S&P 500 Climbs to Record - Dashes 30%, Posts Best Year Since 1997

U.S. stocks rose to records, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index posting its biggest annual advance since 1997, as gains in consumer confidence and housing prices bolstered confidence in the world’s largest economy.

The S&P 500 added 0.4 percent to an all-time high of 1,848.35 at 4 p.m. in New York. The equities...

Παρατείνεται για δύο μήνες το τουριστικό ωράριο

Νέο διάταγμα για το ωράριο των καταστημάτων θα εκδώσει σήμερα το Υπουργείο Εργασίας, ανακοίνωσε μετά τη συνεδρία του Υπουργικού Συμβουλίου η υπουργός Εργασίας και Κοινωνικών Ασφαλίσεων, Ζέτα Αιμιλιανίδου.

Η κ. Αιμιλιανίδου δήλωσε ότι η επέκταση του ωραρίου των...

These Emotional Heatmaps Could Unlock The Secrets Of How We Feel

A new study maps how different emotions are felt within the body, with profound implications for ways to control how we feel.

"We often think the emotions are something that happen only in the mind, but there's also lots of evidence suggesting that they also happen in our bodies," lead author Lauri Nummenmaa, of the Aalto...

Καταστροφικό έτος για μετόχους τραπεζών

Με ονομαστικές απώλειες 10% αποχαιρετά το 2013 το «κουτσό» κυπριακό χρηματιστήριο, σε μια καταστροφική για τους κατόχους τραπεζικών μετοχών και αξιογράφων χρονιά, που εξανέμισε τις αξίες τους λόγω του bail-in στις δύο τράπεζες και την ανακεφαλαιοποίηση της Ελληνικής. 

Το κυπριακό χρηματιστήριο κλείνει για τέταρτο συνεχές έτος με διψήφιες απώλειες με τους εκατοντάδες χιλιάδες κατόχους τραπεζών να έχουν χάσει σχεδόν εξολοκλήρου τις αξίες τους. 

Το 2012 οι απώλειες έφθασαν το 61,2%. 

Ο γενικός δείκτης του ΧΑΚ έκλεισε την τελευταία χρηματιστηριακή συνάντηση του 2013 στις 103,31 μονάδες καταγράφοντας ετήσια πτώση 10,1%. Οι...

''Bitcoin Is Evil'' by Paul Krugman

It’s always important, and always hard, to distinguish positive economics — how things work — from normative economics — how things should be. Indeed, on many of the macro issues I’ve written about it has been obvious that large numbers of economists can’t bring themselves to make that distinction; they dislike activist...

Thieves In Europe Are Using USB Sticks To Clean Out ATMs

A gang of thieves targeted cash machines belonging to an unnamed European bank by uploading malicious software that would spit out banknotes on command

Criminals targeted a string of cash machines by cutting holes in the fascia to reach a USB port and upload malicious code that would spit out banknotes on command...

Αυτά είναι τα νέα ΔΣ των Ημικρατικών Οργανισμών

Στην ανακοίνωση των ονομάτων που θα απαρτίζουν τα νέα διοικητικά συμβούλια των ημικρατικών οργανισμών, προχώρησε το μεσημέρι το Προεδρικό, μετά το τέλος του υπουργικού Συμβουλίου. 

Ανακοινώνοντας τα ονόματα, ο Αναπληρωτής Κυβερνητικός Εκπρόσωπος τόνισε ότι δεν υπήρξε κομματική συναλλαγή στους διορισμούς, ενώ κληθείς να σχολιάσει ότι κάποιοι εξ αυτών προέρχονται από συγκεκριμένους  χώρους τόνισε ότι "δεν είναι έγκλημα οι πολιτικές πεποιθήσεις". Υπέδειξε...

The NSA's elite hackers can hijack your Wi-Fi from 8 miles away

Attendees at the Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg this weekend got a surprising rundown of the NSA's surveillance capabilities, courtesy of security researcher Jacob Appelbaum. 

Appelbaum, who co-wrote the Der Spiegel article that first revealed the NSA catalog, went into further detail onstage, describing several individual devices in the...

