Asset management firm Capital Dynamics will use a $1.2 billion fund to acquire more clean-power plants.Investors in the Clean Energy and Infrastructure VII JV LLC fund include Dutch asset manager APG, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and a unit of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Capital Dynamics, one of the major players in the clean energy investment sector, manages 2.3 gigawatts of solar assets.

pharmaceutical giant  GlaxoSmithKline Plc.  is reportedly seeking bids for its Indian consumer-health arm. According to a Bloomberg report, Nestle SA, PepsiCo Inc. and Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc.The UK Drugmaker had earlier indicated its plans to review its strategies related to Horlicks and other nutritional products.

Apple reportedly has a slew of new products lined up for this year. On its list is the launch of a low-cost laptop with 13-inches display with the high-resolution (“Retina”) version, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified (as mentioned in a Bloomberg report). The tech company is planning to introduce three new iPhones, Apple Watches with larger screens, and new iPad Pros later this year, other people familiar with the plans said (Bloomberg reported).Also, it will upgrade its Mac mini – for the first time in about four years, and the new version will focus on new storage and processor options. Additionally, Apple is preparing to launch macOS Mojave - a new version of its Mac operating system.

As Amazon.com, Inc.’s tryst with healthcare seems to strengthen, it has now reportedly welcomed one of the leading cardiologists in the U.S. into its team. Maulik Majmudar, associate director of the Healthcare Transformation Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital, posted on Twitter that he is moving to "an exciting and challenging role @amazon." Amazon’s ‘healthcare plans’ were already apparent after it acquired online pharma delivery platform PillPack in June, which followed earlier reports of the e-commerce giant’s collaboration with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan & Chase on a project for lowering medical costs of companies and their employees.

The US Treasury Department published a new, 222-page report on July 31 that heavily focused on the fintech sector.Start a free trial today on tickeron.com.

Facebook ‘s Artificial Intelligence (AI) unit is working to develop a technology that, if successful, can make MRI exams ten times faster. Collaborating with New York University's medical school, Facebook will use machine learning to train an algorithm for identifying  arrangement of bones, muscles, ligaments, and other parts of the human body, and then  feed the information into MRI machines' software – a process that is expected to create MRI images in much less time compared to what it takes at present.NYU is providing an anonymous dataset of 10,000 MRI exams for this project, which includes as many as three million images of knees, brains, and livers.    

According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, as many as 25,000 apps were deleted from the App Store. This is not the first time that the iPhone maker had to censor its offerings to comply with Chinese regulations.In 2017, it removed several apps that were allowing Chinese users to access Facebook and Google services that were otherwise restricted by Beijing.

The European Commission wants to adopt stricter policies to curb terrorist content on social media. Having had previously asked tech firms (such as Facebook, Twitter and Google) to remove terrorist propaganda within an hour of the content’s posting, the Commission feels that it needs to add stricter measures for enforcing the rules.The new legislation drafted reportedly include penalties to be imposed if a social platform fails to comply with the European Commission’s requirements for removing terrorist content . The proposed legislation would have to be approved by lawmakers and European Union (EU) member countries before it can be implemented. This marks another step by Europe towards increased regulation for tech companies, following EU data protection rules (introduced in May) which posed restrictions on how tech platforms can collect and use personal data.

PepsiCo, Inc. is all set to take a healthier sip, by buying Isreali sparkling water brand SodaStream. Echoing the U.S. beverage industry’s upping the ante on healthier alternatives amidst consumers’ growing aversion to sugary sodas, Pepsi’s $3.2 billion deal apparently goes well with its motto of "making more nutritious products while limiting our environmental footprint" – as emphasized by CEO Indra Nooyi.Nooyi will step down and be replaced by Ramon Laguarta in October. To be funded by cash, Pepsi’s acquisition of SodaStream now awaits the latter’s shareholder vote and certain regulatory approvals before it can formally be brought into effect.

