Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany. Show all posts

2019-06-15

Tech Review | Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2019-06-15)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money, 2) Google and Facebook vs. Journalism & Democracy, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes: Why Trump Will Win The Trade Wars, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Huawei, AT&T, Verizon, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Salesforce, and more.

1) Entrepreneurs' Top Tips for Startups Raising Money

Top entrepreneurs offer advice on how to raise money and spend it wisely. Financial Times (ft.com) video above published Jun 7, 2019.

2) Google and Facebook vs. Journalism & Democracy 

Facebook and Google control 60% of the online ad market, and why that's bad for journalism and democracy, according to this CNN Business video published Jun 7, 2019.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING"  ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite +0.7% | S&P 500 Index +0.5% | DJIA +0.4%  *The major indexes are still showing strong gains for June — the Dow is up 5.1% and the S&P 500 is up 4.9%. 
Digital Trump  ©2016 DomainMondo.com
Investor Notes: Why Trump Will Win The Trade Wars
US: U.S. Stocks Still Look Better Than Anywhere Else | bloomberg.com--"while American outperformance continues to defy history, the rest of the world remains trapped in a bear market."

Editor's noteWhy Trump Will Win The Trade Wars: US exports make up only 12% of the US economy, of which nearly third go to Canada and Mexico, with which Trump has already made  trade deals (USMCA). In addition, many of the most valuable US exports are 'must-have' items such as Qualcomm chips. In short, Trump is playing with a much stronger hand (and he knows it), than China or Germany, the world's two largest exporters, both of which are heavy net exporters to the U.S., and upon which their economies are more dependent. Trump doesn't need to bluff, 'everyone in the game' knows he is holding the better hand (unless they are delusional or in a state of denial). China may still be trying to adjust to the culture shock of Trump's 'negotiating style' but the 'cold hard truth' is China’s Likely to Lose a Tech Cold War--bloomberg.com.

Germany, the world's second largest exporter, and dominant member of the EU, is actually a more complicated situation than China, with Brexit still an "uncertainty"--see UK Parliament Rejects Move To Block No-Deal Brexit--but if I were advising Germany, I would be worried. Germany will likely have to adjust to a new level playing field with the U.S. in trade, something long overdue, and which Germany has never had to face in the post-World War II era (now going on for almost seventy-five years), during which the U.S. generated big trade deficits with Germany as one way to stabilize and strengthen Europe to counter the Soviet Union. See Germany Struggles to Figure Out How to Get Trump to Back Off--bloomberg.com.
"If President Trump has a poker style it is almost certainly loose aggressive. It is the most challenging style to play well and the most difficult to play against. It is very hard to read a loose aggressive player, to know what they might do next. Such players are constantly taking the initiative, dominating the game. They are predictable only in their unpredictability. Sometimes they go down in flames but usually it is the loose aggressive players that win the money. Loose aggressive stands against tight weak. President Carter would probably play tight weak as would [UK Prime Minister] Mrs. May, although it is hard to imagine either at a poker table."--Arthur Goodhart 

• U.S. Mobility: 38 percent of US respondents say they are mobile with the resources, ability, and inclination to make a move. In fact, 5 percent of respondents say there is a 100 percent chance of their moving. The mobile are most likely to live in cities, though the income and educational background of "the mobile" and "the rooted" are similar.

• Borrowing costs are now lower than at any time since the founding of the US Federal Reserve in 1913 (or in the UK, since the Bank of England was established in 1694).
                        
EU: Foreign investment into Europe falls for first time in 7 years--CNBC International video  interview of  Andy Baldwin, EMEIA managing partner at EY, discusses the management consultancy's 2019 European Attractiveness report: "appetite to invest in Europe" has dropped to a seven-year low.

• Financial Stability, Or Lack Thereof, Drives The Eurozone Agenda | SeekingAlpha.com.

• IMF to warn Italy's debt poses major risk to euro zone economy. See also: Italy Poised to Launch Euro Parallel Currency | moneymaven.io.

