6 Most Important Things in Business Today

September 25, 2017 by Douglas A. McIntyre

Interbrand has named Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) the world’s most valuable brand. The figure hit $184 billion, up 3% from last year.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is selling its industrial business assets to ABB for $2.6 billion. The troubled conglomerate has been the worst performing Dow component so far this year.

“Kingsman 2,” officially known as “Kingsman: The Global Circle” finished first at the box office this past weekend. According to Box Office Mojo:

Topping the box office was Fox’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle, delivering an estimated $39 million from 4,003 theaters. The opening improves on the $36.2 million opening for the first film, but the film’s performance over the next couple of weeks will tell the true story. The first Kingsman turned its $36 million debut into a $128 million domestic run, a 3.54x multiplier. Should Golden Circle follow suit we’re talking about a $138+ million domestic run, which would surely satisfy the folks at Fox if it can also match the first film’s $286 million performance overseas.


Fitch said some Chinese local government bonds likely will default. The rating service’s experts wrote:

The first defaults on public bonds by Chinese local government financing vehicles (LGFVs) are becoming more likely, and will probably trigger a repricing of the market, says Fitch Ratings. However, widespread LGFV defaults remain a tail-risk, given that the authorities continue to rely on local government investment – supported by LGFVs – to hit economic growth targets, and have a broad spectrum of policy tools to limit default contagion.

The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission faces a tough time at congressional testimony about a hack of the agency’s database. According to The New York Post:

SEC boss Jay Clayton better wear his asbestos suit on Tuesday, when he’s likely to come under fire while testifying before a Senate committee bent on knowing what the regulator is doing to prevent another embarrassing cyberattack.

The 2016 hack of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Edgar database, revealed Sept. 20, while unnerving for Washington and Wall Street, wasn’t even the first time crooks broke into the regulator’s computer system.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) has released the latest version of its PC chips, which have dominated the industry for decades. According to PC World:

Intel pushed further ahead into its 8th-generation Core series with the launch of its mainstream desktop chips Sunday night, including the 6-core/12-thread Core i7-8700K, which Intel claims is its best gaming chip ever. Intel also beefed up its Core i5 family with 6-core parts, as well as its first quad-core Core i3.

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