Ignore The Noise About Trade Wars: Charting US Earnings Boost (video)

Stephen Auth Says Everyone Knows That The Chinese Have Been Cheating On Steel

Bloomberg.com video above published Mar 2, 2018: Michael Collins, PMG Fixed Income, Senior Investment Officer; Stephen Auth, CEO of Federated Investor Equities (federatedinvestors.com), Jonathan MacKay, Schroders Investment (schroders.com) Strategist share their views on U.S. Tariffs and the Markets on Bloomberg Markets.

Markets Now: Everything Rallies But the Dow as Tariff Tantrum Peters Out | Barrons.com March 2, 2018: "4:18 p.m. Call it a comeback. Despite the early losses, the S&P 500 finished up 0.5% at 2691.25 today, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.1% to 7257.87, and the small-company  Russell 2000 climbed 1.7% to 1533.17. Even the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 70.92 points, or 0.3%, to 24,538.06, finished well off its low of the day."

Wall Street's Charging Bull

NASDAQ Composite Up 5% This Year:

Wilbur Ross Says Steel Tariffs Are About Jobs and National Security

Bloomberg.com video above published Mar 2, 2018: U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discusses President Donald Trump's tariff plans with Bloomberg's David Westin on "Bloomberg Markets."

Charting the US Earnings Boost

Financial Times (ft.com) video published Mar 2, 2018: The Trump tax reforms have left US companies flush with cash, and above investing more in their businesses, are boosting returns to investors. The FT.com's US business editor breaks down the numbers.

Percent increase in Q4 2017 earnings by sector

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Berkshire Hathaway Chair & Vice Chair: Warren Buffet & Charlie Munger

Warren Buffett: Advice For Entrepreneurs (2018)

Warren Buffett: Advice For Entrepreneurs (2018). Interview Date: 13th February, 2018.
Event: 10,000 small businesses summit. Investors Archive video published Feb 15, 2018.

A speech by billionaire and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett. In this speech, Warren tells three stories of entrepreneurs who against unfavourable circumstances, created successful businesses. These stories demonstrate key principle that Warren sees as necessary for a business to succeed.

Video Segments:
0:00 Introduction
0:38 Giving speeches
2:28 Buying a business from two women
6:42 Lessons learnt from Jack Taylor creating Enterprise
16:22 Inspire others
17:43 Important decisions in life
18:56 Simple rules

Warren Buffett Books:
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
The Essays of Warren Buffett
Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything

Warren Buffett's Favorite Books:
The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing
Security Analysis: Sixth Edition
Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings

Transcript (auto-generated):

A Conversation with Charlie Munger and Michigan Ross - 2017

The Ross School of Business - University of Michigan video above published Dec 20, 2017: Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, joins Michigan Ross Dean Scott DeRue for a conversation about Mr. Munger's life, career journey, philanthropic legacy, and his thoughts on a few current global trends. Recorded Nov 30, 2017 in Los Angeles as part of an event for alumni of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Scott DeRue and Charlie Munger are introduced by John E. Conlin, President of NWQ Investment Management Co. To jump directly to the conversation with Charlie, forward to: 2:57.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency:

"I think it is perfectly asinine to even pause to think about them," Munger said. "It's bad people, crazy bubble, bad idea, luring people into the concept of easy wealth without much insight or work. That's the last thing on Earth you should think about … There's just a whole lot of things that aren't going to work for you. Figure out what they are and avoid them like the plague. And one of them is bitcoin. … It is total insanity."

"You know it is one thing to think gold has some marvelous store of value because man has no way of inventing more gold or getting it very easily, so it has the advantage of rarity. Believe me, man is capable of somehow creating more bitcoin. … They tell you there are rules and they can't do it. Don't believe them. When there is enough incentive, bad things will happen."

Transcript (auto-generated):

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Tech Review | Cryptocurrency & Government Regulation (video)

Tech Review (TR 2018-01-20)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Cryptocurrency & Government Regulation, 2) Tax Reform & Apple Investment in U.S., 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) Cryptocurrency & Government Regulation

Capricorn Sees Cryptocurrency Declines Amid Regulatory Scramble: Emad Mostaque, co-chief investment officer at Capricorn Fund Managers (domain: capricornfundmanagers.com) discusses the value of cryptocurrencies and governments' attempts to regulate them. He speaks to Bloomberg's Anna Edwards on "Bloomberg Markets." Bloomberg.com video above published Jan 17, 2018.

See also: SEC says bitcoin funds raise 'investor protection issues' | Reuters.com

2) Tax Reform & Apple Investment in U.S.--Apple pledges to invest $30 billion and pay $38 billion tax bill:

Financial Times (ft.com) video published Jan 17, 2018: Apple has pledged to invest more than $30bn to expand its American operations in the wake of last month’s US tax reform bill, even as it makes an estimated $38bn one-off tax payment on the repatriation of its overseas profits.

