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Chinese local media's interpretation in Google's investment on Jd.com
Google and JD.com announced a strategic partnership, with Google investing $550 million in JD.com, reported in FuninUSA news. According to the agreement, Google will receive 27,106,948 newly issued JD Class A ordinary stock shares at an issue price of $20.29 per share.
Google will receive 0.93 per cent of JD.com shares.In interviews, the two sides jointly said the shares in the deal had a one-year lock-up period. Google will not get a seat on JD.com's board in this deal. Also, Google officials said there were no plans to increase the stake so far.
When asked whether the partnership will affect JD.com’s future return to the Chinese stock market through CDR, Jd.com replied that its partnership with Google focused on providing better retail solutions for emerging markets, which has nothing to do with any potential future domestic launch of Jd.com.
Based on investment, Google and Jd.com will collaborate on a number of strategic projects. The two sides said that the core areas of cooperation at this stage are to provide retail solutions in the global market, provide products through Google Shopping and create a more convenient Shopping experience online and offline. The first markets to be targeted are southeast Asia, US, and Europe.
JD.com’s chief strategy officer Liao Jianwen said that the cooperation with Google opened up broad space for innovation, which enables JD.com to create high-quality consumer experience for global consumers. This is a significant step in the modernization process of global retail.
Google’'s chief commercial officer Philipp Schindler expressed the willingness to cooperate with JD.com, jointly explore to provide new solutions to global retail ecosystem, and provide consumers with valuable, personalized, and convenient shopping experience, letting the consumers can shop in their preferred ways anywhere at any time .
Obviously, both sides have their own purposes in this cooperation, written in FuninUSA news. Jd.com hope to expand its overseas market shares by copying the Chinese market mode (including supply chain management, purchasing and logistics, etc.) For Google, it hopes to explore deeply in e-commerce field, thus against Amazon’'s growing e-commerce business and product search. The cooperation is conducive for Google to compete for the voice interaction market in the field of e-commerce field in the future. Google officials said Google Shopping has already had lots of partners: more than 50 retailers and distributors around the world, including Walmart, Target and Carrefour.
Finally, when asked whether both sides of the data will be shared with each other in the future, Google said that the protection of users’ privacy is the first priority. Google will give users the right to control their own data and will not sell or share users’ personal info to anyone. Jd.com also promised that jd.com has strict rules on protecting users' privacy and security, and will not share users' personal info with any partners.
Samsung Electronics made a significant commitment to renewable energy
Samsung Electronics is fulfilling its duty as a corporate citizen by expanding and supporting the use of renewable energy.
Recently, on its website,Samsung said it was planning to use 100 percent renewable energy at its factories, office buildings and operational facilities in Europe, China and the US by 2020, reported in FuninUSA news.
“As demonstrated by our expanded commitment, we are focused on protecting our planet and are doing our part as a global environmental steward,” said Won Kyong Kim, Samsung Electronics' executive vice president and head of global public affairs. Samsung Electronics' move was also welcomed by environmental organizations, FuninUSA reported.
Samsung said it would work with its top 100 partner companies to assist them in setting their own renewable energy targets, in partnership with the CDP's (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) supply chain program. Samsung said it intended to join the program next year.
After ECB's "easy money" exit, which European countries’ debt you would choose to buy?
Now, the European Central Bank (ECB) has laid out plans to end its huge stimulus program. According to FuninUSA news, the central bank’s trillion-euro asset purchase program will end in December if the economy remained resilient and that a rate hike is unlikely to come before the second half of 2019.
Since 2015, both governments and market players knew that European debt would be bought no matter what since the ECB has conducted systematic purchases bonds. Now that the ECB will stop being such a predictable buyer, the market could be more volatile.
In this case, some people would consider German bunds looks a little bit more attractive. This is because German debt is perceived as less risky than that of peripheral countries (like Greece, Italy and Portugal) and where for instance political turmoil is often a cause of concern.
But for other investors, the debt from those peripheral countries is still attractive as well.
FuninUSA reported that the principle seems to be that even though there are higher chances of getting loans to the German government repaid on time, there are higher returns when lending to Portugal.
Buying peripheral debt is less expensive now than at the wake of the debt crisis, yet the risk of any default is also lower given that there aren’'t outstanding repayments due in the short term.
Ethereum might be next big thing in cryptocurrency
Since bitcoin itself is not supported by authoritative issuing institutions and state power to maintain its authority, uniqueness, it can only get along equally with its other imitators, though it’s the earliest virtual currency.
So far, policy makers around the world are making new regulations, including the aspects of ICO, exchange, and so on. The intricacies of these rules are daunting, just as the variety of digital currencies makes it hard to know which will be the next bitcoin.
Bitcoin priced around $6,400 on Friday, which have over halved since its December highs of around $19,500, reported in FuninUSA news. Since bitcoin has experienced a staggering decline, there are other digital coins that investors might want to consider.
Kelly, founder and CEO of BKCM LLC, an investment firm focused on digital currencies, said that the next big thing in crypto might be ethereum, a decentralized blockchain platform. Here are the reasons.
1. Augur platform—one of the oldest ICOs
Kelly said, the augur platform, which is a decentralized prediction market, has been in development for about two or three years.
“What's interesting about this [is that] this will probably be one of the biggest decentralized apps on top of ethereum,” he said, “if [augur] doesn't slow the system down, that can generally be a positive for ethereum.”
2.Software mining
Ethereum is upgrading, Kelly said. “They [will] go from hardware mining, proof of work, to something called 'proof of stake,' which is similar to a software mining,” he said.In the next couple of months this will start to take effect and have an impact on ethereum, Kelly added.
China's industrial output in May from a year earlier missed expectation
According to the official data, China’s industrial output grew 6.8 percent in May from a year earlier, below forecasts, reported in FuninUSA news. Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted industrial output growth would dip only slightly to 6.9 percent from 7.0 percent in April.
Fixed-asset investment growth slowed to 6.1 percent in the first five months, missing expectations. It had been expected to remain steady at 7.0 percent in the first five months of the year, the same pace as in January-April.
