Earns Lowes
A customer leaves a Lowe's home improvement store in Matthews, N.C., Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014. Lowe's Companies reported Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $450 million, or 46 cents per share, exceeding Wall Street expectations.
(Chuck Burton, Associated Press)
Stock Market Headlines:
Stock futures are kicking around the record levels set Tuesday. Dow Jones futures are up 2 points, but S&P 500 futures are declining 1.75 points and Nasdaq futures are behind 6 points. (CNN Money)
Global stocks are trading at record highs, the dollar is weaker and gold is rallying on expectations the Federal Reserve will remain patient over the timing of any increase in borrowing costs. (Financial Times)
Brent crude oil rose to around $59 a barrel today after data showed Chinese factories were producing more than expected and Saudi Arabia's oil minister said oil demand was growing. (Reuters)
U.S. Business Headlines:
Lowe's today reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $450 million, or 46 cents per share, exceeding Wall Street expectations. (Associated Press)
Health insurer Anthem, which earlier this month reported it was hit by a massive cyber-breach, said Tuesday 8.8 million to 18.8 million people who were not its customers could be victims in the attack. (Fortune)
Southwest Airlines voluntarily grounded 128 Boeing 737 jets Tuesday night after admitting it missed a series of mandatory inspections on the planes. (USA Today)
Office Depot, preparing to be acquired by archrival Staples, reported fourth-quarter profit exceeded analysts' expectations but lagged behind revenue. (Bidness Etc.)
The shuttered Revel Casino Hotel in Atlantic City again has a buyer - and again it's Florida developer Glenn Straub, who was lured back by a discounted price of $82 million. (Reuters)
Technology Headlines:
Apple was told to pay $532.9 million after a federal jury said the company's iTunes software used a Texas company's patented inventions without permission. (Bloomberg News)
Senior Republicans late Tuesday signaled they would give in to President Obama's plans for 'net neutrality', paving the way for the provision of internet services to be regulated for the first time like a public utility. (Fortune)
Facebook has announced it now has two million active advertisers, up from 1.5 million active advertisers last July, and 1 million in June 2013. (CNBC News)
Security-chip maker Gemalto said today American and British intelligence services could be responsible for a "particularly sophisticated intrusion" of its networks several years ago, but denied the alleged hack could have widely compromised encryption it builds into chips used in billions of cellphones world-wide. (Wall Street Journal)
World Business Headlines:
Danish firm Lego has hailed its performance last year as "highly satisfactory" with a 15 percent increase in both sales and profits. (BBC News)
HSBC was surely hoping for a better start to its 150th anniversary than its chief executive Stuart Gulliver calling its behavior a "source of shame," referring to a tax evasion scandal at HSBC's Swiss private bank. (Financial Times)
Greek lenders Bank of Piraeus and Eurobank will drop out of the pan-European STOXX 600 benchmark, potentially depriving them of investment flows at a rocky time for Greek's economic future. (Reuters)
Drones were again spotted overnight hovering above Paris today, prompting an investigation in the city just a day after they were first spotted. (TIME)