Ford Motor said its fourth-quarter earnings beat Wall Street analysts' expectations and reiterated 2016 pre-tax profit forecast to be identical to or greater than the previous year.
Industry
Boeing 737 MAX airliner: Successfully completes maiden flight
Boeing’s newest airliner 737 MAX flies its wings for the first time. The airliner took off from the company's Renton, Washington factory. The journey of this aircraft paves way towards scheduled delivery of airlines in 2017.
Microsoft to place future data centers under water
Microsoft has put a prototype of data center under the ocean to examine its efficacy to work hundreds of feet beneath the ocean surface. The underwater data centers could reduce the delay in web service.
New iPhone: Apple is Developing Wireless Charging for Its Devices To Be Released in 2017
Apple has been showing interests in developing wireless charging technology since they released the first iPhone. Their ambitions have been closer to reality and we could expect to see the new technology to be a key feature in Apple's devices as soon as next year.
Apple Patents Smaller Camera Modules For iPhones And iPads
Lesser light falls on the small smart-phone image censor and thus the image quality appears better in larger cameras. But smart-phone industry is in the trend for getting slimmer. Apple has recently been awarded with a patent that is capable of providing better image quality through small, spherical curved lenses. The patented imaging gears are suitable for iPhones and iPads.
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Hitachi Construction Machinery said that it has revised its earnings outlook for the fiscal year of March 2016. Hitachi blamed foreign exchange losses for its revised forecasts.
Oil prices rebounded on news that there may be production cut by OPEC. US Brent futures recouped losses by 6.8 percent and US crude pared 9.3 percent losses during the week. In overall, oil prices rebounded by over 25 percent after hitting 12-month low in January. Oil price hit $27.10 on 20 January 2016.
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 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 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 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.
Facebook users will soon be prohibited from coordinating private firearm sales using its platform and also through Instagram. The step evokes strict policies on regulating promotional posts on unlicensed gun businesses . The new rule is only applicable for person-to-person firearm sales, licensed gun dealers will be permitted to use the social network.
The social network giant posted a strong profit. On Wednesday, Facebook reported a $1.56 billion quarterly net income in fourth quarter of 2015.
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.
