Showing posts with label Fintech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fintech. Show all posts

2019-04-27

Tech Review | How Uber Is Preparing For Its $UBER IPO (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2019-04-27)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) How Uber Is Preparing For Its $UBER IPO, 2) Undersea Cables Carry 99% Of Transoceanic Data3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes,  4)ICYMI Tech News: Apple, Qualcomm, Amazon, Huawei, AT&T, Why Go Long $IBM, London Unicorn Fintech Startups, and more.

1) How Uber Is Preparing For Its $UBER IPO

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says Uber is on track to go public later this year, a move that could make it the biggest IPO of 2019.  WSJ.com’s Jason Bellini breaks down five ways Uber is preparing itself for its market debut. WSJ.com video above published 2 Apr 2019.

Uber Form S-1--"We have applied to list our common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “UBER”--
 Uber S-1

UPDATE: see also S-1A: AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO FORM S-1 REGISTRATION STATEMENT filed 26 Apr 2019.

2) Undersea Cables Carry 99% Of Transoceanic Data
Despite their high cost and other challenges, modern undersea cables transmit data much faster and cheaper than satellites.The Cable That First United The World:

The dawn of instant global communication can be traced back to entrepreneur Cyrus West Field and his long-shot experiment to link the United States and Europe by telegraph in the 1850s. Bloomberg.com video above published Apr 16, 2019.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING"  ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite +1.9% | S&P 500 Index +1.2% | DJIA <0.1%
S&P, NASDAQ set all-time closing highs after first-quarter GDP jump--MarketWatch.com
Investor Notes: 
Map of shipping routes shows the relative density of commercial shipping in the world's oceans (modified from original source: B.S. Halpern (T. Hengl; D. Groll) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link),

US economy grows by +3.2% in the first quarter, topping expectations--cnbc.com.

US: Love Affair With Cars Nearly Finished--moneymaven.io.

Germany, Europe’s largest economy, cut its forecast for 2019 growth in half, to just 0.5%, the slowest annual growth rate since 2013, when the euro zone was still trying to pull itself out of a sovereign debt crisis. Last year, German GDP rose by 1.4%.--qz.com

Threat of Contagion to Eurozone
from Spanish Banks’ Huge Bet on Emerging Markets to flee the consequences of euro debt crisis.--wolfstreet.com.

Italy's economy is one of the biggest downside risks to the global financial system and could spell disaster for Europe--businessinsider.com.

Gundlach: Modern Monetary Theory ‘Complete Nonsense--etftrends.com

Avoiding Stupidity is Easier than Seeking Brilliance--fs.blog.

The media exaggerates negative news. This distortion has consequences--theguardian.com"Far from being better informed, heavy newswatchers can become miscalibrated. They worry more about crime, even when rates are falling, and sometimes they part company with reality altogether."

Earnings season: Twitter, Facebook, Verisign, Amazon, and Microsoft (below):
Microsoft Earnings Release FY19 Q3 -- Microsoft Cloud Strength Drives Third Quarter Results -- Microsoft Corp. announced 24 Apr 2019, the following results for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year: Revenue was $30.6 billion and increased 14%; Operating income was $10.3 billion and increased 25%; Net income was $8.8 billion and increased 19%; Diluted earnings per share was $1.14 and increased 20% ... “Demand for our cloud offerings drove commercial cloud revenue to $9.6 billion this quarter, up 41% year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. 

4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Qualcomm: Why The Success Story Just Begins--seekingalpha.com.

Apple said Qualcomm’s tech was 'no good' in legal pleadings, but in private communications Apple said Qualcomm's tech was ‘the best.’--washingtonpost.com: “It potentially reveals that Apple was engaging in a bad faith argument both in front of antitrust enforcers as well as the legal courts about the actual value and nature of Qualcomm’s patented innovation”--Adam Mossoff, a law professor at George Mason University and director of the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property.