• European banks? "They are burdened with an overbanked market, aging systems, a lack of resources to digitise and re-invent their services, and there are still no signs of any European banks emerging as cross border champions. European banking union is another EU initiative that seems to have drowned in the sea of bureaucracy that sinks everything. Governments still see their duty as protecting national banking champions. There is repeated regulatory failure; Danske Bank in terms of money laundering and the collapse of Spanish and Italian banks doesn’t help. No European banks are expanding, building market share. Instead they are all, and have been, retrenching. If I could think  of something positive to say about Europe ... But I really can’t"--Bill Blain Jun 4, 2019.
                        
China: the International Monetary Fund expects Chinese growth to slow to 6.2% this year and to 6% in 2020, the weakest since 1990, but many analysts believe real growth has already dipped below those levels, confirming a grim outlook for the world economy. See also The Countries with the Most Monstrous Corporate Debt Pileups.

Hong Kong: after seven hours of marching, organizers estimated 1,030,000 people took part in the protest opposing the proposed China extradition law.
                        
Not All That Glitters: the Couple Who Scammed Warren Buffett out of over $300 Million.

4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
January 2019: the US Justice Department unseals Huawei indictments including 23 counts (here and here) pertaining to the alleged theft of intellectual property, obstruction of justice, and fraud related to its alleged evasion of US sanctions against Iran.
June 2019: 'Dead Man Walking' Huawei, applies to trademark its “Hongmeng” operating system (OS) in at least nine countries and Europe, deploying a back-up plan in key markets as U.S. sanctions threaten its business model. However, China's industry insiders are less optimistic that Chinese chip makers can quickly meet the challenge of supplying all the needs of Huawei and other domestic technology firms. Prospectuses of Chinese chip companies preparing to list on a new tech-focused stock exchange in China are even more blunt, characterizing China's domestic chip industry as “relatively backward,” lacking in talent, and requiring “a long time to catch up.” 
See also:
  • Huawei indefinitely postpones the announcement of a new Windows laptop, originally scheduled for June, 2019, due to ongoing US trade sanctions.
  • Google Is Moving More Hardware Production Out of China--Trump’s tariffs push tech giant to boost Taiwan manufacturing, while companies, both foreign and domestic, increasingly seek to pivot production away from China due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to reset the  parameters for global trade and manufacturing. Foxconn says it can assemble Apple iPhones outside China.

AT&T: Dish Network Corp is open to merging its satellite television business with AT&T Inc.’s pay TV service, DirecTV, since both Dish and DirecTV are hemorrhaging subscribers as viewers continue to shift to cheaper online streaming services such as Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime video service. Unfortunately, AT&T's problems don't end there as AT&T appears to have no viable plan for its WarnerMedia streaming service a year after the Time Warner merger closed.

Verizon: 7 Reasons To Turn Bearish--upcoming Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7 technology may disrupt the wireless mobile industry by making free or low-cost city-wide Wi-Fi a reality.

Amazon is Betting Big On Satellite Internet. See alsoAmazon is offering flight booking on its platform in India, and it wants to build a one-stop app to offer customers a wide range of services which will attract users to Amazon Pay in the crowded digital wallet industry.

A $6 Billion Record Fine may be coming next year against Apple--see Spotify's complaint against Apple filed with the European Commission--timetoplayfair.com.

Why Sell Microsoft--new tax law ramifications .. cloud computing has no moat ... Windows 10 has continuing quality and performance issues [Editor's notemost people would be better off to forget about Win10 and just get a Chromebook] ... Microsoft behind in artificial intelligence (AI).

Salesforce: $CRM all-stock deal valued at $15.7B, for data visualization company Tableau (NYSE: DATA).

Instagram, a fashionista favorite, helped unknown labels find an audience but now "big bucks are changing the game" as cash rich luxury goods groups such as LVMH and Kering use increased social media budgets to drown out rivals on platforms once seen as a leveler for brands big and small.

