Risky Asset (defintion)

An investment with a return that is not guaranteed. Assets carry varying levels of risk . For example, holding a corporate bond is generally lessrisky than holding a stock . Government bonds are generally not considered risky assets. A risky asset should not be confused with a risk asset .

Apple produces stronger than expected earnings inits second quarter,

Apple reported earnings of $9.5 billion on $43.6 billion in sales. That was right on target with the$9.5 billion in profit and just barely above the$42.3 billion in sales that Wall Street expected. It was also above Apple's own expectations, which were between $9.23 and$10.23 per share on sales of $41 billion to $43 billion.
By comparison, Apple tallied up a higher $11.6 billion in profit on sales of$39.2 billion during the same quarter last year. That was fueled by iPhoneand iPad sales that were 88 percent and 151 percent better than the year before, respectively.
"We are pleased to report record March quarter revenue thanks to continued strong performance of iPhone and iPad," Apple CEO TimCook said in a statement ."Our teams are hard at work on some amazing new hardware, software, and services, and we are very excited about the products in our pipeline."

Risk Capital (Defination)

Investment funds allocated to speculative activity. Risk capital refers to funds used for high-risk, high-reward investments such as junior mining or emerging biotechnology stocks. Such capital can either earn spectacular returns over a period of time, or may dwindle to a fraction of the initial amount invested if several ventures prove unsuccessful. Diversification is key for successful investment of risk capital. In the context of venture capital, risk capital may also refer to funds invested in a promising start-up.The more risk averse the investor, the lower the proportion of risk capital allocated in the total portfolio should be. While young investors, because of their lengthy investment horizons, can have a very significant proportion of risk capital in their portfolios, retirees may not be comfortable with a high proportion of risk capital.

Vodafone India and ICICI Bank, have launched M-Pesa

For the majority of people in the West banking is as easy as walking to a local branch or ATM, or logging into their account from a computer. But for millions in developing countries, even having a bank accountis out of reach. In India, at least, that could be about tochange.
Vodafone India and ICICI Bank, India's largest privatebank, have launched M-Pesa, a mobile-based money transfer and payment service that was first established in Kenya in 2007. The partnership, announced in a news release April 17, claims it will give mobile-banking access to some 700 million Indian people who are currently "unbanked" -- people with no access to conventional banking services like bank branches and ATMs.
Vodafone says service will first rollout in India's eastern regions, including Kolkata and West Bengal, with 8,300 agents. That part of India is home to about 220 million people. Service will eventually be extended across the rest of the country.
The M-Pesa system -- where "M" stands for mobile and "pesa" is the Swahili word for money -- begins with real cash and an M-Pesa agent. A customer signs up, registers a personal mobile phone number and deposits money into the linked account at an agent store, which could be a mobile phone shop, a gas station ora supermarket.
To send money, the user inputs a recipient's mobile phone number, the amountof money to send and a security code for protection.To withdraw funds, the receiver visits an M-Pesa agent and requests a withdrawal through his or her mobile phone. Both thereceiver and the M-Pesa agent then receive a confirmation for withdrawal,which instructs the agent to give the customer cash. Billscan be paid and mobile talktime can also be bought through the platform.
"For millions of people in India, a mobile phone is a bank account, a front door to a micro-business or a lifeline to people in the remotest areas," said MartenPieters, Managing Director and CEO of Vodafone India.
"Research shows that M-Pesa brings real benefits to users in their daily lives, saving three hours a week of their time and around $3in money transfer costs -- a significant amount to peoplein some areas."
Greater cell phone penetration also brings greater economic benefit to local economies, often far removed from urban centers in large developingcountries. A 2006 Universityof Michigan study found that every 10% increase in cell phone penetration grows the local economy by0.6%.
In 2011, India alone added142 million new mobile phone subscriptions -- twice as many as in the whole of Africa, and more than in Europe, the Middle East and the former Soviet republics combined, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in a June 2012 report.
Between 2000 and 2011, India recorded an enormous boom in cell phone subscriptions -- growing from just 3.5 million to more than 893 million. In that same time, China saw mobile phone subscriptions increase more than ten-fold to more than 986 million subscriptions. The United States saw growth of just 87% over thesame dozen years to 290 million, says the ITU.