Apple spends more than $30 million on Amazon’s cloud every month, making it one of the biggest AWS customers--cnbc.com.

Huawei funded by Chinese state security according to a report published last week in The Times | thetimes.co.uk: the CIA accused Huawei of receiving funding from China’s National Security Commission, the People’s Liberation Army and a third branch of the Chinese state intelligence network.

AT&T: SeekingAlpha.com: "... tackling debt by selling off assets ... The yield is still over 6.3% ... the stock has had no growth in a decade, [but] that could change with WarnerMedia" [Editor's note: or perhaps not. AT&T Inc’s Q1 2019 revenue fell short of Wall Street estimates, losing subscribers in nearly all its businesses except wireless where it used aggressive price promotions. AT&T lost a net 544,000 premium TV subscribers, a category that includes DirecTV satellite and U-verse television customers. Analysts had expected a loss of 385,000 customers across DirecTV and U-verse, according to FactSet.com.]

Why go long IBM? Red Hat deal closes in H2 2019, plus strategic imperatives like cloud, security, AI, and blockchain.

London unicorn fintech startups vs. San Francisco--cityam.com.

U.S. activist investor Elliott Management invests 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) in German business software company SAP.

Japan’s Softbank Group Corp to invest $1 billion in Wirecard via a convertible bond deal that may provide it a 5.6 percent stake in the German digital payments company.

Former Mozilla exec: Google sabotaged Firefox for years--zdnet.com.

The Streaming Wars: The Market Guide--seekingalpha.com.

Personal tech: feel trapped in Apple's ecosystem? Apple isn't the only one with an expansive ecosystem of products, services, and software--zdnet.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2019-04-04

How JP Morgan Chase Became The Largest Bank In The US (video)

How JP Morgan Chase Became The Largest Bank In The US

From the railroad and steel consolidations brokered by John Pierpont Morgan on Wall Street more than a century ago, to banking consolidation, the financial crisis and Jamie Dimon's leadership, J.P. Morgan Chase has been at the center of finance for more than a century. Here's the story of how the country's largest bank got to where it is today.

Biographer of J.P. Morgan, Jean Strouse, longtime bank analyst Mike Mayo, and CNBC banking reporter Hugh Son, help tell the story, and explain how Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton are part of the bank’s history, along with the first ATM, and the company’s position moving forward into the future of digital banking. See how the largest bank in the U.S. got to where it is today.

In February, J.P. Morgan Chase announced it was in growth mode, expanding its branch network to cover 93 percent of the U.S. population by the end of 2022. The aggressive growth plans will allow it to reach 80 million more consumers, or about one-quarter of the U.S. population, versus its footprint in 2018. The expansion of physical branches comes amid a consumer shift to mobile and online banking.

The average number of teller transactions per customer has plunged 41 percent since 2014, according to J.P. Morgan's presentation at its investor day meeting, but convenient branch locations are a key consideration for people thinking about switching banks, and most of the firm's growth in deposits has been fueled by people who use branches frequently, the bank says. The company also made it clear it had flexibility in its growth plans: more than 75 percent of its branches could be shuttered within five years or kept open for more than a decade. CNBC video above published Mar 7, 2019.

Stock: NYSE: JPM

Domains:


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2019-02-08

Fintech Startup BABB Peer-to-Peer Banking Services (video)

Tech Talk interview with Leonard Seelig, BABB

Leonard Seelig, managing director of BABB, which provides peer-to-peer banking services, talks about how a decentralised banking system can be built and the benefits of being a part of the Level 39 community in London. TheBanker.com video above first published Sep 10, 2018.

