BUSINESS NEWS JANUARY 21st 2016
U.S. JOBLESS CLAIMS HIT A 7-MONTH HIGH
On Wall Street stocks managed to rebound higher in today's trade after a rebound in oil prices. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in mid-January hit a seven-month high. The data indicates that the rate of layoffs in the U.S. has marginally risen from record lows. Initial jobless claims climbed a seasonally adjusted 10,000 to 293,000 between January 10-16th. The four-week average of initial claims rose by 6,500 to 285,000, according to the Labor Department. The rise could be attributed to the end of the holiday season, when many companies hire and then let go off temporary workers.
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U.S. HOUSING STARTS DROP IN DECEMBER
Home-building in the U.S. slipped unexpectedly in December despite an unusually warm weather in the last few months of 2015. Housing starts, which reflect groundbreakings on single-family homes and apartments, fell 2.5% from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.15 mn. Building permits also declined by 3.9% to 1.23 mn in December.
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STARBUCKS GIVES SOFT OUTLOOK
Starbucks has offered a soft earnings outlook for its current quarter, despite posting strong core sales growth and better-than-expected profit for the fiscal first quarter. Starbucks reported an 8% rise in same-store sales for the quarter ended December 27th. Overall, Starbucks reported earnings of $687.6 mn down from $983.1 bn a year earlier. Revenue rose 12% to $5.37 bn.
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GENERAL MOTORS TO LAUNCH A NEW CAR-SHARING SERVICE
General Motors has announced the creation of a new car-sharing service,called Mavern. The service will offer customers access to vehicles waiting to be picked up around a given city, similar to existing platforms like Zipcar and Car2Go. Drivers can reserve and unlock Maven cars with a smartphone app, while the vehicles will come with high-tech features like on-board wireless access, satellite radio and the latest smartphone-syncing software from Apple and Google.
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