BP profits soar

Oil giant BP has reaped the benefits of this summer's record oil prices, smashing all forecasts with a 148% rise in third-quarter profits.The shares rose 24.25p to 461.5p today, a gain of 5.55%.BP, Europe's second-biggest oil producer behind Royal Dutch Shell, posted replacement cost profits of $10bn (£6bn) for the quarter from July to September, up from $4bn a year earlier.

Aviva takes £600m market turmoil hit

Turmoil on world stockmarkets has wiped £600m off the surplus capital of life and pensions company Aviva in less than a month.The group, which owns the Norwich Union brand, has seen its cushion of extra assets fall from £1.9bn on September 30 to £1.3bn on October 24 because of plunging share prices. Aviva said a further 20% fall in share prices would knock another £350m off its buffer, but claimed its capital position was strong.

Oil at 17-month low

Crude oil prices fell Tuesday after a report showed a decline in consumers' gasoline use last week, fanning fears of a drop in demand.U.S. crude for December delivery ended the day down 49 cents to $62.73 a barrel. The close was the lowest since oil settled at $62.55 on May 16, 2007.Concern about falling demand has driven oil down more than 57% from a record high of $147.27 in July. Retail gas prices averaged $2.629 a gallon overnight.

Gold retail sales touches 50 tonne this month

The All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF) has announced a growth of 66% in sales of gold for the period from October 1 to October 20 as compared to the same period last year. Sales reached 50 tonne during the period, aided by sales promotions organised by retailers across 217 cities.The Lucky Lakshmi festival, which is the world’s largest jewellery festival, has been instrumental in the growth of gold sales this year.

Victoria’s Secret 2008 Black Diamond Fantasy Bra

Supermodel Adriana Lima models Victoria’s Secret 2008 Black Diamond Fantasy Bra. The Fantasy Bra is encrusted with 3,900 precious gems, including thousands of tiny black diamonds, 117 one carat round diamonds, and 34 rubies. With all those diamonds you can’t expect it to be anywhere near cheap, the bra is worth $5 Million.

Porsche family feud ends.

Porsche family feud ends ahead of the VW takeover which is going to happen in few weeks to come. According to the company that it had reconciled with the family members in the company after weeks of tension over the preparations to take over the biggest European carmaker, Volkswagen.

OPEC to cut output

Aiming the stem the decline in global oil prices the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has decided to slash its daily output by 1.5 million barrels. The decision was taken in the meeting of OPEC in vienna on friday. OPEC meets nearly 40% of the world's daily demand of 87 million barrels. It is estimated that Saudi Arabia wil lower its daily output by 4,66,000 barrels, the highest among the OPEC members.

Frenetic measures fail to stop the losses

Markets aronud the world has taken a free in the past few days.The U.S market had their worst week since the Great Depression of the 1930's.A slew of measures announced in several countries including in India has not checked the panic in financial sector. The U.S government finally suceeded in getting its $700 billion package through the Congress and the U.K government announced a 50 billion pound package.

Palins’ Assets Top $1 Million

The McCain campaign released financial documents on Friday indicating that Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska had assets over $1 million, consisting largely of an ample retirement portfolio, real estate and her husband’s commercial fishing business.Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, kept her tax rate low by putting all of her investments in tax-deferred accounts. In addition, she did not report as income the $17,000 that she received in per diem payments from the state while she remained at her home in Wasilla.

Tax returns for 2007 and 2006 show that Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, had diverse sources of income. In addition to her salary as governor, there were capital gains from the sale of a snowmobile and income from Mr. Palin’s winnings in the annual Iron Dog snow-machine race.

One of the most disputed aspects of Ms. Palin’s tax returns, which were prepared by H&R Block, is the tax treatment of the per diem payments. The McCain campaign has said that these payments are not taxable income, a position that has been questioned by tax experts.

US to sign $6bn Taiwan arms deal

The US plans to sell $6.5bn in weapons to Taiwan as part of a long-awaited package intended to boost the island’s ability to defend itself.This includes Patriot missiles, Apache helicopters, submarine-launched Harpoon missiles, Javelin anti-tank missiles and spare parts for F-16 fighter jets.The package does not include Blackhawk helicopters or money to study the possibility of acquiring diesel submarines.