Domains: babbapp.com and getbabb.com


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2019-01-17

How Fintech Startup Robinhood Makes Money (video)

How Robinhood Makes Money

Robinhood is an investing app valued at over $5 billion, that says it's trying to "democratize America's financial system" by making investing accessible to the little guy with free trades--Invest for Free--"Invest in stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrencies, all commission-free, right from your phone or desktop." It's an eye-popping valuation for a financial company with opaque metrics and plenty of competition. The young company had its share of missteps as well, prompting questions of whether or not it can handle primetime. Robinhood has faced criticism for business practices that allow it to offer free trading. It also botched the rollout of a checking and savings account feature in late 2018, garnering concern from regulators. But the company's incredible growth and popularity with younger investors – more than 6 million users by the end of 2018 – means it could be a major player in banking moving forward. CNBC video above published Jan 16, 2019.

Domain: robinhood.com



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2018-11-19

Technology in the World: End of the Beginning, What's Next? (video)

The End of the Beginning

a16z.com video above published Nov 16, 2018: In his now annual state-of-innovation talk at the a16z Summit in November 2018, Andreessen Horowitz’ Benedict Evans walks through where we are now in software eating the world... and how things may continue to change over the next 10 years.

What's the state of not just "the world of tech", but tech in the world? The access story is now coming to an end, observes Evans, but the use story is just beginning: Most of the people are now online, but most of the money is still not. If we think we're in a period of disruption right now, how will the next big platform shifts -- like machine learning -- impact huge swathes of retail, manufacturing, marketing, fintech, healthcare, entertainment, and more? Especially as technology begins to tackle bigger problems, in harder markets, at deeper (and more structural) levels?

Transcript:


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2018-11-17

Tech Review | Priyanka Chopra: Technology Gives Us Freedom (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2018-11-17)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Priyanka Chopra: Technology Gives Us Freedom, 2) Fintech: The Business Case For Financial Inclusion, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Facebook, Nvidia, IBM, SAP, Alibaba, FCC, SpaceX, Cloudflare.

1) Priyanka Chopra: Technology Gives Us Freedom

Priyanka Chopra may be known for acting, but now she's investing in tech companies. In an interview with CNN, Chopra tells Laurie Segall why she's investing in Bumble (bumble.com). CNN.com businesss video above published Nov 5, 2018.

2) Fintech: The Business Case For Financial Inclusion

1.7 billion adults across the globe do not have a bank account. The data revolution and innovations in digital finance have the potential to provide access to financial services for everyone and offer huge growth opportunities.Video above published Nov 2, 2018, by FT.com.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING"  ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite -2.15% | S&P 500 Index -1.61% | DJIA -2.22%
S&P chart pattern points to breakout ahead, technician says--cnbc.com
Wall Street's Charging Bull
graphic of Charging Bull | DomainMondo.com
Investing Notes:


4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
$FB
  • Meltdown at Facebook $FB? More than 50 interviews conducted by the New York Times reveal Facebook's failures in dealing with multiple crises, which Zuckerberg and Sandberg initially tried to obscure. "Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis"--NYTimes.com. Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg replied. See also Facebook Board and this on "Facebook Fights Dirty."
  • IBM $IBM: Why There Will Never Be Another Red Hat: The Economics of Open Source--a16z.com.
  • Alibaba $BABA sets new Singles’ Day record with $31B in sales, but growth is slowing--techcrunch.com.
  • FCC approves expansion of satellite-based internet services: Telesat, Kepler Communications Inc and LeoSat MA, Inc. approved for high-speed internet service and connectivity for sensors and other intelligence devices a/k/a IoT (Internet of Things). SpaceX approved for access to additional frequency and to operate some satellites at low-Earth altitudes--FCC Boosts Satellite Broadband Connectivity And Competition In The United States | fcc.gov (pdf). 
  • Personal tech: Cloudflare's 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver app--cloudflare.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2018-11-15

Tech Talk Interview with Rameez Zafar, Eligible.ai (video)

Tech Talk Interview with Rameez Zafar, Eligible.ai

Rameez Zafar, co-founder, Eligible.ai, a white-label digital mortgage platform, talks about the challenges in digitizing mortgages and how artificial intelligence improves the customer experience. TheBanker.com video above published Oct 1, 2018.
  • Domain: eligible.ai
  • Founded 2016
  • Digital Mortgage Technology Platform For Brokers & Lenders
  • Headquarters: London, England, UK