Besides, Retail sales also missed expectations, rising 8.5 percent in May from a year earlier, versus expectations of an increase of 9.6 percent and compared with a rise of 9.4 percent in April, reported in FuninUSA.
China's economic growth is expected to cool gradually this year to around 6.5 percent by analysts polled by Reuters, even if there are no direct shocks from its trade dispute with Washington.
Gold jewelry sales are finally picking up, but what about platinum?
Chinese jewelry sales are a key component of global demand for both physical gold and platinum, accounting for 14 percent and 16 percent of consumption respectively. But since 2013, the consumption does not seem pretty ideal.
This year, gold jewelry sales in number one market China are finally picking up after years of decline, while consumers are still shying away from platinum.
Reported in FuninUSA news, Chinese gold jewelry sales rose 7 percent in the first quarter, having climbed in 2017 after three years of decline brought on by a shift in consumer spending to other areas like foreign travel, and as luxury goods demand dried up in the face of a crackdown on graft, according to World Gold Council data. Early reports suggest Chinese platinum jewelry purchases fell by a similar degree in the first quarter, after extending a run of annual declines into a fourth year last year.
The reasons for the condition of platinum product consumption may be the concerns of price, history, and product itself according to FuninUSA news.
Chinese consumers, particularly in rural areas, do not have the strong cultural affiliation with platinum that they have with gold.
Besides, though platinum retails at a lower price than pure gold, making it attractive to younger buyers with less disposable income, these younger consumers are also favoring 18-carat gold, with a cultural preference for gold metal over white persisting.
Also, Jewelers charge a workmanship fee to exchange old platinum products for new of 32 yuan per gram, compared to 18 yuan for gold, which makes it harder for those consumers, who see jewelry as a source of ready cash, to recoup the original cost of a platinum piece.
A further drop in platinum jewelry sales may occur this year, and the picture is not necessarily much rosier for gold, in spite of its first-quarter increase, due to uncertainty about Chinese economic growth, showed in FuninUSA news.
Gold jewelry sales are finally picking up!
Chinese jewelry sales are a key component of global demand for both physical gold and platinum, accounting for 14 percent and 16 percent of consumption respectively. But since 2013, the consumption does not seem pretty ideal.
This year, gold jewelry sales in number one market China are finally picking up after years of decline, while consumers are still shying away from platinum.
Reported in FuninUSA news, Chinese gold jewelry sales rose 7 percent in the first quarter, having climbed in 2017 after three years of decline brought on by a shift in consumer spending to other areas like foreign travel, and as luxury goods demand dried up in the face of a crackdown on graft, according to World Gold Council data. Early reports suggest Chinese platinum jewelry purchases fell by a similar degree in the first quarter, after extending a run of annual declines into a fourth year last year.
The reasons for the condition of platinum product consumption may be the concerns of price, history, and product itself according to FuninUSA news.
Chinese consumers, particularly in rural areas, do not have the strong cultural affiliation with platinum that they have with gold.
Besides, though platinum retails at a lower price than pure gold, making it attractive to younger buyers with less disposable income, these younger consumers are also favoring 18-carat gold, with a cultural preference for gold metal over white persisting.
Also, Jewelers charge a workmanship fee to exchange old platinum products for new of 32 yuan per gram, compared to 18 yuan for gold, which makes it harder for those consumers, who see jewelry as a source of ready cash, to recoup the original cost of a platinum piece.
A further drop in platinum jewelry sales may occur this year, and the picture is not necessarily much rosier for gold, in spite of its first-quarter increase, due to uncertainty about Chinese economic growth, showed in FuninUSA news.
The concept of “blockchain” is so hyped rn: bubbles will finally fade
In recent months, blockchain has become a popular concept. Everyone wants to use the concept to make some money. The term blockchain is being used by companies of all sizes, often in the wrong way, reported in FuninUSA news. Some companies even want to merely use the concept to raise money.
So, what’s blockchain? Blockchain was pioneered by the creators of bitcoin and is the technology that underpins that cryptocurrency. It is a public ledger of activity in bitcoin that cannot be changed or tampered with because of the complex cryptography behind it.
Many industries have tried to use the principle of blockchain to solve their own problems. But there’re still lots of things to be concerned. One of the key concerns is if blockchain can scale across different industries and companies. One bank might be using a certain blockchain solution, while another firm could be using something different. It's unclear whether the different blockchains will work together. There's also the question of whether blockchain is even needed for certain processes, mentioned in FuninUSA news.
If the concept of blockchain are wrongly used, we all know how the dotcom bubble will ended.
Is this gonna be a problem?
Recently, a consumer, from Colorado, US, called Kenneth Sciacca filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple Company, accusing the Apple Watch of the same flaws from the first generation to three generations, reported in FuninUSA, a platform offering products reviews and global news.
Sciacca said the defect was that, the screen was prone to rupture, break or detach. The users of Apple Watch will encounter the situation after a few days or weeks of use, not artificially made.
Apple was aware of the problem from the start, but declined to acknowledge it, Sciacca said in the complaint. He’s now seeking $5 million compensation from Apple, reported in FuninUSA.
Apple was aware of the problem before the Apple Watch went on sale but did not inform consumers. In terms of apple's actions, its internal policy is to deny the existence of the problem, claiming that it was caused by consumers' "accidental damage" and refusing to provide repair or replacement services. Sciacca added.
Apple has previously acknowledged the problem of the first generation of Apple Watch and extended the guarantee period to 3 years. Later, Apple extended the period again due to the swelling of second generation of the watch. In November of 2017, Apple confirmed that part of the third generation of Apple Watch’s screens had stripe marks, reported in FuninUSA.
So far, however, Apple has not acknowledged the Apple Watch's problems with screen separation or fragmentation, though the problem might be caused by the battery’s swelling.
How much could you earn if you invest $1,000 in Tesla in 2010?
In the past several months, the related news about Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk alarmed some investors. But lately, shares were up about 2 percent on the news that Consumer Reports had reversed its previous position.
