The climbing of Apple's share price to $509 this week, and the planned flotation of Facebook at a valuation of $100bn are, if nothing else, evidence of how technological innovations dominate the modern world and how gadgets, from smartphones to tablets, and social media websites, have succeeded in permeating the waking moments of millions of people. That huge interest in and appetite for technology, and its translation into cash profits, lies behind Apple's stunning stockmarket performance over the years. But the company's shares are still trading at an undemanding multiple. And on a PE basis, two other tech giants, Microsoft and Google, are also looking cheap. Malar Velaigam analyses why the shares are trading on such low multiples and picks out our top buys from the big names in the sector. Meanwhile there could be good news on the way for long suffering Lloyd's investors: Julian Hofman reports on how payments on preference shares could be reinstated after a nearly four year long hiatus. Elsewhere Mark Robinson looks at the transformation of the global gas export market as a result of growing demand from Asia and technological change; Moira O'Neill warns that decision making at any stage of the pension process should never be taken lightly and we update our view on San Leon.
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