Report: Apple to cut iPhone 7 production by 10 percent

Continuing supply problems and relatively weak demand for the iPhone 7 will lead Apple to cut its production, the Nikkei Asian Review reported Friday. Citing data from Apple’s suppliers, Nikkei estimated that production of Apple’s flagship mobile device would decrease 10 percent in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same period a year earlier. When Apple released its latest earnings report in October, CEO Tim Cook addressed the supply and demand issues, which he said were interrelated. The drop in demand was mostly a result of a shift in Chinese consumers' buying habits: people in China were quick to upgrade to the iPhone 6s, a surge that was much larger than the demand increase following the iPhone 5s, and not something that Apple was able to replicate with the iPhone 7.

Algorithmic orders jolt euro up by 1.6 percent

The euro surged as much as 1.6 percent against the dollar in the Asian morning Friday as a rush of computer-generated orders caught traders off guard. The sudden move started under $1.05 and algorithmic orders snowballed above that level, causing what little liquidity there was on the year’s last trading day to vanish, according to foreign-exchange traders. In minutes, Europe’s single currency jumped to a high of $1.0653, forcing some dealers to take losses to cover positions. “Markets are extremely thin and perhaps position turning occurred,” said Shigeki Yoshitoshi, head of Japan foreign-exchange and commodities sales at Australia & New Zealand Bank Group Ltd. in Tokyo.

Man charged with false jobless claims in 3 states

DES MOINES, Iowa — A California man has been charged with setting up fake businesses in three states, then using names taken from temporary visas issued to student visitors on a cultural exchange to obtain more than $355,000 in unemployment benefits for nonexistent workers, federal prosecutors in Iowa said in court documents. Nikolai Monastyrski is charged in federal court in Iowa with wire and mail fraud related to the scheme that prosecutors say he perpetrated there as well as in Illinois and Pennsylvania. A complaint filed by Dana Johnson, a Chicago-based U.S. Department of Labor special agent, says Monastyrski was able to get $114,215 from Iowa Workforce Development in 2014 and 2015 and $230,000 in benefits from Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Illinois payouts go as far back as 2012 and some are as recent as earlier this year. Additional claims were made involving two nonexistent businesses in Pennsylvania with payments of more than $11,300 paid out.