BUSINESS NEWS 27TH, 2016
U.S. stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday after fears eased that the Federal Reserve would strongly signal it would raise interest rates in June, though a slump in Apple shares weighed on the Nasdaq index. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 52.74 points, or 0.29 percent, to 18,043.06, the S&P 500 gained 3.62 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,095.32 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 25.14 points, or 0.51 percent, to 4,863.14. The Fed statement provided a mixed picture of the economy, emphasizing the improving labor market and noting that “strong job gains” likely herald a further pickup but acknowledging that economic growth “appears to have slowed.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others, have reportedly pledged to form a foundation in the name of legendary Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. Russian billionaire and founder Yuri Milner held a screening of director Matthew Brown’s “The Man Who Knew Infinity”, a biopic on Ramanujam, over the weekend at the Silicon Valley, which was attended by the Who’s Who of US super-elite, according to a source close to the film’s unit. “Sundar Pichai (CEO, Google), Sergey Brin (founder, Google), Mark Zuckerberg (founder, Facebook), Brendan Iribe (CEO of Oculus VR), and some other fifty other ‘1 percenters’ of Silicon Valley were at Yuri Milner’s house in Los Altos. Yuri hosted a very private screening and dinner for the film and they came out with tears,” said the source.
SPACEX’S PLAN TO REACH MARS BY 2018
Elon Musk wants to launch a spacecraft to Mars as soon as 2018. Let that sink in. Depending on your definition of “as soon as,” that means sometime between 20 and 32 months from now. But Musk probably meant roughly 24 months, because May 2018 is when the next Mars launch window opens—a period when the red planet’s orbit brings it closest to Earth’s. His company SpaceX has a lot to do in the meantime. Like, finish building the rocket it will use to launch the spacecraft, and figure out how to land the damn thing on Mars’ surface.
MARRIOTT TOPS EXPECTATIONS
Marriott International Inc., which is in the process of acquiring Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., beat first-quarter expectations thanks to lower costs and an uptick in business across Asia. Last month, the hotel operator won a bidding war for the owner of the Sheraton and Westin chains, after rival Chinese bidder Anbang Insurance Group Co. abruptly pulled out. On Wednesday, Marriott Chief Executive Arne Sorenson said the merger is on track to close mid-2016.