The economy of Japan struggled last month according to a wave of data released by the Bank of Japan. The industrial production was down 1.4% over the prior month.
Sectors
Developing Own Delivery System Cuts Amazon’s Fourth Quarter Profit While Increasing Fixed Assets
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.
Sluggish Growth On British House Prices Due To Mortgage Approvals Dip
The house prices in UK grows slower than expected due to the mortgage approvals dip in the previous month. However, the number is still higher compared to the one in 2014. With some factors related to wages raise and unchanged interest rates, there is likely an increase in the housing demand shortly.
The Fed Will Stress Test U.S. Banks to Ensure Their Resilience
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..
Surface Sales Goes Up Increasing Microsoft Earnings, But Not The Windows Phone
Microsoft incomes have increased thanks to the rising Surface sales, as well as the cloud and server growth. They are the main contributors to the higher overall revenue. However, Microsoft Windows and phones are not in the same luck as their performances are still declining.
Latest News
Fitness trainer and guru overcharge numerous die hard fitness fans for using the app. Fans become furious over high prices and horrendous cancellation process.
The Safari fault which has affected a range of Apple devices has been fixed. The fault was related to Apple's Safari Suggestions feature. Simply disabling this feature will stop Safari crashing says iOS developers.
Apple announced a recall of wall plug adapters warning the risk of electric shock. The recall applied to those adaptors used in Australia, New Zealand, Continental Europe, Korea, Argentina and Brazil.
South American nation Venezuela is suffering from gasoline smuggling to neighboring nations. Gasoline is heavily subsidized in Venezuela. The cheaper gasoline smuggling has become a major revenue source in the crisis-hit Venezuelan economy. Venezuela's President has deployed soldiers in large number to keep constant vigil on its borders. Venezuela is losing foreign exchange revenue in US dollars because of smuggling of gasoline.
Global investors are withdrawing from Russian stock markets as volatility is high in equities and currency Ruble. The continuous drop in oil price is impacting the Russian economy much as it's the main revenue source for the country. The gap between onshore and offshore traded equities is narrowing down as foreign investors are selling off.
South African largest iron ore producer Kumba cuts as many as 3900 miners after prices plunged. Kumba decided to restructure the Sishen mines to become a low cost pit configuration and as a result, about 2,633 employees of Kumba and 1,300 contractors will be affected.
The Republican Debate is going to be held in Iowa State on Thursday. The fast food workers under the banner of ‘$15 per hour minimum wage movement’ have called strike on the very day apparently due to gain media attraction. The strike has been called demanding immediate implementation of the said minimum wage rate across the country and union rights. However, the demands have already been supported by many Democratic candidates and furnished in their election manifesto.
The British Pound strengthened against major global currencies after a report on UK's GDP growth. The report said that UK's economy speeded up during the fourth quarter of 2015. The rise in consumer demand helped the economy expansion. The British Pound recovered from the two-week low of 1.4338 against the US dollar to at $1.4314.
Anglo American's copper production and from retained operations rose 23 percent for the fourth quarter of 2015. The overall copper equivalent basis production for 2015 rose five percent when compared with 2014. Majority of metals including copper, coal, nickel and iron ore tumbled during the second half of 2015. The copper inventory of Anglo American was at 197,631 tons as on 2015.