Apple accelerates US investment and job creation | Apple.com: 

source: Apple.com

Apple plans a $350B “direct contribution” to US economy over next five years through repatriating overseas profits, new infrastructure projects, 20,000 new jobs--Apple to create 20K new jobs, citing Trump’s tax reform | YouTube.com (video).

3) Investing

The Week: S&P 500, Nasdaq end at records despite US shutdown risk | ChannelNewsAsia.com

• The Dow's 31% gain during Trump's first year is the best since FDR | cnbc.com: "The 30-stock index has surged more than 31 percent since Trump's inauguration. That marks the index's best performance during the first year of a president since Franklin Roosevelt. "You've got lower taxes, less regulation and confidence in the economy is high," said one investor. The S&P 500 has [also] surged 23 percent during Trump's first year in office."
• Fed Beige Book Report Shows Growth in Almost All Districts | YouTube.com.

Investing Notes:

• Euro & Eurozone : Euro Frustrates ECB Policy Makers Amid Stimulus Debate | YouTube.com. “If there were to be an economic shock this year, many of our countries and the monetary union as a whole are not prepared”--former Dutch finance minister Dijsselbloem--ft.com. See also: The EU Should Let the City of London Thrive | Bloomberg.com.

• $$ & Commodities: The Fall In USD Is Just The Start Of A Multiyear Downtrend And The Start Of A Multiyear Uptrend In Commodities  | SeekingAlpha.com

• Data: We Used Broadband Data We Shouldn’t Have — Here’s What Went Wrong | FiveThirtyEight.com: "We were reminded of an important lesson: that just because a data set comes from reputable institutions doesn’t necessarily mean it’s reliable."

• Sam Zell Sees "Irrational Exuberance" In US Stocks | ZeroHedge.com: "In summary, now is a good time to hold cash. Wait for equity and real estate prices to plunge, and be ready to try and catch that falling knife."

• Cryptocurrency--Everyone Is Getting Hilariously Rich and You’re Not | NYTimes.com: The goal may be decentralization, but the money is extremely concentrated. Coinbase has more than 13 million accounts that own cryptocurrencies. Data suggests that about 94 percent of the Bitcoin wealth is held by men, and some estimate that 95 percent of the wealth is held by 4 percent of the owners. There are only a few winners here, and, unless they lose it all, their impact going forward will be outsize.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)--buzzfeed.com: Facebook Couldn't Handle News. Maybe It Never Wanted To; Facebook's New Mission May Be Impossible--Bloomberg.com.

• Facebook Is Profiting From China, Thanks To Alibaba--SeekingAlpha.com.

• Uber & Softbank: Ex-Uber CEO nets $1.4B as company closes Softbank deal | TheHill.com: SoftBank is now Uber’s largest investor, deal values the ride hailing company at $48 billion.

• IBM Revenue Grows for the First Time Since 2012 | WSJ.com: Q4 revenue of $22.5B (up 3.6% YoY) vs. $22.1B expected; $1.1B loss from one-time $5.5B tax reform charge.

From the Reuters feed:

• Xiaomi taps CLSA, Morgan Stanley, Goldman for IPO sponsor role: sources | Reuters.com

• Ford plans $11 billion investment, 40 electrified vehicles by 2022 | Reuters.com

• Real estate investing startup Cadre partners with Goldman Sachs | Reuters.com

• Standard Chartered creates fintech investment unit | Reuters.com

• EU antitrust regulators clear Qualcomm purchase of NXP | Reuters.com

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Sam Zell: The Importance of Lowering the Corporate Tax Rate (video)

Sam Zell on the importance of lowering the corporate tax rate:

Videos above and below originally published on Aug 18, 2017: Billionaire investor Sam Zell on President Trump’s tax reform plan and the importance of lowering the corporate tax rate.

Sam Zell on how he became successful

Billionaire investor Sam Zell on the North Korean crisis and his new book ‘Am I being too subtle?: Straight Talk from a Business Rebel’--

Sam Zell is the chairman of Equity Group Investments (domain: egizell.com), the private investment firm he founded in 1968, and the chairman of five NYSE companies. He is an entrepreneur and investor who is active in a diverse range of industries, such as energy, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and communications, and of course real estate. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Helen.

