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MSFT | Dismal decade for emerging markets casts pall over repeated buy notes | By Tom Arnold and Karin Strohecker
LONDON Reuters One of the hardiest investment fixtures has been the annual buy note on emerging markets equities but their dismal performance over the past decade begs the question why
With the United States and China poised to seal an initial trade deal the chances of a global recession receding and U S equities soaring to record levels many investment firms are once again turning positive on emerging markets for 2020
That seems logical in a low growth low yielding developed world where underlying bullishness about equities may reasonably be guided toward relatively high dividend and growth stocks in a grouping of developing economies now accounting for around 60 of global economic activity and expected to be the main engine of what little growth there is around
But the re emergence of the seasonal cheer toward emerging markets doesn t wash as easily as it once did and contrasts with the rest of the year in which returns on emerging market stocks have disappointed less than half those of Wall St s S P 500 SPX and more than 10 percentage points below MSCI s all country world index
Some bets go wrong once in a while But it s been like this for emerging markets for much of the past decade
In every year apart from 2010 and 2017 the MSCI Emerging Markets Index MSCIEF has trundled in behind the plain vanilla U S benchmark index raising questions as to why advisers continually push ostensibly higher risk markets that reap poorer returns
This time of the year every single year you get the same people trotting out the same argument as to why you should buy emerging markets said John Paul Smith of emerging market consultancy Ecstrat who has correctly called the underperformance of emerging stocks from the end of 2010
HIGH RISK WITHOUT THE REWARD
Once dismissed as casinos because of their volatile economics and politics and frequent illiquidity emerging markets have sucked in an estimated 50 billion annually in foreign equity flows since that term for lower and middle income countries was first coined 38 years ago
That investment has helped emerging economies develop with at least some of that cash ploughed into infrastructure local business and public services
For much of their early years emerging markets proved the brightest stars in the global asset class galaxy surpassing the S P 500 up until the 2008 global financial crisis
But the last decade has been more subdued
Investors broadly give three big reasons for that A stronger dollar due in part to U S attempts to dial down stimulus in the wake of the 2008 banking crash has acted as a headwind for further migration of still dominant western private savings pools toward emerging markets
More tepid global growth has also magnified a slowdown in China whose explosive expansion from 2000 was the supercycle of the previous decade but which has since dragged on all emerging economies
Thirdly the failure of globalization to fully recover from the 2008 banking crash and recession evident in a rash of protectionist politics civil unrest and faltering trade has weakened the underlying 30 year investment thesis
In this environment trade has suffered said Ian Hargreaves co head of Asia and emerging market equities at Invesco Given the correlation between exports growth and corporate earnings for EM companies this has had a negative impact
KEEPING THE FAITH
Nevertheless heading into 2020 BlackRock NYSE BLK the world s largest asset manager is overweight on emerging market equities Amundi Asset Management Europe s largest is moderately more constructive on the asset class JPMorgan NYSE JPM the U S s largest bank is modestly overweight while HSBC Asset Management part of Europe s largest bank is overweight too
Many within the industry were similarly positive going into 2019 and in many recent years BlackRock and HSBC Asset Management were overweight this time last year Amundi was neutral while JPMorgan expected emerging market stocks to deliver double digit appreciation which they have done just almost half the amount you would have got at home in Boston London Paris or Frankfurt
The fund management industry push the emerging markets largely for reasons of self interest because the margins are so much higher said Smith
For a graphic on Dismal decade for emerging market stocks click
STRUCTURAL CHANGES
Their poor performance is raising broader questions about the structure of stock market indexes like MSCI s the most widely used emerging market index with around 1 100 constituents from 26 countries
Such indexes should begin to encompass U S giants such as Boeing N BA Coca Cola N KO or Chevron N CVX as emerging markets begin to account for a larger chunk of their profits said veteran emerging market investor Mark Mobius Developed market stocks are not currently included although MSCI does offer separate indexes which cover such stocks with high exposure to emerging markets
You can continue to say emerging market countries are in the lower and middle income bracket but if a company has more than 50 of its earnings in emerging markets it should be defined as an emerging market company said Mobius founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners
Some emerging market companies have performed well over the past decade South Korea s Samsung Electronics KS 005930 for example has shot up more than 300 although still less than Apple O AAPL and Microsoft O MSFT
For a graphic on Dismal decade for emerging market stocks click
MSCI says its framework for classifying markets into emerging and developed is supported by evidence showing that splits based on development and geography resulted in correlation clusters allowing investors to seek out diversity
Superior economic growth has resulted in positive market returns historically low correlation within emerging markets and across asset classes has provided diversification benefits and relative scarcity of information has created opportunities for active portfolio management said Dimitris Melas MSCI s global head of core equity research
Melas points out that emerging markets have outperformed since the launch of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index in December 1987
INVESTMENT BOOM
The 80s were the start of an investment boom in emerging markets which gained traction after the IFC s Antoine van Agtmael pitched a fund investing in such markets in a meeting at investment bank Salomon Brothers in New York He piqued the interest of those present but doubts surfaced about the proposed name Third World Equity Fund a term that connoted poverty and hopelessness
Agtmael coined emerging markets instead Soon the likes of Franklin Templeton and Capital Group were dipping their toes in the asset class at the vanguard of a growing wall of investment
It still makes sense to group together the lower income end of the global investment universe and it has not stopped emerging said Agtmael In fact it may be bigger and more attractive than ever now that it is no longer hyped
Emerging markets remain a growing part of the global economy with a rising middle class unlike the U S he notes
Fund managers are split about the asset class s fortunes over the next decade
Ecstrat s Smith remains downbeat worrying in particular about the risk of a blow up among too big to fail state linked firms in China
Others are more positive
In the last three months emerging markets have outperformed the S P 500 said Mobius We may be seeing a return to emerging markets mainly because of this low interest rate environment People are searching for yield
But if that yield is drowned by repeated capital loss illiquidity or excessive volatility the burden of proof will climb further | 12/20/2019 |
INTC | Intel hires GlobalFoundries CTO | Intel NASDAQ INTC has hired Gary Patton former CTO of GlobalFoundries and an IBM veteran
Patton will serve as Intel s corporate VP and GM of design enablement and will report to CTO Mike Mayberry
He worked at IBM for a decade and spent most of that time overseeing the semiconductor R D team
Source An internal memo viewed by Reuters Intel confirmed the memo was authentic | 12/11/2019 |
MSFT | Tech Industry Shudders as U S Weighs New Limits on Huawei Sales | Bloomberg The U S government is weighing new limits on sales of chips and other vital components to China s Huawei Technologies Co sparking another furious round of lobbying by technology companies
Industry associations representing U S chipmakers software companies and manufacturers have written to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross in recent weeks arguing against the changes according to copies obtained by Bloomberg News They urge President Donald Trump s administration to at least hear them out before introducing tougher rules to close what U S officials consider loopholes letting American companies keep working with Huawei
In May the U S announced an export ban against Huawei saying it s a national security threat The Chinese company s placement on the so called entity list means it is cut off from U S components and American companies are required to get licenses to resume business with the firm Huawei has denied it helps the Chinese government gain illicit access to information and that its equipment is insecure
Some U S companies have continued selling to Huawei even after the blacklisting citing rules that limit the government s ability to restrict exports De minimis provisions exempt certain products if companies can prove the majority of work done to create the items happens outside the U S The current threshold effectively kicks in when 75 of the work occurs overseas The administration is considering raising that to 90 and broadening the list of products people familiar with the discussions said The change could come as soon as January added the people who asked not to be identified discussing policy deliberations
Secretary Ross met with SIA and heard their views as officials from the Department regularly engage with private industry a Commerce Department spokesman Moreover the Department is constantly reviewing policies along with its interagency partners to better address national security but the Department cannot speak to specific proposals that may or may not be under consideration
Many U S tech companies have operations outside the U S that help them argue their products are exempt Chipmakers run design bureaus around the world to support 24 hour development cycles and many have outsourced manufacturing to Asian contractors But if the de minimis threshold rises to 90 the industry will struggle to keep slipping through this loophole
We respectfully request the Administration refrain from pursuing these regulatory changes and consider carefully the potentially significant harms they would cause John Neuffer president of the Semiconductor Industry Association wrote in a Dec 5 letter to Ross at the Commerce Department
The U S government may publish the changes as final rules not as a proposal that allows input from the industry and other stakeholders added Neuffer while imploring the administration not to pursue that approach
The tech companies argue that a tougher Huawei ban only harms the U S Many of the components they supply to Huawei can be obtained elsewhere so U S companies would lose sales to overseas rivals
Over the long term companies in the U S would be forced to reduce investment in the research needed to maintain U S technology leadership ultimately degrading the innovation that contributes to our economic leadership and national security Neuffer wrote
U S tech companies have already struggled to comply with the original Huawei ban while keeping access to the Chinese market the largest in the world The government in Beijing has threatened to retaliate against companies that stop supporting Huawei a national champion and a top maker of telecom gear and smartphones
In November the Commerce Department said it started approving some applications for licenses to do business with Huawei while rejecting others It characterized the approvals as narrow Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT got a license It s unclear which other companies got approved and how the decisions were made | 12/17/2019 |
INTC | Amazon designs more powerful data center chip | Reuters Amazon com Inc O AMZN said on Tuesday it had designed a more powerful data center processor chip as it looks to pose a serious challenge to the domination of market leaders Intel Corp O INTC and Advanced Micro Devices Inc O AMD
The AWS Graviton 2 processor which is estimated to be seven times faster than its previous chip uses technology from SoftBank Group Corp owned T 9984 Arm Holdings
Reuters reported last week that Amazon was looking to design a data center processor chip to power its cloud unit
Data center processor chips are used in cloud computing an area that is fast emerging as a big business
With the new chip Amazon is looking to reduce its reliance on processors made by Intel and AMD to power its money spinning cloud business AWS
Intel currently controls more than 90 of the server processor market with AMD controlling most of the remainder | 12/3/2019 |
INTC | U S Supreme Court skeptical of Intel in retirement fund dispute | By Andrew Chung
WASHINGTON Reuters U S Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared skeptical of Intel Corp s O INTC bid to avoid a lawsuit accusing it of violating federal law in making employee retirement plan investments that cost beneficiaries hundreds of millions of dollars
The justices heard an hour of arguments in Intel s appeal of a lower court ruling reviving the proposed class action lawsuit that a judge decided in 2017 had been filed too late
The case is significant for companies because it could expand the time that many plan beneficiaries have to bring lawsuits which could lead to higher damages
Conservative and liberal justices alike seemed to sympathize with the former Intel employee who filed suit in 2015 claiming he did not have actual knowledge of the alleged investment problems because he did not read the relevant documents that were only posted online
Most people don t read them or many conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said So how do you have actual knowledge if you haven t read it
I must say I don t read all the mailings that I get about my investments echoed liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
At issue is the time period for alleging violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act a federal law requiring plan managers to invest prudently
Beneficiaries generally have six years to sue over ill advised investment decisions That deadline is cut to three years if a problem is known sooner
The lawsuit filed by former Intel engineer Christopher Sulyma accused company retirement plans and administrators of breaching their fiduciary duty to the participants by placing an overly heavy emphasis on hedge funds and private equity in contrast to peer funds
Sulyma backed by President Donald Trump s administration in the case said that while employed at Intel between 2010 and 2012 he was unaware of the alternative investments in the online documents that they performed poorly or even what hedge funds were
California based Intel said the lawsuit should be thrown out because the fund participants knew of the issue more than three years before the lawsuit was filed based on emails the company had sent with links to documents about the investments
The investments were chosen to better diversify the plans portfolios the company said
The San Francisco based 9th U S Circuit Court of Appeals last year let the case proceed ruling that the three year deadline applied only if Sulyma was actually aware of the facts of a violation not merely that those facts were available | 12/4/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks Wall Street Sees Small Gains as Trade Euphoria Wanes | Investing com A day after the phase one U S China trade deal was finally struck a hangover set in
Stocks finished with very small gains Friday led mostly by tech stocks The rest of the market struggled
The S P 500 was basically flat although the index did finish with a record close of 3 168 80 The Dow industrials rose 0 01 or 3 points as gains for Apple NASDAQ AAPL Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT American Express NYSE AXP and others were offset by struggles for Boeing NYSE BA shares
The Dow finished the day about 29 points below its peak close of 28 164 on Nov 27
All of the major indexes hit intraday peaks soon after the open but then faded
The Nasdaq Composite added 0 2 The Nasdaq 100 rose 0 25 Both were record closes The gains were basically due to Apple NASDAQ AAPL Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Adobe Systems NASDAQ ADBE Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA and Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN
