Tech Review | China Bridges The Gap To Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area

Tech Review (TR 2018-07-14)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1)  China Bridges The Gap To Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area, 2) The Hottest Tech IPOs in the Pipeline (podcast), 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) China Bridges The Gap To Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area

Hong Kong's financial markets, Shenzhen's technology and Guangdong's manufacturing have the potential to turn the Greater Bay Area of China into an economic powerhouse according to FT.com in the video above published Jul 5, 2018.

Editor's note: Hong Kong is being subsumed into mainland China.

Greater Bay Area of China

Hongkong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) | wikipedia.org CC BY-SA 4.0

2) The Hottest Tech IPOs in the Pipeline


Tech IPOs, especially in the enterprise space, have had strong showings so far this year, paving the way for more to come. TheStreet.com’s Eric Jhonsa, Annie Gaus and Nelson Wang look at some of the most highly-anticipated new issues, from Sonos and Tanium to Uber and Airbnb. Podcast published July 12, 2018.

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite +1.8% | S&P 500 Index +1.5% | DJIA +2.3% --Editor's note: the NASDAQ closed the week at a new record high, with large-cap tech stocks leading the market rally:

NASDAQ Composite

“In the absence of a recession, which still appears to be more than a year away (if not 2-3 years), the most important thing for investors to focus on is corporate earnings, which are set to increase by approximately 20% over last year”--Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer, Independent Advisor Alliance (independentadvisoralliance.com).

Wall Street's Charging Bull

Investing Notes:

The U.S. is 'winning' the trade war, says Mohamed El-Erian--CNBC.com: Mohamad El-Erian, chief economic advisor at Allianz, says the U.S. "will win the trade war" adding "one of the upside risks, is that you may end up changing, the global landscape in a way that favors the U.S." and:

"When people realize that at the end of the day, the US will prevail, because [China] is a less open economy, because [the US] is a more dynamic economy, that ultimately you may end up in a situation where the US' position in global economic terms is better off."

Safe Haven Asset: “The U.S. dollar is now the most popular safe-haven asset” says Cheuk Wan Fan, head of investment strategy for Asia at HSBC Private Bank. US$-based money market funds  now offer rates of about 2 percent, a level above seven-year Treasuries last September--Bloomberg.com 5 Jul 2018. Axios.com: Since the middle of June, China’s currency (RMB) has fallen more than 3% against the dollar, and the Chinese government has intervened to "limit the fall."

US Stocks: Freight Transportation Services Index is booming — and that’s bullish for US stocks, "signaling that the stock market and the U.S. economy are just fine"--Marketwatch.com. It’s time to go full MAGA in your stock picks, says Deutsche Bank--Marketwatch.com 10 Jul 2018. Five ‘mega trends’ are producing soaring stocks regardless of  'trade tariffs fears': Artificial Intelligence, E-commerce, Mobile Payments, Biotechnology, Gaming. 

Italian Bank Stocks Tumble as Savona warns of Euro break-up--zerohedge.com 10 Jul 2018.

Data & Stats: zombie stores in zombie malls are not being counted as “vacant” retail space because "they’re no longer being marketed as retail space" and presto! the square footage disappears from vacant retail space stats--WolfStreet.com.

Cryptocurrency: Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized reports bloomberg.com.