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2018-10-18

Interview with Fintech Startup WiseAlpha CEO Rezaah Ahmad (video)

Tech Talk: interview with Rezaah Ahmad, WiseAlpha

Rezaah Ahmad, CEO, WiseAlpha, a fixed income platform giving everyday investors and savers access to corporate bonds, talks about disrupting the lending market and why the corporate debt market is ripe for digital innovation. TheBanker.com video above published Oct 8, 2018.

Domain: WiseAlpha.com

Categories: Credit, Financial Services, FinTech
Headquarters: London, England, UK
Founded: Mar 1, 2014
Founder: Rezaah Ahmad
Last Funding Type: Equity Crowdfunding

WiseAlpha is an online investment platform offering its members access via Notes to senior secured loan investments. replacing the substantial costs and complexity of investing in specialist credit funds with a simpler and more cost effective way to invest. Until now, the corporate loan market has remained largely untransformed by technological innovation but WiseAlpha is now making this asset class accessible to a wider investment audience. In order to gain access to this asset class, individual investors usually had to use brokers and/or invest in specialist debt funds which often charged substantial upfront fees and ongoing management and performance fees.



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2018-10-17

Berlin-based Digital Bank N26 Plans U.S. Launch Q1 2019

Berlin-based digital bank N26 (domain: n26.com) launched in the UK Oct 4, 2018, and will open in the United States in the first quarter of next year according to its CEO. The app-only bank is backed by China's tech giant Tencent, German insurer Allianz, and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

Twitter profile: "We're Europe's first mobile bank with 1.5 million customers." 

N26.com website: "The Mobile Bank - A bank account for your phone." Excerpt below:
 N26


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2018-09-29

Tech Review: Digital Outdoor Advertising Growth Due To GDPR? (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2018-09-29)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Digital Outdoor Advertising Growth Due To GDPR? 2) What Is Fintech? 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes: US, China, Trump & Trade Tariffs, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) Digital Outdoor Advertising is growing steadily, is GDPR one of the reasons?

Digitization of traditional outdoor advertising has contributed to the healthy growth of the "Out of Home" advertising sector, says Aidan Neill, co-founder of bitposter.co. There are other reasons, too, such as the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which became enforceable May 25, 2018. CNBC.com video above published Sep 24, 2018. Other companies mentioned: clearchannel.com and jcdecaux.com.

2) What is fintech? 

What is fintech all about? It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that’s changing everything from how we make purchases to how we get loans.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING"  ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite +0.7% | S&P 500 Index -0.5% | DJIA -1.1% 

Q3 2018: S&P 500 posts strongest quarter since 2013.
"Economic progress continues in the United States … the data coming in is some of the strongest we have seen in this cycle ... let’s start with valuation ... [S&P 500] is selling at 17 times earnings, substantially below the peak multiples reached at the end of the last century or in 2007. Using my dividend discount model ... the index is now slightly above equilibrium, or fair value. In terms of sentiment, investors are optimistic, but not as euphoric as they were in January. These factors would argue that the market could move somewhat higher, but that a major surge is unlikely … weak markets elsewhere in the world don’t necessarily have a negative impact on the United States … One of the most important tenets of my current view is that the next recession will probably not occur until after the election in 2020 ..."--Byron Wien, Blackrock.com, Sep 25, 2018.
Wall Street's Charging Bull
graphic of Charging Bull | DomainMondo.com
Investing Notes: US, China, Trump & Trade Tariffs

The US and China are in a 'classic game of chicken' says Professor

Professor James Crabtree of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy explains the political dynamics coming from both the U.S. and China: US consumers are not going to feel any impact from tariffs for quite a long time. CNBC.com video published Sep 24, 2018.