Declines in Facebook NASDAQ FB facing antitrust concerns chipmaker Broadcom NASDAQ AVGO which reported weak earnings and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD subtracted 11 points from the index
The hangover was probably a result of traders or their computers buying the rumor the U S China trade deal was coming and then selling the news the trade deal is here
There was also disappointment in a retail sales report from the Commerce Department coming in lower for November than expected
Except that it won t be signed until January and texts weren t available to show the details The deal includes Chinese purchases of grains and other farm products and a commitment to crack down on patent piracy and other measures In return the U S agreed to reduce tariffs on 120 billion in products to 7 5 from 15 That reduction will take effect 30 days after the agreement is signed New tariffs that had been scheduled for Dec 15 won t go into effect
While President Donald Trump crowed about the deal other officials including economic advisor Larry Kudlow were surprisingly wary of it The deal will offer some confidence for business Kudlow told CNBC Friday afternoon but we will see how it works We will see if the Chinese stay with their word
And U S stocks didn t move higher after Britain s Tory Party scored their big electoral victory Thursday British stocks rallied on the news with the benchmark FTSE 100 up 1 1
The market overall ended the week with small gains about 0 4 for the Dow 0 7 for the S P 500 and 0 9 for the Nasdaq
With 11 trading days left in 2019 the S P 500 is up 26 4 for the year The Dow is up 20 6 and Nasdaq is up 31 6 The year to date gains are the best for the indexes since 2013
Gold moved up on the trade deal s uncertainties Agricultural futures were higher Soybean futures rose nearly 1 in Chicago to 9 075 a bushel on the trade news Soybeans are up only 1 4 on the year and are still down 35 6 from their close at the end of 2012
Oil jumped with West Texas Intermediate crude settling above 60 a barrel for the first time since July a signal that traders see OPEC s moves to cut production pushing prices higher
East Coast utility PPL NYSE PPL Gulf Coast electric utility CenterPoint Energy NYSE CNP software giant Adobe Systems NASDAQ ADBE cell phone tower company SBA Communications NASDAQ SBAC and software company Intuit NASDAQ INTU were among the top S P 500 performers
Hanesbrands NYSE HBI cosmetic company Coty NYSE COTY fashion retailer L Brands NYSE LB athletic foot ware retailer Foot Locker NYSE FL and chip maker Broadcom NASDAQ AVGO were the weakest S P 500 companies
Interest rates shot up Thursday as stocks rallied on the trade news They fell on Friday The 10 Year Treasury yield fell to 1 823 from Thursday s 1 899 | 12/13/2019 |
INTC | Beijing Pushes for Removal of Foreign Tech in More State Offices | Bloomberg The Chinese government is taking further steps to remove foreign technology from state agencies and other organizations a clear sign of determination for more independence amid escalating tensions with the U S
Beijing will likely replace as many as 20 million computers at government agencies with domestic products over the next three years according to research from China Securities More than 100 trial projects for domestic products were completed in July the brokerage firm said The Financial Times newspaper said the Communist Party s Central Office earlier this year ordered state offices and public institutions to shift away from foreign hardware and software
The government under President Xi Jinping has been trying for years to replace technologies from abroad and particularly from the U S Bloomberg News reported in 2014 that Beijing was aiming to purge most foreign technology from its banks the military government agencies and state owned enterprises by 2020 The country s Made in China 2025 plan also set out specific goals for technology independence although the policy has been de emphasized after contributing to trade war tensions
U S President Donald Trump s aggressive policies against China and its leading companies have given the effort renewed urgency His administration banned U S companies from doing business with Huawei Technologies Co this year and blacklisted other Chinese firms
The trade war has exposed various areas of Chinese economic weakness which Beijing seems determined to rectify said Brock Silvers managing director of Adamas Asset Management If the decision pushes Trump to finally come down hard with a more forceful ban of Chinese tech however China may one day regret having gone so public with its policy so soon
While the current push is narrow in scope it is designed as part of the broad long standing effort to decrease China s reliance on foreign technologies and boost its domestic industry The goal is to substitute 30 of hardware in state agencies next year 50 in 2021 and 20 in 2022 China Securities estimated based on government requests and clients budgets
The research from September detailed Beijing s goals The FT reported the number of computers to be replaced could reach 30 million attributing the figures to China Securities The newspaper said the goal is to use secure and controllable technology as part of the country s Cyber Security Law passed in 2017
Starting next year key industries such as finance energy and telecom will test more domestic products in trials that may last years the firm said Chinese banks are supposed to shift from International Business Machines NYSE IBM Corp and Oracle Corp NYSE ORCL to more diversified X86 architecture suppliers and then eventually to fully made in China hardware China has decided to adopt ARM architecture for its domestic hardware China Securities said
The China U S trade war could also help to breed a new market for home made products China Securities analyst Shi Zerui wrote
Still Beijing s push has proven difficult because its domestic industry hasn t yet shown itself capable of matching foreign technologies in certain sectors Particularly hard to replace for example are semiconductors from suppliers like Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC and Nvidia Corp as well as software from Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT and Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL
While large suppliers such as Microsoft and IBM are undoubtedly worried many high end components like chipsets can t be easily replaced Silvers said | 12/9/2019 |
MSFT | Tech industry asks U S court to reconsider net neutrality ruling | By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON Reuters Trade groups representing major technology companies and advocacy groups on Friday asked a U S appeals court to reconsider its October ruling that largely upheld the 2017 repeal of landmark net neutrality rules
The Federal Communications Commission in December 2017 reversed Obama era rules prohibiting internet service providers ISPs from blocking or throttling traffic or offering paid fast lanes a blow to large tech companies and consumer groups that had championed net neutrality
In petitions filed with the U S Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday the Computer Communications Industry Association internet trade group INCOMPAS and various advocacy groups asked the three judge panel to rehear the case or the full appeals court to take up the issue
The decision presents an issue of exceptional importance as it affirms the reversal of U S policies promoting the open Internet and the repeal of the FCC s 2015 net neutrality rules said one of the petitions
Members of the trade groups include Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB and Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc Advocacy groups filing petitions include Public Knowledge Free Press and the Center for Democracy Technology
The FCC abdicated its ability to regulate the behavior of ISPs for the first time in its history As a consequence ISPs are permitted to block or throttle Internet access demand pay to play ransom from Internet edge providers or otherwise interfere with end users access to the Internet the petition said
FCC spokeswoman Tina Pelkey said the agency is confident the court s decision will stand and that we will continue to have a free and open Internet moving forward
The appeals court in its October decision also ruled the FCC erred when it declared that states cannot pass their own net neutrality laws and ordered the agency to review some key aspects of its 2017 repeal of rules set by the Obama administration including public safety implications and how its decision will impact a government subsidy program for low income users
The 2017 FCC 3 2 vote handed internet providers sweeping powers to recast how Americans use the internet as long as they disclose changes The new rules took effect in June 2018 but ISPs have yet to change how users access the internet
In April the Democratic controlled U S House of Representatives voted to reinstate net neutrality protections but the measure has never been considered by the Republican controlled U S Senate Democratic senators on Tuesday were blocked in their bid to seek consideration | 12/13/2019 |
MSFT | How can Generation Z compete with robots Focus on the human touch | By Caroline Monahan NEW YORK Reuters It sounds counterintuitive but members of Generation Z will have to focus on human connections if they want to compete with robots for the jobs of the future Born after 1996 on the heels of the millennials Gen Z is just entering the workforce Its members are the first true digital natives and their ability to adapt to an automating workplace will likely determine their success While science and engineering degrees are on the rise soft skills such as intellectual insight flexibility intuition and creativity will be essential for workers competing with machines that are growing more technically proficient Here are the soft skills Gen Z members need to succeed Be an effective strategic communicator Some employers fear that digital native workers might be too much like the robots they are competing with What will make Gen Z workers stand out Good communication skills Those in technology fields often work remotely or in relative isolation so they do not always get enough time to sharpen their interpersonal skills said Jason Wingard dean and professor of the school of professional studies at Columbia University There is a way for young people to train for that skill though added Vicki Walia chief talent and capability officer at financial services giant Prudential LON PRU Gen Zs should not under emphasize the importance of relationship building listening communicating working collaboratively Walia said One way to do this is through mentorship Young workers should work to form relationships with older colleagues or even engage in reverse mentorships helping an older worker learn a new technology skill Last year Russell Bingham a senior engineering major participated in the clinic program at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont California which partners student teams with companies The interactions were eye opening Bingham said making him find better ways to interact with colleagues Be a continuous learner While most of Generation Z is still in school they already need to think about how to continually adapt to a fast changing world Their advantage said Walia is that they are digitally capable and multidimensional To succeed they must be pragmatic and realistic about their skills and how desired skill sets will change For example Walia said graduates might be trained in Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Excel but a job might require them to learn how to interpret that data Storytelling skills are an important part of being able to help others interpret the data and use it to tell a story through data visualization Walia said More industry knowledge also equals more money up to 6 387 more a year in salary in a high wage industry according to a study the MIT IBM Watson AI lab did between 2010 and 2017 Find work that gives you a sense of purpose Nearly half of the Gen Zs said they had experienced job burnout in the past year according to a survey by ServiceNow a Santa Clara California cloud computing company Half said they were considering a job outside their current industry because of it Workers are at their best when doing something meaningful to them said Obed Louissaint vice president of talent at IBM NYSE IBM To avoid burnout young people should couple finding purpose with taking proper mental breaks and trying to build healthy habits Louissaint added Harvey Mudd student Bingham for instance is looking for a job that lets him apply his science and engineering skills to projects with societal impact He recently worked as part of the expedition team that located the HMS Urge submarine after it was lost at sea for 77 years
That experience has led me to strongly value the fact that my unique robotics skill set can be an asset to people and projects totally outside the direct development of robots Bingham said | 12/17/2019 |
MSFT | CNBC survey shows Microsoft Teams strength | The Q4 CNBC Technology Executive Council Survey is out and 58 of respondents say they use Microsoft MSFT 0 6 Teams versus the 30 who use Slack WORK 2 2
The survey includes a limited sampling of 51 of the 157 members of the council who serve in senior tech positions at large enterprises government organizations and nonprofits
Last month Microsoft announced that Teams had more than 20M DAUs Slack had reported 12M in October | 12/17/2019 |
INTC | Supreme Court skeptical of Intel in retirement fund case | U S Supreme Court justices seem to sympathize with the former Intel NASDAQ INTC employee suing the company for alleged investment problems
A prior judge threw out the proposed class action lawsuit because it was filed too late
The employee claims he wasn t aware of the investment activity because he didn t read the relevant documents which were only posted online
Justice Brett Kavanaugh Most people don t read them or many So how do you have actual knowledge if you haven t read it
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg I must say I don t read all the mailings that I get about my investments | 12/4/2019 |
MSFT | Researchers criticize AI software that predicts emotions | By Joseph Menn and Jeffrey Dastin
SAN FRANCISCO Reuters A prominent group of researchers alarmed by the harmful social effects of artificial intelligence called Thursday for a ban on automated analysis of facial expressions in hiring and other major decisions
The AI Now Institute at New York University said action against such software driven affect recognition was its top priority because science doesn t justify the technology s use and there is still time to stop widespread adoption
The group of professors and other researchers cited as a problematic example the company HireVue which sells systems for remote video interviews for employers such as Hilton and Unilever LON ULVR It offers AI to analyze facial movements tone of voice and speech patterns and doesn t disclose scores to the job candidates
The nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a complaint about HireVue to the U S Federal Trade Commission and AI Now has criticized the company before
HireVue said it had not seen the AI Now report and did not answer questions on the criticism or the complaint
Many job candidates have benefited from HireVue s technology to help remove the very significant human bias in the existing hiring process said spokeswoman Kim Paone
AI Now in its fourth annual report on the effects of artificial intelligence tools said job screening is one of many ways in which such software is used without accountability and typically favored privileged groups
The report cited a recent academic analysis of studies on how people interpret moods from facial expressions That paper found that the previous scholarship showed such perceptions are unreliable for multiple reasons
How people communicate anger disgust fear happiness sadness and surprise varies substantially across cultures situations and even across people within a single situation wrote a team at Northeastern University and Massachusetts General Hospital
Companies including Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT are marketing their ability to classify emotions using software the study said Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening
AI Now also criticized Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN which offers analysis on expressions of emotion through its Rekognition software Amazon told Reuters that its technology only makes a determination on the physical appearance of someone s face and does not claim to show what a person is actually feeling