Yahoo first quarter rose 36 percent to $390 million, or 35 cents a share

Yahoo is still doing better as an investment house than as anInternet company. Its first-quarter earnings beat analysts' expectations, but much of the gain was from its investments abroad.
Since Marissa Mayer left Google to lead Yahoo nine months ago, the company's stock is up more than 50 percent, buoyed less by optimism in Yahoo than WallStreet's giddiness over Alibaba, the Chinese Internet company in which Yahoo retains a 20 percent stake.
Alibaba has signaled that it is preparing for an initial public offering that analysts predict could value it at $55billion to more than $120 billion, double to five times more than Yahoo's $26.2 billion market capitalization.
"If you own Yahoo for Alibaba, you're doing just great," said Colin Gillis, an Internet analyst at BGC Partners. "But if you own it for the core business, you'vegot some speed bumps."
On Tuesday the company reported that net income in the first quarter rose 36 percent to $390 million, or 35 cents a share, from the year-ago quarter. Wall Street analysts had expected net income of 24 cents a share.
But much of that was because of Alibaba. The income contribution from Yahoo's equity interests in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan was $217.6 million, well above its own first quarter operating income of $186 million.
Meanwhile, Yahoo's revenuewas down. The company said revenue was $1.14 billion, down 7 percent from the year-ago quarter. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, revenue was flat at$1.07 billion. That news sentYahoo's stock down about 4 percent in after-hours trading, after closing at$23.79 on Tuesday.
Yahoo reported first-quarterearnings at a critical juncturefor Ms. Mayer. Investors are eager to see whether she can increase revenues, which have languished in an increasingly competitive landscape.

What factors determine your creditcard limit

A credit limit is the maximum amount that you can charge on your credit card. Credit card companies setyour limit when you apply for a card by considering several factors. For starters, they’ll look atyour credit score, which is a number that represents your entire credit history.The scoring system analyzes how you’ve repaidloans in the past and predicts yourability to pay back future loans. Companies also will look at your income, debt levels and repayment history. Another factor that comes into play is how much other outstanding credit you have available to you, such as through other credit cards.
Your credit limit may increase over time as you build a steady track record of paying your bills each month. Make sure that you keep your total charges well within your credit limit. Why? Your credit score may be affected if your balance is above the credit limit because it signals to creditors that you may be having financial difficulties and thus are a riskier borrower. Some credit card companies, however, offer electronic and/or mobile reminders to let you know when you’re nearing your limit.
Your credit card company mayraise your credit limit without you requesting them to do so. However, you may have to call your company’s customer service number to ask them for an increase. If you have ahistory of paying your bills on time, a credit card company is more likely toraise your limit to accommodateyou, though the increase may be small.This may help you avoid overextending yourself financially.A couple of important factorsa creditor considers are yourincome and your ability to repay. So not only is the amount of money you earn important but so is your debt-to-income ratio. If you were a lender, would you want to loan $4,000 to a client with $400 income and$300 debt? So, income and current debt ratio is important.
The length of residency often comes into play when establishing limits, too. If yourelocate from place to place frequently, you could be considered less stable. Lenders clearly want to see stability when establishing your credit limits.
The final major factor in granting credit is how many other credit cards you have. The more credit cards you have, the less likely creditorswill grant you a higher limit. However, if you've had the same credit card or cards fora long period of time, that would nullify the issue of having too many cards. Again, it's a reflection of your stability. A history of long term timely payments demonstrates stability.

Customers of Lloyds Banking Group have been facing problems logging on to online banking

Customers of Lloyds TSB and Halifax, which are partof the same group, reported problems accessing their accounts viathe internet.
The bank apologised to customers for the inconvenience, but said that the problem had now been fixed.
Systems errors have hit a number of UK banks, including Lloyds, in the past.
In October, users of the banking group's debit cards, cash machines and the bank's online banking service complained of difficulties on the busiest day of the week for cash machine withdrawals.
In a statement following the latest problem, a Lloyds spokeswoman said:"For an hour this afternoon, we experiencedan issue that affected someof our online banking customers.
"All of our systems were back up and running by 17:00 BST. We know our customers rely on us, and we apologise for the inconvenience we have caused them."
These issues were dwarfedby problems at RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank last summer, when hundreds of thousands of account holders suffered disruption due to a huge computer failure.
That breakdown, and the backlog caused, is now thesubject of an investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority.

