AppleTechnology research firm IHS iSuppli has estimated that the cost of components in the 16-Gbyte version of the iPhone 5 from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is $199. The cost to assemble the phone is…
Facing a deadline of Monday from the U.K.’s Takeover Panel, Xstrata plc was expected to announce today its decision on whether or not to accept the sweetened offer from commodities trading powerhouse Glencore International…
Offshore drilling services firm Seadrill Ltd (NYSE: SDRL) is spinning off its offshore rig business to a new company to be called Seadrill Partners LLC. If a filing with the SEC, Seadrill Partners said…
A report from the so-called ‘troika’ — the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund — on Greece’s ability to repay its debt may be delayed until after the U.S.…
Chinese solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) announced this morning that it had received a notice from the NYSE that the company has failed to meet the exchange’s criteria for…
The United States is becoming a one of the lower-cost manufacturing centers in the world, according to a new study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Low labor and energy costs are expected to…
U.S. drugmaker Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) announced this morning that the company had been notified that its anti-obesity drug, Qsiva, is not likely to be approved for use in the European Union. The company…
CIA World FactbookThe coalition government of India took a major hit today with the defection from its ranks of the Trinamool Congress party. The exit of the six Trinamool ministers will not force a…
U.S. automaker General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) said today that it is recalling 426,240 U.S. vehicles to fix a problem with the cars’ transmissions. The affected models are Chevrolet Malibu, Pontiac G6 and Saturn…
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) this morning reported fiscal third-quarter 2013 earnings per share (EPS) of $0.04 on revenue of $424.5 million. In the same period a year ago, the homebuilder reported a net loss…
The provincial court of Alberta has cleared the $15.1 billion acquisition of Canada’s Nexen Inc. (NYSE: NXY) by China’s Cnooc Ltd. (NYSE: CEO). Nexen shareholders also voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal yesterday…
Almost exactly a year ago, Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) experienced a network outage that lasted three days and affected users around the world. This morning the company is experiencing a similar outage…
In a response to investors clamoring for new revenue streams, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) today announced that it would begin to charge businesses for posting offers to consumers. Until now, businesses have been able…
The three major U.S. stock indexes opened lower this morning following mostly weak reports on European PMI (more coverage here). The reading on U.S. PMI was unchanged from last month (more coverage here). In…
Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM), which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell stores, today raised its quarterly dividend from $0.285 to $0.335, an annual hike of about 18%. The annual dividend rate rises…
In a speech today at a college in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Narayana Kocherlakota proposed what he called a “liftoff plan: a description of the economic conditions that would lead the…
If one is looking for a deflationary signal about the US economy, a good place to start might be with Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, known as TIPS. The US Treasury Department sold $13 billion in…
In a move no doubt designed to stop supporting one of its main online rivals, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will no longer sell the Kindle family of e-readers and tablets from Amazon.com (NASDAQ:…
The flow of funds report published today by the Federal Reserve Bank shows that U.S. household debt increased at an annual rate of 1.2%, the largest increase since the first quarter of 2008. Non-financial…
Both Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) were targeted with new lawsuits claiming the two companies infringed on smartphone patents owned by Unwired Planet LLC (NASDAQ: UPIP). Unwired Planet has charged…