In a conference call ahead of the report s release AI Now founders Kate Crawford and Meredith Whittaker said that damaging uses of AI are multiplying despite broad consensus on ethical principles because there are no consequences for violating them | 12/12/2019 |
MSFT | NewsBreak Stocks Shoot Higher on Trade Deal Report | Investing com Stocks pushed higher Thursday afternoon on reports the United States and China have mostly agreed on a phase one trade deal
The S P 500 was up 0 59 at 2 50 PM ET The Dow Jones industrials added 0 65 The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0 4 The Nasdaq 100 Index climbed 0 37 Twenty six of the 30 Dow stocks were higher
The levels for the indexes were not as large as those seen early in the session when President Donald Trump tweeted that a trade deal was near At their peak the major indexes all hit new 52 week highs and at least 206 stocks hit 52 week highs including Apple NASDAQ AAPL Merck NYSE MRK Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Amgen NASDAQ AMGN and truck builder PACCAR NASDAQ PCAR
The deal reportedly an agreement in principle is being talked about still requires the president s signoff It reportedly includes China s commitment to buy more farm products protect intellectual property like tariffs and opens the Chinese market for financial services
At the same time the United States reportedly has agreed to cut tariffs imposed last fall and defer tariffs that could have been imposed on Sunday | 12/12/2019 |
MSFT | Saudi Aramco Rise For Second Day Touches 2T Valuation | Investing com Saudi Aramco SE 2222 shares rose for a second day pushing the company s valuation above 2 trillion
The stock rose 4 6 on Thursday after surging as much as 10 the daily limit earlier in the day It closed 10 higher on Wednesday
A 2 trillion valuation for the company has long been sought by Saudi Arabia s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
We were expecting this IPO to be a blockbuster and the performance in the past two days shows that was the case said Vijay Valecha chief investment officer at Century Financial Consultancy LLC in Dubai in a Bloomberg report
From the appetite we see for the stock there is room for it to climb another 10 to 18 next week
Aramco SE 2222 raised 25 6 billion in its IPO which is the biggest offering in history and overtook Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Apple NASDAQ AAPL as the most valuable listed company | 12/12/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft announces Xbox Series X | Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT unveils its Xbox Series X which will go on sale during the 2020 holiday season No price was disclosed
Details are light for the moment The Series X console resembles a PC tower and the wireless controller gains a share button for screenshots or game footage a feature already present on PlayStation NYSE SNE controllers
The Xbox Series X can show images at up to 120 frames per second and includes 8K video capabilities
Microsoft shares are up 0 2 pre market to 153 60 | 12/13/2019 |
INTC | Exclusive Amazon s cloud unit readies more powerful data center chip sources | By Stephen Nellis Reuters Amazon com Inc s O AMZN cloud computing unit has designed a second more powerful generation of data center processor chip two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters the latest sign that the company is pouring money into custom silicon for its fastest growing business The new Amazon Web Services chip uses technology from Softbank Group Corp owned T 9984 Arm Holdings the sources said One of the sources familiar with the matter said it will be at least 20 faster than Amazon s first Arm based chip named Graviton which was released last year as a low cost option for easier computing tasks If Amazon Web Services chip efforts are successful it could lessen the unit s reliance on Intel Corp O INTC and Advanced Micro Devices Inc O AMD for server chips An Amazon spokesman declined to comment on future products or services Arm declined to comment In cloud computing businesses rent out servers from Amazon instead of running their own data centers Analysts expect Amazon s cloud unit to generate 34 9 billion in sales in 2019 according to IBES data from Refinitiv Cloud computing has become big business for data center chip makers Intel controls more than 90 of the server processor market with AMD controlling most of the remainder Intel s data center group generated almost of half of the company s overall operating profit last year And most server chips go to the cloud In 2018 almost 65 of Intel s data center chip sales were from cloud and communications service providers its executives have said COST OF OWNERSHIP Chip designers using Arm technology want to challenge Intel s dominance Arm chips power mobile phones today But several companies aim to make them suitable for data centers including startups run by former executives from Intel and Apple Inc O AAPL Amazon s first Arm chip did not appear to have an impact on Intel s data center business which continued to grow over the past year said Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon But he said major technology companies who spend billions each year with Intel and AMD with few alternatives have the resources to make more powerful Arm chips Arm by itself I m not worried about but Arm in the hands of an Amazon or a Google NASDAQ GOOGL who could potentially invest in it that becomes potentially more problematic for Intel Rasgon said Amazon s Arm effort appears to be making progress one of the sources said The new chip s speed gain sends a message to the market that Amazon is serious about investing in Arm based chips the person said Both sources familiar with the matter said the new chip is not expected to be as powerful as Intel s Cascade Lake or AMD s Rome chips Though less powerful Arm chips are cheaper and consume less electricity than Intel s top end chips Intel s most powerful chips can cost several thousand dollars while barebones Arm based server chips can cost less than 1 000 In a data center that houses tens of thousands of servers chip buyers often focus on a mix of factors speed chip size power consumption and cooling costs called the total cost of ownership That is where Arm based offerings hope to one day compete with Intel NEW ARM TECHNOLOGY Amazon s first Graviton chip used Arm s older Cortex A72 technology The forthcoming Amazon chip is expected to use newer Arm technology most likely Arm s Neoverse N1 technology one of the sources familiar with the matter told Reuters Another source familiar with the matter said the chip is expected to have at least 32 cores versus the Graviton s 16 The new chip will also use a technology called a fabric that will allow it to connect with other chips to speed up tasks like image recognition one of the people familiar with the matter said To take advantage of the new chip cloud customers likely will need to use software written for Arm based chips which is less common than software for Intel and AMD chips
The hardware is only part of the equation the second source familiar with the matter told Reuters | 11/27/2019 |
INTC | Connected car prices may rise if Qualcomm wins antitrust case auto makers | By Stephen Nellis Reuters The cost of cars equipped with ultra fast 5G wireless technology is likely to go up if microchip supplier Qualcomm Inc s O QCOM patent licensing practices fail to change a trade group representing major automakers and two leading automotive suppliers said in court filings on Friday Qualcomm is seeking to overturn a sweeping antitrust decision requiring it to renegotiate its licensing agreements at reasonable prices Appeal proceedings in the case brought by the U S Federal Trade Commission are expected to begin in January but Qualcomm s opponents are weighing in early to argue that the anti trust decision should be allowed to stand Trade groups representing the U S units of BMW DE BMWG Ford Motor Co N F General Motors Co N GM and Toyota Motor Co T 7203 among others made various claims about adverse effects of Qualcomm s licensing practices in the 9th U S Circuit Court of Appeals Also filing was a unit of German supplier Continental AG DE CONG and Japan based Denso Corp T 6902 both makers of infotainment and location tracking car technology Qualcomm declined to comment Qualcomm has denied the FTC s anti trust accusations and the court agreed to pause the decision after some government officials asked it to do so Continental said it gave up working with Qualcomm s chip rivals Samsung Electronics Co Ltd KS 005930 and MediaTek Inc TW 2454 because the licensing practices created too many legal risks Continental and Denso said Qualcomm and other patent holders were refusing to license their technology to chipmakers that charge only a few dollars per chip seeking instead to sign licenses only with carmakers whose vehicles cost tens of thousands of dollars and are less motivated to fight for every dollar in license fees The resulting inefficiency is ultimately borne by consumers in the form of higher prices the auto suppliers wrote in their complaint The trade groups representing automakers argued in a court filing that Qualcomm should negotiate directly with the suppliers to avoid unnecessary costly and inefficient licensing negotiations with the carmakers themselves The suppliers that incorporate chips into their products likely are ready to negotiate with Qualcomm the groups wrote
Rival chipmakers also weighed in against Qualcomm on Friday with Intel Corp O INTC saying it sold its smartphone modem chip business to Apple Inc O AAPL at a multi billion dollar loss after Qualcomm forced it out of the market with what it described as illegal licensing practices | 11/29/2019 |
INTC | StockBeat AMD Gets Some Data Center Wall Street Love | Investing com The good times are returning to data center products as clients are set to ramp up spending likely leading to higher deamnd for AMD s chips RBC said as it upgraded its price target on the chipmaker Friday
RBC upgraded its price target on shares of AMD to 50 from 44 touting improved prospects for the chipmaker and forecasting its shares to rally above 40 by year end Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD rose 1
We are raising our price target on AMD to reflect improving Data Center demand and increased conviction in share gains through 2020 While 2021 is admittedly unclear we think 2020 has become more attractive RBC said
RBC also said the threat to AMD s competitive edge is limited estimating that the chipmaker will not see a change of competition in a meaningful way until around the end of the third or fourth quarter next year
The more somber outlook on data centers comes in the wake of bullish commentary form Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA and Intel NASDAQ INTC
Following its quarterly results yesterday Nvidia said it expected a rise in conversational artificial intelligence to drive data center growth That echoed bullish sentiment from Intel with the company s chief financial officer George Davis telling Reuters in an interview last month that data center came back much more strongly than even we anticipated this quarter
The increasing complexities of machine learning used to develop AI products will likely drive demand for hyperscale computing boosting demand for data center products from both Nvidia and Intel
Like Intel Nvidia saw big demand from its hyperscale customers undoubtedly driven by machine learning training and inference needs Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights Strategy said | 11/15/2019 |
INTC | Intel says chip supply for personal computers remains tight | Reuters Intel Corp O INTC said on Wednesday it was increasing its reliance on contract chip manufacturers to ramp up supply of chips used in personal computers as the company struggles with shipment delays amid higher demand Intel said supply remained extremely tight even though it has expanded its manufacturing capacity and increased second half PC chip supply by double digits compared with the first half Despite our best efforts we have not yet resolved this challenge the chipmaker said in a letter in which it also apologized to its customers and partners for the delays Intel had said in October that demand in the PC business was outstripping its ability to add capacity and it was considering outside chip makers
Shares of the chipmaker which reaffirmed its forecast for the fourth quarter were down 1 in after market trading | 11/20/2019 |
INTC | Apple Intel file antitrust case against SoftBank owned firm over patent practices | By Stephen Nellis SAN FRANCISCO Reuters Apple Inc O AAPL and Intel Corp O INTC on Wednesday filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fortress Investment Group alleging the SoftBank Group Corp T 9984 unit stockpiled patents to hold up tech firms with lawsuits demanding as much as 5 1 billion The suit follows an earlier case that Intel filed against Fortress in October Intel withdrew that suit and on Wednesday filed a new version in the U S District Court for the Northern District of California with Apple joining as a plaintiff Intel and Apple allege that Fortress and firms it either owned or whose patent portfolios it effectively controlled and which do not make any technology products stockpiled patents for the primary purpose of suing technology companies and did so in a manner that violated U S antitrust laws Apple has suffered economic harm in the form of litigation costs and diversion of resources away from innovation to respond to these entities serial nuisance suits Apple wrote in the complaint Fortress and Japanese parent SoftBank did not immediately respond to a request for comment When Intel filed the similar lawsuit in October a Fortress spokesman told Reuters the company was confident in our business practices and our legal position and view this lawsuit as meritless In the filing on Wednesday Apple said firms connected to Fortress had filed at least 25 lawsuits against the iPhone maker demanding 2 6 billion to 5 1 billion in damages One of the suits Apple wrote in its filing alleged that Apple violated a step counting patent in its devices with health tracking apps Two Fortress connected firms Uniloc USA and Uniloc Luxembourg have disclosed that they believe they are entitled to damages of between 1 41 and 2 75 per Apple product for total damages in the range of 375 to 732 million Apple wrote in its complaint The apparent precision of the per unit damages request is a facade Uniloc USA and Uniloc Luxembourg simply adopted the amounts that Apple sought from Samsung in litigation for Apple s patents Apple wrote referring to South Korea s Samsung Electronics Co Ltd KS 005930
Intel said it could not comment beyond the court filing Apple which invested in SoftBank s first Vision Fund and in July was listed among organizations pledging to contribute to a second fund did not immediately respond to a request for comment | 11/21/2019 |
INTC | BigPanda raises 50 million to expand R D in Israel | TEL AVIV Reuters BigPanda Inc whose platform helps businesses detect and resolve IT outages said on Thursday it has raised 50 million bringing its total funding to more than 120 million
The round was led by Insight Partners with participation from existing investors Sequoia Battery Ventures and Mayfield
The company s customers include Intel NASDAQ INTC Warner Media and Workday
BigPanda also said it will expand its research and development operations in Israel and recruit 30 new employees in the coming year | 11/21/2019 |
INTC | StockBeat AMD Slumps on Downgrade as Analyst Warns of Profit Taking Ahead | Investing com Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD has racked up impressive gains this year Before Thursday shares were up more than 120 But one Wall Street analyst downgraded AMD Thursday and warned that investors are likely to cash in on the chipmaker s rally in the year ahead
AMD shares were down more than 4 Thursday afternoon after Northland Capital Markets analyst Gus Richard downgraded Advance Micro Devices to market perform from outperform
Richard said shares of AMD will likely continue to melt up for the rest of the year but he cautioned against chasing the rally on expectations that profit taking will occur in the year ahead
AMD s big move higher in 2019 has been helped by market share gains in the PC and server market particularly at the lower end of the CPU market in the absence of competition from Intel NASDAQ INTC
In 2018 Intel decided to de prioritize shipments of low end CPUs after surging activity in its data center related businesses weighed on its ability to churn out processors
Intel s CPU shortages are expected to continue into 2020 The company recently conceded that sustained market growth in PCs in 2019 has outpaced its efforts to ramp up CPU supply
