Target's 40 mln hackees only tip of iceberg

Off target

Reuters

Fed needs 100-year inspection and tune-up

Centennial tune-up

Give thanks for the pope's anti-free market views

Visible hand required

Twitter avoids Facebook IPO overreach - thus far

Twittering carefully

De-Americanised world economy is a long way off

Yankee go home 

Hope tweets eternal for Twitter IPO valuation

Discount hope

Fed has to think global in its local QE unwind

Bank global

Business Standard

Buy and cell

Edgy hedgies

Google shareholders get modest future-proofing

Don't be(gin) evil?

GM Building's $3.4 billion price tag is sign of times

BRICs and mortar

Apple, Fed and IRS conspire to set debt recordsApple is breaking new ground again - but this time in finance. The iPhone and iPad maker launched a giant bond issue on Tuesday and may borrow well over $15 billion, the most in one shot by any non-bank ever. The bonds could also carry record low pricing. Eager investors should be alert to the perfect storm behind the deal.It's a kind of conspiracy involving Apple's novelty in the market, the Federal Reserve's ultra-low interest rates and the Internal Revenue Service's habit of taxing overseas profits that US companies bring home. Apple is selling three and five-year floating-rate debt as well as three, five, 10 and 30-year fixed-rate bonds.The company missed by just one notch a AAA rating from both Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service. The agencies' concern is that fickle consumers and technological disruption could dent Apple's competitive position. Fitch Ratings said its grade would have been lower had it provided one, co

The golden Apple

Is Microsoft the quiet villain of global finance?

Foxtrot Office

Apple's Chinese apology worth the loss of face

Red-faced Apple

Where did Apple's missing market value go?

The Apple pie

If Apple becomes Microsoft, investors should cheer. At least, that is, for their wallets. Middle age for technology stocks can hurt, as shareholders looking for rapid growth lose interest and value-oriented owners await stability. But Apple has already made the transition &mdash; before its growth has slowed much. Even if its next decade echoes Microsoft&rsquo;s last, the company is worth over $1 trillion.

Dried Apple

Goldman Sachs&rsquo; holy grail is becoming harder to reach but less rewarding. The Wall Street firm named 70 new partners on Wednesday, the smallest biannual class since it went public in 1999. Fewer of the old guard are moving on and Goldman&rsquo;s total headcount is shrinking. While a partnership is still a ticket to riches, lower profitability means it&rsquo;s tougher to achieve and less of a bonanza.

Flesh wound

Forget the spin: Barack Obama retains a narrow edge in Tuesday&rsquo;s US election. Economy-based models and US national polls show the president and Republican challenger Mitt Romney neck-and-neck. But under the state-by-state system that ultimately determines who will occupy the White House, Obama leads.

Inexact, but science

Frankenstorm Sandy could have a positive outcome if it shames US politicians into fixing the nation&rsquo;s crumbling infrastructure. Any traveller knows America&rsquo;s transport network is dilapidated. But the storm&rsquo;s devastation makes the problem of under-investment undeniable. A public infrastructure bank could provide the best bang for federal bucks.

Disastrous denial

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has apologised for leaving customers frustrated &mdash; and lost. The problem is a new mapping application, rife with both errors and omissions. Launch problems aren&rsquo;t new. Steve Jobs flubbed pricing of the original iPhone, went too early with a flawed MobileMe cloud service, and had to deal with the iPhone 4&rsquo;s imperfect antenna. But Apple&rsquo;s increased size and rising competition make avoiding slip-ups increasingly important.

Bruised Apple

Apple won big with Friday&rsquo;s $1 billion US patent judgment against Samsung. In a sense that seems fair, as Apple revolutionised the cell phone and rival products from the Korean manufacturer and other competitors mostly look like copycats. But if the fear of future lawsuits forces Google, which makes the Android operating system used by Samsung, to push the technology and hardware makers forward, users could benefit, too.

Richard Beales