MID-DAY UPDATE: Chinese banks hand out fewer loans, Samsung to become the world’s top selling mobile phone maker
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MID-DAY UPDATE: Chinese banks hand out fewer loans, Samsung to become the world’s top selling mobile phone maker
Here are today’s top headlines from the Marketplace Morning Report and from around the web.
President Obama will be in North Carolina today, touring a lighting facility that’s been creating jobs lately. This just a day after his former top economic aide, Larry Summers, advocated giving American employers a bigger break on payroll taxes.
There’s word today out of China, big banks handed out fewer loans in May. Perhaps a sign that Beijing’s efforts to cool an overheated economy could be making some headway.
Nokia is about to lose its spot as the world’s top selling mobile phone maker. Not to Apple, though. To Samsung. Nokia has been the leader in cell phone sales since 1996, which was two years before Apple started putting the letter “i” in front of its new product names. Apple, by the way, is also forecast to pass Nokia later this year.
Markets are in a six-week slump — the longest losing streak since late 2002.
Oil’s down below $100 a barrel after Saudi Arabia announced it’ll boost production.
The owner of clothing brands such as The North Face and Wrangler jeans said it would buy shoemaker Timberland for $2 billion to boost its outdoor and action sports business.
It appears someone wanted Arby’s. News this morning that the roast beef sandwich chain is being sold off to a private equity firm in a deal worth $430 million. Wendy’s/Arby’s group has been trying to get rid of Arby’s since January.
Indonesia is the latest country — and the first big developing economy — to throw its weight behind French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to lead the International Monetary Fund. We’ve been tracking for weeks now the importance of that position to the global economy.
The latest Hollywood spectacle “Super 8” opened over the weekend and its $37 million take is being described as only mildly super.
The cost of lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett is higher than its ever been. The winning bidder for his annual auction will pay $2.63 million for a steak lunch with the Oracle.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants a bigger bang for his buck. According to the New York Times the mayor wants the city’s street sweepers to double as parking enforcers. His theory is they’re driving down the streets anyway, why not keep an eye out for illegally parked cars? The street sweepers wouldn’t actually hand out tickets, though. They’d take a picture of your car and then send you one of those nice notes in the mail demanding $65.
A new study confirms: Men care more about our cars than we do about our bodies. In a survey by the Men’s Health Network and Abbott laboratories, nearly 70 percent of men said they find it easier to maintain their cars than they do their own personal health. And 40 percent said they’re more likely to take that car in for a checkup than take themselves to the doctor. Gosh, if only we were born with an instrument panel and gauges.
You can read the rest of today’s stories from the Marketplace Morning Report here.
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