AMD s unit share is now about 18 in desktop computers 15 in notebooks and 5 in servers Richard estimated though he cautioned that the chipmaker is unlikely to keep up the pace of market share gains
Due to Intel s incumbency share gains will come more slowly in all of these markets the more AMD s market share expands Richard added
Intel NASDAQ INTC shares were up 0 3 Thursday afternoon | 11/21/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Market Rises Modestly on Trade Hopes Again | Investing com There was for public consumption talk about how U S China trade talks were progressing and that was good enough for the stock market to move higher Friday and break a multi day losing streak
The S P 500 was up 0 2 with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 4 The Nasdaq Composite rising 0 16 The Nasdaq 100 dominated by big tech added 0 08 The S P 500 and Dow broke three day losing streaks The Nasdaq indexes moved up after two days of declines
The trade talk was just that with Chinese President Xi Jinping saying the two sides were talking but vowing to walk away if he believes China s sovereignty is threatened President Donald Trump said talks were progressing but he believes the United States should come out ahead
What does seem more likely is a deal isn t near and that more tariffs will be imposed on Chinese imports starting Dec 15 although the stock market is clearly hoping for and betting on a phase one deal
For the week the S P 500 Dow and Nasdaq saw declines The S P 500 s was its first weekly loss after six weeks of gains The Dow s pullback was its first after rising for four weeks The Nasdaq s loss came after rising for seven straight weeks
In that time the stock market hit record highs but in the last week it has given off signs it might be overbought Relative strength indexes for the Dow S P 500 and Nasdaq surged above 70 on Nov 15 a warning of frothiness Above 80 makes a big pullback extremely likely
As it is the averages are less than 1 below their record highs which suggests there s not a lot of worry in the market yet
The market was led by gains in the S P 500 s financial consumer discretionary health and industrial sectors
Nordstrom NYSE JWN and Macy s NYSE M both had strong days after Nordstrom earnings weren t as bad as feared
Boeing NYSE BA was among the top Dow performers up more than 1 3 as the company unveiled its 737 Max 10 jet which can seat 230 The plane remains grounded but many investors believe it will be flying again early next year The stock contributed 33 points to the Dow s 109 point gain
The Dow s percentage leader was Pfizer NYSE PFE followed by 3M NYSE MMM Boeing Nike NYSE NKE Johnson Johnson NYSE JNJ and Walt Disney NYSE DIS
Banks were especially strong with US Bancorp NYSE USB hitting a 52 week high Airlines were gainers as oil prices fell back
Lagging sectors included staples technology and real estate stocks Tech loses included Google parent Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Apple NASDAQ AAPL Netflix NASDAQ NFLX Intel NASDAQ INTC and Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM
Tesla NASDAQ TSLA fell 6 1 worst among Nasdaq 100 stocks after the company unveiled its new electric powered pickup truck with a less than stellar introduction The vehicle is expected to be available starting in late 2021
Oil prices moved lower as worries built about global oversupplies West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 81 cents to 57 77 a barrel Brent crude the global benchmark fell 58 cents to 63 39 Interest rates and gold were basically flat with the 10 year Treasury yield at 1 772
Apparel retailers Nordstrom NYSE JWN Macy s NYSE M L Brands NYSE LB and Gap NYSE GPS were among the top S P 500 performers
Tax software company Intuit NASDAQ INTU oil company Hess NYSE HES footwear retailer Foot Locker NYSE FL and liquor and wine merchant Constellation Brands NYSE STZ were among the S P weakest performers in the index | 11/22/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks higher at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 39 | Investing com U S stocks were higher after the close on Friday as gains in the Consumer Services Financials and Telecoms sectors led shares higher
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0 39 while the S P 500 index gained 0 22 and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0 16
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc NYSE PFE which rose 1 56 or 0 59 points to trade at 38 33 at the close Meanwhile 3M Company NYSE MMM added 1 49 or 2 46 points to end at 167 60 and Boeing Co NYSE BA was up 1 34 or 4 90 points to 371 34 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC which fell 1 05 or 0 61 points to trade at 57 61 at the close Exxon Mobil Corp NYSE XOM declined 0 43 or 0 30 points to end at 69 37 and Walmart Inc NYSE WMT was down 0 42 or 0 50 points to 119 36
The top performers on the S P 500 were Nordstrom Inc NYSE JWN which rose 10 58 to 37 95 Macy s Inc NYSE M which was up 5 18 to settle at 15 43 and L Brands Inc NYSE LB which gained 4 89 to close at 18 01
The worst performers were Intuit Inc NASDAQ INTU which was down 4 18 to 259 81 in late trade Hess Corporation NYSE HES which lost 3 80 to settle at 64 37 and Foot Locker Inc NYSE FL which was down 2 92 to 40 25 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aslan Pharmaceuticals Ltd ADR NASDAQ ASLN which rose 293 27 to 1 73 EyeGate Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ EYEG which was up 48 02 to settle at 7 090 and Akerna Corp NASDAQ KERN which gained 35 33 to close at 7 24
The worst performers were Viveve Medical Inc NASDAQ VIVE which was down 57 60 to 0 9200 in late trade Helius Medical Technologies Inc Class A NASDAQ HSDT which lost 32 80 to settle at 0 3999 and Arcimoto Inc NASDAQ FUV which was down 26 67 to 1 65 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1705 to 1093 and 129 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1525 rose and 1105 declined while 103 ended unchanged
Shares in Viveve Medical Inc NASDAQ VIVE fell to 5 year lows falling 57 60 or 1 2500 to 0 9200 Shares in Helius Medical Technologies Inc Class A NASDAQ HSDT fell to all time lows falling 32 80 or 0 1951 to 0 3999 Shares in Arcimoto Inc NASDAQ FUV fell to all time lows down 26 67 or 0 60 to 1 65
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was down 6 02 to 12 34
Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0 14 or 2 05 to 1461 55 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1 08 or 0 63 to hit 57 95 a barrel while the January Brent oil contract fell 0 53 or 0 34 to trade at 63 63 a barrel
EUR USD was down 0 31 to 1 1023 while USD JPY rose 0 02 to 108 66
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 28 at 98 175 | 11/22/2019 |
MSFT | MSFT s Teams joins Slack on Linux | Microsoft s NASDAQ MSFT Teams comes to Linux in public preview today with all of the core capabilities available to users
Microsoft says Teams is the Office app that is coming to Linux desktops The tech giant didn t specify which Office apps will follow
Teams rival Slack NYSE WORK already had a Linux client
Slack shares closed today down 3 4 to 22 21 | 12/10/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft s Teams joins Slack on Linux | Microsoft s NASDAQ MSFT Teams comes to Linux in public preview today with all of the core capabilities available to users
Microsoft says Teams is the Office app that is coming to Linux desktops The tech giant didn t specify which Office apps will follow
Teams rival Slack NYSE WORK already had a Linux client
Slack shares closed today down 3 4 to 22 21 | 12/10/2019 |
MSFT | GameStop cuts full year profit forecast shares slump 21 | Reuters GameStop Corp NYSE GME reported a plunge in quarterly sales and slashed its full year profit forecast on Tuesday as the company struggles with consumers delaying purchases ahead of the launch of new consoles sending its shares plunging 21
Latest versions of Sony Corp s PlayStation and Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Corp s Xbox are due to be unveiled next year with video game and console retailers also hit by the shift to downloadable or streamable games and away from physical versions
GameStop now sees full year earnings per share in the range of 10 cents to 20 cents down from an earlier forecast of 1 15 to 1 30
Comparable store sales slumped 23 2 in the third quarter with both hardware and software sales tumbling
Analysts had expected the company to report a 13 8 fall in same store sales according to IBES data from Refinitiv
Excluding items the company lost 49 cents per share compared with analysts average expectation of a profit of 11 cents
Net loss narrowed to 83 4 million or 1 02 per share from 488 6 million or 4 78 per share from a year earlier
The year ago period included an impairment charge of 587 5 million
Net sales fell about 26 to 1 44 billion missing analysts average estimate of 1 62 billion | 12/10/2019 |
MSFT | StockBeat Aramco s Soaring Debut Should Fool No One | By Geoffrey Smith
Investing com Saudi Aramco SE 2222 the world s most valuable company got off to a flying start on its debut Wednesday rising 10 within minutes of opening the maximum allowed by the Tadawul exchange in Riyadh
Suspended at 35 20 riyals a share the company had a market valuation of 1 88 trillion over 30 more than Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Apple NASDAQ AAPL and less than 6 shy of the magical 2 trillion desired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the kingdom s de facto ruler
The news is hardly a surprise though given how tightly the offering has been stage managed and western institutional investors are unlikely to regret baulking at the 2 trillion price tag Nor should retail investors outside the kingdom be too upset at being effectively denied the opportunity
The fact is that a deal which initially aimed to bring in outside capital to enhance Aramco s governance and finance the kingdom s diversification away from oil has mutated into one where Saudi Arabia has moved money from one pocket to another while institutions and individuals from around the region who already have a high direct or indirect exposure to oil have found another way to get more exposure to it
According to the company s own documents Saudi government institutions have taken up 13 2 of the total offering some 2 billion while sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi and Kuwait have reportedly stumped up 5 billion more eager to avoid a PR disaster for the region s markets and secure in the knowledge that they are doing the sellers a political favor that can be called in one day This is not privatization in the classic sense of the word
Retail demand also concentrated in Saudi Arabia has been supported by cut price loan offers from local banks Debt funded retail investments are not in any other market seen as the strongest sign of fundamental support for a company s stock price and nor should they be here
All IPOs involve a bit of smoke and mirrors as a company transitions to having its value assessed by the market rather than a handful of key individuals That s not just true before the listing but also in the immediate aftermath where bookrunners are expected to keep volatility within reasonable bounds
But the market smoothing involved with Aramco SE 2222 is a horse of a very different color including government pressure on state investment funds to push the price up according to the s reporting this week The FT provided some choice quotes from people close to the deal who for obvious reasons asked not to be named
All the focus now is how to reach 2 trillion and They ve been told to keep some powder dry for buying in the secondary market According to people briefed on the matter
They ve been told it is their duty and everyone understands what that means According to an adviser to local wealthy families
This is another Ritz through different means another banker working on the deal in a reference to how MbS detained various wealthy Saudis for lengthy stays in the Riyadh Ritz Carlton on suspicion of corruption as he consolidated his power
All of the above need not blind investors to the reality that Saudi Aramco SE 2222 is now the most egregious cash cow in the publicly listed corporate universe a company that produces an essential commodity for the world economy at around 10 a barrel and sells it for around 60 A company that made a profit of 68 billion in the first nine months of the year despite falling crude prices a worsening economic outlook and violent attacks on its physical infrastructure A company that is plainly of incredible value
However when price formation is influenced to such a huge extent by political concerns and the arbitrary valuation target of an autocrat it can only validate the governance discount that western investors were insisting on in the first place | 12/11/2019 |
MSFT | Nintendo Switch China Sales Could Reach 4 Million by March Analyst Says | Bloomberg Only a few days after Nintendo Co T 7974 s Switch made its long anticipated entry into China one analyst is making a bullish case for Mario and Zelda s prospects in the world s biggest gaming arena
Nintendo could sell as many as four million Switch units in China in the fiscal year ending March and 12 million units of software London based tech equity researcher Pelham Smithers wrote in a note to clients That could add as much as 23 billion yen 212 million to the Kyoto based company s full year operating profit Smithers said
Nintendo and its local partner Tencent Holdings Ltd began selling the Switch console in China on Dec 10 a move that has excited Nintendo investors hopeful of tapping a new market But the optimism has been tampered by the historically lackluster performance of Sony Corp T 6758 s PlayStation and Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT s Xbox consoles which have had several years to crack the market where smartphones are the dominant gaming platform Video game giants are also hampered by Beijing s insistence on vetting all games which limits the library available to fans and slows new releases At launch the Switch only had one state approved game to play
While the history of the game console in China is not a happy one lack of success is not necessarily down to lack of interest on the part of the consumer Smithers wrote in the report After all if China s consumers didn t play console video games the authorities wouldn t have bothered banning them in the first place
Key Insights
Switch hardware sales in China may range between 2 million and 4 million units in fiscal 2019 and between 3 million and 6 million the following year Software sales will range between 6 million and 12 million in the current period and 15 million and 30 million in the period ending March 2021 China could contribute between 11 6 billion yen and 23 1 billion yen to Nintendo s operating profit this year and 27 8 billion to 55 6 billion yen in the next Smithers forecasts a ratio of three game purchases for each hardware unit sold in both years He also assumes Tencent takes a 30 share of software sales income while all of the hardware revenue goes to Nintendo and that the two companies split the marketing costs Nintendo s sales in China may be capped by the company s unwillingness to significantly increase production volume of the console and risk building up unsold inventory Nintendo s signature device is selling for 2 099 yuan 298 about the same as elsewhere around the world Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Bros U Deluxe have been green lit by the government Nintendo is also preparing to introduce the Switch Lite a cheaper version of the console intended to boost the device s mainstream appeal to China at a future date development partner Tencent said in a social media post last week
Sales of the Switch might have topped 50 000 units on launch day according to market researcher Niko Partners which gathers data from online retailers Some 20 000 units were sold via JD com and another 10 000 through TMall it said in a report Niko Partners forecasts the sales will reach 100 000 units by the end of the year far below the 1 to 2 million estimated by Smithers
This isn t Nintendo s first attempt to crack the market Official console sales in China remain a fraction of the overall gaming arena as region locks and delayed hardware releases push gamers toward imported options Nintendo confronted similar challenges in attempts to enter China dating back to 2003 It tried to sell via a joint venture its Game Boy Advance Nintendo 3DS and a peculiar China only portable console called iQue Player Rampant piracy and slow game launches made those products unappealing