France’s Hollande Gets Court Approval for 75% Millionaire Tax

French President Francois Hollande received approval from the country’s constitutional court to proceed with his plan to tax salaries above 1 million euros at 75 percent for this year and next.

Under Hollande’s proposal, companies will...

NSA intercepts laptop deliveries to install spyware

New light has been shed on the extensive scope of the National Security Agency’s spying operations yet again in a couple of reports from German publication Der Spiegel, which reveal various new “features” of the covert intelligence operations conducted by the NSA’s “geek” armies...

Queen's guitarist Brian May 'Cautiously Optimistic' Following Cancer Scare

(Classic Rock) Queen guitarist Brian May has opened up about his recent cancer scare, telling fans that he underwent a series of "urgent" tests before Christmas and he's feeling "cautiously optimistic."

He's offered fans his thanks for their support, saying he didn't realise until he'd broken his silence just how many other...

25 apps you should download right now

If you got a new smartphone or tablet for Christmas, you might be feeling overwhelmed when you start poking around the app store...

F1 champion Michael Schumacher 'critical' after ski fall

Updated: 00:16

Michael Schumacher, seven-time Formula 1 world champion, is in "critical condition" after a ski accident, says the French hospital at which he is being treated.

The 44-year-old German "was suffering a serious brain trauma with coma on his...

CTIA Launches 'Know My App' Website Showing Mobile App Data Usage

Mobile trade organization CTIA has launched Know My App, a website dedicated to informing consumers about the impact that specific apps have on data usage, reports PCWorld. 

The group notes that while tools...

Fleming Tv Series (Trailer)

A look at the 007 creator, Ian Fleming, and his early life set against the permissive society of war-torn WWII...

Στο 19% το ΦΠΑ από 13 Ιανουαρίου 2014

Στο 19% από 18% αυξάνεται το ΦΠΑ από τις 13 Ιανουαρίου 2014, ενώ ο μειωμένος ΦΠΑ αυξάνεται επίσης στο 9% από 8%.

Αυτό αναφέρει η Υπηρεσία ΦΠΑ σε ανακοίνωσή της, σημειώνοντας ωστόσο ότι...

Bitcoin Exchanges In India Shut Down After Regulator Warning

Bitcoin exchanges in India are shutting down days after the country’s banking regulator warned users of virtual currency against security and financial risks associated with them. 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had remained silent on Bitcoin over past few weeks, even as China started clamping down on the exchanges,sending the virtual currency into a downward spin earlier this month...

Από τις 7 Ιανουαρίου η ανανεώσεις αδειών κυκλοφορίας

Οι άδειες κυκλοφορίας οχημάτων για το 2014 θα ανανεώνονται από την Τρίτη, 7 Ιανουαρίου.

Σύμφωνα με ανακοίνωση του Υπουργείου Συγκοινωνιών και Έργων (Τμήμα Οδικών Μεταφορών) οι άδειες θα ανανεώνονται στο διαδίκτυο, στη διεύθυνση...

Bank robberies fall 90pc as new security outsmarts thieves

It could be end of the swag bag and black and white stripey top. 

Bank robberies, the mainstay of Hollywood thrillers and adventure books, have fallen by 90pc in the last 20 years as security shutters, cameras and dye triggers on stolen money flummox even the most die-hard thief...

Amazon sold 426 items per second during its ‘best ever’ holiday season

As if it could have ended any other way, Amazon managed to once again set sales records this holiday season. 

Amazon announced on Thursday that more than 1 million Amazon users became Prime members during the third week of December, and on the biggest shipping day of the...

Oι 10 πιο κερδισμένοι (σε ποσό) δισεκατομμυριούχοι στις ΗΠΑ μέσα στο 2013 σύμφωνα με το Forbes

Τα χρήματα κάνουν τον κόσμο να γυρίζει. Πολλές φορές να γυρίζει... ανάποδα, καθώς ακόμα και σε εποχή παγκόσμιας ύφεσης, η συγκέντρωση χρημάτων σε λίγες τσέπες είναι δεδομένη. 