And if you invested in Tesla in 2010, when it made its initial public offering, that investment could have paid off, too, according to the report in FuninUSA, a platform which provides product-reviews and global news. Based on the professional calculation, a $1,000 investment in the company would be worth more than $12,000 so far, or over 12 times as much, including price appreciation and dividend gains reinvested.
However, many analysts are still bearish after the company's earnings call, even labeling Musk's behavior a red flag. Still, Tesla executives, among other industry analysts, are generally optimistic about the company's future. "To ensure that Tesla is well prepared for the future, we have been undertaking a thorough reorganization of our company," Musk wrote in a statement to employees.
If you're considering investing in Tesla or in the stock market in general, experts advise starting slow, reported in FuninUSA. Experienced investors Warren Buffett, Mark Cuban and Tony Robbins suggest beginning with index funds, which hold every stock in an index, offer low turnover rates, attendant fees and tax bills, and fluctuate with the market to eliminate the risk of picking individual stocks.
An Alibaba co-founder refuted the US senator: some Americans just want to stop China from upgrading its tech
Joe Tsai, one of the Alibaba cofounders, made the claim at a conference recently in response to a US senator saying earlier at the event that Chinese tech firms may serve as agents of Beijing, according to the report in FuninUSA, a website which continuously provides product-reviews and global news.
“There’s nothing wrong with a country wanting to upgrade its own manufacturing sector, go higher tech, be more innovative,” Tsai said,“But then, from the Chinese perspective, what we're seeing is there are a lot of people in America that want to stop China from doing that.”
Tsai also added that, after three decades of producing low-end manufacturing goods, China recognizes the need to develop better technology, upgrade its manufacturing sector and focus more on value-added areas like robotics, aeronautics and high-tech medical equipment, which are already included in the Chinese "Made in China 2025" strategy.
Amid the unpredictability of the trade tensions between China and the US, Tsai said, Alibaba plans to continue focusing on how best to help American farmers and small businesses tap into the huge consumer market in China. Chinese middle class now demanding access to better goods and services, including many imported products, which is a huge opportunity for the producers globally.
Tsai, who heads Alibaba's global mergers and acquisitions plans, also said the company has not tried to conduct large acquisitions in the U.S. Instead, he added, it is looking for companies and entrepreneurs who want its help to expand into China.
Samsung’s cash reserves in Q1 of 2018: reaching $30.1 billion, 17.2% year-on-year growth
Market research firm Chaebul.com recently released a group of data, showing that Samsung electronics co., hyundai motor co., and other major south Korean listed companies all had their cash reserves grow in the first quarter of 2018, reported in FuninUSA, a website which continuously provides product-reviews and global news.
According to the data, by the end of Q1, the total cash reserves of 47 listed companies, including samsung and hyundai, were 158.9 trillion won (about $148.1 billion), up 7.8 percent from a year earlier.
Reported in FuninUSA, by the end of March, Samsung’s cash reserves stood at 32.3 trillion won (about $30.1 billion), up 17.2 percent from a year earlier.
Among the top 10 listed companies in South Korea, the cash reserves of Shinhan Financial Group Company Limited and Korea Hyundai Heavy Industries Group increased by 11.9% and 9.4% respectively over the same period.
A publicity stunt encouraging "crypto enthusiasts" to climb Mount Everest: indirectly led to a man’s death
Ukrainian social network ASKfm is now planning to raise money through an initial coin offering, or ICO. Four people were sponsored by ASKfm to climb Mount Everest and bury the hard drive holding $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency, which at this point have no proven value. In a promo for the stunt posted earlier in May, the company encouraged crypto enthusiasts to go and search for these buried digital tokens, “if [they are] brave enough”.
The publicity stunt indirectly led to a man’s death, who was one of four sponsored men mentioned above, according to the report from FuninUSA.
According to a blog of Alan Arnette, a Colorado climber who covers Everest events each season, in the process, one of the local Nepalese Sherpas accompanying the group died, which Arnette mentioned as "Preventable Deaths."
One of the four climbers who had recently returned to Ukraine from Nepal, Taras Pozdnii, told the news outlet they "lost track of the Sherpa after he accompanied them to the summit, and that he didn't know how the man died,” reported in FuninUSA.
The value of that cryptocurrency, which the company said is now buried in the snow on Everest, is based on an "estimate of their value once the pre-sale and ICO launch," a spokesperson told.
Regulating cryptocurrencies is a good thing and may even help advance the industry, says crypto trader Neu-Ner
The Department of Justice recently opened a criminal probe into the possibility that traders are manipulating the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Crypto trader Ran Neu-Ner viewed the regulation as a good thing and might even help advance the digital currency market, according to report from FuninUSA.
Neu-Ner said that with a smaller market size and fewer people in an unregulated and often misunderstood industry, it was easier to take advantage of what was unknown. "When [regulators] come out with regulation, it's going to open the floodgates for new money to come into crypto,” said the host of CNBC Africa's "Crypto Trader”.
"If we want to make this a real asset class, with real people, then let's weed out the bad actors [in the industry]. But the first step is, let's legislate first; let's regulate first. So we know what the playing field looks like,” said Neu-Ner.
Brian Kelly, founder and CEO of digital investment firm BKCM, pointed out that clear regulatory guidelines and a manipulation-free market were some of the SEC's guidelines for a physically backed exchange-traded fund, reported in FuninUSA.
"This is one more step toward the maturation of this process," Kelly said.
Market is undervaluing Apple’s service business: Apple’s self-driving partnership may be the next step of Apple’s service
It’s reported that Apple is providing software for automaker partner Volkswagen recently after it readjusts its self-driving dream, resigning to work with Volkswagen after earlier negotiations with several automakers fell through — in part because Apple was hesitant to relinquish control over the vehicle design.
To interpret this cooperation, in addition to consider it as Apple’s self-driving car ambitions around vehicle design, investors could also view Apple's new Volkswagen partnership as another investment in the hardware giant's growing services business, written in FuninUSA. Apple is leaving money on the table by failing to capitalize on the growing subscription economy. A long-term self-driving software play might make up the difference.
