Archive for the 'Economy' Category
Apple Is Building a Self-Driving Car in Silicon Valley
August 14th, 2015Via: Guardian: Apple is building a self-driving car in Silicon Valley, and is scouting for secure locations in the San Francisco Bay area to test it, the Guardian has learned. Documents show the oft-rumoured Apple car project appears to be further along than many suspected. In May, engineers from Apple’s secretive Special Project group met […]
New Competition for Tesla: Fisker to Open Factory in Riverside County
August 13th, 2015Update: Audi to Build a Tesla Competitor — Via: Los Angeles Times: Southern California is in the car business again. Fisker Automotive has signed a deal to lease a large factory in Moreno Valley, where it will begin building plug-in electric hybrid vehicles that could be offered for sale as early as the middle of […]
The Teflon Toxin
August 12th, 2015Via: First Look: Concerns about the safety of Teflon, C8, and other long-chain perfluorinated chemicals first came to wide public attention more than a decade ago, but the story of DuPont’s long involvement with C8 has never been fully told. Over the past 15 years, as lawyers have been waging an epic legal battle — […]
Google Creates New Company Called Alphabet, Restructures Stock
August 11th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: Google Inc. is reorganizing into a holding company that gives its main Web operations greater independence while offering investors more visibility into ambitious plans to expand new businesses, including health and Internet access. Alphabet Inc. will be name of the new conglomerate. Google Inc., along with YouTube, Android mobile software and other Web-based […]
Yuan Devaluation
August 11th, 2015Via: Bloomberg: China devalued the yuan by the most in two decades, a move that rippled through global markets as policy makers stepped up efforts to support exporters and boost the role of market pricing in Asia’s largest economy. The central bank cut its daily reference rate by 1.9 percent, triggering the yuan’s biggest one-day […]
NZ Milk Price Gapdown: Fonterra Slashes Farmgate Milk Price to $3.85
August 6th, 2015Break even price for many farmers: $5.70. Via: NZ Herald: Fonterra – New Zealand’s biggest exporter – has lowered its farmgate milk price for 2015/6 to $3.85 a kg of milksolids, down from a previous forecast of $5.25 a kg. The co-op said its forecast total payout for the 2015/6 season would be $4.25-$4.35 a […]
Saudi Arabia May Go Broke Before the U.S. Oil Industry Buckles
August 5th, 2015No more Fed-Exing the Lamborghinis to London for oil changes? Via: Telegraph: If the oil futures market is correct, Saudi Arabia will start running into trouble within two years. It will be in existential crisis by the end of the decade. The contract price of US crude oil for delivery in December 2020 is currently […]
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Facing Three Felony Indictments
August 3rd, 2015Via: WFFA: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton surrendered at the Collin County Jail Monday morning on three felony indictments. Paxton’s security detail drove him in a black Chevy Tahoe into a garage at the jail and away from cameras. The attorney general did not appear in public. Once inside, Paxton was fingerprinted, photographed, booked and […]
Puerto Rico Fails to Make $58-Million Debt Payment
August 3rd, 2015Via: AP: The government of Puerto Rico confirmed Monday that it had failed to make a $58-million debt payment, a significant escalation of the fiscal crisis facing the U.S. island territory.
Big U.S. Coal Miner Alpha Natural Files for Bankruptcy
August 3rd, 2015Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in NZ. I’m long Enphase Energy. — The price of solar power will continue to fall, until it becomes the cheapest form of power in a rapidly expanding number of national markets. By 2026, utility-scale solar will be competitive for the majority of the world, according to BNEF. The […]
