PRICE

Consumer staples companies have a problem. It costs more to make everything from soup to soap to soda, but when they raise prices they turn off consumers and strain their relationships with Wal-Mart Stores Inc, their biggest customer.

Rumors about the iPad 3 display, battery life and network capabilities are all-but-confirmed, yet one of the biggest questions many are still wondering is, What's the price? Will Apple raise or lower the price from the iPad 2?

Last year, Nintendo launched its latest portable gaming device -- the 3DS, though it slipped on sales initially however eventually, it became the company's fastest-selling DS console till present. Further, last week during Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012, Sony Computer Entertainment announced the official launch of its PSP successor - Sony PS Vita.

Saudi Arabia has raised the price of its flagship Arab Light crude oil for customers in Asia, who buy more than half of its crude exports, by $1.25 a barrel for April, while cutting prices for its heavy crude for European buyers, state-run Saudi Aramco said on Sunday.

To talk bullish on gold looks like a risky proposition at the moment -- last Wednesday, gold saw one of the most brutal routs in a year when it tumbled five percent. It indeed recovered 1.5 percent the next day, broadly symbolizing the roller-coaster ride of bullion in recent times.

Apple, the tech giant, will unveil its tantalizing next-generation tablet, dubbed iPad 3, on March 7. Speculations about the features of the iPad 3 are rampant and if they are to be believed then one can expect the best features in it. The most anticipated features to be included in the iPad 3 are Retina Display, Quad Core processor, a better camera, 4G LTE and a bigger battery. But the tentative factor is iPad 3’s cost, which nobody has been able to confirm so far.

Yelp stock was traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) for the first time on Friday, March 2. The stock, which is listed under the ticker symbol YELP, opened at $22.01 a share and quickly rose in value to $24.40 a share in just a few hours. The question now is whether YELP stock will continue to rise in the foreseeable future, or if the online company's stock value will soon begin to drop.

Trying to decide between the all new iPad 3 or the reduced price $450 iPad 2 is made all the more difficult because we still don't know what the new iPad will look like. It sure won't be $450 like the 16 gigabyte iPad 2 at Best Buy. For that price, the only other tablets that really comes close to being as good of a deal is the year old Asus Transformer, and it's still $400.

Adidas said it would step up its compliance efforts in Japan after its unit there received a warning from the Fair Trade Commission saying it unlawfully pressured retailers to stop them from offering discounts on Reebok EasyTone sneakers.

Gold rose 1.5 percent on Thursday, rebounding above $1,700 an ounceas the previous session's 5 percent plunge induced investors to buy at lower prices on hopes the tumble was a healthy correction rather than the start of a bear market.

New bonds that Greece will issue this month as part of its debt restructuring are likely to be the highest yielding in the euro zone as creditors price in a high risk of being forced to take yet more losses.

Gold fell 3 percent on Wednesday for its biggest one-day drop in 2-1/2 months, as a dollar rally following U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comment on an encouraging job recovery prompted funds to heavily unwind bullish bets.

Gold plunged 3.8 percent Wednesday after the dollar firmed and investors took profits from a recent jump in the price of the yellow metal.

Shares of silver mining company shot up Tuesday, riding a jump in the price of silver as well as a wave of optimism that lifted most equity indexes.

Apple will reportedly unveil its next-generation iPad -- presumably called iPad 3 -- next week in New York City. The lastest report comes from CNBC's Jon Fortt, who said on Tuesday that Apple will release a new iPad with a quad-core processor and 4G LTE capabilities.

Several unverified rumors have appeared on the Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo that Apple may increase the cost of the iPad 3. It is believed that there can be a hike of up to $80 in iPad 3 when it is compared to the iPad 2.

Apple's next-generation tablet, presumably called the iPad 3, could cost about $70 to $80 more than the current price of an iPad 2, if the newest report from MacRumors proves true.

Best Buy dropped the iPad 2 price by $50 for all models, and big-box department store Meijer reduced the 16 gigabyte Wi-Fi version by $70 in advance of the iPad 3 release date set for March 7, 2012. While Apple could announce the iPad on March 7, it might be another week after that the new tablet goes on sale in the U.S. Whether or not it debuts at $500 for the 16 gigabyte Wi-Fi version isn't yet known, but it could debut at an even higher price than ever before because of its new features li...

The iPad 2's price has gone on sale at Best Buy in advance of the iPad 3 release date by Apple, which could be as early as March 7.

A jump in energy prices is jamming the slow-turning cogs of an economic recovery in the West, but that may be nothing compared to the economic shock an Israeli attack on Iran would cause.

In his most recent Viewpoint, Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O'Neill gave somewhat of an oil price forecast for 2012 and beyond.