Apple's software and services segment — the App Store, Apple Care, Apple Pay, iTunes and cloud services — has been a particular growth point for the iPhone maker in recent years.
Morgan Stanley said this week that the market is undervaluing Apple's services business, predicting the company's services business will represent 67 percent of Apple's sale growth in the next five years, according to the report in FuninUSA.
"The concept of an autonomous service is a departure from Apple's current hardware and content services business,” said venture capitalist Gene Munster. “Specifically, delivering their experience through third party hardware is a strategy that Apple rarely employs," Munster added. Apple will finally partner their way to autonomy. Any resulting Apple-Volkswagen vehicle, Munster said, is likely to yield an "Apple-like experience,” reported in FuinUSA.
"Autonomy is one component of optionality that is currently not reflected in Apple's share price along with AR, original content, and health," Munster said.
The price manipulation of bitcoin is under investigation of the US Department of Justice
The continuous development of the cryptocurrency market is also accompanied by the increasing speculative trading and illegal activities, which has led to scrutiny from authorities around the world.
A criminal probe into the possibility that traders are manipulating the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies was recently opened by the US Department of Justice, reported in FuninUSA.
According to people familiar with the probe, the investigation surrounds the practice of spoofing and flooding the market with fake orders. Besides, Federal prosecutors are also working with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, they added.
The price of bitcoin fell on the news to $7,339, and was down more than 6 percent, according to bitcoin exchange Coinbase. FuninUSA will continuously report the bitcoin-related news.
Ryzen's processor is highly recognized: AMD had a net profit of $121 million in Q1
On April 26, AMD announced its first quarter (by March 31) financial report in 2018.
According to US general accounting standards (GAAP), AMD posted revenue of $1.165 billion in the first quarter, up 40% from $1.18 billion a year earlier. Net profit was $81 million, compared with a net loss of $33 million a year earlier, cited by FuninUSA.
Among all departments revenue, the revenue from the department of computing and graphics was $1.15 billion, up 95% from a year earlier. Also, revenue from companies, embedded and semi-customizable units department was $532 million, down 12% from a year earlier.
Reported by FuninUSA, AMD expects revenue to hit $1.725 billion in Q2 of 2018, which exceeds the analysts’ expectation. In addition, more than 60 new Ryzen products will be available this year for professional games, content creation and hardware players, said AMD’s CEO Dr. Lisa Su in an interview.
I wanna say, if u are going to do value investing (which is long-term investment in a company's stock), AMD is a very good choice to be considered.
Chinese car-hailing giant Didi Chuxing holds talks about an IPO
According to a report, Chinese ride-hailing giant, Uber’s strong competitor, Didi Chuxing is holding talks about an initial public offering (IPO).
The company could go public as early as the second half of 2018, the source said, but as talks are in the early stages a set date for the listing is not entirely clear.
After raising $4 billion from investors including Japanese conglomerate SoftBank last year, Didi now wants to reach a valuation of between $70 and $80 billion through an IPO, reported by the source.
Didi Chuxing bought Uber's business in China in 2016. After fierce competition, it’s clear that Didi is the biggest platform for car-hailing so far in Chinese market. Recently, Didi said that it wants to expand its service to Taiwan. Also, Didi has expressed that it was expanding its service to Mexico, which marks the first instance of a direct expansion outside of its home market. FuninUSA will continually report on this news.
I personally look to further development of Didi. The company always comes up with smart strategies to confront the competitive market, though a group-buying website Meituan is now trying to expanding its scope of business into car-hailing service. So if Didi finally goes public, I’ll try buying some shares.
Saving your money DOES NOT mean you follow Warren Buffett’s No.1 rule
Lots of people may ever heard famous investor Warren Buffett’s two famous rules: 1. Don't lose money. 2. Don't forget Rule No. 1.
So what does the rules truly mean? Many people may say—let’s save money—so the money won’t lose. However, “Thanks to” inflation, money stockpiled in a savings account would actually lose value over time. Then maybe it is time to think about another way—“value investing” in stocks. <there’re many other ways, but stocks is the one I want to discuss in this post>
The point is “looking for companies that will become more valuable over time and commit to sticking it out with them.” More specifically, buy a wonderful company when it is a bargain. Also, make the deal only when you believe that it will be worth more 10 years from now than it is today, no matter how the price will fluctuate during the period.
How to exercise the rules? SPEND TIME—take time to research on each company you’re interested in. Try to estimate a company’s LONGEVITY. Also, sets up any stock-related app alerts for companies so that you can easily get to know when the company’s stock price reaches the deal price you want. FuninUSA news is highly recommended for investment-related articles.
There’s one thing to be noticed: despite our desire to 'never sell,' selling is inexorably part of this practice. Besides, value investing may not be suitable for everyone. So if you're not going to take the time to learn to do it, then try to invest a low-cost index fund.
Right now, more than 80 percent of the bitcoins that will ever exist have now been created
According to the design of the cryptocurrency's anonymous founder known as "Satoshi Nakamoto,” only 21 million bitcoins will ever exist. And reported by FuninUSA, about 17 million bitcoins has been “mined” right now. Due to the increasing scarcity of bitcoin, it’s estimated that bitcoin could surpass its record high of more than $19,000 hit in December this year.
Brandon Williams of cryptocurrency trading firm Cosima Capital said that, the 17 millionth bitcoin “serves as a timely reminder that despite bitcoin's volatility the fundamentals have never been stronger!”
The first bitcoins were mined in January 2009. Blockchain.info data shows it took about 200 days to reach the first 1 million coins, but the run to 17 million has taken more than 500 days — the number of bitcoins topped 16 million in November 2016. The remaining 4 million coins aren't expected to be mined completely for another 122 years, reported in FuninUSA news.
