The tech company is reportedly concentrating the most on financial sector, shipping and healthcare with regards to its blockchain offerings. IBM’s app store LedgerConnect provides a platform of collaboration between financial tech companies and banks on blockchain technology to improve their daily back-end operations.IBM's Insurance Data Link allows insurance carriers to upload data directly onto a blockchain platform to show they're complying with state regulations – thereby reducing paperwork while potentially improving security.

Customers can choose from a variety of products including espressos, made-to-order ice-creams and pizza. The roaster will offer "premium, small batch" coffees, according to the company.An espresso will cost €1.80 ($2.10), which is considerably higher-end compared to many Italian cafes.

PepsiCo announced an accelerator program to support food and beverage startups. Called Nutrition Greenhouse, the six-month North American program from PepsiCo provides ten startups $20,000 each along with a mentor from the beverage corporation.Through the program, PepsiCo aims to offer guidance and advice to neophytes on product development, fundraising, supply chain management and other aspects of business in the industry.

Facebook is the year’s leading buyer of clean energy so far. According to a Bloomberg report, Facebook’s total purchases of clean energy for 2018 is 1,256 megawatts -  which is over 400 megawatts more compared to the second biggest buyer AT&T Corp.  Last month, Facebook clinched a major deal with a wind farm in Indiana.The tech company has bought 2 gigawatts of clean energy in the last ten years.  

Drivers sign-up with Delivery Drivers Inc, a firm that manages such workers. In March, Walmart said that it will offer delivery of groceries to households across 100 U.S. cities by the end of 2018.It has since partnered with several small delivery companies like Doordash and Postmates to meet its target.  

Its EOS R will be priced at 237,500 yen ($2,130), Doing away with the mirror system in the EOS R reduces the distance between the lens and the image sensor – something that’s expected to potentially mitigate image blurring and increase stability. Mirrorless cameras are known to be better enabled to grab light and help photographers take pictures of fast-moving objects.While this means that competition in the segment could potentially heat up, consumers/professional photographers would have more options beyond their smartphones.  

The Canadian dollar declined to an almost seven-week low against the U.S. dollar, as uncertainties over the NAFTA deepened. In a tweet posted on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said there is "no political necessity to keep Canada in the new NAFTA deal," and that Congress "should not interfere" with the negotiations.Last week, the U.S. and Mexico went ahead with a deal without Canada. There was apparently some expectation last week that Canada would be joining the new deal, but Trump’s latest tweet might have dampened that outlook.

On Wednesday, digital currencies experienced sharp pullbacks on news of Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s postponing its plans of setting up a cryptocurrency trading desk. Bitcoin lost more than -3% in around 10 minutes, followed by sharp declines in Litecoin, Ethereum and Ripple.A Business Insider report, citing  people familiar with the matter, indicated that Goldman Sachs has moved down the position of its cryptocurrency trading desk plan on its priority list for now.

Amazon is seeking to bolster its India presence, by offering Hindi language features. On Tuesday, the company launched a version of its mobile website and Android app in Hindi – the most popular language among Indians.It is still working to develop features such as product reviews and ratings in Hindi. However, Hindi is not yet available on Amazon's iOS app or the desktop version of its website.

Toyota is recalling more than 1 million of its hybrid vehicles. A potential risk of fire from possible wearing away of wire harnesses connected to the cars’ power units has led the Japanese auto major to recall its Prius, Prius plug-in hybrid and C-HR SUV models.Recalled cars were produced between June 2015 and May 2018. Japan accounts for more than 50% of the vehicles recalled, while the U.S. has under 200,000 of them, and the remaining are in Europe and other markets. This follows Toyota’s  recall of  more than 1.7 million vehicles in 2016 over parking brakes and airbags issues.

But more than the “trillion” number, what’s significant is the e-commerce giants’ remarkable growth story. For years, the company went without generating positive earnings, and instead chose to focus on expanding its online retail (a major factor behind deteriorating margins of brick-and-mortar stores), foraying into diverse product/services and acquiring firms to cement its position in the various industries.Today, Amazon’s offerings encompass retail, grocery, home appliances, business technology, entertainment and healthcare. In Q2 2018, its net income came in at  $2.5 billion – compared to the year-ago period’s $197 million.