In a townhall meeting, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai said that he’s not in a rush to launch a search platform in China, according to a source with knowledge of the conversation (as reported by CNN). Earlier reports had indicated that Sundar Pichai was planning to introduce a censored version of Google Search in China - something that raised questions on whether Google was straying from its long-held advocacy of free and open internet, with several of its employees demanding greater transparency on the plan.But recent reports of Pichai’s meeting suggest that although his team might be exploring possibilities of foraying into the Chinese market, they’re not close to launching a search engine.

Ending speculations, Netflix announces that it will not include commercials in episodes and movies. A spokesperson of the video streaming company said that the platform is testing the concept of adding “personalized recommendations” – versus commercial ads – in between an episode or movie, and the viewer even has the option to skip them. Netflix wants to study whether or not these promotional videos would help subscribers get useful suggestions.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey wants a clean-up of the social networking site. In a CNN interview, Dorsey expressed the need to curb abusive language and hate speech on Twitter, and to create incentives for bolstering “healthy conversation" on the platform.He also emphasized on taking action against fake/suspicious accounts, and on limiting bot networks’ presence on the website. Dorsey indicated that the complete results of these efforts would manifest over the long-term.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) accuses Facebook of discriminating against certain user groups in featuring housing advertisements.The HUD complaint includes accusations of exclusion based on religion, among other things. Facebook responded that "there is no place for discrimination on Facebook; it's strictly prohibited in our policies.

Tesla, Inc.'s stock took a nose-dive on Friday, following Elon Musk’s ‘tearful’ interview to the New York Times. On August 7, Musk tweeted about “secured funding” at $420 for taking Tesla private.  Musk seemed emotional during the interview and said that this was the “the most difficult and painful year" of his career. Tesla’s stock plunged -9% on Friday  

For the quarter ending August 4, J.C. Penney posted losses worse than expected. The department store chain reported a loss of $0.32 per share for the fiscal second quarter, compared to the Wall Street estimate of a $0.05 loss per share.Penney's free cash flow was negative $235 million for the first half of the fiscal year.  

According to a Bloomberg report, people who are familiar with the situation (but wished not to be named since the talks are still private) said that the e-commerce giant is interested in buying Landmark from Wagner/Cuban Cos. After online streaming of movies/TV series and music, Amazon might now be eyeing a ‘physical’ presence in the media business.Landmark Theaters is largely focused on art-house/ independent and foreign films and owns more than 50 theaters in 27 markets

Aldi is looking to sell ‘healthy’. The supermarket chain, known for low-cost food staples and canned goods, wants to expand its natural foods offerings to leverage U.S. consumers' preference tilt towards healthy options. Aldi hopes to increase its fresh food selection by 40%.It would be interesting to follow how far the privately-held firm would eventually be able to hold its own against established players like Whole Foods (now owned by Amazon) in the natural/organic food market. Aldi is the 8th biggest retailer in the world by global revenue in 2016, according to a Deloitte analysis.   

A new round of talks between China and the U.S. is set to happen soon. The Chinese Commerce Ministry announced Thursday that at the invitation of the U.S., a Chinese delegation – led by Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen - will travel to Washington later this month.So far, reconciliation attempts on trade terms between the two nations have achieved little in assuaging trade tensions.

Walmart produced its fastest sales growth in a decade -  a sign that the retail giant is still not ‘Amazon-ed’! Digital sales of Walmart soared +40%, while total store sales increased +4.5% in three months ending July. Walmart's Sam's Club warehouse unit experienced same-store sales growth of 5% - a six-year high.  With sales going strong, it seems the retail behemoth is still far from losing ground to Amazon even after the latter’s acquisition of grocery chain Whole Foods.

Buffett also has done some reshuffling in his airline holdings: they added to Delta Air Lines, Southwest Air and trimmed their holdings of United Continental. As we know, Warren Buffet is a big fan of Wells Fargo – or at least he has been for many years but ever persisting scandals apparently are starting to take tall even on the most religious believers – Berkshire trimmed their holdings of Wells Fargo and increased their holdings of iconic Goldman Sachs.Apparently, Mr. Buffet cannot forget these very profitable preferred convertibles he got from Goldman Sachs during the financial crisis.