Shares of leading German automakers, such as BMW, Daimler and VW, are sweepingly becoming cheaper. Because of accusations of cartel collusion, automakers are in danger of receiving fines of billions of euros. The management of Volkswagen has already planned an emergency meeting. Securities of German carmakers sank about 3% in early trading yesterday. Their losses have become the most serious...

Research company Nielsen reported that number of on-demand audio streams in the US alone amounted to 184 billion in the first half of the year, which is 62% more than in the same period last year. On the other side of the ocean, in the UK, streaming audio is developing at an equally rapid pace, showing an increase of 53% in six months, and the European Commission is already taking steps to...

Last week, Intel Corporation responded to a challenge to its dominance in the processor market. The corporation introduced the next-generation Xeon server processors. Intel has been controlling the market for server processors for many years, but the new line’s launch was held in unusual conditions. Recently, the corporation’s renewed competitor, Advanced Micro Devices, announced upgrade of chips...

Last week, the manufacturer of luxury smart phones Vertu announced closure of the production in the UK. The company had to go to extreme measures due to the fact that people were not ready to pay $ 10,000 for a smart phone. If the five-figure price tag is a bust, what about the four-digit price tag? It is expected that Apple’s new smart phone, which will be released in September, will exceed $...

China's economy showed remarkable resilience in the second quarter, as Beijing's efforts to curb debt growth and speculation in the real estate market had less impact on growth than expected. According to data published on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics, China's economy in the II quarter increased by 6.9%, unchanged from the first quarter. The result was ahead of expectations of...

In the second quarter of 2017, PC sales declined for the 11th consecutive time - by 4.3%, to 61.1 million units. Chinese company Lenovo, which remained the largest producer for four years, lost the leadership to American HP - their market shares were 20.8% and 19.9% respectively. The decrease in PC sales during this period was influenced by growing prices of components, in connection with which...

Demand for gas will be growing by 1.6% per year in the next five years, faster than other hydrocarbons. The production will be growing at the same rate, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s new forecast. China's growing demand, which will account for 40% of the overall global growth, will be balanced by increased production in the US, which provides a 40% expansion of the supply....

This year, import of iron ore to China is likely to significantly exceed 1 billion tons, beating the record in 2016. The data for the first half showed another surge in freight traffic and underscored capability of the largest steel producer to absorb growing marine supplies, Bloomberg reported. According to customs, the volume of supplies in June amounted to 94.7 million tons, compared with 91.5...

European Union countries outlined a plan of action to deal with problem loans. The European Banking Authority will receive more rights to supervise financial institutions. In addition, European banks will be regulated by new rules. The EU states want to reduce the volume of problem loans in European banks as soon as possible. At the moment, the sum numbers nearly 1 trillion euro. German Finance...