Sam Zell on Global Growth: “Where’s the Demand?” https://t.co/Xc7RL1HYaJ pic.twitter.com/UaFW211BiS

— InvestorAlmanac (@InvestorAlmanac) December 24, 2017

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Tech Review | Tech and Tax Reform: The New Paradigm in 2018

Tech Review (TR 2017-12-23)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Tech and Tax Reform: The New Paradigm in 2018, 2) Novogratz Nixes Crypto Hedge Fund Plans, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) Tech and Tax Reform: The New Paradigm in 2018

Silicon Valley tech companies, employees, entrepreneurs, and investors, will realize tax cuts and other benefits beginning in 2018, under the new tax reform just passed by Congress, contrary to weeks of politicized misinformation published by much of mainstream media. A multitude of beneficial impacts from the tax bill will soon be reality:

"The U.S. tax overhaul is a boon to Silicon Valley technology companies like Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL), which will enjoy big tax cuts and the chance to bring back billions of dollars from overseas at a reduced rate. And contrary to the dire warnings of California officials, a large swath of Bay Area workers and their families stand to get a tax break as well, even with new limits on state and local tax deductions ...  many in Silicon Valley stand to benefit. Startup employees, freelancers and venture capital investors are among those who will get new tax benefits or keep those they already have, tax experts said."--Reuters.com Dec 21, 2017 (emphasis added).

Treasury's Sayegh Says Tax Bill a Big Win For U.S.

Bloomberg.com video above published Dec 22, 2017: U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tony Sayegh discusses the recently passed tax bill, concerns about the deficit and the Trump Administration's agenda for 2018. He speaks with Bloomberg's Kevin Cirilli on "Bloomberg Markets." President Trump signed the bill on Friday, Dec 22, 2017, watch the unfiltered video here.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) said in a letter to members of Congress that the bill will benefit the technology industry. Washington-based ITI lobbies on behalf of major technology firms like Google, Amazon, Oracle and IBM.--Major tech trade association backs GOP tax bill | TheHill.com.

• Tax Reform Passed, Now What? “When the smartest guys say we’re ninth inning, we’re 7th inning, maybe 8th ... Late in the cycle, clever boys drown in dumb money ... And I can’t wait for this tax reform. I’m a trained economist you know, I know this stuff cold. It’s going to be like pouring gasoline on a fire,” he explained. “Trump promised us 5% GDP growth. Katie bar the door!”-- ZeroHedge.com. 
• Credit Suisse Chief US Equity Strategist, Jonathan Golub, has estimated that corporate tax cuts in the U.S. could boost average earnings of companies in the S&P by about 8-10%--ZeroHedge.com. 
• "It will help sustain a very strong year of earnings growth for U.S. and for global equities,” said Timothy Graf, State Street Bank & Trust head of macro strategy EMEA., speaking on Bloomberg TV. “It will keep sentiment robust”--Global Stocks Rise To Record Highs As Tax Reform Is "Priced In" All Over The World | ZeroHedge.com.

• Tax Cut Could Impact U.S. Economy Sooner Than Later | YouTube.com (Bloomberg video): Bloomberg Intelligence Chief U.S. Economist Carl Riccadonna examines the economic impact of U.S. tax cuts.

The Tech Stocks to Keep an Eye on in 2018

Bloomberg.com video above published Dec 15, 2017: Techonomy CEO David Kirkpatrick and Bloomberg's Cory Johnson discuss the outlook for tech stocks in 2018 with Bloomberg's Emily Chang on "Bloomberg Technology."

2) Novogratz Nixes Crypto Hedge Fund Plans

Bloomberg.com video published Dec 22, 2017: Michael Novogratz, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Fortress Investment Group LLC macro trader, is putting aside his plan for a cryptocurrency hedge fund and predicts that Bitcoin will plunge to $8,000. Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker reports on "Bloomberg Markets."

See also:

• Bitcoin plunges below $11,000 in volatile trading on Coinbase | CNBC.com

• A Strategy for When to Sell Bitcoin | Bloomberg.com: "Maximizing gains is fine, but minimizing regrets counts for a lot too."
• Why you can’t cash out pt 1: Why Bitcoin’s “price” is largely fictional | Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain | davidgerard.co.uk.

• Bitcoin warnings grow more strident as Singapore urges 'extreme caution' | reuters.com

3) Investing

The Week: investors "cashing out their losers" before the close of the year next week, dropped markets slightly on Friday, but for the week, the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all posted their fifth straight weekly gain. "Large-cap US index on track to deliver returns, including dividends, every month of the year."--S&P 500 set to break record with ‘perfect’ calendar year | FT.com.

2018 Forecasts are being rewritten after passage of the tax reform bill: Jonathan Golub of Credit Suisse Group AG now predicts that the S&P 500 index (Friday: 2,683.34) will end next year at 3,000, up from his previous target of 2,875.

