The Business of Politics and Lawsuits

Another week in the world of money which saw politics and lawsuits dominate the headlines.

Politics

We start this week in the world of politics where a Brazilian judge has accepted charges filled by state prosecutors against 11 companies for allegedly forming a cartel to control construction and upkeep of the subway and train systems in Sao Paulo just weeks after a corruption scandal involving state oil giant Petrobras was revealed. In other South American news Citigroup was authorized by a US judge to process Argentine dept payments after numerous lengthy court battles while on the other side of the world in the Middle East we saw trouble as conflict in Yemen sent oil prices soaring. Europe saw protestors marching in Madrid against austerity measures called the "march for dignity" while the always complicated relationship between EU and Greece raised its head when Germany and other EU leaders set strict terms for Greek aid.

Legal

But it wasn't just bureaucracy this week as we also saw legal disputes with the Ellen Pao lawsuit taking center stage as her legal team wrapped up arguments. However, they weren't alone with Twitter also being sued for gender discrimination. The technology world also saw the Google anti competitive report leaked and news that Google had become a lobbying powerhouse with near weekly meetings at the White House. Outside of the tech world Ex-American Apparel CEO, Dov Charney, is seeking $40 million in damages after being fired last year.

Stock Markets

We end the week on Wall Street where news of Heinz and Kraft merging had mouths salivating with the prospect of a new super food company and lastly, the stuff dreams are made of, when we heard luxury car maker Porsche gave each of it's employee's a sizable bonus sharing the spoils after a successful year.

Leaders Take to the Stage

This week saw world leaders take center stage from addressing nations to bidding farewell.

US President Barack Obama addressed the American people in his State of the Union address where he outlined plans to address taxation and climate change. At one point President Obama had an encounter with a cheeky Republican response to one of his statements but quickly cut them down to size with a witty retort while on the other side of the world Pope Francis ended his 5 day tour of the Philippines after huge crowds had gathered to hear him speak in Manila.
 
On the monetary front leaders met in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum with plenty on the agenda to discuss. Ukrainian leaders requested funding from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to turn around the war-torn economy while Russian President Putin was under strain when it was revealed that lending to Russian banks had dropped by over £7 billion.

The week ended with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia passing away at the age of 90 and his brother taking over his role resulting in the price of oil futures jumping 3pc while in Argentina President Cristina Kirchner found herself under the spot light after the death of the lead prosecutor investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre which resulted in protests demanding an investigation. Previously President Kirchner has suggested it was suicide but has since backtracked on the statement.

What Happened? 2014 Business News

Business experienced the usual ups and downs in 2014 but it was the actions of high powered individuals that impacted entire nations.

Politics

Russia suffered severe economic sanctions for it's involvement in Crimea but it was the falling oil price, due to OPEC's decision not to cut production, that was the final blow making the most impact on Russia's oil driven economy along with the Rouple. The US government had a busy year with Ben Bernanke being grilled about the decisions leading to the AIG bailout and politics narrowly avoided another shutdown when a $1.1 trillion bill was signed at the last minute. Protests in Hong Kong's business district nearly crippled the region and ended up costing retailers millions while in South America Argentina defaulted on it's loans for a second time ignoring a US courts ruling.

In the world of taxes Frances ridiculous 75% tax on millionaires was dropped while in the States over 30,000 IRS emails previously thought lost were found regarding the accusation that the IRS was targeting individuals based on their political views. Parts of Europe implemented what was termed the Google tax in an attempt to squeeze more from foreign companies operating in Europe and finally it seems European nations really had it out for Google trying to have the internet behemoth split.

Companies

Some companies probably wished for a quicker end to the year with not one but two high profile incidents, MH370 and MH17, Malasian airlines stock took a massive knock and had to be suspended at one stage. GM was on Capital Hill due to the large number of recalls due to safety issues with their vehicles. The hacking of Sony Entertainment's network caused havoc with confidential documents being released in droves bringing speculation of possible sales of assets while a previously targeted company, Target, faced a lawsuit over last years holiday hacks that saw 110 million customer details stolen. Not everyone managed to escape their fate with more former Madoff aides heading to prison and Uber was in the spotlight after an exec wanted to snoop on a journalist to discredit her work.

It wasn't all doom and gloom with the technology world seeing Alibaba make it's grand listing with the largest tech IPO ever. Apple had an interesting year with successful new products like the iPhone 6 and it's new smart watch which isn't available just yet but it also ran into issues with an Apple employee class action lawsuit and was the unwilling participant in many "die-ins" staged in protest of police brutality. Burger King successfully acquired Canada's Tim Hortons in a move to cut it's tax exposure and minimum wages made the spotlight with Walmart claiming to do away with it.

