#7 Luxury sector growing faster than others

The luxury fashion and accessories sector is growing at a fast pace. According to a ranking by consultancy firm Interbrand, the industry grew by 42% in 2017, CNBC reports.

Of all the luxury brands, Gucci and Louis Vuitton are among the fastest-growing ones with the brand value of the former going up no less than 30% to $12.9 billion. Louis Vuitton can’t complain either, the company’s value rose 23% to $28.2 billion.


#6 SoftBank joins forces with Toyota

SoftBank is entering the market for self-driving car services. The Japanese multinational announced its joint-venture with Toyota on Thursday, TechCrunch reports.

The joint venture is called MONET (mobility network) and will focus on using autonomous vehicles for various so-called just-in-time services, according to the same TechCrunch article. These are services that are provided in transit such as the preparation of food while it is being delivered, hospital shuttles that offer medical examinations or mobile offices.


#5 A $1.1 million bottle of whiskey

Last week we had a pair of $17 million worth shoes. This week, there’s a bottle of whiskey that was auctioned for $1.1 million, CNN Business reports. We’re talking about a rare, 60-year old bottle of single-malt Scotch, fittingly sold in Edinburgh, Scotland.  


#4 GM beats Tesla

This was definitely one of the most-talked-about topics on Thursday. According to Consumer Reports, GM (General Motors) has better self-driving technology than Tesla, Yahoo! Finance reports.

Take a look at the video below to see what made Consumer Reports come to this conclusion in its latest self-driving study.  


#3 China’s tiny chips

In other, bigger news on Thursday, there was the Bloomberg report on China using a tiny chip to infiltrate US companies. According to extensive interviews with the government and corporate sources, Chinese spies were able to reach almost 30 US companies - including giants like Amazon and Apple.

How?

By compromising the technology supply chain of the United States. In other words: by inserting microchips in hardware during the manufacturing process. Go here for a more elaborate version of what happened.  


#2 US bond yields surge

US Treasury notes hit multi-year peaks on Thursday following a two-day long unloading, Reuters reports. Strong economic data and words from the Federal Reserve raised concerns about inflation which hit both Wall Street and stock markets globally.

According to the same Reuters article, the yield on 10-year notes reached a seven-year high of 3.232 percent. 


#1 Mexico’s $13 billion airport plan

A rather unusual situation is occurring in Mexico. The country’s next president, Andres Manual Lopez Obrador said in a radio interview that there will be a public consultation on whether or not to proceed with the construction of a £13 billion airport for the capital, Bloomberg reports.

The future of the airport was one of the most important topics of Obrador’s campaign - in which he stated that the project was a waste of the tax payer’s money, according to the same Bloomberg article. 


#Bonus Tweet

Not a financial Tweet per se, but an interesting one nevertheless. A drivable Bugatti replica - made of Lego pieces! - was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show this week, Reuters reports.


Voila, the first October wrap-up all done. Of course, we’ll keep on top of the latest Tweets and we’ll continue to bring you the most trending financial micro-messages from the web. See you back here next Friday.

Source: www.scoopnest.com.