Investing Notes

• Dow rises 5,000 points in a year for the first time ever | cnbc.com Dec 18, 2017: "This is the biggest annual-points gain for the Dow in its history. A 140-point rally Monday sent it to an all-time high and pushed it to the 5,000-point milestone. "It's getting a bit extended, but I think it has more room to run," says MKM Partners' Jonathan Krinsky." Black Unemployment Rate Lowest in 17 Years | cnsnews.com.

• MacroView: In the U.S, the economy grew at its fastest pace in three years during the third quarter this year, while the economy of the eurozone is on pace for its largest expansion in a decade. In October, the International Monetary Fund raised its outlook for global economic growth to a rate of 3.7 percent in 2018, helping to push emerging market stocks up to six-year highs. Economic optimism soaring, boosting Trump's Approval Rating: CNBC.com survey.

• President Donald Trump's chief economist Gary Cohn is staying in the Trump administration, contrary to media reports, after successfully steering a tax reform package through Congress. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity," Cohn said during an Axios.com event in Washington.

• A Look Back: Goldman Sachs: 2017 In 100 Charts | ZeroHedge.com.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• A Reuters/Ipsos poll of 2,644 adults, released December 20, 2017, shows 60 percent of online shoppers in the U.S. planned to do most of their holiday buying on Amazon.com, up from 50 percent for the same period in 2015, while the number of shoppers who said they expected to do most of their holiday shopping at Walmart.com, Target.com and Macys.com declined by about 1 percent.
• Xiaomi's 2017 profit to exceed $1B based on company's $17B-$18B revenue estimate; $2B profit expected in 2018, makes $100B IPO value “reasonable”--reuters.com
• Snap Inc. $SNAP To End 2017 With No Profit In Sight: "Unless SNAP focuses on cutting costs, it will not see positive profit for years to come. Furthermore, Snap's R&D investments, like Spectacles, may not ever yield positive results or revenue"--SeekingAlpha.com.
• Ultimate Snub: Google brings Chrome to the Windows Store as just a download link--TheVerge.com--but Microsoft quickly removed it--here's the "must have."
• BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti criticizes Google and Facebook in newsroom memo, says media is in crisis--"The media is in crisis. Google and Facebook are taking the vast majority of ad revenue, and paying content creators far too little for the value they deliver to users."--buzzfeed.com
• How far ahead is Google Maps over Apple Maps? Google has a 6+ year lead over Apple, with Google Maps' data of buildings and “Areas of Interest” from its aerial, satellite, and Street View imagery--justinobeirne.com.

From the Reuters feed:

• France files complaint against Amazon for abuse of dominant position | reuters.com

• U.S. says Facebook, Microsoft disabled North Korean cyber threats | reuters.com

• Facebook defends itself against critics of social media | reuters.com

• UPS reserves 125 Tesla semi-trucks, largest public pre-order yet | reuters.com

• Google launching artificial intelligence research center in China | reuters.com

• Uber dealt blow after EU court classifies it as transport service | reuters.com

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Tech Review | U.S. Tax Reform: What It Means For Big Tech (video)

Tech Review (TR 2017-12-09)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) U.S. Tax Reform: What It Means For Big Tech, 2) FCC scheduled to kill net neutrality next week, 3) Investing: The Week: Wall Street's Record Highs, Investing Notes: Silicon Valley Reckoning?, 4) ICYMI Tech News.

1) What Tax Reform Means for Big Tech

Bloomberg.com video above published Dec 4, 2017: The U.S. Senate has passed its version of the tax bill and we are now waiting for a final version to be worked out between the House and Senate. Just how will tax reform impact big technology corporations like Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon?

See also: Israel may adjust corporate tax after U.S. slash - finance minister | reuters.com.

2) FCC scheduled to kill net neutrality in U.S. this coming week. Watch the LIVE webcast December 14 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm EST. See also:

• How Changes to Net Neutrality Laws Could Affect Small Businesses | entrepreneur.com: "A new administration and a new FCC chairman could roll back recent laws that make sure the internet is a level playing field."
• F.C.C. Plan to Roll Back Net Neutrality Worries Small Businesses | NYTimes.com

3) Investing

The Week: Dow, S&P 500 close the week at Record Highs. 

• US jobs report beats expectations as hurricane impact fades | BusinessInsider.com

• Trump Jobs Numbers Out: Unemployment at 17 year Low, 2.2 Million New Jobs Since Election, More Americans Working than Ever! | thegatewaypundit.com: Hispanic unemployment rate dropped to 4.7%, the LOWEST rate of unemployment for Hispanics in the history of the United States.
• November nonfarm payrolls rise 228,000 vs. 200,000 est. | cnbc.com: "Investors still expect the Fed to hike interest rates at its meeting next week."

