South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has announced increasing key interest rates by fifty basis points to 6.75% on Thursday. It has also slashed down growth forecast to 0.9%. SARB has increased the interest rates for the second time with an interval of weeks. However, the rate hike will influence the Banks’ expenses and banking industry may witness job cutting as cost minimization effort.
Industry
India needs $10 billion funds for road projects
India's Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the country needs $10billion funds to give a push to the economy growth. The Indian government is targeting $14.7 billion investments for infrastructure projects in next three years. The Finance Ministry has also increased budget allocations by 50 percent for infrastructure projects.
Russia takes a look at global oil production cuts
Russia says there's proposal from OPEC on production cuts and it's open to have a word on oil production cuts. Russia is a non-OPEC oil producing nation. Russian oil minister said that the proposal envisages five percent cut in the oil production to support falling oil price. However, there's no clarity over the proposal whether it was from OPEC or non-OPEC members.
Zika and Other Mosquito Borne Diseases’ Spreading May Turn Vigorous With Climate Changes
Zika has appeared as a nightmare to many Latin American countries. The number of Zika infected has reached 4 million landmarks since reporting of the first case just eight months earlier. Absence of proper vaccine has made the situation much more terrible. Recently, scientists have escalated the fears revealing climate change may also contribute to the spread of Zika and other mosquito borne diseases.
Apple Acquires Flyby Media, Possibly Aims To Develop iPhone Headsets Capable of Analyzing Human Motion
Apple has been used to acquire smaller technology enterprises occasionally and is reluctant to discussing its policy or plan. This has been referred as the Apple’s usual nod for purchasing any company by the analysts. Thus the analysts confirm Apple’s Flyby Media acquisition and predict developing of iPhone headsets capable of tracking subject’s motion.
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Tesla denies rumor that the electric car maker will launch two new models in March. However, the company will build a third generation platform for its vehicle to support its sedan and SUV model.
WHO on Thursday has warned for probable spread of Zika virus across the North and Central American countries. Ahead of rising concerns for Zika spreading, drug makers and scientists have commented that manufacturing of an appropriate vaccine may even require a decade. These warnings has opened a huge business potential for Oxitec, an Intrexon subsidiary. Oxitec’s gene modified mosquitoes are capable of ensuring security against Zika for large populations.
Google has been reported to conduct secret tests over drones under codename of SkyBender at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The tech giant is using 5G wireless that involves millimeter wave technology which is considered as the future of high speed data transmission technology. Though the test results have been kept secret, but the $300,000 tests bring fortune for Virgin Galactic Spaceflights, reportedly suffering from cash crunch.
At the end of the month, Chinese stocks rallied and closed higher on Friday. Despite this, Shanghai Composite Index suffered its biggest monthly fall in the past seven years. The Chinese benchmark index Shanghai Composite tumbled 22.6 percent in January and this is the biggest monthly fall since October 2008. Chinese currency Yuan was marginally moved up against the US dollar on support extended by People's Bank of China (PBOC).
As an investment bank, a problem in investment-banking operation will damage the overall performance. Deutsche Bank suffered its first annual loss since 2008, followed by drastic drop of its shares.
Amazon has become inspired by Prime’s offers for free delivery within two days against online purchases for more than $100. Instead of spending more for shipping, Amazon is slowly approaching towards own delivery system through purchasing trucks and building own warehouses. These efforts have engaged current assets and narrow down fourth quarter profit. But 26% rise in yearly sales indicates a very different outlook.
Federal Reserve Bank will issue a much tougher annual stress test this year. The test aims to prevent recurrence of 2008 crisis, analyzing resilience of 33 large U.S. banks against the worse-case hypothetical scenario..
BugSec and Cynet, two computer security companies have identified a security loophole in LG’s G3 smart phones. A built in app in G3 smart phones, naming Smart Notice, has enabled hackers to use the loophole to steal data. Upon information and following demonstrations from the researchers, LG has released a new version of Smart Notice containing a patch and urges users to run the new app ASAP.
Microsoft Corp said its quarterly profit beat analysts' view, propelled by mounting demand for its cloud products. Quarterly net income, on an adjusted basis, amounted to $6.3 billion, up from $5.8 billion in the same period last year.
