The Traderszone Network

The deal follows a 2013 marketing agreement in which Expedia Inc’s technology powered platforms for Travelocity’s U.S. and Canadian websites, while Travelocity drove additional web traffic to Expedia. The merger marks further consolidation in the online booking space, which has seen a number of acquisitions from Expedia Inc’s main competitor, The Priceline Group (PCLN.O), including its $2.6 billion takeover of restaurant reservation website OpenTable last year.

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Federal prosecutors in New York on Friday asked a U.S. appeals court to reconsider a landmark ruling that curtailed their ability to pursue insider trading cases and jeopardized several convictions. Prosecutors under Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to grant a rehearing in the case of hedge fund managers Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson, who in December won the reversal of their insider trading convictions.

Box’s shares, which priced at $14, hit a high of $24.72 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, valuing the company at nearly $3 billion. The stock’s enthusiastic reception also underscored healthy investor appetite for technology stocks after the blockbuster debut of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) in September. Box was founded in 2005 by University of Southern California dropout Aaron Levie, the chief executive, and his friend Dylan Smith, the chief financial officer.

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Industry analysts say moms are either going upscale and choosing Pampers or going down-market with Luvs, both P&G brands, leaving Kimberly-Clark’s mid-tier Huggies Snug & Dry line without a real identity. To compete better, Kimberly-Clark said on Friday it would cut prices and “improve” its Snug & Dry line starting this quarter, without giving details. Huggies is the core of Kimberly-Clark’s baby care products business, which generates about $7 billion in annual sales. Pampers, P&G’s largest brand, alone has sales of over $10 billion.

Losses from the surprise move by the Swiss National Bank nearly crippled brokerage FXCM (FXCM.N), but all the attention has resulted in a surge of activity among options traders on the online forex broker. FXCM’s shares fell nearly 90 percent on Tuesday after the company faced $225 million in losses on the SNB’s shock decision last week to remove the cap on the Swiss franc. It then agreed to an emergency loan from Leucadia National Corp (LUK.N). The loan kept FXCM from falling short of regulatory requirements that could have kept it from operating.

Steve Farris, who retired on Tuesday as Apache Corp’s (APA.N) chief executive, stands to collect about $12 million in salary and bonus over the next three years as part of his retirement package. He will also receive two bonus payments of $2.6 million and a lump sum of $1.4 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Courtesy of Visual Capitalist

This infographic documents the rise and fall of Bre-X.

From initial private offerings at 30 cents a share, Bre-X stock climbed to more than $250 on the open market. Near the peak of Bre-X share prices, major banks and media were on board:

The Peak

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