Politics & Finance: Scaramucci Says His Political Foray ‘Cost Me a Lot’--bloomberg.com--now aspires to double the assets at his SkyBridge Capital to $20 billion in the next five years.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• Amazon Prime Day 2018 | Amazon.com/PrimeDay starts July 16 at 3pm EDT.
• CO2 Emissions Hit 67-Year Low In Trump's America, As Rest-Of-World Rises--zerohedge.com 10 Jul 2018.
• Google may face a new record penalty this month from EU and have to respond with big Android changes; sources: fine expected to range into billions of dollars--WashingtonPost.com.
• IP Theft: former Apple employee Xiaolang Zhang charged by FBI with alleged theft of trade secrets related to Apple's autonomous car efforts--macrumors.com.
• Paypal to spend $3 billion a year on M&A-reuters.com
• Xiaomi closed below the IPO price on the first day of trading in Hong Kong after pricing IPO at the bottom of the range at $2.17/share and raising $4.7B--cnbc.com.  
• Apple Music had ~21.5M US subscribers as of last week while Spotify had ~22.5M; Apple's service growing faster than Spotify's in UK and Canada--ft.com.
• Privacy: Congress asks questions--Android (pdf) and iOS (pdf)--about smartphone software.
• The Future of Retail: 2018 and beyond--ZDnet.com.
• CRM: Add 'Reply' To Your Mass Emails--campaignsandelections.com.
• Fortune Brainstorm Tech 2018: Watch the livestream of  Fortune.com's annual technology conference, July 16 to 18, from Aspen, Colorado--Livestream | fortune.com.
• Personal Tech: The latest Linux Mint desktop is still the best desktop around--ZDnet.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Tech Review | Apple $AAPL Special Event Postpartum Depression?

Tech Review (TR 2017-09-23)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Apple $AAPL Special Event Postpartum Depression? 2) Google & HTC: Everyone Wants To Make A High-end Phone, 3) Cord-Cutting Trends--Cable Is For Old People, 4) Investing: Mass Psychology, Diversification, Gurus, US$, Buffett,  5) ICYMI Tech News.

1) Apple $AAPL Special Event Postpartum Depression?

NASDAQ:AAPL:

• Price Too High? iPhone X Prices Around The World & iPhone Pricing History | DomainMondo.com

• iPhone 8 and Apple Watch Series 3 hit stores today | TechCrunch.com: Mixed reviews, Apple Watch LTE issues.
• Apple Fans Missing For iPhone 8 Release Day | CBS Los Angeles | cbslocal.com Is everyone waiting for the release of iPhone X in November?
• Apple is falling on the first day the iPhone 8 is being sold (AAPL) | businessinsider.com Did Apple screw up its launch of new products by not launching iPhone X at the same time as iPhone8 and 8Plus?
• The Future of the IPhone Is Boring | Bloomberg.com, but see also Steve Jobs’ legacy & The iPhone X: "Every single event leaves me more in awe of Apple’s semiconductor group – and what they seem to achieve with each passing year." --Om Malik | om.co

2) Everyone Wants To Make A High-End Phone: Google & HTC

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) and HTC Corporation (TWSE: 2489) "announced a definitive agreement under which certain HTC employees – many of whom are already working with Google to develop Pixel smartphones – will join Google. HTC will receive US$1.1 billion in cash from Google as part of the transaction. Separately, Google will receive a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property (IP) ... this agreement also represents a significant investment by Google in Taiwan as a key innovation and technology hub ... expected to close by early 2018."--HTC.com, 21 Sep 2017.--About 2,000 HTC staffers to join Google; HTC to continue making its own smartphones, including a new flagship model.

See also: Android zero-touch enrollment: seamless and secure enterprise deployment | blog.google: carrier partners who plan to offer zero-touch: USA: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile; Europe: BT, Deutsche Telekom; Asia-Pacific: Softbank, Telstra.

3) Cord-Cutting Trends--Cable Is For Old People: 

Cord Cutters to Top 22 Million in U.S. by End of 2017 (Study) | Variety.com: "By 2021, the number of cord-cutters will nearly equal the number of people who have never had pay TV — a total of 81 million U.S. adults." See also Cable News Is Almost Exclusively Watched by Old People.

"The last couple of years, a few friends pulled the plug on cable/satellite ... my daughter Katie ditched the corded life, as have many (most?) of her Millennial friends. They have been doing the "streaming thing," first with subscription models such as Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime, and then with expanded services offering network bundles: Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, etc. Those who want to add a little "premium" to their lives can get stand-alone services from HBO or Showtime. (A basic guide to streaming options can be found on the Consumer Reports free site.)."--SeekingAlpha.com.  

Editor's note: best option for many may be either, or both, an Amazon Prime subscription (using an Amazon Fire TV Stick which will give you access to Amazon Prime content as well as Netflix (subscription), HBO and much more via Amazon Channels, AND/OR a Google Chromecast to access the free and à la carte and subscription content available from the internet and via Google Play (including apps). Total one-time hardware cost less than $75.00 (Fire Stick $39.99 + Chromecast $35). Put a little money into a quality screen, good internet connection (including router and modem), and pay for only the content you really want.