Investing Notes: Silicon Valley Reckoning?

Why the future might not be bright for the founders of AirBnB, Pinterest and Dropbox: “What investors don’t like is to feel that a bunch of [expletive] young people are running around treating them like an ATM machine.” https://t.co/mzzTGsc2C3

— Hannah Kuchler (@hannahkuchler) December 4, 2017

4) ICYMI Tech News:

• Connected cars: What happens to your data after you leave your rental car behind? | ZDNet.com:  "Personal information stored on infotainment systems of hire cars can linger long after the rental is over. So who is responsible for making sure it is wiped?"
• WeWork: London's Soon-To-Be Biggest Property Renter Makes Massive Bet On Office Market Despite Brexit | ZeroHedge.com

• The Hidden Player Spurring a Wave of Cheap Consumer Devices: Amazon | NYTimes.com

• Australia to probe Facebook, Google over media disruption | reuters.com: whether U.S. online giants Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google had disrupted the news media to the detriment of publishers and consumers.
• Here are the ways Google and Amazon are fighting | MarketWatch.com

• Elon Musk talks up Tesla's upcoming artificial intelligence hardware | cnbc.com: "The remarks from Musk come almost two years after Tesla hired chip architect Jim Keller. Tesla's current Autopilot autonomous driving hardware uses Nvidia graphics cards."
• Spotify and Tencent agree to swap stakes in their music businesses | TechCrunch.com

• Apple is about to get a lot more of your money | MarketWatch.com: services such as Apple Pay, Apple Care, Apple Music and iCloud.
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 review: Chinese all-screen phone is an affordable iPhone X alternative Review | ZDNet.com

• YouTube to Launch New Music Subscription Service in March | Bloomberg.com

• India tech start-ups ask for government help as global firms threaten | cnbc.com

• Chromebooks in 2018: Ready for take-off? | ZDNet.com: "assessing just how many Chromebooks have been sold is not made easy by the leading analyst firms."

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Tech Review | The Internet Broke The Media & There's No Going Back

Tech Review (TR 2017-12-02)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) The Internet Broke the Media & There's No Going Back, 2) Caveat Emptor BLU Smartphones, 3) Investing: The Week, Investing Notes: Tax Reform, Student Debt, EU, Venture Capital, 4)ICYMI Tech News.

1) The Internet Broke the Media & There's No Going Back:

Bob Iger Says the World of TV Has Been Disrupted

Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger discusses the company's new streaming apps and plans for ESPN. He speaks with Emily Chang at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in Los Angeles on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Australia" Oct 3, 2017.

Why ESPN Is Laying Off More Staffers

ESPN is firing about 150 people, according to a person familiar with the matter, eliminating about 2 percent of its workforce as subscriptions decline and costs rise for the rights to air live sporting events. Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw and Cory Johnson have more on "Bloomberg Technology" Nov 29, 2017.

There is no silver bullet for what the internet and smartphones have destroyed https://t.co/tezFJNwuj6 pic.twitter.com/mfqgjd6BLW

— Bloomberg Gadfly (@gadfly) November 28, 2017

"Google and Facebook leave little room for competition ... What's the fix? There is none. Sorry ... The best approach is to have a coherent strategy, make money from multiple sources, minimize costs and lower expectations. And even if companies do all these things, they still may not survive. Digital media companies aren't the only ones casting about for survival strategies. Traditional media companies have a tough slog, too. And nearly every industry is learning that business models are breaking, and it's not easy to put them back together"--Bloomberg.com.

See also: Time Wasn't on Its Side | Bloomberg.com: "a bittersweet day for Old Media. Time Inc., publisher of the namesake iconic magazine, is selling out as its print-advertising revenue shrinks, with little offset by its ambitious digital efforts."

2) Caveat Emptor BLU Smartphones: 

Miami smartphone maker BLUproducts.com "blew" the Android "security update" to Life One X2  smartphones as owners reported being "locked out" of their phones after the OTA update installed--some have reported on Facebook and elsewhere that even after trying a "hard reset" their phones were "bricked"--

BLU Products  | facebook.com/BLU.Products comments: "Why are you guys still sending out this OTA update when you clearly must understand that there is something seriously wrong with it. It just locked out my wife's phone and then I start Googling and find out you have been aware of the problem for days. I wish I had done a quick check before going ahead with it. Very frustrating and disappointing Blu."

Maria:  BLU, you guys could calm a lot of this uproar by acknowledging the issue on your page as a post and not within the comments. It would show that you guys are dedicated to fixing the problem by admitting the issue and assuring us of a resolution within a reasonable time frame. Whether it be a forced update to fix, working pass code or a replacement phone of equal or greater value.  BLU: Hi Maria, this is not an automated response. I am a real person just like you and I can tell you that BLU is working around the clock for a solution on the issue.

