A year and a half ago, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) had applied for just eight patents related to auto batteries. Recently, it has hired a bevy of engineers, just one of whom had already filed for 17 in his former career, according to a Thomson Reuters analysis.
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Warren Buffett's old Cadillac fetches $122,500 at auction
Warren Buffett's 2006 Cadillac attracted a high bid of $122,500, more than 10 times its market value, in a charity auction that concluded on Thursday night.
Shell says no agreement in U.S. refinery strike talks
Lead U.S. oil company negotiator Shell Oil Co said face-to-face negotiations on Friday with the United Steelworkers union (USW) failed to yield an agreement to end the 20-day-old U.S. refinery strike.
UAW president calls GM share buyback proposal premature
United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams, whose union indirectly controls the largest single block of General Motors Co (GM.N) shares, told Reuters an investor group’s proposal that GM buy back $8 billion of its stock is premature, and the amount too high for the company’s long-term health.
After tight trading, volatility set to return to stocks
After a holiday-shortened trading week that pinned stocks in a tight trading range, equities are poised for a bout of renewed volatility as investors watch the economy and the Federal Reserve for signs of policy changes and economic strength.
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Euro zone finance ministers agreed in principle on Friday to extend Greece's financial rescue by four months, averting a potential cash crunch in March that could have forced the country out of the currency area.
The U.S. manufacturing sector expanded in February at its fastest rate since November, after notching its lowest reading in a year in the prior month, an industry report showed on Friday.
Crude prices ended mixed on Friday as the number of U.S. rigs drilling for oil fell far less than expected this week, while heating oil jumped 6 percent after severe winter cold crimped output at three refineries.
The Dow and S&P 500 ended at record highs on Friday while the Nasdaq notched an eighth straight day of gains after Greek and euro zone finance ministers reached a deal to extend heavily indebted Greece's financial rescue by four months.
China's top cotton producer, a quasi-military body formed 60 years ago to settle the far west Xinjiang area, is resisting a government policy that could force it to cut output in an industry employing hundreds of thousands in the restive region.
Sri Lanka is reconsidering the outright transfer of a parcel of land to China under a $1.5 billion port city deal signed by a previous government, the energy minister said, amid concerns it could be used for Chinese naval activity.
Germany's EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Friday he thinks Greece and its creditors should be able to reach a deal but may need another meeting of euro zone leaders next week.
U.S. consumers are shifting away from weight-management foods, forcing companies ranging from Kellogg Co to Nestle SA to change ingredients and focus their marketing on different health benefits as sales slip.
India may slash its food and fuel subsidy bill by about $8 billion in next week's budget, two sources said, but despite the impressive headline, the cut is not as radical as free market champions had hoped for in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first full budget.