On Tuesday, offshore drilling contractor company Transocean Ltd. agreed to buy Ocean Rig UDW Inc. in a cash and stock transaction valued at around $2.7 billion, inclusive of Ocean Rig's net debt. 1.6128 newly issued Transocean shares and $12.75 in cash will be exchanged for each Ocean Rig share.That places Ocean Rig’s per share value at $32.28, or a 19.2% premium (based on Friday’s closing price).

Mercedes-Benz is set to launch battery-powered vehicles. The Daimler AG-owned brand will start production of the Mercedes EQC car in the first half of 2019 and it will be the first in its EQ electric line. Daimler AG’s Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche said Tuesday that the company had planned to invest 10 billion euros ($12 billion) in developing electric vehicles, but the spending has exceeded that amount. Daimler plans to deliver 10 fully electric cars by 2022.Mercedes will spend 1 billion euros on battery production for eight facilities globally. Mercedes’ foray into the electric vehicle market potentially pitches it against Tesla, along with luxury carmakers Porsche, Audi and Jaguar that are also venturing into the space.  

Southwestern Energy Co.’s shares surged +4.8% in pre-market trading on Tuesday, following news of the energy company’s deal to sell its Fayetteville Shale E&P and related assets for $1.87 billion in cash to Flywheel Energy LLC.The deal is expected to close in December. What’s more, Southwestern announced that it will spend upto $200 million in share buybacks and invest up to $600 million to develop its Appalachia assets.

United Airlines, Inc. has raised checked baggage fees, apparently to combat surging fuel costs eating into profits. The carrier will now charge $30 and $40 for checking the first and second bags respectively (compared to the earlier charges of $25 for the first bag and $35 for the second).The new higher fees will apply to flights operating on the North American, Caribbean and Central American routes. This follows the recent baggage fee hikes by JetBlue, Air Canada and WestJet.  

Southwest Airlines Co. announced new domestic and international services or 2019. Addition to domestic flights include non-stop seasonal service between Cleveland and Tampa, and between Cincinnati and Orlando.On Sundays from Mar 10 onward, it will operate a non-stop service connecting Dallas with West Palm Beach and Harlingen. Its plans for International additions include connecting St. Louis to Montego Bay and Punta Cana.

President Donald Trump is considering indexing capital gains to inflation, as indicated by him in a Bloomberg interview. If implemented, the indexing could potentially lower tax liabilities on income generated from selling financial securities since the original purchase price would be adjusted for inflation.According to estimates from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, corporate stock with dividends held for 10 years would be subject to an effective tax rate of 21.4% if the holdings are indexed to inflation, versus 24.3 % under existing law. Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow says that the policy would boost job creation and economic growth.

Emerging market currencies are getting crushed even as the rally in U.S. dollar continues to firm up. Declining for the fifth time in six days, the MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index plunged to its lowest level in more than a year.The rand, lira, Argentine peso among other currencies extend declines amidst their respective domestic economic chaos - including South Africa’s land-reform bill, Turkey’s high inflation concerns and Argentina's fiscal uncertainties . The U.S. dollar, on the other hand, rose for the fourth day, in a rising interest rate environment and following U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion on imported Chinese goods by Thursday.

The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) Courts announced a plan in partnership with the city’s Smart Dubai initiative to reshape the judiciary by creating “the world’s first Court of the Blockchain”.By moving to a “blockchain-powered future”, the authority is hoping to create a more efficient legal system. The DIFC is responsible for overseeing all civil and commercial disputes involving both domestic and international financial transactions.

August marked the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) highest crude production this year, bolstered by Libya’s output. All members of OPEC collectively produced 32.74 million barrels a day last month, which is 420,000 barrels higher compared to July (according to a Bloomberg report).  In June, OPEC members agreed to increase their combined production by 1 million barrels a day.