3) Investing

The Week: U.S. markets posted strong weekly gains, with the Dow (DJIA) posting its best weekly performance in nearly a year, and the S&P 500's weekly gain of 1.5 per cent was the best weekly performance for the benchmark index in 11 weeks, all the more notable in view of the latest drama in D.C.

Investing Notes:  
What ETF Flows Are Saying About Tax Reform

Bloomberg Intelligence's Eric Balchunas and Bloomberg's Abigail Doolittle examine the impact of the Senate tax bill on the ETF market. They speak on "Bloomberg Markets" on Dec 1, 2017. Also note Balchunas's comments at the end about possible future bitcoin ETFs on the U.S. markets.

• Student Debt: Taibbi: The Great College Loan Swindle | RollingStone.com: How universities, banks and the government turned student debt into America's next financial black hole.
• EU: What Merkel’s political woes mean for the EU | Reuters.com

• Venture Capital: There’s an implosion of early-stage VC funding, and no one’s talking about it | TechCrunch.com

4) ICYMI 

Tech News:

• Are iPhone X, Galaxy Note 8 at $1,000 really 10 times better than $100 Nokia 2? | ZDNet.com

• Tesla switches on giant battery to shore up Australia's grid | reuters.com

• Amazon Merchants Continue to Find Ways to Cheat | Bloomberg.com: "Hiring click-farms to game reviews spikes when buying peaks."
• BlackBerry loses payment dispute with Nokia, to pay $137 million | reuters.com

• Amazon steps up pace in artificial intelligence race | reuters.com

• Qualcomm files new patent infringement complaints against Apple | reuters.com

• Social Media & Mobile Phones Fall From Grace | charleshughsmith.blogspot.com

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

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Tech Review | Tencent Posts Fastest Growth in Seven Years (video)

Tech Review (TR 2017-11-18)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news with commentary, analysis and opinion: Features • 1) Tencent Posts Fastest Growth in Seven Years, 2) Social Media & Fake News, 3) Cord Cutters OTT Subscriptions, 4) Investing: The Week, S&P 500 Index, Investing Notes, Tax Reform, 5)ICYMI.

1) Tencent Posts Fastest Growth in Seven Years

Bloomberg.com video published Nov 15, 2017:  Tencent Holdings Ltd. (Domain: tencent.com) posted its strongest growth in more than seven years, riding the success of games like Honour of Kings and a rapidly expanding internet advertising business. Bloomberg's Peter Elstrom reports on "Bloomberg Technology."

Tencent's Q3 earnings beat expectations, profit of $2.7B up 69% YOY, revenue of $9.8B, up 61% YOY, due to mobile and desktop gaming businesses.

Tencent Holdings Ltd shares HKG: 0700 (pricing in HKD)

2)  Social Media & Fake News: How did the news go ‘fake’? When the media went social | TheGuardian.com: "In all the fuss over misinformation, one crucial aspect is ignored: the way people now perform their relationship with news in order to win the approval of others." 

See also: How We Can Be Certain That Mueller Won't Prove Trump-Russia Collusion? | ZeroHedge.com: "Following the presidential election last year, anonymous sources from within the intelligence community were hemorrhaging leaks to the press on a regular basis that were damaging to the incoming administration. If there was any evidence to be found that Donald Trump colluded with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election using hackers and propaganda, the US intelligence community would have found it and leaked it to the New York Times or the Washington Post last year. Mueller isn’t going to find anything in 2017 that these vast, sprawling networks wouldn’t have found in 2016." --[Editor's note: which is why Wall Street and the markets have never paid serious attention to all the crazy "fake news" anti-Trump stories constantly issued by liberal media (WaPo, NYTimes, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, et al) since the election, which are now wearing thin even in "the Swamp."]

3) Cord Cutters in the U.S. can pick from more 200 OTT Subscription Services, but the top three dominate: 1. Netflix; 2. Amazon Video (Amazon Prime); 3. Hulu (SVOD)--ParksAssociates.com. [Editor's Note: Add in YouTube.com and Google Play Movies & TV a la carte via internet streaming, app or Chromecast, what else do you need?] See also: 

• TheVerge.com: Disney’s streaming service has won, and it hasn’t even launched yet--When you have the most important franchises in the world, nothing else matters.
• SeekingAlpha.com: The Brilliance Of Google's YouTube Strategy.

• TheStreet.com: Cord-cutting Is Leading Disney, Fox and Others to Take Drastic Action.

• Amazon scraps bundled video services | Reuters.com.