$88 million missing in Congolese mining taxes

(Reuters) - Tax authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have failed to account for $88 million in revenue from the boomingmining sector, according toa representative of a globalanti-corruption campaign.
Congo has attracted international firms including Freeport-McMoRan, Glencore and Randgold to mine its rich copper, cobalt and gold deposits, but remains one of the most corrupt countries on earth.
The missing funds date from 2010 and tax bodies should have paid them into the central bank, said Mack Dumba Jeremy, national coordinator in Congo for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
But he said the DGRAD taxagency had been unable to prove that the payment was made. Attempts to findthe money had been going on since January, said Jeremy, who stopped short of accusing the authorities of corruption.
"DGRAD must prove that the money actually arrivedin the public treasury in 2010. If they can't then the executive committee ofEITI will go to the courts in order to launch an inquiry into the whereabouts of this $88 million," Jeremy told journalists.
EITI is an international initiative which aims to improve transparency in resource-rich countries by tallying up the amount paid by companies and how much governments say they receive.
Congo is currently a candidate to become a fullmember of EITI although it is unclear whether it will meet the standards required.
No one from DGRAD or the government was immediately available for comment. Prime Minister Augustin Matata Ponyo hasrepeatedly promised to tackle corruption.
Matata Ponyo survived a challenge to his authority on Monday after more than 40 legislators who had previously signed a motion of censure against him withdrew their signatures.
That scuppered opposition attempts to force a vote of no confidence in the government for various alleged failings, including mismanagement of government funds.
Watchdog Transparency International ranks Congo 160th out of 176 countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index for 2012, with a score of just 21 out of 100

Wheelock Sells Hong Kong Tower to Manulifeas Rents Soar

Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC) has agreed to pay the second-highest priceon record for a whole Hong Kong office tower as companies seeking cheaper rents push up demand for space outside the city’s Central business district.
Canada’s biggest insurer will pay HK$4.5 billion ($580 million) to the developer, a unit of Wheelock & Co. (20) , for the 512,000-square-foot Kowloon East building, the companies said in a joint statement yesterday. The building is scheduledfor completion by the endof 2015 and will be used by Manulife as its Hong Kong headquarters, they said.
Demand for office space outside Central, which hasthe world’s second-highest office occupancy cost behind London ’s West End, is rising as banks and brokerages seek cheaper locations to keep costs low amid slowing corporate finance activities. Monthly rents in Kowloon East rose 4.5 percent in the first three months of 2013 from the previous quarter to HK$31.71 a square foot, asthose in Central gained 0.3 percent to HK$98.77 asquare foot, according to broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc.
The price paid by Manulife, equivalent to about HK$8,790 a square foot, is the second-highestin Hong Kong for whole office building sale, according to Sigrid Zialcita, managing directorfor Asia research at Cushman & Wakefield. Agricultural Bank of ChinaLtd. (601288) last year paid HK$4.9 billion for 50 Connaught Road, near Central.
Shares of Wheelock rose as much as 1.9 percent and were trading at HK$42.20 at 9:54 a.m. in Hong Kong. The stock hasrisen 8.2 percent this year,compared with the 2 percent decline in the benchmark Hang Seng Index . Manulife’s shares traded in Hong Kong rose2.8 percent to HK$111.80,bringing its gain this year to 8.1 percent.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. are among banks that have leased additional office space in areas outside of Central in the first quarter, accordingto Cushman & Wakefield.
Manulife isn’t the first financial services companyto acquire its own building in Kowloon East, where rents are rising. China Construction Bank Corp. (939) in March last year paid HK$2.5 billion, or about HK$7,200 a square foot, for an office building in the area.
The insurer is buying one of the two towers of the One Bay East commercial complex. Wheelock bought the site for HK$3.53 billion, or HK$3,856 per buildable square foot, in a tender in 2011. The developer, Wheelock Properties Ltd., may sell the second towerin full or by floors when it’s nearing completion, Managing Director Ricky Wong said in yesterday’s statement
Wheelock & Co. is controlled by the family of Peter Woo, who has an estimated net worth of $8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index . The Hong Kong-based company is the parent of Wharf Holdings Ltd. (4) , owner of two of Hong Kong’s largest shopping malls and the city’s cable TV operator.
CBRE Group Inc., the world’s biggest commercial realtor, brokered the transaction, according to the statement.