IPO: Pet care company Chewy Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) (domain: chewy.com), closed up 59% at $34.99 after its debut IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, June 14.

A Bad Use of Technology: "Illegal robocalls are not just a drain on individual households' peace of mind, they are also a drain on our economy," FCC Chief Economist Babette Boliek and Chief Technology Officer Eric Burger wrote in a blog post, before the FCC voted unanimously to let carriers block robocalls by default.

Personal Tech: Google’s Login Chief Would Rather You Use Apple’s Sign-In Button Than Keep Using Passwords--‘I honestly do think this technology will be better for the internet.’

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2019-05-30

Margrethe Vestager | The Right Person for Top EU Job (video)

Margrethe Vestager the right person for top EU job, politician says

Luis Garicano, vice president of the ALDE, says Margrethe Vestager is the right person for top EU job, EU Commission President. CNBC International TV video above published on May 29, 2019.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen has given a strong signal that Denmark would push for EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager to take the EU's top job. Rasmussen, who was previously a political rival of Vestager, described her as "the best candidate" to succeed Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, ahead of an informal summit of EU leaders on Tuesday.

Merkel and Macron clash over the EU’s future leadership

Financial Times (ft.com) video above published May 28, 2019: Angela Merkel has made an impassioned defence of Manfred Weber, the German candidate to head the European Commission, shielding him from attacks from French president Emmanuel Macron that exposed divisions over the EU’s future leadership.


feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2019-05-27

European Election Results LIVE

Nigel Farage | Good Morning Britain: 

Good Morning Britain video published May 27, 2019: Nigel Farage interviewed the morning after the Brexit Party stormed ahead in the EU elections, said the Brexit Party will not stop until the UK leaves the European Union, citing the failure to depart on March 30th as the reason many in the UK chose to vote for the party.

UPDATE: Brexit Party & EU Populists Shatter EU Status Quo With Strong Showing In EU Parliamentary Vote--zerohedge.com. See this EU election results graphic.

European elections 2019 UK results: Brexit Party wins nine of first 10 regions; Liberal Democrats triumph over Labour Party in London--telegraph.co.uk

Centrist bloc to lose majority in EU vote as Greens and Euroskeptics gain, early results show--cnbc.com. The European parliamentary election is the second-largest democratic exercise in the world, with citizens across 28 nations voting for their new representatives. Over 400 million people are eligible to take part and the vote has major implications for the functioning of the EU and future national politics in each member state. The EU Parliament has a say on policies like agriculture and trade and is made of 751 MEPs (Members of the European Parliament).

Official Results: https://election-results.eu/

FRANCE 24 Live:

European Elections: May 23-26, 2019: The Netherlands and the UK voted first, on Thursday 23 May 2019, but most of the 21 EU member states vote Sunday, May 26, and results cannot be announced before the last polling station closes at 11pm Central European Time (CET) in Italy (Sunday 6pm EDT in the US).

Election Results: officials at the European Parliament expect to announce the first projection of results, based on exit polls and counted votes, as soon as 11:15pm CET (6:15pm EDT) on Sunday, May 26, 2019.

European Elections 2019:
source: europarl.europa.eu
See also:
The Brexit Party (UK):

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2019-04-08

IGF 2019 Second Open Consultations and MAG Meeting, April 9-11

IGF 2019 Second Open Consultations and MAG Meeting
The fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF 2019) will be hosted by the Government of Germany in Berlin from 25 to 29 November 2019. 

In preparation for IGF 2019, the third face-to-face 2019 Open Consultations and MAG Meeting will take place on 5-7 June 2019 in Berlin, Germany. The meeting will be held on the premises of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, near the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (central railway station). See also: @sgdickinson and @UNSGdigicoop.


feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2019-03-19

Deutsche Bank $DB & Commerzbank In Merger Talks (video)

Deutsche Bank & Commerzbank In Merger Talks

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank are the largest banks in Germany. Seeing as size and strength are crucial in international banking, the two banks in talks now to join forces to become one large financial entity. The goal is to keep up with international competition. The German government also supports the move. DW News video above published Mar 18, 2019.