4) Investing

The Week: Wall Street ends the week on a weak note as investors remain focused on the tax bill | fxstreet.com: Following Thursday's rally, major equity indexes in the U.S. started Friday under pressure and "closed with modest losses as investors speculate the fate of the tax bill." [Editor's Note: see Tax Reform under Investing Notes below.]

The US benchmark S&P 500 index has hit dozens of records in 2017, and recently set a record for how long it has gone without a decline of 3%, and as of November 14 it hasn’t closed with a drop of 0.5% in 50 sessions, the longest such stretch since 1968, according to data from LPL Financial--MarketWatch.com.

Investing Notes:

• Tax Reform: On Nov 15, the U.S. House approved a Tax Reform Bill (HR 1, the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act), 227-205, with 13 Republicans and all Democrats voting nay. The Senate has yet to vote. See also: A Tax-Cut Bill to Make Scrooge McDuck Proud | NYTimes.com. 

"Corporate incentives have been perverted in the past decade, and instead of allocating capital to ensure long-term business growth, companies have rushed to cash out, with shareholders benefiting the most, while management teams got record bonuses as a result of their stock price-linked compensation bogeys ... the only thing Trump's [tax] reform will achieve is to dramatically accelerate recently slowing [stock] buybacks, which in turn will push stocks to new all time highs"--The Moment Gary Cohn Realized His Entire Economic Policy Is A Disaster | ZeroHedge.com.

See also: Let's be honest — this isn't actually tax reform | TheHill.com.

• Richest 1% Now Own More Than 50% of the World’s Wealth--Fortune.com: analysts at Swiss bank Credit Suisse say inequality is only going to get worse over the coming years, with millennials having a particularly tough time. The Global Wealth Report was released Tuesday together with a statement: "The outlook for the millionaire segment is more optimistic than for the bottom of the wealth pyramid.”
• Public pensions all over the U.S. are in trouble, drastically understating the current value of future liabilities. In the opinion of Yale's Chief Investment Officer David Swensen, the  projected annual returns of many pension funds will be increasingly difficult to hit in the coming years.  Swensen told Bloomberg.com, despite achieving a 13.5% annual return over the past 32 years, he is now preparing university officials for much lower returns averaging around 5% for the foreseeable future.
• Vanuatu: The Final Days of a Tax Haven | Bloomberg.com.
• European Stocks Suffer Longest Losing Streak In Over A Year (As EU Credit Crashes) Nov 15, 2017--ZeroHedge.com.
• Bitcoin Twice Burned--Mt. Gox’s bitcoin customers could lose again--Reuters.com. See also Tezos, a cryptocurrency that raised $232 million in July, is in crisis--"One of the biggest cryptocurrency crowdsales hasn’t lived up to the hype"--ArsTechnica.com.
• Frothy: Da Vinci portrait of Christ sells for record $450.3 million in NYC--Reuters.com.
• "How To Forecast Markets"--A Departing Top JPMorgan Strategist Reveals What He Learned After 30 Years--ZeroHedge.com: "Markets are not Math or Engineering, but a forever learning and adapting system with all of us observing and participating from the inside."
• Keep It Simple: 11 Rules for Equity Valuations | CFAinstitute.org: 1. Avoid Complexity. 

Editor's Note: Next week the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ will not open on Thursday, Nov 23, in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday, and both will close early at 1 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov 24.

5) ICYMI Tech News:

• Amazon cuts prices again at Whole Foods ahead of the holidays | Reuters.com: “Price cuts are permanent.”
• Why I Returned My iPhone X | nymag.com: "I loved the phone, but not enough to spend this much money on it." See also: Hackers Claim to Break Face ID a Week After iPhone X Release | WIRED.com, and alleged Apple infringement of patents to be investigated by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC)--Reuters.com.
• Fisker has filed patents for solid-state batteries claiming an energy density 2.5 times that of current batteries, capable of providing a 500-mile driving range, and could be recharged in as little as one minute--Autoblog.com. See also Is This The Tesla Killer? | ZeroHedge.com.
• T-Mobile US to propose significant share buyback: Deutsche Telekom owns about 64% of T-Mobile $TMUS, will not tender shares but may buy even more shares--Reuters.com. See also T-Mobile to roll out U.S. 5G network by 2020 | Reuters.com.
• How container shipping could reinvent itself for the digital age--McKinsey.com.
• Reuters.com: More EU cases against Google to come says EU commissioner.
• Missouri AG subpoenas Google in antitrust investigation--TheHill.com. See also Missouri Attorney General | ago.mo.gov: "probe into Google's practices including user data collection, use of other sites' content, and if search results favor its own services." 
• Israel prepares to send tax bills to Facebook, Google--Reuters.com. 
• 25iq.com: A Dozen Business Lessons from Waffle House (domain: wafflehouse.com).
• Trump Effect? U.S. farm sector looks to automate--Reuters.com [Editor's note: this is one thing that can happen when a sector loses easy access to low-wage illegal migrant workers.] 
• FCC unanimously approved rules allowing the blocking of robocalls--TheHill.com. The FCC is also set to unveil plans next week for a final vote to reverse a landmark 2015 net neutrality order in December. 
• Homeless Explosion: Tech Boom, Surging Rents Creating Homeless Crisis On America's West Coast--ZeroHedge.com.
• "Your best work isn't nothing, it's the heart of what you have to offer. Finding the long, difficult way is worth the journey, because it's the best way to get what you deserve."--Seth's Blog: Money for nothing | sethgodin.typepad.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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Tech Review | Hurricane Irma: Using Tech For Disasters & Recovery