Ορισμένα πράγματα δεν πρόκειται να αλλάξουν.

Σύμφωνα με την καθιερωμένη λίστα του Forbes για το 2013, στην κορυφή βρίσκεται ένας... τζογαδόρος. 

Πρόκειται για τον Σέλτον Αντερσον που είναι δισεκατομμυριούχος με τα όλα του. Είναι ιδιοκτήτης της Las Vegas Sands και μέσα σε ένα χρόνο ανέβηκε έξι...

Φόροι και αποκοπές το 2014

Το μνημόνιο προβλέπει τη λήψη φορολογικών μέτρων αλλά και αυξήσεις στις εισφορές των Κοινωνικών Ασφαλίσεων.

Η ανατολή της πρώτης ημέρας του Ιανουαρίου θα αναγκάσει τους πολίτες να δαπανήσουν περισσότερα για την αγορά αγαθών, απ' ότι την τελευταία ημέρα του 2013...

Siri Photo Search System Detailed in New Apple Patent

Siri may be able to search through and tag user photos in the future, according to a new Apple patent application published today by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (via AppleInsider).

 Entitled "Voice-based Image Tagging and Searching," the application describes a system allowing digital images to be tagged with various identifiers like the name of a person, a location, or an activity in a photograph,..

HDMI vs. DisplayPort vs. DVI vs. VGA: Which connection to choose?

If you're looking to connect a computer to a TV or monitor, your choices are HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, and VGA. What's the best connection?

With televisions, HDMI is the most common connector. But if you want to connect a computer to your TV (or you've got a new computer monitor), the options tend to be HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, and...

Millions of Dogecoin stolen in Christmas hack

The founders of Dogewallet, a storage system for the Bitcoin alternative Dogecoin, have confirmed a hack that may have cost owners of the currency over $12,000. 

Reports of the hack first began gathering pace at the Dogecoin forum, where users reported their funds were being sent to a wallet without their authorization. In separate posts on Reddit's Dogecoin page and...

Apple's '12 Days of Gifts' App Kicks Off with Justin Timberlake iTunes Festival EP

Apple has officially started giving away free downloads on its "12 Days of Gifts" app for iOS devices, starting with an exclusive EP from Justin Timberlake made up of four live...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From all of us at NEWS Day2Day, we hope your holidays would be unforgettable!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

NEWS Day2Day Team

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Ιπταται η Wall με απανωτά ρεκόρ

Άλλα δύο ρεκόρ χρειάζεται η Wall Street για να πιάσει τα… 50, δείχνοντας ότι το κλίμα παραμένει εξαιρετικά θετικό. 

Το 48ο ρεκόρ καταγράφηκε σχετικά εύκολα...

Mac Pro Reviews Find Impressive Hardware, But Few Software Titles Take Advantage (video review)

After a weekend of testing, Engadget and The Verge have posted longer pieces on their Mac Pro review units, with mixed results.

As The Verge repeatedly notes, the new Mac Pro really only shines when used with software specifically optimized for its dual-GPU setup.

At the moment, Final Cut Pro Xis the best demonstration of the Mac Pro's prowess -- when using other software,..

Military competition shows off the latest robots (video)

The latest in robotics was on display the past few days at a racetrack just south of Miami, Fla., part of a $2 million competition funded by the U.S. military.

Engineering teams from high-tech companies and top universities...

Apple Strikes Multi-Year iPhone Agreement With China Mobile

After frequent negotiations and long delays, Apple’s iPhone will finally be sold through China Mobile, which has a subscriber base upwards of 700 million. 

The Cupertino company...

iOS 7 untethered Jailbreak released from Evasi0n

Just in time for Christmas, the Evasi0n team has released an iOS 7 compatible Jailbreak...