NYSE: DB
Nobody likes Deutsche-Commerzbank deal: head of German investment body

Stefan Mueller, CEO and founder of the German Institute for Asset Allocation, discusses the pitfalls of a Deutsche Bank-Commerzbank merger. CNBC International TV video above published Mar 18, 2019.
feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2019-03-15

Brexit Madness - UK PM Theresa May to Ask EU for Brexit Delay (video)

Time Left Until Brexit, London time: 11:00 P.M., Friday, 12 Apr 2019 

Original Countdown to Brexit: 11:00 pm UK time on Friday, 29 March 2019.

UPDATES now at  UK Dysfunction | Brexit Or Not, Final Days Or Kick The Can Again? (video)
March 25, 2019: MPs pass Letwin Amendment to seize control of the Commons agenda on Wednesday – how MPs voted--brexitcentral.com.
March 21: May dashes to salvage Brexit deal in Brussels (video); Arriving in Brussels on Thursday for an EU summit, Mrs. May did not rule out leaving the European Union without a deal reports news.sky.com which also reports EU leaders agreed to extend the March 29th deadline to Apil 12. The deadline would be extended to May 22 only if UK MPs pass the prime minister's Brexit deal by the end of next week.

See also "... The faltering and badly drafted [UK Prime Minister's] letter to Mr Tusk is unacceptable, asking as it does for a delay of three months in our exit from the EU ... I agree some MPs have been delaying Brexit as the PM says. These MPs clearly include the Prime Minister herself who has wasted far too much time on a negotiation and Agreement which the public rejects massively. The latest poll shows just 14% support  for Mrs May’s Agreement."--johnredwoodsdiary.com.

March 20: EU ultimatum to May: you can only delay Brexit if deal is passed--Channel 4 News video published March 20, 2019: UK Prime Minister Theresa May has ruled out a long extension to Brexit while she is Prime Minister. See also the Prime Minister's statement (video) later in the day on Wednesday, March 20, 2010. See also: May's Letter Asking for Only Short Extension Came as Shock to EU--"EU officials say they see the risk of a looming catastrophe and the mood in Brussels is bleak as they realize that May has backed them into a corner too."--bloomberg.com.

March 20, 2019: UK Prime Minister Theresa May requests three-month Brexit extension--"I am therefore writing to inform the European Council that the UK is seeking an extension to the Article 50 period under Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union, including as applied by Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty, until 30 June 2019." --Letter in full here. See also Newspaper headlines: May's 'blame game' Brexit speech to nation | bbc.com.

But European Council President Donald Tusk said an extension would only be granted if MPs back the Prime Minister's Withdrawal Agreement next week. Three things could happen now: 1) no-deal Brexit, 2) May's 'deal' is somehow voted on yet again and passes,  or 3) UK revokes Article 50.  After Donald Tusk spoke, the UK pound sterling (GBP) fell, an indication that markets think there is now a greater chance of no-deal Brexit, but the London Stock Exchange benchmarks FTSE100 and FTSE250 have been resilient:
FTSE100
FTSE250
March 19, 2019: EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier: "Everyone should now finalise all preparations for a no-deal scenario" ... UK MPs "voting against no-deal does not prevent it  happening." See also France ready to veto any meaningless Brexit delay: Elysee official--reuters.com: "French officials say in private that they are not alone in their stance but that they are more willing than other countries to stick their necks out because Britain will always blame the French for their misfortunes."
France’s EU minister Nathalie Loiseau named her cat ‘Brexit’ because ‘he meows loudly to be let out each morning, but then refuses to go outside when she opens the door.’
March 18, 2019: House of Commons Speaker John Bercow told MPs he would not allow PM Theresa May to ask the Commons to vote a third time if the motion hadn't changed. The announcement took the government by surprise--Channel 4 News video.

