggest commodity consumer, are impacting copper prices in the global markets. Copper price is hovering at $4,400 per metric ton and is moving in consolidation phase. Chinese smelters may cut down output and stop increasing capacities this year.
FiveStars Rewarded By Series C Round Providing Fund For $50 Million In Expansion Move
FiveStars, one of the most popular business startups, has raised $50 million funding from Series C round to expand its business across the US. With its innovative customer management tools, every customer is being identified with a number. So all the customers are new here and receive VIP treatment during every visit. Despite charging with a quite higher monthly fee in a competitive market, its clients feel like getting more than they spend.
Bankrupt cloudControl Releases Control Over dotCloud, PaaS To Suspend Operation on February 29
cloudControl, German owning entity of dotCloud, has filed for bankruptcy this week. To facilitate operation for the European brand, it has decided to shut down the operation of dotCloud. The PaaS has sent mails to its users regretting its failure to continue service and expresses gratitude for keeping trust on the brand. The startup that has once independently backed Silicon Valley’s prominent startup, Y Combinator, is going to end its path on February 29.
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Royal Dutch Shell is slashing the headcount as part of the cost cutting exercise. Anglo-Dutch company has decided to cut down 10,000 jobs in the wake of continuous drop in oil prices. The global energy major aims at reduction of costs by $3 billion in 2016 and it already reduced operating costs by $4 billion in 2015. Shell is also banking on synergy advantages from the BG Group Plc merger, which is expected to be completed in few weeks.
JP Morgan’s CEO James Dimon received $27 million in total compensation, of which the majority was in performance-based restricted stock and the rest as cash bonus and salary. This structure has been mainly designed to appease the shareholders who had frowned upon the fact that the CEO’s pay does not depend on his performance.
Leading risk management software developer, Prevalent Inc. received its first Series B funding last week. Led by Spring Mountain Capital Invest, joined by its existing investor, Fulcrum Equity Partners.
IBM has announced Thursday purchasing live video streaming platform, UStream. Details of the acquiring deal haven’t been disclosed, but the price believed to peg a price not more than $150 million in cash. IBM has furnished a press release in its website, which ends leaving probability for changing its narrated goals on forming cloud video unit.
The New York Times has published its first online edition on Jan 22, 1996. Marking the 20th founding anniversary, the news conglomerate has launched ‘History of NYTimes.com’, narrating chronology of the news website’s evolution and further development. The capsule offers video and audio contents including interviews with people related to the evolution.
The subprime online lender company Elevate Credit delays its IPO scheduled on Thursday. Teetering market has been the main reason of the postponement and high risk of online subprime lending service.
Austin-based tech company, Waldo Photos closes its $5 million seed funding on Thursday. The seed funding round was led by California's venture capital firm Upfront Ventures.
Biotech companies in last 5 years were enjoying easy access to capital. That scenario started to change after stocks started to slide in July 2015 and have not stopped with Nasdaq Biotechnology Index reading 2933 Wednesday which is the lowest level since November 2014. This means biotech startups would be expected to brace for harsher investment climate although experts are assuring that market fundaments are still strong.
The latest food scandal emanating from China revolves on the usage of poppy powder is a banned item by the Food and Drug Administration of China. Five restaurants have been prosecuted and another 30 more are under probe for using ingredients like morphine and heroine in restaurant food. This latest scandal is one in the many high-profile food scandals that has been hitting China in the recent years.