Chinese internet search giant Baidu’s shares rise sharply, with its report of strong growth in advertising business
The stock price of China’s Baidu rose sharply after marketing revenue grew 23 percent to 17.2 billion yuan ($3.30 billion), its second-fastest quarterly rate in over two years. Net profit rose 23.4 percent versus forecasts of 19.5 percent.
Baidu, which has had to bounce back from a bruising medical advertising scandal in 2016, said it was now taking extra measures to clean up content on its platforms. Reported in FuninUSA, the company has employed artificial intelligence technology to target click-bait and inappropriate content, and Baidu has removed 20.2 billion malicious web pages in 2017, said Chief Executive Robin Li in an interview.
Since the event of Baidu being cracked down on its advertising practices by regulators 2 years ago, Baidu has sold or withdrawn from a number of businesses to focus on autonomous driving, AI and its news feed product, regaining momentum and investor confidence, reported in FuninUSA.
Baidu's total revenue rose about 24 percent to 20.91 billion yuan in the three months to March 31, its slowest rate in three quarters despite topping analyst estimates. The positive results also reflect lower-than-expected research and development expenses, which have sky-rocketed since Baidu's pivot to AI due to steep costs hiring top talent.
Buy Microsoft: its strong growth in cloud computing business may thrive its shares
Due to the strong growth in Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing business, JP Morgan raised its rating on the company's shares to overweight from neutral, predicting a good financial report above expectations from Microsoft this year.
Cited by FuninUSA, “Microsoft will dominate in the Enterprise, and it stands to benefit from a broad and powerful lineup of Cloud solutions,” said analyst Mark Murphy, “While the PC cycle and Windows dynamic are still highly relevant, we believe Microsoft is pushing forward with a successful cloud strategy.”
Microsoft's Azure cloud business grew 89 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period last year, and its cloud "premium services" segment grew more than 100 percent for its 15th quarter in a row, reported in FuninUSA news.
The December 2018 price target was raised to $110 from $94 for Microsoft shares. Also, Microsoft shares rose 1.7 percent Friday.
The US inspects Chinese and US AI cooperation: NVIDIA may get in trouble
In addition to ZTE and Huawei, US is currently still putting the heat on Chinese field of semiconductor technology. Reported by FuninUSA, US government is considering a probe into the informal cooperation between Chinese and American companies in artificial intelligence (AI) field, and NVIDIA will be the first target.
US government’s evaluation of national security has been limited to the aspect such as external investment and enterprise acquisitions, but currently, the scope of examination is continually expanded. The reason is the concerns about the US intellectual property rights may being stolen by China, or the concerns about US companies might transferring the sensitive technology to China, cited by FuninUSA.
Nowadays, AI industry is booming, both US and China are fully engaged in this area. According to the analyst of FuninUSA, if the US government tries to cut off cooperation between Chinese and US technology companies, the impact would be incalculable.
Qualcomm, Intel, IBM, NVIDIA, AMD and other semiconductor giants all have a lot of input and cooperation in China. NVIDIA, for example, has fifth of its business in China, a common practice that helps to nurture local talent and boost sales, reported in FuninUSA news.
According to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Trump could actually have the right to sign an executive order to prevent or inspect the informal partnerships between US and Chinese companies. If that does happen, the order would definitely bring impacts to the performance of the entire semiconductor-production industry.
A major cryptocurrency company Kraken refuses to comply with New York request for info
Many cryptocurrency companies such as Kraken (for US dollar-bitcoin trading, Kraken ranked fifth by market share, according to CryptoCompare) do not operate in New York because the state requires them to have a "BitLicense" from the New York State Department of Financial Services. But there’re still many companies—such as Coinbase, Ripple—have already gotten the license.
"Legitimate entities generally like to demonstrate to their investors that their money will be protected," Amy Spitalnick, spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, said in a statement. "This is very basic information that any credible platform should have on hand and be willing to share with their investors," she said.
Schneiderman's office asked 13 cryptocurrency exchanges on Tuesday to complete a questionnaire by May 1 to share details on areas such as ownership, fees, trading suspensions and money laundering. Many companies like Coinbase, the Gemini Trust, bitFlyer USA have expressed support to the request.
Kraken's cofounder Powell was the first dissenting voice. He said the last time exchanges complied with New York's request for information, they were encumbered with the BitLicense. "Kraken left New York because New York is hostile to crypto and this 'questionnaire' we received today proves that New York is not only hostile to crypto, it is hostile to business," he said. (strongly recommend FuninUSA for updated news about cryptos)
I think the statement—“It is hostile to business” —is a little bit radical. How do you think about Powell’s statement?
You want to time the market? Don’t daydream!
“Investors should buy stocks low and sell them high shortly after.”
Is it the idea that you often hear when you’re educated about the stock market? There’re always some people teach you about strategies such as in timing the market.
Lots of people who are not very experienced in stock investment fear investing. And they think that investing is only for experts who have learned systems and charts and spend all their time studying the markets and poring over reports.
However, the analyst Mike Dong from FuninUSA tells us that, there are too many factors influencing the price of stocks and bonds, so trying to predict what the market is going to do is extremely difficult. Though some experts may have a very high possibility to successfully predict the market trend, for most of the ordinary investors, Mike suggests “go long-term instead”.
Based on the analysis of historical data, taking a longer-term approach, an approach called buy and hold, would have historically seen positive gains regardless of day-to-day market volatility. Nobel laureate William Sharpe found that "market timers" must be right an incredible 82 percent of the time just to match the returns realized by buy-and-hold investors. (the further details can be found in FuninUSA news)
Here’re three more quick tips:
1) Practice faith, patience and discipline. Markets rise and fall continuously, and when they're down it can be tempting to pull out. Commit to your long-term strategy, and stay the course.
2) Get sound advice. Even if you've decided to buy and hold, you still need to know which investment opportunities are proven performers with a likelihood of continued strength. The right advisor will also help you to wisely diversify your holdings.
3) Tune out the hype. If you watch the markets every day and read all the opinions, it will drive you crazy.
Patience pays off. Hope this small piece could help you guys. :)
Undercover investigators said the Amazon’s British warehouse was a “prison”
According to The Sun’s report, Amazon's warehouse workers in the UK are so busy that they have to urinate in bottles because they are far from the toilet.