BOCY: Περίοδος χάριτος σε άνεργους

Σχέδιο με το οποίο παρέχεται η δυνατότητα στους άνεργους πελάτες της Τράπεζας Κύπρου να μην καταβάλλουν τις κανονικές δόσεις τους για τα στεγαστικά δάνεια για περίοδο 12 μηνών, καταβάλλοντας μόνο το συμβολικό ποσό των €10 μηνιαίως, εξήγγειλε σήμερα ο πρόεδρος του ΔΣ της Τράπεζας Κρίστης Χασάπης. 

Μιλώντας στο πλαίσιο κοινής διάσκεψης τύπου με την υπουργό εργασίας Ζέτα Αιμιλιανίδου, στο υπουργείο...

Τα ζευγάρια του κυπέλλου

Πραγματοποιήθηκε το μεσημέρι στο συνεδριακό κέντρο του ΓΣΠ η κλήρωση των αγώνων της δεύτερης φάσης του Κυπέλλου Coca – Cola Α’ – Β’ Κατηγορίας περιόδου 2013 – 2014.

Η κληρωτίδα είχε... κέφια και "έβγαλε" δύο...

An Inside Look at Google's Reaction to the Original iPhone Introduction

Last month, longtime technology journalist Fred Vogelstein released his new book Dogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution, offering an inside look at the development of both the iPhone and Android ecosystems. 

Left: Google Sooner (Source: Steven Troughton-Smith)

An excerpt from the book sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the original iPhone introduction had been published in October,..

Lamborghini Huracan details released (pics)

Additional official photos and press release (see below) of the Lamborghini Huracan LP 610-4 have been released along with the first video and in-depth details.

Lamborghini can now stop with those annoying video teasers as the Gallardo successor has been revealed in full. 

While previous reports indicated the "Cabrera" moniker, the car's official name is going to be...

Εγκρίθηκε ο προϋπολογισμός

Με 30 ψήφους υπέρ, 20 εναντίον και 4 αποχές η βουλή ενέκρινε σήμερα τον προϋπολογισμό του 2014, ψηφίζοντας παράλληλα δεκάδες τροπολογίες που αφορούν περικοπές και σταύρωμα κονδυλίων.

Υπέρ του προϋπολογισμού ψήφισαν οι βουλευτές ΔΗΣΥ, ΔΗΚΟ και ΕΥΡΩΚΟ, τον καταψήφισαν οι...

WhatsApp Hits 400 Million Users, Wants to ‘Stay Independent’

Like clockwork, WhatsApp announced another milestone Thursday, claiming 400 million monthly active users.

In April, the company said 200 million people were using its smartphone-messaging app. Every two months since, it has said another 50 million people were on board...

Choose the Right Charger and Power Your Gadgets Properly

You accidentally left your micro USB charger back at the hotel… 500 miles away. Now it’s time to buy a new one. You pick up a cheapie from your nearest electronics retailer and hey, what gives? What used to take 3 hours to charge now takes 12.

Turns out not all chargers are created equal, even if they look similar. Here are some quick buying guidelines that’ll save you time and ensure you’re using a charger that’s optimized for your...

Mark Zuckerberg Just Gave $990 Million To Charity

This morning, Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to give 18 million Facebook shares to charity by the end of the month.

Facebook is currently trading at $55 per share, so Zuckerberg's gift is worth just under $1 billion.

The money will go toward Zuckerberg's foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and The Breakthrough...

Target: Hackers Accessed 40 Million Credit Card Numbers

Target’s been in our headlines a few times recently, but primarily for holiday deals it has been offering. 

Today, however, it’s in the news for a totally different reason, and one that’s a bit more concerning. 

The retail giant confirmed reports that hackers were able to break...

Zuckerberg To Sell Facebook Shares Worth About $2.3 Billion

Facebook Inc's Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg will sell 41.4 million shares worth about $2.3 billion as part of an offering of 70 million Class A common shares of the social network.

Facebook shares were down 4 percent at $53.54 before the bell...

Multivitamins are a waste of money for healthy people, according to physicians

Use of multivitamin supplements in the United States has never been higher, but unless someone has a severe nutritional deficiency there’s a good chance those supplements aren’t doing any good. Not only are they ineffective, but may also bring unintended harmful side effects. 