Elsewhere Nintendo s Switch retains its popularity three years after its launch in an industry where consoles are often revamped every half decade or so The company has so far stuck with a conservative outlook for 18 million Switch units this fiscal year Smithers thinks full year sales outside of China could range between 20 and 21 million
Read more Nintendo Will Prove the Switch s Longevity This Holiday Season
The company s shares have climbed more than 50 this year on the anticipation of the Switch s China debut the release of a smartphone edition of the Mario Kart franchise and the launch of the cheaper Switch Lite Nintendo is likely to revise upwards its full year earnings forecasts when it reports results in January which could tempt some investors to sell and lock in gains Smithers wrote
Even if it doesn t this quarter s figures should impress he said | 12/12/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Push for Santa Rally Trade Deal in Final Throes | Investing com U S futures moved towards record highs on Wednesday as investors continued to bid prices up in response to encouraging but ultimately vague and inconclusive comments about a phase 1 trade deal between China and the U S
Comments from U S President Donald Trump that the U S was in the final throes of a trade deal with China helped boost sentiment although he provided no details of what that deal might include Nor did he say whether he intends to veto a bill tying China s access to the U S markets to its treatment of Hong Kong s autonomy a bill that Beijing has decried
We re with them Trump said of Hong Kong s protest movement on Tuesday I have a very good relationship as you know with President Xi We re in the final throes of a very important deal I guess you could say one of the most important deals in trade ever It s going very well but at the same time we want to see it go well in Hong Kong
Trading is expected to slow down from earlier in the week as the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday approaches
Nasdaq 100 gained 17 points or 0 2 by 6 54 AM ET 11 54 GMT while Dow futures rose 10 points or 0 1 and S P 500 futures inched up 3 points or 0 1
Under Armour NYSE UAA surged in premarket trade rising 2 3 after Raymond James boosted its rating to a strong buy Tesla NASDAQ TSLA jumped 1 after Elon Musk tweeted that the electric car company has gotten 250 000 pre orders for its Cybertruck
Stocks sensitive to trade were a bit higher with Apple NASDAQ AAPL gaining 0 5 and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD and Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA up 0 8
Elsewhere Dell Technologies NYSE DELL fell 3 after it cut its revenue guidance for the full year due to a shortage in Intel s CPU chips Intel NASDAQ INTC was down 0 9 Agricultural equipment maker Deere Co NYSE DE slumped 4 after the company noted uncertainty in its latest earnings report even though sales rose in its fiscal fourth quarter
A flurry of data is being released a day early due to Thursday s holiday Weekly jobless claims come out at 8 30 AM ET along with durable goods and a second reading of real third quarter gross domestic product
Chicago PMI personal income and pending home sales follow later
In commodities gold futures fell 0 2 to 1 464 45 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies inched up 0 1 to 98 225 Crude oil futures gained 0 3 to 58 61 a barrel | 11/27/2019 |
MSFT | Aramco Reaches Prince s 2 Trillion Goal After Second Day Surge | Bloomberg Saudi Aramco SE 2222 jumped for a second day pushing the oil giant s value beyond the 2 trillion mark sought by the kingdom s de facto leader
The shares climbed by the daily limit to 38 7 riyals at the open in Riyadh
Aramco raised 25 6 billion in the biggest ever IPO selling shares at 32 riyals each and overtaking Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT and Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL as the most valuable listed company The oil producer s market value surged to 1 88 trillion on its trading debut Wednesday
The listing was a watershed moment for a business that s bankrolled Saudi Arabia and its rulers for decades First floated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016 with an ambition to raise as much as 100 billion the share sale was touted as part of a blueprint for life after oil
Foreign investors largely spurned the offering in part because the stock was too expensive and it only looks more pricey now relative to dividends and cash flow said Salih Yilmaz a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst
Analysts at Sanford C Bernstein Co say it s already time to cash out as the value gets too high In a Bloomberg survey last month global money managers put Aramco s fair value at between 1 2 trillion and 1 5 trillion
Read The Wall Street Bankers Who Burst Aramco s 2 Trillion Bubble
If the stock keeps climbing on Thursday that gap to what analysts believe is fair will widen making a potential international listing harder Many foreign managers who refrained from buying the shares also cited corporate governance concerns and threats to the company s facilities
Still the debut was cheered by Saudi and Gulf investors who see the stock price supported by Aramco s guaranteed dividends buying by index tracking funds and the fact that the region doesn t have any other listed major oil companies
Aramco s 2 trillion valuation is justified due to secured dividend streams Arqaam Capital analysts including Rita Guindy and Jaap Meijer wrote in a report on Wednesday in which they initiated coverage with a buy recommendation and price target of 39 20 riyals
Arqaam expects a gradual increase of 2 annually in the dividend potentially being topped up by a special payout of 20 billion in the next three years | 12/12/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft seen pushing right past JEDI challenge | Wedbush weighs in on the challenge by Amazon of the awarding of the Pentagon s JEDI contract to Microsoft MSFT 0 2
While this will cause noise and delay to the official start of the JEDI deal for Redmond we do not believe this will change the decision and victory that went to Nadella Co advises analyst Dan Ives
Ives and team think JEDI is still a game changer for Microsoft as the contract creates a ripple effect for the company s cloud business for years to come
With roughly 32 of workloads in the cloud today and poised to hit 55 by 2022 we believe Nadella Co are in the catbirds seat to get more of these complex workloads e g AI machine learning etc as more enterprises take the leap to a hybrid cloud architecture over the coming years
Wedbush keeps an Outperform rating on Microsoft | 12/9/2019 |
MSFT | Amazon lawsuit blames Trump for loss of Pentagon cloud contract | By Nandita Bose WASHINGTON Reuters Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN on Monday accused U S President Donald Trump of exerting improper pressure and bias that led the Department of Defense to award a lucrative 10 billion cloud contract to rival Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT In a complaint filed in the U S Court of Federal Claims Amazon said Trump launched repeated public and behind the scenes attacks to steer the Pentagon cloud contract called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure popularly known as JEDI away from Amazon Web Services Here is a link to the complaint The heavily redacted complaint said Trump s motive was to harm his perceived political enemy Jeffrey P Bezos founder and CEO of AWS s parent company Amazon com and owner of the Washington Post Trump s interference made it impossible for the Pentagon to judge a winner reasonably consistently an in a fair and equal manner Amazon said Trump has long criticized Bezos and Amazon over low tax payments and accused the Washington Post of acting as a lobbyist for Bezos and Amazon and spreading fake news Amazon called for a reevaluation of the proposals submitted to the Pentagon and a new award decision The question is whether the President of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of DoD to pursue his own personal and political ends the 103 page complaint said Amazon and the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment Details from the complaint were first reported by Bloomberg last week In recent congressional testimony a top Pentagon technology official Dana Deasy denied that Trump or the White House influenced the JEDI selection process A challenge to the Defense Department s award announced in October was widely expected by legal experts analysts and consultants especially after Trump publicly derided Amazon s bid for the high stakes contract Document | 12/9/2019 |
MSFT | Asian Markets Fall Chinese Inflation Falls in November | Investing com Asian markets traded lower on Tuesday morning Chinese stocks slipped after data showed the country s inflation fell for the fifth month in a row
China s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component were down 0 2 and 0 3 respectively by 10 40 PM ET 02 40 GMT Hong Kong s Hang Seng Index dropped 0 2
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday that China s producer price index was down 1 4 year on year falling for the fifth month in a row The drop compared with the 1 5 expected decline and the 1 6 fall in October
Meanwhile the consumer price index for November jumped 4 5 year on year as food prices skyrocketed 19 1 amid an outbreak of African swine fever
Postal Savings Bank of China Co Ltd HK 1658 made headlines as it marked a subdued Shanghai debut Its shares were up 1 0 at 5 57 yuan in morning trade
On the Sino U S trade front Bloomberg reported overnight that U S Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Washington is unlikely to impose more tariffs on Chinese exports on Dec 15
We have a deadline coming up on the Dec 15 for another tranche of tariffs I do not believe those will be implemented and I think we may see some backing away Perdue said according to Bloomberg
In other news China reportedly ordered all state offices to remove foreign hardware and software within three years in a move that could hit major U S firms including Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Dell
In an interview with CNBC Neil Campling head of technology media and telecommunications research at Mirabaud Securities said the move aims to protect against an escalation of tensions with the U S
That is something that China is looking at to make sure government operations are not affected by escalating tensions with the U S Campling told CNBC
Japan s Nikkei 225 slipped 0 1 South Korea s KOSPI inched up 0 2
Down under Australia s ASX 200 traded 0 3 lower
In the U S the Federal Reserve will hold its policy meeting starting later in the day According to forecast by Investing com the Fed is highly expected to stand pat on the key fed rate of 1 5 to 1 75 | 12/9/2019 |
MSFT | After Aramco s Record IPO Barely Any of Its Stock Will Trade | Bloomberg Saudi Aramco will surpass Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL as the world s biggest listed company when it debuts this week after a record breaking initial public offering Unlike the tech titan it displaces barely any of its shares will trade
The Gulf oil giant sold a 1 5 stake in the IPO while the remainder stays in the hands of the Saudi state That free float or the proportion of stock owned by public investors that can change hands is among the lowest globally Many of the biggest companies from Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN to Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT have more than 80 of their equity owned by independent shareholders
Among the top 1 000 listed companies by market value only two companies have lower free floats than Aramco according to data compiled by Bloomberg One is carmaker Audi AG which has a float of 0 36 with the rest owned by manufacturing behemoth Volkswagen DE VOWG p AG The other is state controlled German utility EnBW Energie Baden Wuerttemberg AG which has 0 37 of its stock in public hands the data show Its two biggest investors each own 46 75
Low public ownership levels mean that the Saudi government can push through decisions that are good for the country but not necessarily Aramco s minority shareholders The company which starts trading Wednesday will also be captive to OPEC Saudi Arabia is the de facto leader meaning Aramco may have to shoulder the burden of production cuts if others don t meet their obligations
That level of control could affect your retirement account Thanks to the popularity of index tracking funds many investors will own Aramco shares whether they want to or not
The company is so big that index compilers like MSCI Inc and FTSE Russell can speed up its inclusion in global benchmarks Aramco will likely be given a weighting of about 0 7 in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index triggering 2 4 billion of automatic buying from funds that follow the gauge according to analyst estimates
To be fair even companies that float most of their shares on the public markets find ways to concentrate power at the top Silicon Valley behemoths like Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB have special stock classes giving founders outsized control over decision making
Fund managers have given Mark Zuckerberg the benefit of the doubt thanks to strong returns he s delivered The question is whether they ll do the same for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman | 12/10/2019 |
INTC | U S boards end era of impunity for skirt chasers McDonald s firing shows | By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK Reuters Directors of U S companies are increasingly showing zero tolerance for executives sexual relationships with employees even consensual ones an attitude shift evident in McDonald s Corp s N MCD dismissal of CEO Steve Easterbrook this week Boards of directors in a different era turned a blind eye to executives so called skirt chasing corporate governance experts said But now boards focus on the risks to the company from relationships between supervisors and employees a view shaped in part by the fallout from sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein former CEO of The Weinstein Company in 2017 that fueled the MeToo movement Things people denied or swept under the carpet before they no longer do said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld a dean of leadership programs at the Yale School of Management It s being reported more and boards of directors are acting on the reports Easterbrook who reported to McDonald s board had a recent consensual relationship with an employee of the burger chain violating company policy Last year Brian Krzanich resigned as chief executive of technology company Intel Corp O INTC after an investigation found he had a consensual relationship with an employee breaking company rules Companies see relationships between supervisors and their reports as problematic because workers often feel they cannot turn down sexual advances from superiors without negative repercussions corporate governance experts said It s an imbalance in the power situation said Mark Spund head of the employment law practice at Davidoff Hutcher Citron LLP For most companies it s a violation of their regulations and most of the time it will lead to a termination of an executive More CEOs are being pushed out of their jobs for ethical lapses ranging from sexual indiscretions to fraud than in the past Of those forced out of their jobs in 2018 39 exited for ethical reasons a greater number than for financial performance or board struggles according to a study from a division of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers In 2017 26 of CEO exits were for ethical lapses according to the study while a decade prior it was 8 Earlier examples of corporate bosses leaving under ethical pressure include former Best Buy Co Inc N BBY CEO Brian Dunn who resigned in 2012 following allegations of personal misconduct relating to a relationship with a female staffer and Mark Hurd who left HP Inc N HPQ in 2010 amid sexual harassment allegations though an internal probe later cleared him of the charges Corporate boards of directors are also more frequently discussing company wide policies including rules that prohibit fraternization among employees said Gillian Emmett Moldowan an attorney at Shearman Sterling LLP In the past boards were less likely to review broad based policies implemented by human resources she said Emmett Moldowan added that boards compensation committees often look at these issues but because of the reputation risks some pose to the company the whole board will take them up TOXIC CULTURE Some companies policies will allow relationships between peers in different departments Sonnenfeld said But every other worker at the company would be off limits to Easterbrook as McDonald s CEO and the fast food chain s top employee corporate governance experts said One unanswered question is whether Easterbrook s firing and the naming of Chris Kempczinski to replace him will impact low level workers at the company s restaurants who have claimed they regularly face groping lewd comments and sexual propositions Fight for 15 a group campaigning for higher minimum wages said that more than 50 sexual harassment complaints have been made against McDonald s McDonald s culture is toxic all the way from top where CEO Steve Easterbrook had an inappropriate relationship with one of his staff down to the bottom where managers mock fire or retaliate against victims of sexual harassment the group said
