Apple to buy back $30B in stock + MORE Apr 24th

Rail cars carrying crude oil burn in Lac-Megantic. (Mathieu Belanger/Reuters)
Despite its “emerging energy superpower” talk, Ottawa has demonstrated a remarkably tin ear when it comes to understanding what foreign buyers of our oil and gas actually want from us: a cheap, reliable source of energy that people can feel good about, too.
For all our technological advances in figuring out ways to profitably suck gooey bitumen from the Alberta tar sands, the country has struggled mightily to convince people that we’re able to manage such a massive industry without ruining the planet in the process. It began with Canada’s decision to thumb its nose at the Kyoto accord back in 2011. While there were good reasons for abandoning the historic pact, the way Ottawa went about it left many questioning our commitment to the environment, not to mention a pledge to develop carbon-heavy assets like the oil sands “responsibly.” As a result, we’ve arrived in a bizarre place where Washington is hesitant to approve a key piece of North American energy infrastructure—the Keystone XL pipeline—for fear of incurring the wrath of environmentally minded (but often still SUV-loving) American voters…

Apple plans to buy back an additional $30 billion of its stock and raise its quarterly dividend by 8 per cent amid an uptick in sales.

Apple upstaged Wednesday’s release of its fiscal second-quarter earnings by announcing plans to send more cash to its shareholders and split its stock for the first time in nine years. This is what Apple is doing:
— The Cupertino, Calif., company will spend an additional $30 billion buying back its slumping stock through the end of next year. The commitment increases Apple’s stock buyback program to $90 billion. Apple Inc. has invested about $46 billion in its stock since the program began in 2012.
— Apple’s quarterly dividend is being increased 8 per cent to $3.29 per share from $3.05 per share. Making the payments will cost Apple more than $11 billion annually. The dividend has now risen by 24 per cent since Apple began making the payments nearly two years ago in an about-face from the co-founder Steve Jobs’ long-standing resistance to parting with the company’s cash. Jobs died in October 2011 after a long battle with cancer.
— A seven-for-one stock split will be executed in early June…

The best way for young investors to build wealth for retirement is to ignore their instincts, says a book targeted at 20- and 30-somethings.

Facebook’s first-quarter earnings and revenue grew sharply, surpassing Wall Street’s expectations thanks to an 82 per cent increase in advertising revenue.