The editorial comes from Edgar Miller, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, along with a panel of other physicians and was published in Annals of Internal Medicine this week...

Fed Trims QE Pace to $75 Billion on Labor Market Outlook

The Federal Reserve is trimming its monthly bond purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion, taking the first step toward unwinding the unprecedented stimulus that Chairman Ben S. Bernanke put in place to help the economy recover from the worst recession since the 1930s.

“Reflecting cumulative progress and an improved outlook for the job market, the committee... decided today to modestly reduce the monthly pace at which it is adding to the longer-term securities on its balance sheet,” Bernanke said at a press conference in Washington today after a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Stocks rallied, sending benchmark indexes to all-time highs, as the Fed coupled its decision to taper with a stronger commitment to maintaining an accommodative policy. The Fed said its benchmark interest rate is likely to stay low “well past the time that the unemployment rate declines below 6.5 percent, especially if projected inflation continues to run below” the Fed’s 2 percent goal.

“The action today is intended to keep the level of accommodation the same overall and to push the economy forward,” Bernanke said. “We are committed to doing what is necessary to getting inflation back to target.”

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Price gains have lagged below the committee’s long-run target. The central bank’s preferred gauge of inflation, excluding food and energy, climbed 1.1 percent in the year through October. It has not breached 2 percent since March 2012.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.7 percent to 1,810.65 at the close of trading in New York. Ten-year Treasury notes pared losses, with yields rising six basis points to 2.89 percent after climbing as much as nine points.

New Direction

“The Fed exit has begun, and the economy will guide how quickly they continue to cut back their stimulus,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. “They changed the direction of policy today, and once they started this step, history tells you, they won’t reverse it.”

The Fed’s purchases will be divided between $40 billion in Treasuries and $35 billion in mortgage bonds starting in January, Bernanke said.

Bernanke, in the final weeks of his eight-year tenure, is curtailing the purchases that swelled the Fed’s balance sheet almost to $4 trillion as he sought to put millions of jobless Americans back to work. The policy also raised concern that it risked inflating asset-price bubbles even as its economic benefits started to wane.

‘Data Dependent’

“The steps that we take will be data dependent,” he said. “If we’re making progress in terms of inflation and continued job gains, then I imagine we’ll continue to do, probably at each meeting, a measured reduction” in purchases. If the economy slows, the Fed could “skip a meeting or two,” and if the economy accelerates it could taper a “bit faster,” he said.

The Fed has said it will keep buying bonds until the outlook for the labor market has “improved substantially.” Bernanke today said the program was on its way to meeting that test.

“We’re just beginning this process now, so by the time we complete this process, I think it’s very likely that we’ll easily pass the hurdle of a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market,” he said.

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren dissented, saying curtailing bond purchases was “premature until incoming data more clearly indicate that economic growth is likely to be sustained above its potential rate.”

Yellen’s Support

Janet Yellen, the Fed’s current vice chairman and President Barack Obama’s nominee to succeed Bernanke, voted in favor of the policy action today. Bernanke said he has “always consulted closely with Janet, even well before she was named by the president, and I consulted closely with her on these decisions, as well, and she fully supports what we did today.”

Kansas City Fed President Esther George, who had dissented from the previous seven FOMC meetings this year citing concern the Fed’s policies could lead to financial instability, did not dissent today.

Policy makers met amid signs the economy and labor market were gaining strength, even as inflation remained subdued.

The jobless rate fell to 7 percent in November, a five-year low, as employers added a greater-than-forecast 203,000 workers to payrolls. Unemployment was down from 10 percent in October 2009, during the recession, and up from 4.4 percent in May 2007.

Retail Sales

Retail sales climbed by the most in five months in November, a sign that consumer spending was strengthening as the holiday season began. Industrial production last month increased by the most in a year, a Fed report showed this week.

Companies including Ford Motor Co. are benefiting from rising demand for new cars. Ford said this month it plans to add 5,000 jobs in the U.S. and will introduce 16 new vehicles in North America next year. The payroll expansion will continue following the hiring of almost 6,500 people in 2013.