With a new CEO McDonald s has an opportunity to change their culture | 11/5/2019 |
INTC | Huawei Forecasts Robust Smartphone Growth Despite Trump Ban | Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co expects smartphone shipments to grow 20 next year even if it s blocked from the latest Google NASDAQ GOOGL software suggesting the Trump administration efforts to contain the company s rise may not be working
The world s largest smartphone maker after Samsung Electronics KS 005930 Co can rely on its massive home market and in house software to keep the division humming said Will Zhang president of corporate strategy Sourcing the hardware for smartphone manufacturing wasn t a problem because of the availability of global supply he told Bloomberg News
Huawei is approaching a critical juncture in its fight for survival six months after Washington barred it from buying key U S components and software without special licenses Those include Google s Android operating system semiconductor design tools from Synopsys NASDAQ SNPS Inc and Cadence Design NASDAQ CDNS Systems Inc and radio frequency chips made by Qorvo and Skyworks NASDAQ SWKS That threatens to dent Huawei s smartphone business which ships more than twice as many devices as Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL while impeding its ability to make fifth generation networking gear
There are many ways for our U S partners to find global solutions rather than ship from a single U S based source Zhang said at Huawei s Shenzhen headquarters
China s largest technology corporation is a central facet of sensitive negotiations intended to defuse trade tensions with the U S Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has expressed optimism that the U S would strike a Phase One trade deal with China this month adding that licenses would come very shortly for American companies to sell components to Huawei Till then the U S blacklist is exacting an uncertain toll on the Chinese networking giant
Read more about the trade war China Insists Trump Give Up His Favorite Trade Weapon Tariffs
Zhang said in the past Huawei set one target for smartphone shipments but now because of increased uncertainty in the market it developed three different goals that include best and worst case scenarios Under a moderate scenario smartphone shipments could rise around 20 next year he said Even for the pessimistic one we see small growth said Zhang The best case projection is for 40 growth
Huawei which gets roughly half of its revenue from its smartphone division has so far managed to sustain an enviable pace of growth despite its precarious situation It gained market share against Apple and Samsung in the third quarter by expanding smartphone shipments 29 In its home market shipments jumped 66 in the third quarter but only rose about 18 sequentially abroad according to Canalys Huawei posted a 24 surge in revenue in the first nine months of 2019 boosted by a 26 jump in smartphone shipments to 185 million units
Read more TSMC to Keep Supplying Huawei Quashes Talk of U S Pressure
Billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei once predicted the Trump administration s move could knock 30 billion off his company s revenue That amount was later trimmed to 10 billion Zhang revised down the total impact amount again on Tuesday Now I think it s less than 10 billion he said A significant part of that comes from Huawei s server business which he said had been expected to generate revenue of 8 billion this year But that will be cut in half he said because Huawei was having difficulty making servers that employed the dominant x86 architecture used by U S giants Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD Inc Although servers are not our core product every project involves one Zhang said
He also said 20 to 40 of Huawei s products were affected by the ban Some impact was small so we could easily find a solution within half a year or three months But for servers it impacted our business our revenue and our strategy for the future as well
Longer term the company is exploring ways to get around a Google blockade Huawei introduced its Mate 30 series in September the first marquee phone that runs an open source version of Android and lacks Google licensed apps from Gmail to YouTube and Google Play Store
Huawei is also developing its own operating system HarmonyOS which is designed primarily for Internet of Things devices but can also power smartphones In September the company offered 1 5 billion to lure global developers to create software for its own ecosystem
Read more FCC Wants to Know if Huawei Gear Is Near U S Military Bases
Updates with the latest on trade deal in fifth paragraph
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story Gao Yuan in Beijing at ygao199 bloomberg net Peter Elstrom in Tokyo at pelstrom bloomberg net
To contact the editors responsible for this story Edwin Chan at echan273 bloomberg net Colum Murphy
2019 Bloomberg L P | 11/5/2019 |
INTC | New AI chips top key benchmark tests Nvidia | Reuters Nvidia Corp said on Wednesday its chips used to power artificial intelligence topped a series of benchmark tests that measure a key performance metric in the industry
The results are a boost to the company s efforts to make headway into one of the biggest growth areas in the field called inference which is the process of using an AI algorithm for tasks such as translating audio into text based requests
Intel NASDAQ INTC Corp s processors currently dominate the market for machine learning inference which analysts at Morningstar estimate to be worth 11 8 billion by 2021
However Nvidia dominates the AI training chip market where huge amounts of data help algorithms learn a task such as how to recognize a human voice
The company said its inference chips have now achieved the fastest results on five new independent suite of AI benchmarks called MLPerf Inference 0 5
The company on Wednesday also unveiled Jetson Xavier NX a new chip designed for AI computer which is the size of a credit card
The chip can be used in devices including small commercial robots drones and portable medical devices that require more computing power without sacrificing size or weight Nvidia said
Priced at 399 the new chip will be available in March | 11/6/2019 |
INTC | Qualcomm s licensing forecast helped by Apple deal drives share gains | By Stephen Nellis and Munsif Vengattil Reuters Qualcomm Inc O QCOM on Wednesday forecast current quarter profit above Wall Street expectations as its all important licensing segment benefits from a deal with Apple Inc O AAPL and the annual holiday quarter boost it brings Qualcomm the world s biggest supplier of mobile phone chips derives most of its profits from a business segment that invents technologies and licenses them The company forecast between 1 3 billion and 1 5 billion in revenue for that segment for its fiscal first quarter above analyst expectations of 1 23 billion according to IBES data from Refinitiv The licensing business drove the adjusted profit forecast with a midpoint of 85 cents per share also above analyst expectations of 83 cents per share according to Refinitiv data The return of Apple sales also provides Qualcomm a seasonal boost in its fiscal first quarter that ends in December when Apple traditionally sells its biggest number of devices and therefore pays the most royalties On the chip side Qualcomm s chief executive Steve Mollenkopf told Reuters in an interview that the company has won deals to supply 230 device designs with 5G chips up from 150 a quarter ago We re continuing to see strength in the licensing business particularly after we ve added in the deal we signed this year with Apple and we re on the front end of the 5G transition which will impact our product business Mollenkopf said We re closer to that and we re really seeing the signs that we should be confident The news sent shares up nearly 5 1 to 89 00 in after hours trading The company has resolved license disputes with major customers such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd KS 005930 and Apple It helps that most of Qualcomm s customers are actually paying Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights Strategy said But Qaulcomm remains in a license dispute with Huawei Although negotiations continue we have not reached a final agreement with Huawei Qualcomm said on Wednesday Qualcomm said it expects between 1 75 billion and 1 85 billion smart devices with modem chips including 175 million to 225 million 5G handsets to be sold in 2020 Because Qualcomm collects license fees on devices that use cellular connections to wireless data networks a greater number of devices sold often results in higher revenue and profits The results come a week after Apple calmed Wall Street nerves with improved sales in China the world s largest smartphone market and follow strong earnings from chipmaker Intel Corp O INTC last month Qualcomm said that for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Sept 29 revenue in its licensing segment was 1 16 billion beating estimates of 1 10 billion according to data from FactSet Excluding items the company earned 78 cents per share topping analysts average estimate of 71 cents
Revenue in the fourth quarter fell about 17 to 4 81 billion but beat analysts estimates of 4 70 billion | 11/6/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Falls as Hong Kong Trade Woes Spur Sell Off | Investing com Wall Street fell on Monday as violent clashes in Hong Kong and trade comments from U S President Donald Trump caused investors to dial down last week s optimism
The Dow was down 122 points or 0 4 by 9 44 AM ET 13 44 GMT while the S P 500 lost 12 points or 0 4 and the Nasdaq composite fell 42 points or 0 5
Hope of a trade deal diminished after U S President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had not agreed to end tariffs on Chinese goods as part of a trade deal as was claimed by the Chinese Commerce Ministry earlier last week
Talks were moving slower than he would like and he would only make a deal if it was best for America Trump added on Saturday
Meanwhile civil unrest in Hong Kong worsened as police used live ammunition on protesters who had tried to block roads and delay trains during the morning commute Elsewhere protesters set a man arguing with them on fire
You have China involved in two major variables now which seems to be causing some nervousness said Andre Bakhos managing director at New Vines Capital LLC in Bernardsville New Jersey
During times like these the markets are going to be volatile and erratic especially after coming off all time highs
Stocks sensitive to trade were down with Caterpillar NYSE CAT down 0 8 Intel NASDAQ INTC falling 0 4 and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD slipping 1 4 Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM slumped 2 5 after Morgan Stanley NYSE MS downgraded the chipmaker to equal weight from overweight
Goldman Sachs NYSE GS lost 1 on allegations of gender discrimination after David Heinemeier Hansson claimed the company approved an Apple NASDAQ AAPL Card with 20 times the credit limit of his wife despite his wife having a better credit score The New York Department of Financial Services has opened a probe into the allegations
Tesla NASDAQ TSLA rose 2 after its price target was raised by Jefferies to 400 per share from 300 a share with the bank s analysts taking a bright view of the company s margin outlook according to CNBC Walgreens Boots Alliance NASDAQ WBA jumped 5 1 after reports that KKR has formally made an offer to buy the company Bloomberg reported
In commodities the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was down 0 2 to 98 015 and gold futures were flat at 1 463 05 a troy ounce Crude oil futures lost 0 8 to 56 76 a barrel
Reuters contributed to this report | 11/11/2019 |
INTC | Day Ahead Top 3 Things to Watch | Investing com Here s a preview of the three things that could rock markets tomorrow
1 Wholesale Inflation Powell Returns
A day after data showed the pace of consumer prices accelerated last month the Labor Department will issue the producer price index PPI report at 8 30 AM ET 12 30 GMT
On average economists expect the PPI rose 0 3 in October compared with a 0 3 decline in the prior month
The core PPI which excludes volatile food and energy prices is forecast to have risen to 0 2 from a 0 3 decline a month earlier according to forecasts compiled by Investing com
That would bring year over year PPI growth to 0 9 down from 1 4 and core PPI growth up 1 5 down from 2
The PPI is considered a leading indicator measuring the input prices for goods sold at a retail level
U S Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell meanwhile will testify on the economy before the House Committee on the Budget at 10 00 AM ET 15 00 GMT But the Fed chief s appearance is not expected to stray too much away from his comments on Wednesday when he reiterated that the U S central bank s current stance on monetary policy was appropriate as the U S economy remains in good shape
2 U S Crude Oil Inventories Set for Another Build
The Energy Information Administration EIA petroleum report is due Thursday with analysts keen to see whether domestic crude stockpiles will stage another build for the third straight week
The EIA is expected to report a build in stockpiles of 1 65 million barrels for the week ended Nov 8
Crude oil futures rose 0 6 to settle at 57 17 a barrel though some weakness was seen in late in the session on reports that U S China trade talks had hit a snag
Ahead of the EIA report the American Petroleum Institute released data which while not perfectly correlated with the EIA s report showed weekly crude stockpiles fell by 0 5 million barrels last week
3 Nvidia Walmart Earnings in Focus
Walmart NYSE WMT reports fiscal third quarter earnings Thursday before the opening bell with many optimistic that the low cost chain s efforts to improve its digital offerings will bolster growth
Walmart management guided U S same store sales growth toward the upper end of 2 5 to 3 range and forecast U S e commerce sales to expand about 35
The retailer is expected to report earnings of 1 09 per share on revenue of 128 57 billion A year ago Walmart NYSE WMT said it earned 1 08 a share on revenue of 125 42 billion Shares are up 29 9 this year after falling 5 67 in 2018
Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA meanwhile will report earnings after the market closes
Sentiment on the graphics chipmaker has turned more positive recently on signs spending on data center a segment making up more than a quarter of total revenue has returned
Intel NASDAQ INTC reported in late October that data center came back much more strongly than anticipated
Nvidia s gaming sector will likely get a boost from strong sales for the Nintendo videogame console which includes Nvidia made GPU chips Nintendo s Switch has been the top selling video game console in U S for 10 months now according to the NPD Group a market research company
With most of the goodness already baked into shares of Nvidia the potential for a significant run higher on the back of solid quarterly results is limited according to Deutsche analyst Ross Seymore
As well as earnings guidance will also be closely watched as many are optimistic that the launch of new products next year will drive growth
Nvidia is expected to report earnings of 1 58 a share on revenue of 2 92 billion A year ago the company earned 1 97 on 3 18 billion in sales Shares are up 56 this year after falling 30 85 in 2018 | 11/13/2019 |
INTC | Former Apple chip executives found company to take on Intel AMD | By Stephen Nellis
Reuters Three of Apple NASDAQ AAPL Inc s former top semiconductor executives in charge of iPhone chips have founded a startup to design processors for data centers aiming to take on current industry leaders Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC and Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD Inc
NUVIA Inc was founded by Gerard Williams NYSE WMB III Manu Gulati and John Bruno in early 2019 and is developing a processor code named Phoenix The company on Friday said it raised 53 million from Dell Technologies Capital and several Silicon Valley firms which will help it expand from 60 employees to about 100 by the end of this year