Tech Review (TR 2017-09-16)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech news:
Features • 1) Hurricane Irma: Using Tech For Disasters & Recovery, 2) New Apple iPhones Too Expensive?, 3) Bitcoin a "fraud", 4) Investing: Tax Reform and Things the Market Does Not Care About, 5) ICYMI Tech News.

1) Hurricane Irma: using tech for disasters & recovery:

#Irma continues northward over Florida producing hurricane force winds, heavy rain, and storm surge. See https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb for info. pic.twitter.com/9jYQB2Ef0s

— NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) September 11, 2017

Google Crisis Maps: http://google.org/crisismap/2017-irma and http://google.org/crisismap/

FL residents who need help call 911. Mariners contact #USCG on VHF Ch. 16 or your sector command center. More info at 800-342-3557 #irma

— U.S. Coast Guard (@uscoastguard) September 12, 2017

Florida Power & Light (FPL) Update: https://www.fplmaps.com/

See also: Harvey and Irma scams: "Real websites for first responders, insurance companies, construction, medical and other vital organizations in the Florida and Texas areas — are being targeted by these malicious spoofed domain registrations."--circleid.com

2)  New Apple iPhones Too Expensive? Lucky 8? $1,000 price tag dampens iPhone enthusiasm in China | Reuters.com--iPhone’s share of China’s smartphone shipments fell to 9 percent in January-June, down from 14 percent in 2015 (source: CounterpointResearch.com data). See also Apple $AAPL Special Event: iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus & More | DomainMondo.com.

3)  Bitcoin a "fraud"--JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon calls bitcoin a 'fraud' | TheHill.com: “It’s a fraud” ... “worse than tulip bulbs" ... “You can’t have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart" ... [it] "won’t end well." See also  China to Shut Bitcoin Exchanges | WSJ.com Sep 11, 2017: "Authorities to ban commercial trading of all virtual currencies."

4) Investing: 

Tax Reform: "Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying he will eliminate the carried interest tax loophole."--YouTube.com and US Senate Finance Committee hearing 10:00 am EDT, Tuesday, Sep 19, 2017,  on Business Tax Reform, a big issue for tech, internet and telecom companies.

Things the Market Does Not Care About:

• "... Your feelings. Emotions usually get in the way of investment success but the markets have no sympathy if you get too excited, nervous, scared or greedy about your holdings. Taking things too personal is a great way to make poor decisions when money is at stake ...
• How successful you are. Success in other areas of life doesn’t always translate into success in the markets. Personalizing your successes can set you up for failure if you become too overconfident in your own abilities ... 
• Your political views. Markets are apolitical. They don’t care who you voted for, which cable news network you watch or what your ideological leanings are. 
• How much money you made on your last trade. Investors have a memory but the markets do not. One winning trade has no bearing on your future trades ..."--awealthofcommonsense.com

5) ICYMI Tech News:

• Criticism of Equifax data breach response mounts, shares tumble | Reuters.com

• Spanish regulators fine Facebook $1.4 million over data-collection practices | TheHill.com

• Android firsts, brought to you by Qualcomm | Qualcomm.com Sep 11, 2017: "Qualcomm’s inventions and innovations lead the R&D engine for the mobile industry" and Qualcomm's (QCOM) CEO Steve Mollenkopf on Citi 2017 Global Technology Conference - Transcript | SeekingAlpha.com.

• Google reveals the date it'll announce its iPhone X and Note 8 killer | mashable.com: Google will announce the Pixel 2 on Oct. 4, according to its MadeBy.Google.com website.

• Carmakers face electric reality as combustion engine outlook dims | Reuters.com

• Russia-phobia in DC: Kaspersky CEO accepts invite to testify before Congress | TheHillcom

• Quiet Please! Chrome browser will no longer autoplay content with sound in January 2018 | VentureBeat.com

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

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