March 18, 2019: A 'Hard" a/k/a 'No Deal' Brexit will benefit UK and emerging markets, says Mark Mobius, founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners. He also says he fears a soft Brexit will prohibit the U.K.'s economic potential, video below:

Ignore the nay-sayers – here’s why we’re still on course for a clean Brexit on 29th March: "MPs are not fearful of a weak unimaginative Government desperate to push through a failed deal. Parliament does not want to re-join the EU, it does not want a referendum. It cannot ask for an extension to implement the deal if MPs don’t want the deal. And nobody could stomach another drawn-out negotiation going on for potentially years and the imminent prospect of European Elections, manifestos, campaigns and all that comes with them. Once you have eliminated all the alternatives, the conclusion is staring you in the face – the UK will leave on 29th March and take back control"--Christopher Howarth | BrexitCentral.com.

Original post March 15, 2019:
The UK Government and UK Politicians Have Made A Shambolic Mess of Brexit (and the UK civil service is complicit)
Analysis and Opinion by the Editor:
The House of Commons ended its voting on a flurry of Brexit-related motions this week with one more humiliation and embarrassment for the hapless government formed by Prime Minister Theresa May--going back to Brussels and pleading for the EU (via its 27 other members) to agree to an extension of the Brexit date of March 29, 2019, a date May and her UK government chose following the Brexit referendum results of June 23, 2016.

Wherever you live, and whatever you may think of your own national government or its politicians, pity the poor British--Brexit outside the bubble: How do the British think Brexit is going?--UK Channel 4 News video published Mar 14, 2019, indicates how all this latest Brexit chaos is being seen by people who are not obsessives confined to the Westminster bubble.

Unless the British get lucky and get a quick exit from the EU by default on March 29, 2019, their economy will likely soon "tank" due to the continual uncertainty,  the UK government having chosen a no-man's land of "neither in nor out" of the dysfunctional European Union (EU) which is already entering its own economic recession--Italy is already there, Germany and France are not far behind despite renewed "easing" by the European Central Bank (ECB)--see Euro falls as Eurozone growth forecasts slashed | cityam.com: "European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi today announced a significant downgrade in Eurozone growth predictions as he renewed a stimulus programme of cheap loans to bolster the struggling economy." (March 7, 2019)

It appears a majority in the House of Commons prefer to drown with bureaucrats in Brussels and EU member states trapped in the Eurozone, rather than swim to safety and a world full of opportunities. This is Dunkirk all over again, but the boats aren't coming this time. Don't expect even the Almighty to help those who refuse to help themselves.
Regarding Brexit, the single biggest issue gripping the U.K. is indecisionCitadel (citadel.com) billionaire founder Ken Griffin said. “Until they pick a path, it deters capital investment. Politicians don’t appreciate when they create uncertainty it kills the willingness to invest.
President Trump Meets with the Prime Minister of Ireland

U.S. President Donald Trump and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar discuss Brexit at a press conference at the White House, March 14, 2019. Trump: "The European Union treats us very unfairly." 

UK Channel 4 News recap video of March 14, 2019, in the House of Commons: "May wins vote to seek Brexit delay"-- "In a narrow Commons victory this evening the government fought off an attempt by MPs to take control of Brexit in Parliament. Instead, Theresa May has presented a stark choice to MPs: back her deal in another vote next week - or risk a long delay to Brexit - and even the possibility of having to hold European elections in May. MPs are now expected to have a third meaningful vote on Brexit next week. That's just before Theresa May heads off to Brussels for what is currently set to be the last European summit with a British Prime Minister at the table."

More on Brexit:


feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

2019-02-16

Tech Review: 1) What Will Replace Facebook? 2) Jeff Bezos in 1999 (video)

graphic "Tech Review" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Tech Review (TR 2019-02-16)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) What Will Replace Facebook? 2) Jeff Bezos In 1999 On Amazon's Plans Before The Dotcom Crash, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes: Globalization in Transition, Germany Vulnerable, Bill Gross, John Paulson, Byron Wien, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Big Tech and more, 5) End Note: Velocity.