The US has an 'extremely strong economy'

CNBC.com video above published Sep 24, 2018: Todd "Bubba" Horwitz of BubbaTrading.com says the U.S. could "survive without anybody if we had to," and he's not worried about tariffs or Trump's stance on China's theft of intellectual property and unfair treatment of U.S. companies.
4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
  • Amazon $AMZN still is the largest cloud provider at 34% market share, but Microsoft $MSFT at 14% share, is ahead of IBM $IBM 8%, Google $GOOGL $GOOG 6%, and Alibaba $BABA 4%, according to Synergy Research Group . Microsoft announced in July a five-year deal with Walmart $WMT to use Microsoft's cloud and AI tech. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud revenues grew 23% in its fiscal Q4 to $9.61 billion and its Azure cloud business increased by 89%. Microsoft still maintains a strong position as software and hardware provider, while expanding into artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and IoT. Microsoft's acquisitions include LinkedIn and GitHub.
  • Media Madness: Comcast $CMCSA bid $40 billion for control of Sky;  Walt Disney $DIS probably paid too much for parts of Rupert Murdoch’s empire, including a stake in Sky, so selling that stake to Comcast would reduce Disney's debt to better battle streaming rivals like Netflix $NFLX. See Fox and Disney selling stake in Sky to Comcast--TheHill.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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2018-09-12

Swift Business Forum New York 2018, Sep 12 (video)

Business Forum New York 2018 Preview

SWIFT Business Forum New York 2018, will bring together 600+ senior business leaders and industry experts to discuss the latest developments and innovations shaping the financial industry and to debate issues of mutual interest or concern, on Wednesday, 12 September at Chelsea Piers. This year’s theme: Seizing the Opportunity.

View from Swift Business Forum New York 2018

TheBanker.com video above published Aug 28, 2018: Brian Caplen, editor of The Banker, and Joy Macknight, deputy editor, discuss the hot topics on the New York agenda, including developments in real-time and cross-border payments, cyber security and technology such as blockchain, AI and APIs.

Website: https://www.swift.com/news-events/events/swift-business-forum-new-york-2018 provides more info re: speakers and agenda.

Swift videos on YouTube here.



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2018-08-22

Fintech Regulation in the UK: What It Can Teach The World (video)

Fintech Regulation in the UK: What It Can Teach The World

FT Transact (ft.com) video above published Aug 13, 2018: "The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (fca.org.uk) has won praise around the world with a so-called sandbox, where UK fintech companies can test products with temporary authorisation. Now, it's being widely copied and there are plans to start a global sandbox. It has even caught the eye of major players, with Microsoft urging the US regulator to be more like its UK counterpart. counterpart. But should we be worried that the twin forces of big tech and banking are now praising the body that is their watchdog?"

Project Innovate: fca.org.uk/firms/fca-innovate

See also: UK is expected to keep the door open for European Union banks and investors after Brexit--reuters.com.

"Through our Innovation Hub we want new and established businesses - both regulated and non-regulated - to be able to introduce innovative financial products and services to the market."--FCA





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2018-08-18

Tech Review: 1) Collapsing Chinese Tech Stocks, 2) Tesla Turbulence

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2018-08-18)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Tencent & Other Collapsing Chinese Tech Stocks, 2) Tesla $TSLA Turbulence, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Facebook, What's Next and more.

1) Tencent & Other Collapsing Chinese Tech Stocks 
Falls from recent highs in 2018 as of August 15, 2018:
  • Tencent -27%  HK: 0700
  • Alibaba Group -21% NYSE: BABA
  • Baidu -23% NASDAQ: BIDU
  • Xiaomi -23% HK: 1810
  • HUYA -45% NYSE: HUYA
Aspects of Tencent stock fall 'attributed' to power politics in China

CNBC Life video published Aug 16, 2018: Gavin Parry, managing director at Parry Global Group (parry-group.com), discusses Tencent's latest surprising earnings report.

