BUSINESS NEWS JANUARY 18th 2016
OIL STUCK BELOW $30 AS INVESTORS BRACE FOR IRAN
U.S. stock futures ended lower today as oil prices began to push deeper into negative territory. Crude oil prices continued to slide today with the Brent global benchmark and its U.S. counterpart West Texas Intermediate ending under $30 a barrel. U.S. oil production has stubbornly refused to fall below 9 mn barrels a day. However demand is looking weak. The prospect of Iranian oil adding to the global supply of crude pushed prices further down. International sanctions against Tehran have been lifted, raising the prospect of an estimated extra 500,000 barrels a day of Iranian crude flooding the oversupplied global market.
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CITIGROUP'S Q4 EARNINGS RISE SHARPLY
Citigroup's profits jumped sharply in the fourth quarter, helped by lower legal and regulatory costs that hammered the bank in the fourth quarter of 2014. The New York-based financial conglomerate earned a profit of $3.34 bn in the three-month period ending in December compared to a profit of $344 mn. In 2014 quarter Citigroup incurred roughly $3.5 bn in legal costs tried to settle several high-profile investigations. Citi's total revenue was $18.46 bn compared with $17.90 bn the year before.
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SAMSUNG TO USE QUALCOMM'S CHIP FOR GALAXY S
Samsung has decided to return to using Qualcomm's most powerful chips in its new high-end phones a year after it turned away from the U.S. company. Samsung, the biggest maker of smartphones, is planning to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 application processor chip in some versions of the next Galaxy S. The San Diego-based chip-maker needs more orders from Samsung, to turn around sales that have slumped on an average of 16% over the last two quarters.
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UBER PARTNERS WITH AIRBUS FOR ON-DEMAND HELICOPTERS
As part of a new Silicon Valley-based initiative, Airbus is partnering with Uber that would allow Uber users to hail helicopters, as well as other forms of transportation. The new link will allow Airbus & Uber to provide on-demand transportation service using its H125 and H130 helicopters. The recently formed Airbus Ventures will operate with a $150 mn commitment. Neither Uber nor Airbus have disclosed how much a helicopter ride share might cost.
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