Banks
The European Central Bank's health check was a success however the report did say "Banks face a significant challenge as the sector remains chronically unprofitable".
Things only got worse from there with Barclays Bank under investigation for bribing a member of the Saudi Royal Family in order to secure a rare banking license. Deutsche Bank braced itself for a $1bn fine from US and UK regulators for it's part in the Libor and Euribor scandal.
Further afield US prosecutors may reopen investigations into several big banks that were previously probed on suspicion they may have violated agreements under which the institutions settled prior cases against them. US and European banks are also stock piling billions for potential trans-Atlantic settlement of allegations they manipulated foreign-exchange rates.
Technology
The technology sector saw action with Twitter shares taking a tumble over concerns with user growth. Samsung was hammered with profits plummeting 60% due to increased pressure from smartphone competitors.
Facebook on the other hand saw it's earnings almost double on rising ad revenue. but it wasn't all good news with it's latest Acquisition $21.8bn WhatsApp making a loss of $138million. Microsoft ended up cutting 3,000 employees as part of it's larger plan to cut 18,000 staff.
Apple was in the news after one of it's suppliers, GT Advanced Technologies, says a deal with the tech giant went sour forcing it to file for bankruptcy. However it's wasn't all gloom for Apple with it's payment system showing 1 million activations within 72 hours.