1) What will replace Facebook? 

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has dominated the social-media landscape for the past 15 years. "But breaches of its users' privacy mean it is now slipping out of favour. Could an emerging technological movement take its place?"--The Economist.com video above published Feb 4, 2019. See also There Are Storm Clouds On Facebook's Horizon--seekingalpha.com.

Also note: Headlines Aren't Reality--seekingalpha.com"At 22 times earnings, FB is my highest conviction buy of 2019."

2) Jeff Bezos In 1999 On Amazon's Plans Before The Dotcom Crash

Jeff Bezos explained his ambitious vision for Amazon $AMZN in a 1999 interview. He made clear the company’s focus was on “great customer service” and discussed his real estate strategy. Bezos said, “There’s no guarantee that Amazon.com can be a successful company. What we’re trying to do is very complicated.” He added, “Scale is important to us and we’re going to go after that kind of scale.” CNBC.com video published Feb 8, 2019.

See also:
  • Bezos Complexifiers from Ms. Sanchez to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez: "we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens"--aboutamazon.com.
  • Amazon Isn’t Interested in Making the World a Better Place by Kara Swisher--"New Yorkers who expected better bought into the myth that tech companies are more than just self-interested businesses."--NYTimes.com Op-ed.
  • 'New York’s Ejection of Amazon Is the Start of a Movement'--citylab.com. New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Cheers Amazon’s Withdrawal as a Victory Over ‘Greed’--bloomberg.com.
  • Bezos's Wild Days: 'Dick Pics,' Lurid Selfies, Blackmail, Drama--bloomberg.com.
  • Bezos Selfie Controversy Triggers Alarm For Billionaires Worldwide.
  • Why Amazon $AMZN Is Undervalued--seekingalpha.com.
  • Size Matters: When Amazon Went From Big to Unbelievably Big--Amazon now has 288M sq. ft. of warehouses, offices, retail stores, and data centers; all retail adds up to less than 20M sq. ft. and all of AWS uses 10M sq. ft.--the data on the company’s real-estate holdings reveal a remarkable inflection point--theatlantic.com.

3) Investing
graphic: "INVESTING"  ©2017 DomainMondo.com
The Week: NASDAQ Composite +2.4% | S&P 500 Index +2.5% | DJIA +3.1%
The Long View:
Trendline (graphic) ©2018 DomainMondo.com
Investor Notes: with the world awash in $8.6 trillion of negative-yielding debt, money managers are wading again into fringe fixed-income markets across the globe--“We’ve seen a huge psychological swing toward greed from fear in the space of a few weeks,” said Jamie Stuttard, co-head of global macro fixed-income at Robeco Group in London (robeco.com).

Americans' Confidence in Their Finances Keeps Growing--gallup.com; Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon says US economy 'chugging along,' chance of recession quite small--cnbc.com.

U.S. Oil & Brexit: the United States is now the largest global crude oil producer (production to grow to 14 mbpd by 2030 according to EIA.gov), and the U.S. has already become the United Kingdom's largest supplier of oil for the first time since the Suez crisis of 1956, reports the Financial Times.

Trump Effect or Not, Globalization is in Transition: future of trade and value chains--China exported 17% of what it produced in 2007, but only 9% of what it produced in 2017, about the same percentage as the U.S., but much lower than Germany's 34%, South Korea's 28%, and Japan's 14%--mckinsey.com.
  • Editor's note: export-heavy countries may be at risk, particularly Germany. The EU has badly miscalculated the economic risks of Brexit for the EU, particularly Germany (the UK imports more from the EU than it exports, and Germany is most vulnerable). A 'hard Brexit,'  in conjunction with Trump's trade policiescould deliver a double whammy to Germany's already slowing economy in 2019.
  • "Germany’s long expansion comes under threat, the slowing is a consequence of its export-oriented model"--economist.com.
  • German Industrial Production Falls the Most Since 2009. New Orders Plummet ... a “technical recession” beckons--WolfStreet.com.
Majority Of U.S. CEOs See Trump's Tariffs Helping--"More than double the number who saw a negative impact"--zerohedge.com.and bloomberg.com.