The warehouse, located in a small town called Rugeley in central England, covers an area of 700, 000 square feet and employs 1,200 people. The warehouse has four floors, where the only two toilets are both on the first floor. For those who work on the top floor, going to the toilet means an approximately 400 meters distance back and forth, and will cost them about 10 minutes.
James Bloodworth, the undercover investigator in this warehouse, said his visit to the Amazon warehouse was intended as a field study for a book about the “the relatively low UK wages”. He said, workers at the warehouse were monitored by managers to see if they were wasting time at work. This means that workers are forced to use bottles to solve the problem in order to save time and not be expelled.
Bloodworth also said, the warehouse was like a prison, equipped with the similar security system that you could at the airport to prevent theft. As safety measures, workers are not allowed to wear hoodies, sunglasses, or bring mobile phones. (recommend FuninUSA for updated news about amazon and its service about amazon)
About this comment, a spokeman for Amazon said, “Providing an ideal working environment for all employees is an important part of our work. Last month, Amazon was named the seventh most popular workplace in the UK by LinkedIn, the most popular company in the US.”
As early as August 2015, the New York times has published an article about amazon's poor corporate culture and office environment. According to the article, Amazon is a notoriously difficult workplace, and its corporate culture is even malevolent.
Do you think this kind of news would influence the stock price of the Amazon? Slightly or even higher?
Bitcoin will multiply by 30 times within four years, predicted by Tech investor Tim Draper
According to Coinbase, bitcoin traded near $8,100 on Friday afternoon, up more than 18 percent for the week. Many traders attributed the spike to investors covering their shorts, or coming back into the market after betting against bitcoin. (recommend FuninUSA for updated data of cryptos)
Venture capitalist Tim Draper tweeted early Friday morning that he predicted “bitcoin’s prices will reach $25k by 2022,” which confused lots of investors. But he clarified in an afternoon tweet that $250,000 was the correct figure.
It may sounds crazy. But over the last two years, bitcoin has had a 4,000 percent return. And Tim’s prediction is a 3,000 percent return from now. “It would be a continuation of that trend,” said Brian Kelly, founder and CEO of BKCM, an investment firm focused in digital currencies.
Draper is founding partner of Draper Associates and DFJ, an early investor in Skype and Chinese search giant Baidu. Draper’s bitcoin investment—he bought nearly 30,000 bitcoins in a 2014 US Marshals Service auction—is now worth roughly $243 million at Friday's prices. In addition to the prediction of bitcoin’s price, Draper also said in a show that in five years, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be the primary means of payment.
Though I do believe bitcoin market will perform better in the future, I personally don’t believe cryptos would become the primary means of payment, based on current news I’ve read on FuninUSA about stricter regulations of cryptocurrencies in several countries and some problems of cryptos that have not been solved yet.
What would you say about bitcoin’s future prices and its usage as a mean of payment?
Deutsche Bank raises its rating for Netflix’s shares rises, with the target price rising to $350
Netflix shares closed up at $332.70 this Friday, with last Friday closing at $311.65.
Saying it had misjudged the potential for international growth and how to value the high-flying stock, Deutsche Bank upgraded Netflix shares to buy from hold.
Analyst Bryan Kraft wrote in a note to clients last Friday entitled "Upgrading To Buy: Catch Netflix If You Can.” He expressed that, Netflix has changes the industry in a profound way, making it very difficult for the traditional media companies, or even other big tech companies, to catch up. The analyst raised his price target for Netflix shares to $350 from $240.
Netflix had 63 million international subscribers at end of 2017. Kraft predicts Netflix will add 23.7 million international subscribers this year versus the Wall Street consensus of 19.6 million. He also projects the company will reach 217 million subscribers in international markets by 2025.
By reinvesting in content, marketing, and the user experience, Netflix will make itself more of a magnet for talent and further extend the company’s lead, Kraft added. (recommend FuninUSA for updated news about global stock market)
Netflix is one of the best-performing stocks in the market this year. Its stock performance ranks the second place in the entire S&P 500.
Let’s say: cryptocurrency is more like “a psychological experiment than a serious investment”
Robert Shiller, professor of economics at Yale University and co-founder of the Case-Shiller Index, expressed his idea about cryptocurrency.
"I'm interested in bitcoin as a sort of bubble. It doesn't mean that it will disappear, that it'll burst forever. It may be with us for a while," said Shiller.
"To me, it's interesting as another example of faddish human behavior. It's glamorous," he added. The bitcoin craze reminds him of tulip mania in the 17th century, the event which is considered one of the first recorded speculative bubbles where a buying frenzy and lofty expectations replace rational justifications for an item's value.
The price of bitcoin grew so fast. The cryptocurrency hurtled above $1,000 in early 2017 after trading at less than a $1 at the beginning of the decade. It even hit an all-time high north of $20,000 in mid-December. (recommend FuninUSA for updated data about cryptocurrency)
A lot of people have benefited from the cryptocurrency investment. But Shiller would still like to see it as a psychology experiment. “It is more psychological than something that could be explained by the computer science department,” He said.
Bitcoin held above $8,000 on Friday morning after topping that level a day earlier. The two-day rally comes after a weak start to April likely tied to tax-related selling. Prices dipped below $7,000 earlier this month.
Beneath the market, a bullish trend is secretly emerging
This year, due to the concerns from technology regulation to geopolitical tensions, the stock market has swung back and forth since the beginning of 2018.
However, there might be an indicator of a bullish trend when observing a technical development beneath the market's hood.
Basically, the idea above is based on the market’s breadth, or the number of stocks advancing versus the number of stocks declining, which indicates the market's health. Plot those numbers out, and then it comes what’s referred to as the market's advance/decline line, or the "A/D line." Essentially, what we look for when it comes to this measure is whether it confirms what is going on in the actual movement of the S&P 500. (Recommend FuninUSA for other rules related to this measure)
The rule is, if the market (S&P 500) is declining and the A/D line is not falling to the same degree, that divergence indicates the sell-off is growing tired and a bounce should be in store.