Advertising revenue from UK smartphones grew at 10 times the rate of other online platforms in 2012,

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) said a study conducted by PwC showed spending on online advertising reached£5.42bn in 2012.
Overall advertising spending on the internet jumped 12.5% last year, defying a flagging economy as companies battled to reach consumers spending more timeon smartphones andtablet computers.
The study, which used data from companies that had provided information the previous year, said internet advertising spending rose £607m on 2011, with some £323m due to an increase in mobile advertising.
Britain has led the way in moving advertising from traditional areas likenewspapers and radio to the internet.
A high take-up of broadband and the rise of smartphones and tablet computers which allow users to accessthe internet on the go have helped theshift.
"Advertisers are increasingly buying integrated campaigns across online and mobile rather than regarding mobile asan afterthought," director of research and strategy at the IAB Tim Elkington said.
With around two-thirds of adult Britons owning a smartphone as of December 2012, mobile advertising now accounts for almost 10% of all digital ad spending compared with about 1% in 2009.
Video advertising grew 46% to £160m, accounting for 12% of online and mobile display in 2012.
Demand for mobile adverts is likely to increase after auctions for next-generation 4G airwaves earlier this year, which are set to deliver speeds more than five timesfaster than 3G services.
These services will make downloading high-resolution video easier and enable better multi-tasking on the latestsmartphones and tablets.
EE, Britain's biggest mobile operator, said it was now on track to sign up onemillion customers for its 4G service by the end of the year.
The consumer goods sector overtook the financesector as the biggestspender on digital display advertising - accounting for almost 16% of display ad spend in2012.

Sir Richard Branson sells Virgin Money for $40m

BRITISH entrepreneurSir Richard Branson isselling his Virgin Money financial services business in Australia to Bank of Queensland in a $40 million deal.
Under the deal, the bank will have exclusive use of the Virgin Money brand for four decades in exchange for an ongoing royalty to Sir Richard's Virgin Group.
Virgin Group will alsobe given a seat on BoQ's board.
BoQ believes the dealwill allow it to expand into untapped markets by distributing its products marketed under the Virgin Money brand.
"It will enable us to sell BOQ-manufactured banking products marketed under the Virgin Money Australia brand to customers who wouldbe unlikely to walk into one of our branches, and provides a low risk, high potential entry point into online funds management distribution with an established brand," BoQ's chief executive Stuart Grimshaw said.
Virgin Money has about 150,000 customers in Australia.

Bank of Shanghai plans to raise about 15 billion yuan ($2.4billion) through an initial public offering in Hong Kong

SHANGHAI, April 9 (Reuters) - Bank of Shanghai plans to raise about 15 billion yuan ($2.4billion) through an initial public offering in Hong Kong this year to replenishcapital, the official Shanghai Securities News reported on Tuesday, citing an internal document distributed to shareholders.
The Chinese lender, whichis eight percent owned by HSBC Holdings Plc , also plans to raise a similar amount of money by selling shares publicly in mainland China, the newspaper said, without giving a timeframe.
Both listings are subject to regulatory approval, it added.
Bank of Shanghai and some other Chinese companies are looking to raise funds in overseas markets as China's securities regulator has frozen the domestic IPO market since last November as part of a campaign to get more than800 IPO applicants to clean up their books.
The newspaper said Bank of Shanghai is expected to have a capital shortfall of 59 billion yuan by 2014, ofwhich 35 billion yuan would be replenished through bond and share issuance.