See also:
  • Alibaba $BABA: "In the best-case scenario, Alibaba is the goofiest, most convoluted, opaque, mismanaged accounting mess and business structure in history"--deep-throat-ipo.blogspot.com. See the Form 20-F.

2) Tesla $TSLA Turbulence
$TSLA
Elon Musk Details ‘Excruciating’ Personal Toll of Tesla Turmoil | NYTimes.com 16 Aug 2018.

Tesla shares are getting slammed after Elon Musk's off-kilter interview with the NYT | CNBC.com 17 Aug 2018.

Elon Musk's 2018: Tesla, Flamethrowers and Lots of Tweets

Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) video above published Aug 15, 2018: Elon Musk's market-moving tweet about possibly taking Tesla private is just the latest erratic move in a tumultuous year for the CEO. See also: Tesla Is Said to Be Subpoenaed by S.E.C. Over Elon Musk Tweet | NYTimes.com 15 Aug 2018.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING"  ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: Dow, S&P 500 end the day and week higher buttressed by optimism over China-U.S. trade talks | MarketWatch.com.

Week ending 17 Aug 2018: NASDAQ Composite -0.3% | S&P 500 Index +0.6% | DJIA +1.4%

Wall Street's Charging Bull
graphic of Charging Bull | DomainMondo.com
Investing Notes: A Squeeze Is On

a. Grand Collapse in Turkey; to avoid the same fate, Argentina hikes rate to 45% | WolfStreet.com.

b. Rise of US Dollar Haunts Emerging Market Debt | WolfStreet.com 14 Aug 2018.

c. Tech still all the rage while bears prowl emerging markets: BAML survey | reuters.com.

d. Chinese banks’ bad loans grow at record pace in second quarter | chinaeconomicreview.com.

4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Facebook: what's next?

FT.com video above published 16 Aug 2018: After Facebook's share price $FB plunge, what's next for the social network? The FT's Hannah Kuchler posts from shareholder, advertiser and user perspectives.
  • AI & Fintech: how artificial intelligence is transforming financial services--weforum.org.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


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2018-07-07

Tech Review | Reinventing Air Conditioning & Cooling (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2018-07-07)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Reinventing Air Conditioning & Cooling, 2) Fintech: Finn by Chase, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes: Focus on  China4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) Reinventing Air Conditioning & Cooling (video)

Bloomberg.com video above published Jun 26, 2018: The starry night sky seems remarkably distant from the topic of air conditioning, but it’s revolutionizing the field in quite an unexpected way. In this episode of Bloomberg's "The Spark," watch how scientists from across the globe are harnessing natural phenomena to drastically redesign this century-old technology.

2) Fintech: Finn by Chase ℠ - Your New All Mobile Bank ℠

Introducing Finn by Chase℠ -- "a new all mobile bank that helps you stay in control of your money. It gives you all of the classic bank stuff, plus some new features that let you see your spending differently, so you can use your money better." More info: https://www.chase.com/personal/finnbank
(finnbank.com).
See also: "JPMorgan Chase takes smartphone account 'Finn' nationwide"--Reuters.com.Jun 28, 2018.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING"  ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite +2.4% | S&P 500 Index +1.5% | DJIA +0.8%
"Strong U.S. jobs growth helps Wall Street overlook trade worries"--Reuters.com 6 Jul 2018.
NASDAQ Composite
  • The U.S. labor market continues to power forward, adding another 200,000 jobs in June according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS also revised upwards April’s new jobs from 159,000 to 175,000 and May’s from 223,000 to 244,000, a total of 37,000 more than originally stated.
  • A small increase in the unemployment rate to 4%, up from 3.8%, came as a result of a rise in the labor participation rate, which increased 0.2 percentage points to 62.9 percent as 601,000 people came off the sidelines and re-entered the labor force. Average hourly earnings increased 2.7% year over year. 
  • According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the May 2018 trade deficit – the difference between what the U.S. exports to, and imports from, foreign markets – fell 6.6 percent to $43.1 billion, the smallest deficit since October 2016. U.S. exports increased 1.9% to a record $215.3 billion. Imports increased only 0.4% to $258.4 billion.
Wall Street's Charging Bull:
graphic of Charging Bull | DomainMondo.com

