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 China,
4) 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
The Week: NASDAQ Composite +2.4% |
S&P 500 Index +1.5% |
DJIA +0.8%
- 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:
Investing Notes: Focus on China
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:
4) ICYMI Tech News:
- 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
feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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