Minutes of BOJ’s January Meeting Show Officials are Open to Expanding Quantitative Easing Program Further
The minutes of Bank of Japan's January meeting was released on Friday, which indicated that the BOJ officials are open to extending the already massive quantitative easing program further.
The minutes revealed that officials are exploring further asset purchases and also introduction of negative rates. The bank is making an effort to fight deflation and the new insight will probably make expectations grow that the BOJ might adopt additional monetary stimulus soon using both the channels.
Investors Await Outcome of BOJ’s Policy Meeting; Next, U.S Fed in focus
On Tuesday, the dollar maintained a steady position in Asian trade and the yen took a hit as investors are waiting to see the outcome of the Bank of the two day policy meeting of Japan scheduled later in the session.
The eyes will be next on the two-day policy meeting of the U. S. Federal Reserve starting on Tuesday.
The dollar remained almost flat against its Japanese counterpart at 113.78 yen. The yen edged slightly lower against the euro to 126.31.
Amazon Echo Might be Tested for Banking Transactions
Smart gadgets are an in-thing in today's world and the Amazon Echo, the tube-shaped speaker from the Seattle based e-commerce company has made quite an impression on the market.
The Echo comes with intelligent voice assistant, Alexa, which activates the speaker when users simply say "Alexa." Thereafter, Alexa can be given command to play music or other channels, control smart home gadgets such as the thermostat or lights connected to the internet.
Reports say the U.S Government is preparing to Blame Iran Publicly for Cyberattack on a NY Dam
Reportedly, the US government is planning to blame Iranian hackers publicly for a 2013 cyber attack on a dam in the State of New York.
Sources reported that the U. S Justice Department is preparing an indictment against the hackers and a public announcement is expected soon.
Nasdaq to Acquire International Securities Exchange from Deutsche Börse Group
On Wednesday, NASDAQ said that it will acquire International Securities Exchange, the U. S. options exchange operator from the Deutsche Börse Group. The leading U. S. financial trading company said the transaction will be a combination of cash and debt option.
Lockheed Martin Planning to Trim about 1,000 Jobs in Its Aeronautics Division
Lockheed Martin Corp. the Bethesda based American global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies company said it will be cutting about one thousand jobs in the aeronautics division. The move comes as the company makes an effort to stay competitive and keep its staff aligned with the orders.
Shares of Newly Formed HP Enterprise Rises as Its CEO Reassure About Strong Demand
Shares of the newly formed Hewlett Packard Enterprise climbed as CEO, Meg Whitman reassured the investors regarding the strong demand for corporate technology in the company's inaugural earnings report. It also provided justification for her move that lead to spinning off Hewlett-Packard into two companies.
In a New Funding Round Snapchat Raises $175 Million from Fidelity
Reportedly, Messaging app Snapchat raised $175 million in a new funding round from financial service group Fidelity Investment. The news comes at a time when there is increasing investor concern for the once hot startups.
Fed Beige Book Summary Reveals Slowdown in Economic Activity and Less Consumer Spending in Some Districts
The Federal Reserve said that economic activity slowed in some parts of the United States in recent months. Some areas reported that the recent market turmoil also affected consumer spending.
On Wednesday, the central bank's "beige book" summary released for showing regional economic conditions, revealed that, since early January only half of the Federal Reserve's twelve districts reported moderate growth. An earlier report revealed that nine districts expanded at that pace.
Pincus Stepping Down as Zynga’s Chief Executive, Frank Gibeau Taking Over; Stocks Climb
Mark Pincus, the co-founder of Zynga is stepping down from his role for the second time as a chief executive officer and the news seem to thrill the investors. Frank Gibeau, an ex- executive of Electronic Arts is replacing Mark Pincus.
Paramount Exploring Possible Sale of Minority Stake; Speculations are on for Probable Buyers
Shares of software company, Wynyard Group, which is a market leader in making crime fighting software, hit a record low when it lifted its one week long trading halt. The company's shares almost halved.
Wynyard's shares dropped about forty percent following the company's disappointing annual result along with majorly discounted rights issue aimed at raising cash.
Justice Department Asking Apple to Unlock some of its iPhones; Apple has Still not Agreed to any Such Services
The dispute between the Justice Department and Apple is still on and company says it is fighting the demands of the government to unlock some of its iphones.
On Tuesday, in a letter which was unsealed in the federal court, a lawyer for the company, Marc J. Zwillinger said "Apple has not agreed to perform any services on the devices."
Qantas Teams with ViaSat Ka-band to Offer Super-speed In-flight Wi-Fi to Passengers from Next Year
Qantas announced it is teaming with ViaSat Ka-band for offering free high-speed connectivity to customers staring from next year.
ViaSat will deliver Qantas passengers with speed and capacity that is enough to stream movies, watch TV shows and log onto news and live sports.
Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, said, "The sheer size of the Australian landmass creates some significant challenges for in-flight connectivity but the recent launch of NBN's satellite has opened up new opportunities that we plan to take advantage of with ViaSat's help."
Yahoo to Cut Jobs; Shuttering Its Burbank Office Permanently
Earlier in the month during an earnings call Yahoo Inc. posted huge quarterly loss. Yahoo's CEO, Marissa Mayer had said that the company has plans to overturn the declining revenues and seeks to build a product line that will be new and fast-growing. She connected the strategy to as big as a "tectonic shift."
Comcast Subscribers in Most U.S Markets Faced TV Outage on Monday; Problem Mostly Fixed by Early Afternoon
Comcast Corp. based in Philadelphia said on Monday, for some hours they lost part of their cable television service in many some of the U. S. metropolitan areas. However, according to the company the problem was repaired in maximum of the places by afternoon. The outage of service mainly affected TV services.
Bank of America Pays Its Chief Executive, Brian Moynihan $16 Million in 2015
Brian T. Moynihan the Chief Executive of Bank of America has been lucky enough to have survived a recent campaign by some shareholders who wanted him to leave the company last year. Along with that the company awarded him twenty three percent pay hike compared to the previous year.
BOJ Making Further Efforts to Turnaround the Deflationary Trends
Boosting spending and investments tops the BOJ's agenda. The Bank of Japan hopes trimming interest rates to lower than zero rates will work to fulfill its aim but at the same time worry about inactivity and years of trivial returns could mean that savers become doubtful in keeping strides with the central bank's tune.
Analysis by Deloitte Access Economics Reveals Uber Delivers $80million Worth Yearly Benefits to Australian Consumers
An analysis by Deloitte Access Economics, says that Uber, the ride hailing services company generates yearly benefits of greater than $80 million to Australian consumers.
Uber operates through its app which connects drivers to users and processes fare payments. It also identifies the ratings that the drivers get from their consumers after a journey.
Samsung’s Q4 Net Profit Drops as Demand is Sluggish for smartphones
Although Samsung's fourth quarter revenue moved up one percent but weak mobile phone and display panel demand did not give the company a big push and that is not expected to alter much in the year.
On Thursday, Samsung announced in Seoul that its Q4 revenue was US $45.5 billion. The company's net profit dropped forty percent.
Slow Customer Growth in Mobile Phone Pushes AT&T to Other Options
The wireless market for AT&T is no more what it used to be and once that was the company's main earning source. Now Dallas- based AT&T is depending more on its video leaving the traditional wireless service second.
The second-largest phone company of the nation has faced sluggish growth last year with many of its phone customers opting for cheaper offers from its rivals like T-Mobile and Sprint. However, chasing these customers is not what AT&T has in mind; instead it is focusing on serving customers better in other ways.