The company s founders backers and plans have not been previously reported
Williams left Apple this spring after more than nine years as chief architect for all Apple central processors and systems on a chip Gulati spent eight years at Apple working on mobile systems on a chip and Bruno spent five years in Apple s platform architecture group Gulati and Bruno also worked for Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google before coming to NUVIA
At NUVIA the group s goal is to take the lessons learned designing powerful chips for small battery powered devices such as iPhones and apply them to large electricity hungry data center servers The founders aim to make a chip that is faster more power efficient and more secure than existing data center processors Williams told Reuters
We want to bring all these aspects that we have developed over time through our careers to this new market and really exploit them in this market because it s an area ripe for innovation and advancement Williams told Reuters in an interview
Chip suppliers Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc Marvell Technology Group and Ampere Computing a startup founded by Intel s former president are all also trying to take on Intel and AMD in the server market with chip technology previously used in mobile phones
But Patrick Moorhead an analyst at Moor Insights Strategies said NUVIA could prove a formidable new entrant based on its founding team s track record He said the team made unprecedented performance gains with each new generation of chips at Apple
I ve been in and around semiconductor companies for 30 years There are never any guarantees but one thread that I ve seen is that the most successful chip companies have rock star architects and developers Moorhead said
Among NUVIA s investors is Dell Technologies Inc s venture arm Dell is one of Intel s biggest customers Scott Darling president the venture group and himself a veteran of Apple and Intel said he could not comment on whether Dell will use NUVIA s chips
The silicon industry is relentless It pounds forward he told Reuters You have to have a world class team to do something disruptive enough that it will prevail despite the response of competitors At NUVIA we think we have found one
The story corrects spelling of John Bruno s surname in paragraph 4 | 11/15/2019 |
MSFT | Brazil court says delivery app Loggi must formalize ties with couriers | By Peter Frontini
SAO PAULO Reuters Brazilian delivery app Loggi must formalize work relationships with its motorbike drivers and pay charities 30 million reais as a fine for not previously contracting the workers according to a Sao Paolo court ruling released on Friday
Around 15 000 couriers use motorbikes which can cut through heavy traffic to deliver a wide range of items to customers using the app in Brazil Most of the drivers are not contracted workers saving companies costs such as contributions to government managed funds and the public pension system
Loggi said it would appeal the ruling arguing that delivery workers have their own companies under a model of micro entrepreneurship recently introduced by the federal government
Loggi reached a market value of 1 billion in June after raising 150 million in an investment round that included SoftBank Group Corp T 9984 Microsoft Corp O MSFT GGV Fifth Wall and Velt Partners | 12/6/2019 |
INTC | Google unveils quantum computer breakthrough critics say wait a qubit | By Douglas Busvine and Paresh Dave BERLIN SAN FRANCISCO Reuters Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google said on Wednesday it had achieved a breakthrough in computing research by using a quantum computer to solve in minutes a complex problem that would take today s most powerful supercomputer thousands of years to crack Google researchers expect that quantum computers within a few years will fuel advancements in fields such as artificial intelligence materials science and chemistry The company is racing rivals including IBM NYSE IBM Corp and Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT to be the first to commercialize the technology and sell it through its cloud computing business We re hoping that when people start using this and looking at performance stability and cloud interface they ll get really excited about what we have to offer at Google John Martinis the company s chief scientist for quantum hardware told reporters The breakthrough was described in a paper published in science journal Nature It followed weeks of controversy since a draft leaked over whether Google s claim of quantum supremacy was valid IBM said a supercomputer employing a different set up could solve the same challenge in under three days while chipmaker Intel NASDAQ INTC said quantum practicality remained years away Google defended its position but did not dispute rivals contentions It has manufactured a handful of chips with 54 qubits vastly more powerful than the standard 64 bit chip in many consumer devices However for the technology to be useful to customers it would need to make chips with thousands of qubits Martinis said Google sees a pathway to a computer with 1 000 qubits and expressed confidence that it had a reliable process to make its new chip dubbed Sycamore The U S and Chinese governments have led in the burgeoning quantum technology field pledging billions of dollars in funding to corporate and state researchers to fast track quantum development and mitigate possible issues including the tech s expected ability to break digital encryption Google has been among the beneficiaries of the American support The United States has taken a great leap forward in quantum computing said U S chief technology officer Michael Kratsios on Wednesday LONG HELD DREAM For decades computer scientists have sought to harness quantum physics laws governing the behavior of particles that are smaller than atoms and can simultaneously exist in different states Quantum bits or qubits can be set to one and zero at the same time unlike today s computer bits that are either ones or zeros This superposition property multiplies exponentially as qubits become entangled with each other meaning the more qubits connected the vastly more powerful a quantum computer becomes But there is a catch Quantum researchers need to cool qubits to about absolute zero 273 degrees Celsius or 460 degrees Fahrenheit to limit vibration or noise that causes errors in calculations It is in this challenging task that Google which has designed much of its own electronics and used liquid helium for cooling has made significant progress CEO Sundar Pichai compared the achievement to building the first rocket to leave Earth s atmosphere and touch the edge of space an advance that brought interplanetary travel into the realm of the possible For those of us working in science and technology it s the hello world moment we ve been waiting for the most meaningful milestone to date in the quest to make quantum computing a reality Pichai wrote in a blog Sycamore measuring about 10 mm 0 39 inch across is made using aluminum and indium parts sandwiched between two silicon wafers In their experiment this year the researchers were able to get 53 of Sycamore s qubits to interact in a quantum state They then had the quantum computer detect patterns in a series of seemingly random numbers and it succeeded in 3 minutes and 20 seconds They estimated that the same problem would take 10 000 years for a Summit supercomputer the most powerful in the world today to solve HOLD ON A QUBIT While the peer reviewed research has drawn plaudits with MIT s William D Oliver comparing it to the Wright brothers first flights skeptics say Google is over selling its achievement IBM said a supercomputer with additional disk storage can solve the random number problem in at most 2 1 2 days and with greater accuracy It also said Google risked misleading the public by implying the new style computers would replace existing ones Quantum computers will never reign supreme over classical computers but will rather work in concert with them since each have their unique strengths Dario Gil director of research at IBM wrote in a blog Torsten Siebert manager of the quantum computing research program at Germany s Fraunhofer Society agreed that progress was likely to be achieved through such hybrid combinations Researchers also have expressed concern about quantum computers being used for example to unseal secure data and passwords or enable new forms of surveillance But before quantum computers can break codes security experts have plenty of time to adapt Martinis said
We re pretty confident we ll all stay safe and secure in the future he said | 11/1/2019 |
MSFT | Walmart favors reasonable controls over collection and use of personal data | This December 5 story corrects eighth paragraph to say Walmart NYSE WMT does not sell but shares individually identifiable data with third parties By Nandita Bose WASHINGTON Reuters Walmart Inc for the first time on Wednesday revealed the breadth of customer information it collects as it came out in favor of consumers having reasonable controls with regard to collection use and sharing of personal data The world s largest retailer said shoppers should have an opportunity to reasonably access correct or delete their data while limiting the sale of their data to third parties and its use in digital advertising as it testified at a hearing by the U S Senate Committee on Commerce Science and Transportation The hearing which was also attended by companies like Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT was convened to examine various legislative proposals to protect consumer data privacy More than a dozen privacy bills have been introduced in Congress and concerns have mounted over how information is being collected and used especially by big tech companies Walmart said in its testimony it supports a comprehensive federal privacy law and is ready to comply with strict new privacy rules California plans to instate on Jan 1 Nuala O Connor senior vice president and chief counsel of digital citizenship at Walmart said privacy legislation focused on a particular industry referring to the U S tech sector must be carefully crafted to avoid unintended effects on retail Walmart said it collects myriad different forms of customer data including personal information provided directly by consumers personal information provided by third parties purchase history healthcare data browsing information device information and location data The company said it shares individually identifiable customer data with third parties for business activities including fulfilling customer orders and processing payments Also some of Walmart s recent acquisitions share customer information with other companies it said Earlier this week a draft consumer privacy bill from Republican U S Senator Roger Wicker who chairs the Commerce Committee proposed nationwide rules for handling of personal information online and elsewhere that would override state laws That followed a privacy bill introduced by the top Democrat on the committee Maria Cantwell A U S online privacy bill is not likely to come before Congress this year Reuters reported in September as lawmakers disagree over several issues
Democrats like Cantwell are determined not to sign a privacy bill that would pre empt state laws while Republicans appear equally determined to avoid a patchwork of state measures The two parties also disagree over whether individuals would have the right to sue for violation of privacy under the law | 12/6/2019 |
INTC | Stockbeat Nvidia Rallies on RBC Price Hike as Intel Touts Data Center Comeback | Investing com Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA was riding high on Friday following a target price hike from RBC after concerns about weakness in data center spending were swept away by Intel s NASDAQ INTC upbeat third quarter report and guidance
Data center came back much more strongly than even we anticipated this quarter Intel Chief Financial Officer George Davis told Reuters in an interview after the release of Intel s third quarter results
That was music to the ears of many Nvidia investors and analysts alike as data center segment sales make up more than quarter of the chipmaker s overall revenue Nvidia revenue hit 11 7 billion in its 2018 2019 fiscal year and looks as if it will top 12 billion this year
Pointing to Intel s comments on higher than expected demand in its data center business which focuses on server chips RBC lifted its price target on Nvidia to 251 to 217 forecasting that the chipmaker will likely experience higher growth relative to CPU server demand
Nvidia surged more than 3 8 higher
Nvidia will experience a return to growth as utilization of GPUs graphics processing units in the Data Center have officially improved and are no longer running below normal RBC said in a note to clients
The anticipated return for data center growth comes just as U S China relations are seemingly on the mend
The United States and China are close to finalizing some sections of their phase one trade agreement after a phone call between both trade teams CNBC reported on Friday citing a statement from the Office of the U S Trade Representative
RBC also said investors were too cautious on Nvidia s gaming business which still makes up the bulk of revenue That echoed earlier sentiments from some of its peers on Wall Street
Earlier this month Evercore ISI raised its price target on Nvida to 225 from 185 on the back of expectations for a ramp up in gaming demand and a recovery in the data center division driven by an anticipated product refresh
Nvidia is up about 53 so far this year and currently has an average price target of 193 10 according to consensus estimates from Investing com | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | S P 500 Hovers Near Record on Trade Optimism Markets Wrap | Bloomberg The S P 500 Index hovered near its closing high amid positive signs on trade talks and as investors assessed corporate results
Equities extended their weekly advance after the U S said it s close to finalizing sections of the first phase of a trade deal with China Technology shares led gains on Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC s upbeat outlook while Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL hit an all time high Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN pared losses as its long term prospects offset a profit decline The risk on sentiment helped push Treasuries down
Read America Trade Fuels S P 500 Record Run Amid Hints of Fatigue
Stock investors cheered signs of progress on negotiations between the world s two largest economies hoping they could ease a dispute that s rattled global markets and weighed on growth U S Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke by phone on Friday Later Friday President Donald Trump said that we re doing very well with China and they want to make a deal very badly
The news about the trade war has continued to improve said Michael Antonelli managing director and market strategist at Robert W Baird Co It s not solved but news has been getting better Earnings have been not as bad as people think If this pace continues it s very possible earnings end up on the plus side of growth
More on corporate news
Visa Inc NYSE V issued forecasts that were better than expected Verizon Communications Inc NYSE VZ exceeded Wall Street s expectations for profit and subscriber growth Juniper Networks Inc NYSE JNPR boosted its stock buyback authorization by 1 billion and reported earnings that beat estimates Goodyear Tire Rubber Co surged as analysts said improved pricing may be a tailwind Charter Communications Inc NASDAQ CHTR posted revenue that met the average analyst estimate Elsewhere the pound dropped as French President Emmanuel Macron blocked the European Union s attempt to delay Brexit for three months That s raised the prospect the U K might not know whether it will get an extension until just hours before it is scheduled to be ejected on Oct 31 even without a deal
These are some of the main moves in markets
Stocks
The S P 500 rose 0 5 to 3 024 61 at 1 14 p m New York time The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0 7 The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0 7 The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0 2 The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0 1 Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro decreased 0 2 to 1 1077 The British pound decreased 0 2 to 1 282 The Japanese yen depreciated 0 1 to 108 75 per dollar Bonds
The yield on 10 year Treasuries rose three basis points to 1 80 Germany s 10 year yield increased four basis points to 0 36 Britain s 10 year yield climbed six basis points to 0 682 Commodities