4) Investing

"Investing, in other words, is an exercise in mass psychology. I’ve spent decades studying it, and believe that one way to predict future market moves is to sort through the narratives that sweep through the population and influence decisions on whether to buy or sell. Such an analysis is a matter of art as much as science, however. Getting it right is crucial in the United States right now, because stock market valuations are already high enough to be worrisome."--Robert J.Shiller, Sept 15, 2017, NYTimes.com.

Separating the Dos From the Don'ts of Investing | Bloomberg.com: Diversification is the idea of reducing specific risk in your portfolio.

Investment Gurus: Beware of investing advice from market gurus | usatoday.com: "... the ninth anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy and the subsequent collapse of our country’s financial system. One of the most important lessons we can learn is that no one — not even the experts — saw it coming."

US$--The Demise of the U.S. Dollar? Don't Hold Your Breath--"The USD is still the dominant reserve currency, despite decades of diversification. Global reserves (allocated and unallocated) are over $12 trillion. Note that China's RMB doesn't even show up in allocated reserves--it's a non-player because it's pegged to the USD. Why hold RMB when the peg can be changed at will? It's lower risk to just hold USD ... the problem of replacing the USD in all its roles is that no other issuer has a large enough economy and is willing to shoulder the risks and burdens of issuing a free-floating currency in sufficient size to meet global demands."--Charles Hugh Smith

Warren Buffett, The Sage of Omaha: “Whenever I hear people talk pessimistically about this country (U.S.), I think they’re out of their mind ... It has been 241 years since Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence ... Being short America has been a loser’s game. I predict to you it will continue to be a loser’s game.” Buffett said he expects the Dow Jones Industrial Average to be “over 1 million” in 100 years, up from Tuesday’s close of 22,370.80, given where the index was roughly a century ago.--Buffett speaking this week in New York.

5) ICYMI Tech News:

• A Hacker’s Guide to Destroying the Global Economy | InstitutionalInvestor.com: a massive cyberattack on the financial system is coming ...
• Internet Giants Face New Political Resistance in Washington | NYTimes.com: "After years of largely avoiding regulation, businesses like Facebook, Google and Amazon are a focus of lawmakers, some of whom are criticizing the expanding power of big tech companies and their role in the 2016 election."
• Jailbreaking your connected coffee machine: The idiocy of things | ZDNet.com: "How many more of these IoT devices that use DRM technology to validate the use of proprietary refills do we have to endure?"
• 'Unfit' Uber stripped of London license | Reuters.com

• Equifax is Not Your Friend: Should Everyone Freeze Their Account? | MishTalk.com

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise to Lay Off 10% of its Staff | WolfStreet.com: "Master of share-buybacks and revenue-shrinkage does what it does best."

• China & Earth’s Largest Money-Market Fund | WSJ.com: "Alibaba Spinoff Yu’e Bao has accrued 370 million account holders and $211 billion in assets in just four years. As its model is replicated, the government is enforcing new regulations ..."
• The Washington Post's robot reporter has published 850 articles in the past year | Digiday.com

• U.S. Near Bottom in Public Trust of News Media | washingtonsblog.com: see page 21 of the 136-page study, “Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2017” (pdf).
• Google restricting ads when users search for addiction treatment due to misleading experiences among rehabilitation treatment centers--Google is cracking down on sketchy rehab ads | TheVerge.com: "Business listings are also plagued by hijackers, who have often used the “suggest an edit” feature on legitimate Google Maps listings to add their own 800-numbers, siphoning off callers looking for help. “If you’re a facility and you don’t check your map on a regular basis, you will be hijacked,” said Alan Johnson, chief assistant state attorney of Florida."
• The Missing Ingredient in All Public Discourse Today: Being Sure You're Right Makes You Weaker | Bloomberg.com: "The only way I have a chance of creating a better answer on health care, on taxes, on guns, is to truly understand the position of the other person ..."

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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