BARCLAYS

The man who pied faces the courts next week.

News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch faced a surprise attack from a man during a parliamentary committee hearing on Tuesday over the phone hacking scandal. The unexpected incident forced a 10-minute halt of the proceedings.

Even though he was the main force behind the company's rise to power, Rupert Murdoch leaving News Corp. would actually benefit the company's stock price.

Spot gold prices touched a new record high of $1598.41 on Monday, extending the longest rally in about 40 years. The latest wind in the tail came from worsening worries of a European sovereign crisis and the painful stalemate in the US debt ceiling talks that has raised the specter of an unprecedented Treasury default.

If the Fed wades further into muddy stimulus waters, that will set the stage for a certain gold boom in the short to medium term. Historically, a dollar sell-off has been the biggest force behind a gold boom. If the Fed takes recourse to another round of easing in pursuit of its goal of propping up job creation and real growth, it will inadvertently cause a dollar sell-off and trigger, in turn, a gold super rally.

The setting is perfect for another gold boom cycle to kick in, perhaps pushing the yellow metal into a super cycle. There are several factors aiding gold's further push into higher price records, greater investment worth and long-term reign as a de facto currency. There are all sorts of classic factors supporting gold all the way, like the demand from China and India bursting at seams, continued worries for the US dollar and the worrisome prospect of sovereign default in some European countri...

Apple Inc. is expected to release new MacBook Air next week that will be powered by Mac OS X Lion operating system, along with the iPhone 5, new iPod, iPad 3 later this year in an effort to update entire product lines.

Dunkin' Brands, owner of Dunkin' Donuts, is nearing its IPO. Shares are expected to be priced between $16 and $18 per share. The stock will trade on the NASDAQ under the symbol DNKN.

Apple may launch iPhone 5 in October/November, instead of September, as the California-based technology giant is said to begin production of the next-generation iPhone in August/September.

The next and more probable date of Lion's release is July 14, according to 9to5Mac.

The combination of YouTube's user generated content and Hulu's professional content could deliver strong synergies for Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Barclays Capital said.

The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market gainers are: PAETEC Holding, SIGA Technologies, MYR Group, Zalicus, and Maiden Holdings. The top after-market NASDAQ Stock Market losers are: DragonWave, Quidel, Abaxis, BJ's Restaurants, and Signature Bank.

On the first day of July, Apple released a Gold Master build of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion to developers, suggesting that the official release of the new operating system in the near future.

Technology giant Apple is expected to launch only one iPhone - dubbed as iPhone 5 - in September versus rumors stating that Apple may launch two iPhones.

Apple released the gold master of its latest and greatest operating system, Mac OS X Lion, in a move that positions the company for a July roll-out.

Zynga Inc, developer of popular Facebook games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, is all set to hit the capital market with an initial public offer (IPO). The company filed with regulators for an IPO of up to $1 billion on Friday, hopping that its close ties with Facebook will be a key to its future success.

The company behind Farmville, Mafia Wars, Words With Friends, Empires and Allies and many other social games has officially filed for an IPO. In doing so, it follows in the footsteps of fellow social comapny, LinkedIn, which had an impressive IPO of its own last month.

Barclays Capital said its checks indicate it should see Apple Inc.'s new MacBook Airs over the coming weeks -- likely with the launch of OS X Lion which is due to ship in July.

Consumer technology giant Apple is expected to launch three iPhones, but the much-expected iPhone 5 may arrive only in 2012.

Consumer technology giant Apple could release two models of iPhone - namely iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S - this September, according to an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

Barclays Capital has addressed the reasons it believes shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) have underperformed the sector since February. Apple stock has fallen 3.82 percent between February 1 and June 24.