India raises interest rates for the second month running
India's new central bank governor has raised interest rates for the second consecutive month by a quarter of one percent to 7.75% to try to fight inflation.
The move applies only to the repo rate - the rate at which the central bank lends to commercial banks.
The cash reserve ratio - the percentage of banks' deposits they must keep in cash - has been kept unchanged.
India's inflation hit a seven-month-high annual rate of 6.46% in September.
"The policy stance and measures ... are intended to curb mounting inflationary pressures and manage inflation expectations in a situation of weak growth," bank chief Raghuram Rajan said in a statement.
"It is important to break the spiral of rising price pressures in order to curb the erosion of financial saving and strengthen the foundations of growth," he said.
India's main share index rose 0.20% to 20,611.27 points after Mr Rajan's announcement.
Mr Rajan, who took over as the head of the central bank in September, surprised markets by raising interest rates in his first monetary policy meeting.
India's economy has been hurt by a range of factors in recent months.
A slowdown in key sectors such as mining and manufacturing has curbed its growth rate.
At the same time, foreign investors have pulled out money from the country because of the government's failure to enact key reforms, as well as improving economic conditions in the US.
Apple phone sales up but profit down
Apple has reported a fourth quarter profit of $7.5bn (£4.6bn), beating analysts' expectations.
Although iPhone sales surged 26% to 33.8 million, profits slid for a third consecutive quarter as margins fell.
On an annual basis, Apple ended its fiscal year with its first earnings decline in 11 years as net profit slipped to $37bn.
Nonetheless, Apple boss Tim Cook insisted that "business was stronger than ever" on an earnings call.
But analysts were disappointed by forward guidance given by the company, which indicated that future profits might continue to slide.
Apple said it expected revenue next year to be somewhere between $55 - $58bn.
It indicated that the gross margin on its products - the difference between the amount the company spends to make a products versus how much consumers pay - would be between 36.5% - 37.5%, less than analysts were expecting.
Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, explained that this was partly because it cost more to manufacture the company's new iPads and Macbooks and that prices weren't boosted accordingly.
'Game changer'
The company also said it had more than $146.8bn in cash on hand, adding to its considerable reserves.
It indicated that it would be returning more of that money to shareholders in the coming weeks.
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Apple's stock briefly slid before recovering in after hours trading. It remains down by more than 13% for the year.
"We're at the point that people are getting anxious to see the next big game changer that Apple has," says Evan Niu of the financial website The Motley Fool.
"Overall, this is a transitional quarter with the new iPads and iPhones coming out. This coming quarter will be the real test," added Mr Niu.
Chinese market
These were the first earnings to include sales of Apple's new iPhone models: the iPhone 5s and the cheaper iPhone 5c, meant to appeal to the Chinese market.
Revenue in the greater China region - which includes Tawain - rose by 24%, however the company did not break out sales figures for the iPhone 5c.
Overall, Apple has said that 9 million new iPhones were sold in the first weekend of availability.
Mr Cook insisted that the iPhone 5c was not meant to be the company's "cheaper" model, and defended the company against criticisms that it had made the phone too expensive to appeal to consumers.
"I realise that some people were reading rumours that the entry iPhone would be the 5c but that was not our intent," said Mr Cook.
"Our entry iPhone was the iPhone 4s."
Mr Cook touted the number of new products Apple has released in the past few months, almost completely refreshing its product line.
The releases include the new iPhone models, an iPad mini with retina display, the new iPad air, updates to its Macbook laptops, and a release of an update to its operating system, iOs7.
"We're excited to go into the holidays" with these new models said Mr Cook in a statement to discuss the earnings.
JP Morgan settles for $5.1bn with US housing regulator
JP Morgan has reached a $5.1bn (£3.2bn) settlement with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over charges it misled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing boom.
A separate settlement with the US Justice Department is expected to be announced soon.
"This is a significant step to address outstanding mortgage-related issues," the FHFA said in a statement.
It is the biggest settlement ever by a US bank.
In a statement JP Morgan said the settlement resolves the biggest case against the firm relating to mortgage-backed securities.
The bank added that the agreement relates to "approximately $33.8 billion of securities purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from JP Morgan, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual" from 2005 - 2007.
JP Morgan purchased Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual at the height of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, and has tried to argue that it should not be punished for mistakes made before those deals.
As part of the agreement with the FHFA, the bank will pay $4bn to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims that it violated US securities law.
It will pay the agencies an additional $1.1bn for misrepresenting the quality of single-family mortgages.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the biggest mortgage lenders in the US. They received $187bn in US taxpayer aid to help them stay afloat during the financial collapse.
They have since repaid $146bn of the loan.
'Broader resolution'
JP Morgan has been under investigation for several months by US regulators.
The bank said that it hoped the settlement would be part of a "broader resolution" of the firm's housing bubble woes - a nod to an expected settlement with the US Justice Department that is also likely to run to several billions of dollars.
The firm reported a rare loss last quarter, having set aside an additional $9bn to help it deal with its mounting legal troubles.
JP Morgan has set aside a total of $23bn to help the bank work through its many investigations by regulators in the US and abroad.
Last month, the bank agreed to pay more than $1bn to help it end various investigations into its 2012 "London whale" trading debacle, which cost the bank more than $6bn and raised questions about its oversight procedures.
Twitter plans to raise $1.4bn in IPO
Twitter is to sell 70 million shares priced between $17 and $20 (£10 - £12) when the company makes its debut on the New York Stock Exchange.
This offering represents 13% of the microblogging site.
It values Twitter at as much as $11.1 billion (£6.8bn), making it the biggest internet company to go public since Facebook.
However, despite big user figures, the company has yet to turn a profit.
Twitter currently has 200 million active users, who send more than 500 million tweets a day.
The company is expected to post $583m in revenue in 2013, according to advertising consultancy eMarketer, up from $288m in 2012.
The majority of Twitter's revenue comes from advertising, with companies paying for "promoted tweets".
Many analysts expect that it will make its market debut in mid-November after it has completed a so-called "shopping period" where it makes its pitch to potential investors.
Brazil oil-auction protests turn violent
Protesters have marched to the headquarters of Brazil's state-run petroleum company Petrobras after it won the right to develop an offshore field that could contain 12 billion barrels of oil.
A consortium that includes Petrobras, Shell, Total and two Chinese firms successfully bid for the rights at an auction, Brazil's government announced on Monday.
Five people were reported hurt as union workers opposed to the auctioning off of national assets to foreign companies clashed with police in Rio de Janeiro.
More than 1,000 police were called in and responded with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets after about 200 protesters converged on the hotel hosting the action.
The five firms won 35-year concessions, with Petrobras taking a 40 percent stake, more than the minimum required by the terms of Brazil's offer, which has been controversial at home.
Shell and Total both earned a 20 percent stake with CNOOC and CNPC securing 10 percent each.
Their consortium was the only bid to offer the Brazilian state the minimum 41.65 percent of oil to be extracted from the Libra oil field, which holds an estimated eight to 12 billion barrels of oil.
To put that into context, Brazil currently has 15.3 billion barrels of proven reserves and is already the second-largest in South America after Venezuela.
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