Investing Notes: Focus on China
Shanghai Composite
a. Global central banks are not enthusiastic about China's renminbi, and they are not dumping US-dollar-denominated assets from their foreign exchange reserves, nor euro-denominated assets either. US-dollar-denominated assets in foreign exchange reserves were $6.5 trillion, or 62.5% of “allocated” reserves in Q1 2018--WolfStreet.com. [Editor's note: The renminbi is the official currency of the People's Republic of China. The yuan is the basic unit of the renminbi, and also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally--official website: pbc.gov.cn; Symbol: ¥.]

b. China: Jim Chanos & James Grant video | vimeo.com--"China is the most extraordinary living laboratory of credit formation and credit abuse the world has ever seen ... China has been creating credit at twice the growth (or greater) of its economic growth ... Bank credit compared to GDP is far greater than anywhere else in the world, if there are no consequences, the world has truly been remade ... Non-chinese investors have no recourse in the Chinese legal system. Alipay was removed from Alibaba (BABA) without compensation and put into the private holding company of its Chinese owners." 

c. Alibaba $BABA: "Almost all of Alibaba's competitive advantages have some linkage back to the license to operate provided to them by the Chinese (PRC) government"--Not So Hidden Risks With Chinese-Based Companies--SeekingAlpha.com.

d. China now set to become the epicenter of the next Emerging Market turmoil--zerohedge.com.

e. Goldman: "We Met With Chinese Investors And The Tone Remains Very Negative"--zerohedge.com 6 Jul 2018: "Investors continue to have a long list of worries. Similar to the feedback from our recent trip to Beijing, most investors are worried about the trade war, defaults, and credit crunch, with particular concerns about liquidity in the LGFV and property sectors. After the sizeable RMB depreciation in recent days, we noted increased worries about policymakers' stance towards the RMB, and concern that further RMB depreciation would trigger capital outflows. Overall, investor sentiment remains very cautious, and are meaningfully more bearish than offshore investors." (emphasis and links added)

f. Who China Has Trade Disputes With:
source: Statista.com
4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
  • Amazon AWS: Google, Microsoft, Oracle et al Gang Up on Amazon for $10Bn Pentagon Prize--WolfStreet.com
  • Uber: Con artists are fleecing Uber drivers--cnet.com
  • IBM wins AU$1B (US$740 million) contract to be central technology partner to Australia's government for the next five years, including automation and blockchain services--Bloomberg.com.
  • Amazon's logistics network expands via small businesses operating 20 to 40 vans each--zdnet.com.
  • Reddit — one of the world's most popular websites — is trying to cash in through advertising--CNBC.com.
  • Lyft buys Motivate (motivateco.com) the largest provider of bike-sharing services in the United States--NYTimes.com.
  • Tech’s ‘Dirty Secret’: The App Developers Sifting Through Your Gmail--wsj.com.
  • Kroger, largest supermarket chain in the U.S., is launching a fully driverless delivery service by teaming up with Nuro (nuro.ai) a startup founded by two veterans of Google’s self-driving team--TheVerge.com.
  • Cyber Command moves closer to a major new weapon--FifthDomain.com.
  • ‘Hot’ money is flowing into Netflix, Facebook and Amazon again--Marketwatch.com.
  • Amazon Vs. Alibaba: Which Is Riskier?--SeekingAlpha.com.
Viewsroom: Is Silicon Valley getting nervous yet?
The tech hub is getting squeezed by new policy restrictions amid a looming trade war between the U.S. and China. How is the Valley holding up? Plus: India's state lenders are losing CEOs. Is running these banks into the ground part of the plan? Release date: 3 July 2018.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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