Sweden regularly ranks at the top of the most innovative economies list. Bloomberg reports that Sweden’s biggest banks are pioneering artificial intelligence technology. Aida is the perfect employee: always courteous, always learning and, as she says, “always at work, 24/7, 365 days a year.” Aida, of course, is not a person but a virtual customer-service representative that SEB AB, one of Sweden’s biggest banks, is rolling out. The goal is to give the actual humans more time to engage in more complex tasks. After blazing a trail in online and digital banking, Sweden’s financial industry … [Read more...]
Archives for July 2017
Another Car Manufacturer Plans to Electrify its Fleet
After Volvo and Toyota recently announced big plans to electrify their fleets, Fiat Chrysler has come around to the idea as well. Tough rules in Europe and better battery technologies are pushing many auto manufacturers to consider moving their fleets over to electrical power. Chester Dawson writes: The push into EVs has been hastened by increasingly stringent regulations globally on fuel-economy standards and tailpipe emissions, along with generous government subsidies. That is prompting more auto makers to offer alternatives to gasoline engines. That trend was highlighted when the U.K. … [Read more...]
Is a Robo-Advisor Going to Answer the Phone When You Need It?
The finance industry has been fixated on the emerging robo-advisor trend. The concept sounds easy, right? You simply give your money to a robot and it takes care of the rest. Algorithms created by math geniuses do all the trading, and you reap the rewards of low fees and decent management. Then the reality check. Wouldn't you like to know what's going on with your money? What if your algorithm is losing your money? Who are you going to talk to about it? Robot-advisory firm Betterment has already been forced to add humans to the mix. Rather than robo-advice, it's offering "hybrid" advice. … [Read more...]
A Game-changer in Energy Efficient LNG Production
Producing LNG is an energy intensive task. Cooling anything down to -260°F takes a lot of power. ExxonMobil wants to make the process as efficient as possible. Here's how they did just that, from an article on ExxonMobil's Energy Factor website. It takes a lot of investment and energy to build and operate LNG plants. This reality has prompted ExxonMobil to work with some of the world’s best turbine manufacturers, including GE, Mitsubishi and Siemens, to develop gas turbines better suited to producing LNG with industry-leading low emissions. The results are “LNG-ready” turbines that … [Read more...]
Do Electric Cars Threaten the Livelihood of 20 Million Auto Workers?
The FT reports on the threat that the electric car revolution poses to auto workers in the U.S. and Europe. Because electric cars have far fewer moving parts some researchers believe that far fewer people will be needed to make the vehicles and the parts that go into them. The auto industry is fond of saying that if it were a country, it would be one of the world’s largest economies. Its figures show it supports around 7m jobs in the US alone and close to 13m in Europe. Robots may have encroached on the assembly line already, but wait until the beguilingly deceptive electric car takes … [Read more...]
The Losses at Amazon
After spending one day as the world's richest man, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is watching shares drop in price considerably in pre-market trading today. Last night Amazon announced its profits for the most recent quarter were a mere $628 million on revenues of $38 billion. That's a 1.7% margin. Despite generating over $900 million in profits from its Web Services segment, Amazon's international retail operations lost money, dragging profits down to $628 million for the quarter. Shira Ovide writes at Bloomberg that despite the poorer than expected performance, Jeff Bezos is doing exactly what … [Read more...]
Is America About to Make Great Things Again?
If you have been reading the news this week you may have gotten some mixed messages on the future of American manufacturing. The big news is the announcement from Foxconn (the Taiwanese manufacturing giant that built most of your iPhone) that the company will build a $10 billion LCD display screen plant in Wisconsin. The move was touted by the president, and the factory could potentially employ 13,000 people. Reuters reported: Trump praised Foxconn chairman Terry Gou at a White House event, asserting: "If I didn't get elected, he definitely wouldn't be spending $10 billion ... This is a … [Read more...]
Fire, Corruption, and the Best Profits Ever
Despite a year of scandal, Samsung has just recorded is highest quarterly profits ever. Driving Samsung's profits are sales of new chips and screens, even to competitors like Apple. Timothy W. Martin and MinJung Kim report: America knows Samsung by its consumer brands. But the company owes its fortunes to its less visible but increasingly dominant position in the memory chips and screens from which smartphones are built. Its dominance in those components is so pronounced that rivals like Apple have few other places to turn. Components now represent about 70% of the company’s overall … [Read more...]
Are these Iconic Food Brands Dying?
Here Money explains the impact the trend toward private label is having on some iconic American food brands. Brands that were once household staples are falling out of favor with consumers. One reason is a broad shift away from national brands—shoppers have increasingly shown a willingness to eschew them in favor of lower-price private labels like Kirkland at Costco, Great Value at Walmart, and nearly everything sold at Aldi. Analysts say that one of the impacts of Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods is that there will be even more pressure on national food brands, as the supermarket is … [Read more...]
Anglo American Just Surprised Shareholders in the Best Way
After losing cash for two years, and cutting its dividend in 2015, Anglo American surprised shareholders this morning. Management had told shareholders it would try to reinstate the dividend at the end of 2017, but thanks to surging profits, the board of directors was able to pay out a dividend for the first half instead. This is a sign of confidence from one of the world's largest miners. Scott Patterson reports: In a surprise move, Anglo American reinstated its dividend for the first half after having suspended payouts in 2015. The company had previously said it planned to deliver dividends … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 6
- Next Page »