Banks

Years after they sent the world economy into a tailspin the European Central Banks conducted a health test and found everything to be fine. However things weren't over with banks still facing billion dollar fines from the US and UK for their involvement in the Libor scandal.

JPMorgan faced a class action lawsuit over $10 billion of mortgage-backed securities and finally Barclays faced a suit by the SEC over "dark pools".

Business Battered and Bruised

It's been a relaxed week on the markets with a few big movers announcing results but with most attention on states and their business interests.

State of Business

With the recent downing of Flight MH17 the total liability of the crash could reportedly reach $1 billion, add to that the second major blow to it's brand, can Malaysian Airs survive? In related Ukrainian news Russia are having trouble selling bonds after their Ukraine adventure prompted the cancellation of the bond auction.

More nations are having a hard time with Argentina asking a US judge to put the debt payment order on hold while Puerto Rico's debt crisis could be heading for a US style bankruptcy resolution. South Korea announced a new stimulus plan to help the economy after the Ferry disaster earlier in the year slowed economic growth. In the Eurozone public debt spiked reversing the down trend when the economic crisis eased. The IMF has cut the global growth outlook taking into account weakness in both the US and China.

Saudi Arabia seems to be the only glimmer of hope as it announced it had opened it's $531 billion stock market to foreign investors for the first time.

Business Battered

A widow of a chain smoker has been awarded $23billion in damages against the second largest cigarette maker in the US, RJ Reynolds.

McDonald's didn't have a great week when it was revealed there was an issue with a supplier of meat to McDonalds in China resulting in certain items being pulled from menu's. McDonald's hasn't had much luck in Europe either with it's German profits taking a knock and the Russian consumer protection agency seeking to ban some of it's burgers and milk shakes.

Barclays employee's have said they were concerned about the "Dark Pools" before the suit was filed by the SEC. Barclays has since filed to have the suit dismissed but the SEC have instead stepped up the inverstigation.

The takeover of Time Warner by Rupert Murdocks News Corp has been bumpy with Time Warner preventing shareholders from calling meetings and as interest grows shares of Time Warner could reach $105 a share.

Technology Titans

Facebook showed critics when it's reported  profit's more than doubled thanks to mobile ads resulting in the stock going on to hit a record high and pocketing founder, Mark Zuckerberg, a cool $1.6 billion.

Apple seems pretty certain of it's future reportedly asking it's supplier to produce 80 million large screen iPhones however things weren't all great as it was revealed 18,000 Apple employee's have opened a class action lawsuit against Apple.

More tech Titans made themselves known on the stock market with Alibaba indicating it would wait till after US Labor Day to launch it's much anticipated IPO. However things weren't great for many others with Microsoft's fourth quarter earnings taking a hit after it's acquisition of Nokia and finally Amazon didn't fare to well either when it posted a $126 million loss.

Business, Bitcoin and Bureaucracy

It's been an interesting week for business with one or two highlight's in a sea of gloom, from the US to Iraq, Argentina and China, it's been a global affair.

The week started on a positive note when Starbucks announced it would pay tuition for thousands of it's employee's to take courses through Arizona State University to complete their Bachelor's degree. It seemed like business as usual with Amazon announcing the it's latest product, the Fire Phone, to take on the smartphone market.

But it didn't last long heading downwards from there with the GM CEO set to face more Capital Hill questions after the recent spate of recalls and got worse when hackers stole customer data from Domino's pizza in Europe and demanded a ransom.

Things seemed to only get worse when the US Marshal's leaked the list of potential bidders for Bitcoins confiscated from Silk Road. Bitcoin continued the negative ride when the Bitcoin doomsday scenario arrived as it was revealed that 51% of Bitcoin's processing power was controlled by a single group. There was some light for Mt. Gox who got approval for US bankruptcy protection.

While the Obama Administration made strides determined to extend family leave for same-sex couples the Federal Reserve announced it would curtail it's bond buying activity but continue with mortgage bonds and potentially Treasury securities too. But it wouldn't last long with a Veterans Affairs official being arrested for accepting $40k in illegal gifts.

Internationally it got downright ugly with the Argentine government trying to side step a US Supreme Court order by offering a debt swap to it's creditors. China then rejected a shipping alliance despite support from the US and EU which would have saved the industry money. And if all that wasn't bad enough the escalating violence in Iraq shook the markets with oil prices surging.