The Fed’s low interest rates have prompted consumers to buy homes or refinance existing mortgages, sparking a recovery in the housing market that was at the center of the financial crisis.

Housing prices climbed 13.3 percent in the 12 months through September, according to an S&P/Case-Shiller index of prices in 20 cities. The pace of home construction reached a more than five-year high in November as builders added to inventory to keep pace with demand, a report from the Commerce Department showed today.

Weak Recovery

Growth so far has lagged behind previous recoveries. In the 17 quarters since the recession ended, the economy has expanded at an average annualized rate of 2.3 percent each quarter. That compares with an average of 3.2 percent over the same period following the 2001 and 1991 recessions, and 5 percent following the 1982 recession.

“We have been disappointed in the pace of growth and we don’t fully understand why” it has been slow, Bernanke said today.

The Fed’s debate over when to taper purchases has dominated central banking discussions for much of the year, setting off waves of volatility in financial markets. In May, Bernanke told Congress that the Fed may slow its purchases during the “next few meetings.”

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note climbed to as high as 3 percent in September from as low as 1.61 percent in May, as investors anticipated a reduction in Fed stimulus. The national average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage climbed to 4.58 percent in late August from 3.35 percent in May, according to Freddie Mac.

Taper Talk

“As soon as they started talking about tapering, they raised interest rates,” said Julia Coronado, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas in New York and a former Fed economist.

Bernanke, 60, whose term ends Jan. 31, orchestrated the most aggressive easing in the Fed’s 100-year history and expanded its powers as he battled the financial crisis and then sought to keep the economy growing.

He pumped up the central bank’s balance sheet to $3.99 trillion from $869 billion in August 2007 and has held the main interest rate close to zero since December 2008.

Source:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-18/fed-cuts-qe-pace-to-75-billion-on-improved-job-market-outlook.html

Bitcoin plummets as China's largest exchange blocks new deposits

The price of bitcoin has plummeted following an announcement from China's largest bitcoin exchange that it would no longer be accepting new yuan deposits.

BTC China said that due to action by a third-party payment provider, YeePay, it could no longer accept deposits in the Chinese currency, although it would still be able to process withdrawals. BTC's chief executive, Bobby Lee, said that YeePay gave notice on Wednesday morning Shanghai time that it would no longer provide services...

Τράπεζα Κύπρου: Ζημιές €1,9 δισ.

Ζημιές €1,9 δισ. ανακοίνωσε για το εννιάμηνο του 2013 η Τρ. Κύπρου έναντι ζημιών €211 εκ. το εννιάμηνο του 2012, παρουσιάζοντας σημαντική μείωση των απωλειών το τρίτο τρίμηνο παρά την αύξηση των επισφαλειών...

ΕΜΣ: Ενέκρινε δόση €100 εκ.

Το εκτελεστικό συμβούλιο του Ευρωπαϊκού Μηχανισμού Σταθερότητας (ΕΜΣ) ενέκρινε σήμερα την εκταμίευση της δόσης των €100 εκ. στην Κύπρο. 

Όπως επισημαίνει ο ΕΜΣ, η σημερινή απόφαση λήφθηκε σε συνέχεια της έγκρισης του επικαιροποιημένου μνημονίου κατανόησης από το εκτελεστικό συμβούλιο του ΕΜΣ και της θετικής αξιολόγησης της δεύτερης τριμηνιαίας αναθεώρησης του προγράμματος μακροοικονομικής προσαρμογής της Κύπρου...

How Your Skinny Jeans Are Killing Money

JEANS with stretch have many advantages - they are more comfortable, flatter your shape, retain their shape after washing - but did you know that they are playing havoc with the dollar?

The paper used to make America's currency has been supplied by a single company, Crane, for more than 100 years - and Crane used to source 30 per cent of the cotton used to make the bills from unwanted denim...

Why Is PETA Giving Out Fur Coats?

PETA is giving out fur coats to those in abject poverty this winter, highlighting its belief that wearing fur is only excusable when there is no other option.

The organisation's base in Detroit - one of...