So, what’s our market’s performance right now?
Both the market and the A/D line fell in tandem back in February, but this has changed during the most recent decline over the past two weeks, as the S&P 500 fell and retested its February lows. However, the A/D line has not fallen anywhere near as far as the S&P 500 has. Thus, based on the rule mentioned previously, most recently, a bullish divergence has developed between the two.
Though it has already been a sign of a bullish trend, we still expect to see a higher A/D line, which can blow through those old highs. In this way, we’ll have more confidence to say this is an outright bullish situation. (Recommend FuninUSA for updated news about stock market)
The Biggest Unicorn: Jack Ma’s Ant Financial plans to raise 57 billion yuan, reaching the valuation of nearly 950 billion yuan
Chinese billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial is about to become one of the world's most valuable companies.
Seven years ago, Ant Financial was stripped of Alibaba group. It operates the popular mobile payment service Alipay, which is also one of China's largest non-bank lenders.
Ant Financial is in discussions with potential investors, said the source. So far, investors’ demand for subscribing Ant Financial’s shares are quite strong.
The source said, Ant Financial is preparing to raise $9 billion (about 57 billion yuan) in a round of private financing, up from its previous target of $5 billion. This round of funding could make Ant Financial the world’s largest unicorn company so far.
Unicorns refer to private companies valued at more than $1 billion.This round of funding for Ant Financial comes ahead of its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO). The company will IPO this year at the soonest.
If ant financial goes public with a valuation of more than $100 billion, it will be worth more than some of US biggest financial firms, including Goldman Sachs group inc., Paypal and Blackrock Corporate.
The last round of funding announced by Ant Financial was in April 2016, when it raised $4.5 billion from Chinese investors, reaching the valuation of about $60 billion.
Ant Financial's current financing targets include the investors from China, US and other foreign countries. These investors have already subscribed at least $3 billion shares of Ant Financial. (recommend FuninUSA for more updated news about Chinese companies)
In February, Alibaba said it would buy about a third of Ant Financial shares and end its profit-sharing agreement with Ant Financial. The deal is expected to be completed in the second half of the year. When Ant Financial goes public, Alibaba and its shareholders will benefit.
A rising “star”: Cryptocurrency Eos leaps from tenth into fifth place by market cap, even past litecoin
Bitcoin is now the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, followed by ethereum, ripple and bitcoin offshoot "bitcoin cash.”
Over the past few months, cryptocurrency eos has crept higher in the cryptocurrency market cap rankings. It wasn't among the top 10 until late January, made ninth place in mid-March and was sixth-largest earlier this week. (recommend FuninUSA for updated news about cryptocurrency)
Eos is a cryptocurrency for a platform set to go live this summer called eos.ios, which proponents expect could be better than ethereum in many ways and potentially bring on much greater adoption of cryptocurrency-related technology.
CoinMarketCap data showed eos climbed more than 30 percent over the last 24 hours for a market capitalization of nearly $7.1 billion, topping litecoin's $6.8 billion.
Chinese President Xi discussed plans to further “Open”China, and Chinese stock market ends with a good outcome Tuesday
Tuesday this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered an address from the Boao Forum for Asia, an annual summit that's been dubbed the "Asian Davos,” reported by FuninUSA.
Xi's address comes amid escalating trade tensions between China and the US as the world's two largest economies take turns announcing punitive trade measures against each other. (Details on Chinese and US measures are reported in previous FuninUSA news)
There’re basically several points that Xi was trying to emphasize during his speech:
1)China does not seek trade surplus and will "work hard" to import products that are required by the population.
2) Xi sold a vision of China as a benevolent leader of the global economy, emphasizing that open systems are the best course of action for the world.
3) Xi downplayed any geopolitical ambitions China may have beyond its shores regarding the Belt and Road Initiative. (Belt and Road Initiative: an infrastructure and investment program widely seen as an attempt by China to construct a massive, multi-national zone of economic and political influence that has Beijing at its center)
At the end of the Tuesday Chinese stock market, Shanghai composite index rose 1.66% to 3190.32. The market closed at 3138.29 Monday. Among all the sections, medal, bank, household appliance and several sections had the best performance, with the bank section’s net capital inflow of the fund of about 2.162 billion RMB. The news of Xi is obviously a useful catalyst for the general rising of the market after several days of fluctuation.
I personally believe the Chinese stock market will keep on giving a good performance this week.
Alibaba will buy all shares of Chinese food delivery app Ele.me with the value of $9.5 billion
Currently, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group own about 43 percent of the outstanding voting shares of Ele.me, according to the statement.
Survived in the extraordinarily competitive takeout market, Ele.me, which roughly translates as "Hungry?", is part of a fast-growing — though fiercely competitive — market in China being driven by consumers eager to make purchases on their smartphones, from groceries to cinema tickets.
It’s confirmed recently that Ali would buy all shares that it does not already own in food delivery platform Ele.me. The deal implies an enterprise value of $9.5 billion for Ele.me.
In the present circumstances, Ele.me and China Internet Plus Group (which is the cooperation form of two other leading enterprises in the takeout market—meituan and dianping) are the two giants in the filed of take-out market. The analyst Mike Dong in FuninUSA has predicted that these two giants will continue their position in the market, and that there’s little chance other company will be strong enough to occupy the market and compete with them.
Will this move help add value to the company Alibaba and its stock? I would say, yes!
Over $119 billion has been wiped off the bitcoin’s value: the worst first quarter in history
The cryptocurrency's previous biggest decline came in the first quarter of 2013 when it fell 37.9 percent from $770.44 to $478.72, according to CoinDesk, which tracks the price across a number of exchanges.(CoinDesk has only tracked the price since 2010)
This year, in 2018, bitcoin fell from $13,412.44 to $6,928.85 in the three months ended March 31, marking a more than 48 percent decline. Over $119.9 billion was wiped off the market capitalization or value of bitcoin in the time period. (browse updated news about cryptocurrency market in FuninUSA)
Because of increasing regulatory scrutiny and an advertising crackdown on major internet platforms, cryptocurrencies have been hit for a while. Regulators in China and South Korea have come down hard on cryptocurrencies. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been trying to bring cryptocurrencies under its laws. And central bankers across the world, including Mark Carney of the Bank of England, have called for more regulation in the space.