The Bond King Retires: Bill Gross’s retirement from Janus and his  recent struggles show how hard it’s become for individual managers to beat the indexes, algorithms and sprawling trading teams that oversee today’s portfolios--bloomberg.com.

John Paulson, 63, may also be getting ready to call it a day. He said last month that he is considering booting out investors and managing only his own money within a couple of years--largely unknown until the financial crisis, when he shorted housing before everyone else recognized the bubble, his firm made $15 billion in 2007, and his personal cut was $4 billion. Read The Greatest Trade Ever.

Blackstone's Byron Wien Discusses Lessons Learned in His First 80 Years: #20 Never retire.  "If you work forever, you can live forever.  I know there is an abundance of biological evidence against this theory, but I’m going with it anyway."--blackstone.com.

4) ICYMI Tech News:
graphic: "ICYMI Tech News" ©2017 DomainMondo.com
Google announces "over $13 billion in investments throughout 2019 in data centers and offices across the U.S., with major expansions in 14 states. These new investments will give us the capacity to hire tens of thousands of employees, and enable the creation of more than 10,000 new construction jobs in Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia. With this new investment, Google will now have a home in 24 total states, including data centers in 13 communities. 2019 marks the second year in a row we’ll be growing faster outside of the Bay Area than in it." Google also plans to release a lower-priced smartphone this year--nikkei.com; and  Google extends chip-making efforts to a design hub in Bengaluru, India--reuters.com.

Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOGL) aggressively ramped up capital spending in 2018, spending far more than the large telecoms AT&T (T) and Verizon Communications (VZ), and other tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN).--seekingalpha.com. See also 'Why Alphabet is a better investment than Apple'.--seekingalpha.com, and Apple Faces New Challenges In App Store--seekingalpha.com.

Big Tech: Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, have become so large that even relatively modest percentage growth in any of their businesses would translate into enormous absolute change in the world--theatlantic.com.

Going short Tesla $TSLA: Druckenmiller bought Tesla Puts in Q4 2018.

Venture Capital: VCs raised $55B in 2018, but most of the increased funding went into growth rounds, which are effectively private IPOs--bothsidesofthetable.com.

Speed robotics development with the cloud--therobotreport.com.

Cut the Cord: MGM’s Epix Joins Streaming Market With Epix Now app--Variety.com.

Boeing's iconic 747:
NASA's Boeing 747 transporting the Space Shuttle
UPS ordered 14 more 747-8 freighters in 2018, and Boeing's iconic jumbo jet, now flying in the skies for more than 50 years, looks set to outlive its younger European competitor, Airbus SE’s A380, thanks to a cargo market boom fueled by online shopping.

Sprint sues AT&T over its “5G Evolution” branding, claims it is false and deceptive advertising that is damaging the reputation of actual 5G --engadget.com.

Germany, France face hurdles in push to rewrite EU antitrust rules--Vestager says global rules on subsidies and trade defense instruments, controlling foreign investments, mutual access to markets and reinforcing data protection and privacy rules should be included.

Blockchain’s Occam problem--mckinsey.com"given the amount of money and time spent ... little of substance has been achieved." [ Editor's note: Occam’s razor is a problem-solving principle, the simplest solution tends to be the best.]

5) End Note
How to Increase Velocity: Say "No" to the Non-Essential, ruthlessly eliminate unnecessary tasks, priorities, meetings, BS; create systems and habits that help you fend off distractions; and put all your effort into the projects that really matter.
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”--Steve Jobs
-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo


DISCLAIMER

Domain Mondo archive