Apple’s software developer site hacked
SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. said Monday that hackers may have gained access to personal information of software developers who make the company’s apps.
Apple Inc. says its website for software developers was hacked Thursday. It’s possible that the names of some developers and their mailing or email addresses were accessed, although other information was encrypted and can’t be accessed. The company said it took the site down immediately on Thursday and has been working to fix the problem since.
Apple said it is overhauling its developer systems, updating its server software and rebuilding its database to prevent such security threats.
The Cupertino, Calif., company did not say how many developers were affected. The iOS, Mac and other developer sites were still down Monday.
Trading company fined for manipulation
Panther Energy Trading LLC and sole owner Michael Coscia will pay $4.5 million to U.S. and U.K. regulators to resolve allegations that they used high-frequency trading algorithms that manipulated commodities markets.
Panther, based in Red Bank, N.J., and Coscia used a computer algorithm that placed and quickly canceled bids and offers in futures contracts for commodities including oil, metals, interest rates and foreign currencies, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a statement Monday. The enforcement action was the commission’s first under Dodd-Frank Act authority to target disruptive trading practices.
“By placing the large buy orders, Coscia and Panther sought to give the market the impression that there was significant buying interest, which suggested that prices would soon rise, raising the likelihood that other market participants would buy from the small order Coscia and Panther were then offering to sell,” the agency said its statement.
Panther and Coscia must pay $2.8 million in fines and disgorgement of profits to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, $903,000 to the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority and $800,000 in fines to CME Group Inc., owner of the world’s largest derivatives market. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission also banned Panther and Coscia from trading for a year.
Iraq oil exports decline for 2nd month
Iraq’s crude exports and oil revenue declined in June for the second month because of foul weather at the country’s ports and attacks on northern pipelines, the oil ministry said.
Shipments from OPEC’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia dropped to 69.8 million barrels, Asim Jihad, a ministry spokesman, said Monday in a statement. Exports in June generated $6.8 billion, he said, and equaled 2.33 million barrels a day. Iraq shipped 76.9 million barrels in May and 78.7 million in April, earning $7.48 billion and $7.76 billion, respectively, according to the ministry’s website.
The decrease in sales stemmed from repeated sabotage of the pipeline network from Iraq’s northern oil hub of Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, together with high winds and dust storms that halted loadings at southern terminals last month, Jihad said.
- Bloomberg News
Eagle Ford’s May oil production up 58%
Oil production in Texas’s Eagle Ford shale formation rose 58 percent in May from the prior year.
The nine fields that make up the majority of Eagle Ford yielded 581,923 barrels of crude a day, according to preliminary data released by the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees oil and gas drilling in the state. The fields produced 368,770 barrels daily in May 2012.
February output was revised to 574,032 barrels a day from the preliminary report of 530,689, the commission said. Production totals typically increase in subsequent months as the state receives revised, corrected or late reports.
Growing production out of Eagle Ford is helping fuel a renaissance in Texas crude. The state produced a total of 2.45 million barrels a day in April, the highest monthly level since April 1985, according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Energy Department. The agency hasn’t released May production data for the state.
- Bloomberg News
Director leaves; Yahoo to buy shares
SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Activist investor Dan Loeb and two other directors nominated by his hedge fund are leaving Yahoo’s board after big gains in the Internet company’s stock price during the past year.
Yahoo is also buying back 40 million shares of its common stock from Third Point LLC, Loeb’s hedge fund. That cuts Loeb’s stake in Yahoo from 5.8 percent to less than 2 percent.
Loeb instigated the departure of former Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Scott Thompson in 2012. Yahoo named longtime Google executive Marissa Mayer as its CEO last July. The stock has risen about 83 percent since then on stock repurchases and earnings growth stemming from its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba.
Yahoo is spending $1.16 billion to buy Third Point’s stock. It’s paying $29.11 per share, Friday’s closing price.
Yahoo! Inc. shares fell $1.25 to close Monday at $27.86.
- The Associated Press
Mississippi casino revenue falls 7%
JACKSON, Miss. - Mississippi casino revenue resumed its year-over-year slide in June after showing positive results in May.
Statewide casino revenue fell nearly 7 percent from June 2012 to 74.5 million, according to Mississippi Department of Revenue figures.
The state’s gambling halls eked out a 1 percent gain in 2012, because revenue rebounded after most Mississippi River casinos were affected by the 2011 floods. But year-overyear casino revenue has fallen in 11 of the past 12 months.
May was the exception, when revenue rose 3 percent.
The 18 river casinos from Tunica to Natchez took in $89.3 million, down 8 percent from $97 million in June 2012. The 12 coastal casinos took $85.2 million from gamblers, down 5.2 percent from $89.9 million June 2012.
The numbers exclude Choctaw Indian casinos, which aren’t required to report winnings to the state.
- The Associated Press
Business, Pages 20 on 07/23/2013