The current situation evidently implicates a much slower rising of bitcoin and other crypto’s prices. Will the bitcoin again hit the price of about $13,000? Wait and see! (recommend FuninUSA’s bitcoin forum)
Facebook is kicked out of the US1 top ideas list of Bank of America, due to its previous data scandal
Facebook is being removed from Bank of America’s US1 top ideas list.
The company's stock rose 0.5 percent Tuesday this week; however, the stock has generally declined more than 11 percent over the past month through midday Tuesday. Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its Facebook price target two times in 5 days last month, citing confirmation of FTC's probe into its data practices. (recommend FuninUSA for updated news about global stock market)
The reason for Merrill’s decision may be the Facebook’s handling of data scandal previously. One analyst has written that, the government investigation raises the risk of civil penalties on data privacy violations, and if history serves, could take multiple years to resolve.
Though the Facebook company is now in a relatively weak position, when concerning about the great contribution and meaningfulness of its app, I personally believe that Facebook company would finally get over the difficulty.
"Death crosses" had been reached and the bear market may begin in some regions
Explained by Robin Griffiths, global macro team chief technical strategist at U.K.-based currency investment firm ECU Group, “ Death crosses” had been reached — where markets fall below their long-term trend line, which is then itself crossed by its short-term trend line. (browse FuninUSA to learn more financial knowledge)
"If you've seen a dead cross you've probably seen a bull market and you're now in a bear," Griffiths said. "Some (markets) have formed dead crosses and the message from the charts are the UK and core Europe have formed dead crosses and there's a very high probability they are now in a bear market."
So far, the global market shares a slump in general. The U.K. FTSE 100 and the German DAX are both down by around 8 percent year-to date. Rising interest rates and fears of a global trade war have also sparked concerns that the long run-up in stock markets could end very soon. (recommend the stock forum of FuninUSA)
Griffiths expressed that, not all markets are in immediate danger, adding that there is still at least six to nine months of upside for certain regions. “ The rest of the market, in particular the strongest Asian ones, are having a violent correction,” he said, “The best markets are still in Asia, so it’s China, emerging markets and Japan, it’s where you should be putting money and right at the top of the list is commodity-related investments.”
Walmart is launching a global money transfer service called Walmart2World
Less than 1 percent of Walmart's annual net sales came from fuel and financial services, which includes wire and money transfers. Companies like Western Union and MoneyGram, meanwhile, have built their businesses entirely around the idea.
Walmart is now launching a global money transfer service called Walmart2World in a partnership with MoneyGram International. The service is scheduled to roll out to all of Walmart's 4,700 US stores, on Walmart.com, and to the Walmart mobile app later this month(April).
Walmart2World will allow customers to relay funds to people in more than 200 countries. With this service, the retailer aims to serve the roughly 2 billion individuals across the globe who the World Bank's Global Findex database classifies as unbanked. Common uses for wiring money include paying bills and remitting money to families or friends overseas.
Walmart2World will charge an individual $4 to send up to $50, $8 to send amounts between $51 and $1,000, and $16 to send $1,001 to $2,500. And unlike some other international transfer services, Walmart's fees will remain the same regardless of where the sender and receiver are located. In addition, Walmart2World also promises delivery of funds in 10 minutes or less, unlike some services that can take as long as three days. MoneyGram's network of agents across the globe will help serve the populations where Walmart doesn't always have a presence. (recommend FuninUSA to know more about global companies’ service)
Speed and low, stable prices will be the absolute advantages of Walmart when it expands the scope of business in money transfer. Does the charge seem a good price for you? Will Walmart’s stock price reach relatively higher because of this new service?
A quick review of the US stock market in the first quarter of 2018
As the first quarter of market trading comes to a close, the largest U.S. stocks will go down as the biggest losers. Weakness has been in the very largest companies. From big to small, the losses go down. Maybe this is the rotation into smaller stocks.
Among all the stocks in US market, Facebook and other tech stocks may seem to be getting the most negative attention. However, Facebook is only 6 percent of the Select Sector SPDR Technology (XLK), which tracks the S&P 500 tech sector. In comparison, Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL) are 25 percent, and Alphabet is another 10 percent, which have led the larger stock loser effect. (see more analysis of global stock market in FuninUSA news)
So far, XLK has still eked out a gain, which makes it one of the few sector winners among S&P 500 stocks. The biggest losers were energy (XLE), consumer staples (XLP) and materials (XLB), all down more than 7 percent amid riding bond yields — which makes dividend stock yields less attractive and overrode other factors, like stronger oil prices and a weak dollar.
I still hold the view to evaluate the stocks and the company performance when considering stock investment. Also, I still have a high expectation for the growth of the tech and medical sector this year.
Will the stock price of Facebook have a chance to bounce in the future?
Bitcoin has the worst first quarter performance ever seen
So far this quarter of 2018, $114.9 billion of market capitalization or value has been wiped off of bitcoin. The price decline this quarter is the biggest first quarter decline in bitcoin's history.
The price of the cryptocurrency has fallen from $13,412.44 on January 1 to $7,266.07 on March 30, marking a more than 45 percent decline, according to data from CoinDesk. (recommend FuninUSA for updated bitcoin news)
The biggest price rise was a 599 percent surge in the price of bitcoin in the first quarter of 2013. Bitcoin saw a huge run up in price in 2017 and hit a record high above $19,000 towards the end of last year. But it has faced tougher regulatory scrutiny in 2018 and some of the air has come out of the market.
Obviously, the enhanced regulation and the bans by Google and Facebook have deeply influenced the cryptocurrency market a lot.
Would it possible for bitcoin price to bounce again?