BUSINESS NEWS MAY 16TH, 2016
Wall Street rallied sharply on Monday, juiced by a jump in Apple shares and gains from energy stocks that were backed by stronger oil prices.Apple shares finished up 3.7 percent after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway reported a stake worth about $1 billion in the iPhone maker. The stock, which had lost about one-fifth of its value in the past month, gave the biggest boost to the three indexes.The S&P energy sector . SPNY gained 1.6 percent as oil prices hit six-month highs. Crude prices were supported by worries about global supply outages and as long-time bear Goldman Sachs sounded more positive on the market.
BERKSHIRE TAKES $1 BILLION BITE OF APPLE
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc revealed a more than $1 billion stake in Apple Inc in a rare foray into the technology sector, which the billionaire has largely shunned apart from a poorly performing investment in IBM. Shares of Apple rose 3.7 percent on the news, closing up $3.36 at $93.88. Berkshire made its investment in the first quarter, before the iPhone maker in April reported its first quarterly revenue decline in 13 years.The investment came despite an increasing view among investors that Apple may deserve a lower valuation because its heady growth days may be over. However, Apple has a strong balance sheet and management, attributes long favored by Berkshire.
SHELL'S GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL
A leak from an undersea pipeline network operated by Royal Dutch Shell spilled nearly 90,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico last week. The leak occurred about 90 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Glider Field near the company's Brutus Tension-Leg Platform.The US Coast Guard (USCG) and Shell have recovered over 76,600 gallons of oily-water mixture, the company said. No coastal impacts are expected and there's been no reports of injury to wildlife. Gulf fisheries remain open."The Coast Guard and Shell jointly agreed that using on-water recovery vessels and skimming is the safest and most effective oil recovery option at this time," the USCG said in a statement Sunday.
PANAMA READY TO SHARE INFO WITH INDIA
Panama said it is ready to share information with India on tax evaders named in the Panama Papers , but this was possible only after the two countries signed a tax information exchange agreement. Without such an agreement, the information can only be provided if sought under a judicial process, Maria Luisa Navarro, Panama's vice-minister for multilateral affairs and cooperation, said on Monday.