The Traderszone Network

A robust pace of business spending likely buoyed U.S. While that would be a step down from the second quarter’s brisk 4.6 percent pace, it would the fourth quarter out of five that the economy has expanded at or above a 3 percent clip. “It was a very good quarter for business investment,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester Pennsylvania. While data on Tuesday suggested some moderation in the pace of equipment investment in the fourth quarter, it is still expected to remain strong enough to keep the economy on a higher growth pace.

Federal Reserve ended its massive quantitative easing programme, as expected, but laced its economic assessment with a tinge of hawkishness. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.6 percent. In a statement on Wednesday after a two-day meeting, the Fed ended its quantitative easing programme of bond purchases. The Fed did retain its basic guidance that overnight borrowing costs would remain near zero for a “considerable time”.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday said it would revamp its smartphone line-up to take on competitors in the rapidly growing mid-to-low range segment, after third-quarter earnings set it on course for its worst year since 2011. The global smartphone leader’s market share declined in annual terms for the third straight quarter in July-September, lagging Apple Inc (AAPL.O) in the premium market and overtaken by rivals like Lenovo Group Ltd and Xiaomi Inc at the bottom end, research firm Strategy Analytics said.

read more

With the development of a new mobile payment system, a group of retailers led by Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N) is aiming to upend the $4.5 trillion credit card market and control the precious transaction data generated at the checkout line. The difficulty of the task became clear this week when drugstore chains CVS Health Corp (CVS.N) and Rite Aid (RAD.N), in a move apparently aimed at shoring up the retailers’ pay system, stopped accepting payments on Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iPhones.

read more

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has come under fire for being too lax and slow in dealing with the defective air bags, also called on automakers to be ready to expand their recalls beyond the warm and humid regions believed to be the epicenter of the problem. The defective air bags, which can launch metal shards into car occupants, have been tied to at least four deaths and many serious injuries. “More can and should be done as soon as possible to prevent any further tragedies,” the agency’s deputy director, David Friedman wrote to auto makers.

Among the banks named in the report were Standard Chartered Plc (STAN.L) and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ [MTFGTU.UL]. In its Dealbook column, the newspaper said prosecutors in Washington and New York reopened an investigation into Standard Chartered that in 2012 settled allegations it funneled billions of dollars for Iran and other nations blacklisted by the United States.

read more

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday ended its monthly bond purchase program and dropped a characterization of U.S. In a statement after a two-day meeting, the central bank largely dismissed recent financial market volatility, dimming growth in Europe and a weak inflation outlook as unlikely to undercut progress toward its unemployment and inflation goals.

read more