UK Manufacturing PMI Climbed To A Three Month High | ||
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The UK's manufacturing PMI is out for October, and at 53.2 it's the highest in three months. That's well above the neutral 50 mark, but still considerably lower than the very high figures the UK regularly saw when the recovery was emerging, late in 2013 and earlier this year.
SEE ALSO: Angela Merkel Threw Down A Huge Ultimatum To David Cameron Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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European Markets And US Futures Are Down A Hair | ||
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France's CAC 40 is down 0.25% Spain's IBEX is the only riser, up 0.08% Italy's FTSE MIB is down 0.71% Britain's FTSE 100 is down 0.05% Germany's DAX is down 0.16% It's a national holiday in Japan, so the Nikkei is closed today, having risen 4.83% on Friday. The Hang Seng dropped 0.34% in Hong Kong. US futures are also pretty flat this morning. The Dow is down 16 points and the S&P is down 1.25 points. We've already seen eurozone manufacturing PMI figures come in this morning, roughly in line with expectations: the index's overall level rose marginally to 50.6, from 50.3. Any figure over 50 indicates an expansion. Spain's PMI figure held at 52.6, Germany's rose back out of recession territory, up to 51.4, France's manufacturers hinted at a sixth month of shrinkage with a score of 48.5, and Italy's fell back into negative territory with a reading of 49. From the US, at 9:45 a.m. ET Markit's manufacturing PMI figure is out, followed by ISM's manufacturing index at 10 a.m. ET. Construction spending figures are out at 10 a.m. ET too, with analysts expecting 0.7% boost between August and September. SEE ALSO: The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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European equities are down a smidgen this morning, hovering not far below their Friday closes. 10 Things In Tech You Need To Know Today (AAPL, FB, AMZN, HPQ, IBM, MSFT) | ||
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Good morning! It's going to be an overcast day in New York. Here's the tech news that you need to know today. 1. Apple is reportedly planning a 12-inch "iPad Pro." Apparently it's going to be thinner than the iPhone 6 Plus. 2. A Facebook experiment could have affected turnout in the 2012 election. The site experimented with the News Feeds of nearly 2 million users in the months before the election. 3. Apple's former sapphire supplier has blamed Apple for causing it to go bankrupt. GT Advanced Technologies is in the middle of filing for bankruptcy. 4. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been declared the best-performing CEO in the world. The Motley Fool says it's down to his ability to create value. 5. JP Morgan discovered that it had been hacked after someone breached the website for its corporate race event. The same servers used to hack the "Corporate Challenge" site also targeted the payments system. 6. Amazon has released its diversity report. 75% of its managers are male. 7. HP has revealed its new smartwatch produced with Michael Bastion. It will go on sale for $349 on Nov. 7. 8. One of the Pirate Bay's co-founders has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for computer hacking. The prosecutor called it Denmark's biggest ever hacking case. 9. IBM announced Friday that it has made a deal with Chinese internet service provider Tencent. It will bring new cloud services to the country. 10. Microsoft has reportedly fired its global advertising sales team. Sources told us that the internal announcement was on Wednesday. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Pakistan win first series against Australia in 20 years | ||
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Abu Dhabi (AFP) - Pakistan won the second Test against Australia by 356 runs in Abu Dhabi on Monday to take their first series victory over the Australians in 20 years. Australia, set a 603-run target, were dismissed for 246 soon after lunch on the fifth and final day. Pakistan won the first Test by 221 runs in Dubai. Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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It Looks Like Germany Is Creeping Back | ||
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Germany's manufacturing PMI rose to 51.4 in October from a 15-month low of 49.9 in September. Economists expected a reading of 51.8. Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index is a commonly used survey to measure overall business conditions before official stats come out. Any figure above 50 indicates the sector is growing. Here are the key points from Markit:
Markit economist Oliver Kolodseike said: “The headline PMI moved back above the crucial 50.0 mark in October as output growth accelerated and “However, the survey results also showed that new business fell for the second month running as the “Overall, the data send mixed signals about the health of Germany’s manufacturing sector and it is too early to say whether the sector will be able to sustain growth in the fourth quarter.”
SEE ALSO: Angela Merkel Threw Down A Huge Ultimatum To David Cameron Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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France's Industry Just Recorded Its Sixth Month Of Shrinkage | ||
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France's factory output is still shrinking, the latest in a very long line of fairly grim indicators for the eurozone's second-biggest economy. Markit's manufacturing PMI, one of the major early indicators of business activity came in at 48.5, from 48.8 in September. Any score over 50 indicates growth, and any score below indicates a contraction. France's figure has not been in positive territory since April.
SEE ALSO: France's Largest Companies Are Losing Their Bosses At A Remarkable Rate Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Italy's PMI Falls To 49.0 | ||
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Italy's manufacturing PMI fell to 49.0 in October from 50.70 in September. Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index is a commonly used survey to measure overall business conditions before official stats come out. Any figure below 50 indicates the sector is contracting. Here are the key points from Markit:
Markit economist Phil Smith said: The manufacturing PMI resumed its worrying slide seen since May after having ticked up slightly in September. Falling back below 50.0, the index points to Italy’s manufacturing sector returning to contraction." He added: The manufacturing PMI resumed its worrying slide seen since May after having ticked up slightly in September. Falling back below 50.0, the index points to Italy’s manufacturing sector returning to contraction."
SEE ALSO: Angela Merkel Threw Down A Huge Ultimatum To David Cameron Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Peter Jackson Explains How The Crazy Barrel Scene In 'The Hobbit' Sequel Came Together | ||
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There's a scene about an hour into "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" where hobbit Bilbo (Martin Freeman) saves a group of dwarves after they're captured and imprisoned by the Elvenking Thranduil (Lee Pace). Bilbo sets the dwarf clan free so they can continue on their three-movie journey to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. The jailbreak involves the dwarves stowing away into empty wine barrels that drop out of the floor and into the water.
Ahead of the release of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"on Blu-Ray and DVD on Nov. 4, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment shared an exclusive clip with Business Insider on how the popular barrel scene came together. In the film's commentary, director Peter Jackson describes the challenge that went into putting the scene together. "It was hard getting a head around this because in the book, they go into barrels," says Jackson. "Bilbo kind of rolls them into a room and the tops are on the barrels which makes total sense because otherwise 'How would the barrels float?' In the movie, visually, it didn't seem that exciting to have a bunch of barrels — sealed barrels." "I think you almost visually get away with it," he added. Check it out below. SEE ALSO: How "The Hobbit" dragon looks without visual effects Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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