The Big Stories of February 2016

With February being the shortest month it surprised everyone managing to pack a lot in.

Headlines

We begin with protests which broke out in Hong Kong at the start of the Chinese new year while Julian Assange made a bid to leave the Ecuadorean Embassy with some help from the UN. The standoff between the FBI and occupiers at the Wildlife Refuge in Oregon came to an end while everyone was on edge after North Korea launched a satellite into space spreading fears of their launch abilities while a tropical cyclone slammed into Fiji.

Business

The business world saw the oil situation being addressed with Russia and 3 OPEC members agreeing the freeze oil output while the IMF warned that the global economy was still fragile.

Sports

The sporting world saw the Australian Open come to an end while ex FIFA bosses fought their suspensions dropping them from 8 to 6 years.

Entertainment

The awards ceremony season saw the Grammy's and BRIT Awards celebrate the best of music while the BAFTA's celebrated stars on the screen. The month ended with the controversial Oscar's awarding those in the movie industry.

Technology

The technology world came together when Apple refused to assist the FBI in unlocking an iPhone once again raising the issue of privacy. Outside of the politics in science we saw an amazing breakthrough in the form of gravitational waves being confirmed confirming long standing theories.

Style

Finally the fashion world saw the return of Fashion Weeks with New York Fashion Week kicking things off followed by London Fashion Week and then Milan Fashion Week. Lastly, rounding things off for the start of the year was Paris Fashion Week.

The People Controlling the World's Money

This week we see nations and businesses busying themselves as the world around them changed.

Nations at Odds

We begin this week in Greece with the continuing drama over debt with the IMF raising a red flag initially but later saying they expect Greece to make the $1.7 billion payment by 30 June as Athens continues to negotiate with creditors. Greece, however, wasn't the only country arguing over public funds this week as anti austerity marches took place in London with celebrities joining the masses. Russia didn't have a great week either with Europe extending economic sanctions by 6 months due to the crises in the Ukraine.

Outside of financial crises we saw Australia reveal this week that it would join the China lead infrastructure bank as a founding member while in the States SCOTUS upheld Obamacare after another legal battle over the wording in the law. But while disputes and economic quandaries were fought it was revealed that the NSA had been targeting the business world with security companies in particular in order to create malware that could bypass their defenses.

The Business World

The business world would be rocked further with WikiLeaks releasing more Sony emails and documents showing a deal made with Apple and settlements made. Controversy didn't end there with businessman Donald Trump entering the race to be US President and making surprising progress even after controversial statements about immigrants resulting in Univision dropping Trumps Miss USA pageant. But while some controversies boiled over others were dealt with head on as many large retailers stopped selling confederate flag related items after the tragic events in Charleston last week.

Finally we end the week with the digital world of business, in particular the new streaming music industry where new comer Tidal lost it's interim CEO just months after losing a previous CEO but it's wasn't all bad news when Apple was confronted by pop princess Taylor Swift in an open letter condemning their plans to not pay artists resulting in a turn around where Apple agreed to pay artists during the 3 month trial period.

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.