Facebook Inc. (FB)’s market value exceeded $200 billion to put it among the world’s biggest corporations, as investors bet on the company to capitalize on the future of mobile advertising. Facebook shares rose 0.8 percent to $77.89 at yesterday’s close in New York, valuing the company at $201.6 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That made it the 22nd-largest company in the world, behind Verizon Communications Inc. and ahead of Toyota Motor Corp.
Updated 6 Years ago

Standard & Poor’s (MHFI)’ chances of settling the government’s lawsuit over mortgage-bond ratings for less than $1 billion may have slipped away after Bank of America Corp.’s Countrywide unit was socked with a $1.3 billion fine. The Countrywide ruling was the first to lay out what penalties financial institutions could face under a 1989 bank-fraud law the Obama administration is using against alleged culprits of the subprime mortgage crisis. It has boosted the government’s hand against McGraw Hill Financial Inc.’s S&P, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University.
Updated 6 Years ago

Arctic shelf development is among the major challenges facing the Russian oil and gas sector, according to President Putin, who addressed industry workers on Sunday. "Today, oil and gas industry workers face a number of important tasks,” Putin said in his address.
Updated 6 Years ago

Argentina will receive the first tranche of yuan worth up to $1 billion in a massive currency swap with China before the end of this year. The deal will boost the troubled economy’s foreign reserves. It comes as part of a loan worth $11 billion signed in July by Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during his Latin America tour - shortly before the country fell into its second default in 12 years.
Updated 6 Years ago

The firm confirmed it has hired Mark MacGann as head of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. A Frankfurt court recently ruled that it was not operating its "low cost" UberPop service legally. Uber has also been the subject of protests across European cities, including London. But Uber vowed to continue operating and fight the German ruling.
Updated 6 Years ago

The ruling by the European Court of Justice lets people ask Google to remove some types of information about them from its search index. Google opposes the ruling, which has led more than 90,000 people to apply for data about them to be scrubbed. One privacy expert was sceptical about the meetings, saying they had more to do with PR than open discussion.
Updated 6 Years ago

Mr Newson, who has designed watches in the past, has worked on designs with Apple recently, prompting further speculation the company is planning to move into new product areas. He is close friends with Apple's chief designer, Jonathan Ive, who called him "extraordinarily talented".
Updated 6 Years ago

Unions have complained that people's incomes are not rising quickly enough despite the upturn in the economy. Mr Carney will discuss the role that fiscal policy can play in boosting the labour market. It is the third time a Bank of England chairman has spoken at the conference.
Updated 6 Years ago

Japanese consumer confidence worsened for the first time in four months in August, an official survey suggests. According to the Cabinet Office, the consumer sentiment index was 41.2 in August, down from 41.5 in July.
Updated 6 Years ago

The naira/USD exchange rate may witness an upward pressure this week on the back of sustained high dollar demand by end users, fall in global crude oil prices and recent decline in external reserves, analysts have said. The price of crude oil (Bonny Light) has dropped by 8.09 percent to $100.74 per barrel as at September 5, 2014 compared to $108.83/barrel in March 2014.
Updated 6 Years ago