The Bloomberg Commodity Index rose 0 2 West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0 4 to 56 45 a barrel Gold was little changed at 1 504 80 an ounce | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | S P 500 approaches record high on U S China trade progress | By April Joyner
NEW YORK Reuters The S P 500 rose on Friday briefly surpassing its record closing high after Washington said it was close to finalizing parts of a trade pact with Beijing
The benchmark index SPX hit a session high of 3 027 39 reaching above its closing record of 3 025 86 on July 26 It came within a point of overtaking its all time high of 3 027 98 set during the July 26 session
U S stocks added to marginal gains early in the session after the U S Trade Representative s office said that deputy level trade talks would continue President Donald Trump also struck a hopeful tone saying that China wanted to make a deal very badly
The developments rounded off a strong week for equity markets which were boosted by a clutch of better than expected third quarter earnings reports The S P 500 and the Nasdaq were both set for their biggest weekly percentage gain in seven weeks
Intel Corp s O INTC quarterly report added to Friday s upbeat sentiment The chipmaker s shares jumped 7 6 on track for their largest daily percentage gain since January 2018 after the company beat Wall Street revenue and profit estimates and raised its full year revenue forecast
The gain in Intel shares helped propel the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index SOX to a record high
Trade optimism and Intel s gains outweighed losses in shares of Amazon com Inc O AMZN which fell after the e commerce giant forecast revenue and profit for the crucial holiday quarter below estimates Amazon shares were last down 1 7 off their session low
The market reaction to Amazon wasn t as bad as people thought which created a positive atmosphere said Michael O Rourke chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich Connecticut Then the trade headlines I think the market liked that as well
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 149 4 points or 0 56 to 26 954 93 the S P 500 SPX gained 10 93 points or 0 36 to 3 021 22 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC added 46 16 points or 0 56 to 8 231 96
Boeing Co N BA shares dropped 1 5 after Indonesian authorities looking into October 2018 s Lion Air crash said the world s largest planemaker failed to grasp risks in the design of cockpit software on its 737 MAX jet
Shares of VF Corp N VFC fell 6 7 after the apparel maker reported lower than expected quarterly revenue as its popular Vans and Timberland brands faced intensified competition
Charter Communications Inc O CHTR shares gained 6 9 The cable operator posted better than expected quarterly results fueled by customer growth in its broadband services business
The next round of earnings due next week includes Apple Inc O AAPL Alphabet Inc O GOOGL Pfizer Inc N PFE and Merck Co Inc N MRK
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1 43 to 1 ratio on Nasdaq a 1 74 to 1 ratio favored advancers
The S P 500 posted 40 new 52 week highs and three new lows the Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 55 new lows | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | Stocks S P Nears New High Nasdaq 100 Hits a Record | Investing com Stocks surged higher Friday as investors embraced the prospect of more technology growth and shrugged off cautious fourth quarter guidance from Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN
The S P 500 ended up 0 41 on the day at 3 022 55 The index briefly breached its July 26 closing high and came within a point of breaking its intraday high of 3 027 98
The Nasdaq 100 meanwhile soared to a new intraday high of 8 032 35 and closed up 0 78 to a new closing high of 8 029 22 The old closing high was 8 021 35 also set on July 26
The day s catalyst was that chip giant Intel NASDAQ INTC said it sees more growth ahead especially in sales of server chips Intel jumped 8 1 and added 17 4 points to the Nasdaq 100
Gains for Apple NASDAQ AAPL Charter Communications NASDAQ CHTR Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Tesla NASDAQ TSLA and graphics chip maker Nvidia NASDAQ NVDA also contributed to the Nasdaq 100 s new highs These stocks and Intel together contributed more than 48 points to the index s gain of 62 points
The Dow Jones industrials finished up 0 57 and ended the day off 1 53 below its all time high in July While Intel was the biggest percentage gainer the Dow was also pushed higher by new highs for Apple NASDAQ AAPL and JPMorgan Chase NYSE JPM Caterpillar NYSE CAT also moved up 4 4 and added nearly 40 points to the Dow s 152 point gain
The Nasdaq Composite rose 0 7 on the day and is 1 2 below its peak
Amazon fell 1 09 or more than 19 points to 1 761 33 after reporting weaker than expected third quarter results late Thursday It was the company s first profit decline in two years The company also offering softer than expected fourth quarter guidance The share decline reduced the Nasdaq s gain by 8 1 points
The decline wasn t as large as might have been expected but Amazon NASDAQ AMZN has aggressive plans for fourth quarter promotions And it has a history of offering soft guidance that s blown away when earnings are announced
The market s gains were dominated by tech stocks but still quite broad except for interest rate sensitive stocks like utilities and real estate investment vehicles The sectors were the weakest among the 11 S P 500 sectors as rates moved higher with stocks The 10 year Treasury yield move to 1 803 from Thursday s 1 766
Home builders however gained with new highs for DR Horton NYSE DHI Lennar NYSE LEN PulteGroup NYSE PHM and KB Home NYSE KBH
Boeing NYSE BA fell 1 4 as the 737 MAX issue continued to weigh on the company
While earnings were the biggest driver s in the stock market s performance there was some early fuel provided by the Trump Administration which said the negotiations of a text for the first phase of what is hoped to be a comprehensive trade agreement were going well
Gold was flat on the day at about 1 505 an ounce West Texas Intermediate crude and Brent crude moved higher
Medical equipment maker ResMed NYSE RMD flooring company Mohawk Industries Inc NYSE MHK and Intel NASDAQ INTC were the top S P 500 performers
Real estate investment trust Ventas NYSE VTR Edison International NYSE EIX parent of Southern NYSE SO California Edison and chemical maker Albemarle NYSE ALB were the weakest S P 500 performers | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks higher at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 57 | Investing com U S stocks were higher after the close on Friday as gains in the Technology Basic Materials and Oil Gas sectors led shares higher
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0 57 while the S P 500 index added 0 41 and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0 70
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC which rose 8 10 or 4 23 points to trade at 56 46 at the close Meanwhile Caterpillar Inc NYSE CAT added 4 39 or 5 88 points to end at 139 73 and 3M Company NYSE MMM was up 2 59 or 4 20 points to 166 09 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were Coca Cola Company NYSE KO which fell 1 57 or 0 86 points to trade at 53 75 at the close Boeing Co NYSE BA declined 1 37 or 4 72 points to end at 339 83 and Procter Gamble Company NYSE PG was down 1 23 or 1 54 points to 123 25
The top performers on the S P 500 were ResMed Inc NYSE RMD which rose 12 94 to 144 26 Mohawk Industries Inc NYSE MHK which was up 10 94 to settle at 144 13 and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC which gained 8 10 to close at 56 46
The worst performers were Ventas Inc NYSE VTR which was down 8 93 to 66 00 in late trade Edison International NYSE EIX which lost 8 51 to settle at 66 05 and Albemarle Corp NYSE ALB which was down 8 44 to 63 59 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Xunlei Ltd Adr NASDAQ XNET which rose 107 76 to 4 82 Reebonz Holding Ltd NASDAQ RBZ which was up 47 73 to settle at 1 95 and Lianluo Smart Ltd NASDAQ LLIT which gained 45 70 to close at 0 746
The worst performers were BeyondSpring Inc NASDAQ BYSI which was down 26 77 to 12 28 in late trade Melinta Therapeutics Inc NASDAQ MLNT which lost 23 34 to settle at 3 350 and Universal Logistics Holdings Inc NASDAQ ULH which was down 20 05 to 20 14 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1607 to 1215 and 125 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1539 rose and 1061 declined while 99 ended unchanged
Shares in ResMed Inc NYSE RMD rose to all time highs up 12 94 or 16 53 to 144 26 Shares in BeyondSpring Inc NASDAQ BYSI fell to all time lows falling 26 77 or 4 49 to 12 28
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was down 7 73 to 12 65 a new 1 month low
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0 16 or 2 45 to 1507 15 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0 76 or 0 43 to hit 56 66 a barrel while the December Brent oil contract rose 0 50 or 0 31 to trade at 61 98 a barrel
EUR USD was down 0 22 to 1 1080 while USD JPY rose 0 05 to 108 66
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0 20 at 97 597 | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | Shares near two month highs on hopes of trade deal Fed cut | By Ritvik Carvalho LONDON Reuters World shares steadied near two month highs on Monday boosted by hopes for a trade deal and strong U S corporate earnings while the dollar traded near its highest in a week before a Federal Reserve rate decision MSCI s All Country World Index MIWD00000PUS which tracks shares across 47 countries was up 0 04 on the day It was just off its highest level since July 27 But European shares fell as a glum profit outlook from HSBC offset gains by trade exposed auto and mining stocks The pan European STOXX 600 index STOXX was down 0 16 The pound edged up after the European Union agreed to extend the deadline for Brexit until Jan 31 2020 It last traded 0 06 higher at 1 2844 Euro zone bond yields rose in anticipation of the EU s decision after sources said the EU was most likely to grant one Earlier MSCI s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0 5 to its highest since late July for a third straight day of gains The CSI300 CSI300 of blue chip mainland China shares was up 0 8 Hong Kong s Hang Seng index HSI jumped as much as 1 0 Japan s Nikkei N225 rose 0 3 to a one year high The advances came after U S and European markets gained on Friday Markets are likely to enter a standby mode ahead of the Fed s rate decision on Wednesday amid ongoing developments in the China US trade negotiations and the corporate earnings season Danske Bank said in a research note U S and Chinese officials are close to finalizing some parts of a trade agreement after high level telephone discussions on Friday the U S Trade Representative s office and China s Commerce Ministry said with talks to continue U S President Donald Trump has said he hopes to sign the deal with China s President Xi Jinping next month at a summit in Chile The protracted trade war between the world s largest economies has hurt manufacturing exports and business confidence globally and hurt the profits of many major industrial firms Optimism that Beijing and Washington were close to resolving their dispute led the S P500 SPX to surpass its July 26 closing record of 3 025 86 though it ended just below that level on Friday The S P 500 s total return index SPXT posted an all time high E mini futures for the S P 500 ESc1 were up 0 16 in early deals in London Strong results from companies including Intel O INTC also boosted sentiment in equities markets More than 81 of U S companies have beaten Wall Street expectations so far this earnings season despite concerns about the trade war Investors next await earnings from the likes of Alphabet Inc O GOOGL Apple O AAPL Facebook O FB and Exxon N XOM Activity later in the week will be dominated by the U S Federal Reserve which markets expect will lower interest rates at its Wednesday meeting Futures show a 90 probability of a cut The Bank of Japan meets on Thursday On Friday indicators for Chinese and U S manufacturing will be released The outcome of the FOMC Federal Open Markets Committee policy meeting will most likely draw the largest market reaction said Richard Grace Sydney based chief currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank We also think the risk is the FOMC will articulate a pause for future rate decisions Grace added In currencies the dollar index DXY was 0 05 lower against a basket of six major currencies The euro EUR D3 was edged up 0 1 to 1 1109 Oil prices fell after strong gains last week as data released in China reinforced signs that its economy is slowing O R U S crude slipped 0 65 to 56 29 a barrel Brent fell more than half a percent to 61 68
Spot gold rose 0 15 to 1 506 3 an ounce | 10/28/2019 |
INTC | Day Ahead Top 3 Things to Watch | Investing com Here s a preview of the top 3 things that could rock markets tomorrow
1 U S Consumer Confidence Housing in Spotlight
Top tier economic data is on the calendar for tomorrow in the form of pending homes sales and consumer confidence
The Conference Board will issue its measure of consumer confidence for October at 10 00 AM ET 14 00 GMT
The index is expected to rise to 128 from 125 1 in September according to economists forecasts compiled by Investing com
Consumer confidence data will take on added scrutiny after weaker retail sales data released last week raised concerns about consumer spending which has been the main tailwind for the economy
At the same time the latest data on pending home sales meanwhile is slated for 10 00 AM ET as well The report will come from the National Association of Realtors
On average economists predict that pending home sales rose 0 9 in September compared with a 1 6 increase in the previous month
The duo of reports comes just a day ahead of the Federal Reserve s rate decision with the odds of a cut to 1 5 to 1 75 at about 95 up from 92 last week according to Investing com s Fed Rate Monitor Tool
2 GM Pfizer Earnings Due
General Motors NYSE GM and Pfizer NYSE PFE roll up with earnings before the market opens tomorrow
The automaker s earnings however are likely to take a back seat to commentary about how the 40 day of the UAW hurt business
The strike which involved about 50 000 workers at GM is expected to have costed the company about 2 billion according to Bank of America NYSE BAC
Beyond the impact of the strike car sales will also be in focus with the company reporting earlier this month that it had sold 738 638 vehicles in the quarter up 6 3 from a year earlier
GM is expected to report earnings 1 38 a share on revenue of 34 95 billion
In pharma Pfizer will be in the spotlight with the drugmaker forecast to report earnings of 62 cents per share on revenue of 12 27 billion
The company s share price has come under pressure amid valuation concerns with Morgan Stanley NYSE MS saying the earnings power of Pfizer and Upjohn the off patent drug business it spun off this year are weaker than expected amid concerns about negative regulatory action and lower margins
3 AMD Earnings on Deck
Chip stocks will be in focus tomorrow as AMD reports earnings after the closing bell tomorrow
Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD reports earnings amid a favorable backdrop following the launch of its new chips which attracted notable customers like Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL
The earnings report comes as the company continues to scoop up new business at the lower end of the market after Intel NASDAQ INTC decided to de prioritize shipments of low end CPUs
IIntel s PC CPU shortages should again have allowed AMD to gain share at OEMs ODMs who need to find substitutes for older low end INTC parts Wedbush said in a note to clients
Its gaming sector which makes up the bulk of revenue will likely get a boost from strong PC shipments which should have boosted both AMD s CPU and GPU businesses in the quarter Wedbush added
AMD is expected to report earnings of 18 cents per share on revenue of 1 81 billion | 10/28/2019 |
INTC | Islamic State silent on Baghdadi death as it searches for successor | By Ulf Laessing and Omar Fahmy
CAIRO Reuters Islamic State supporters have responded with silence and disbelief days after the death of their leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi suggesting a breakdown in the command structure of the Sunni militant group trying to agree on a successor
There has been no official statement or mourning on Baghdadi on Islamic State s IS official Telegram channel since U S President Donald Trump announced on Sunday his killing at the hands of special operations forces in northwestern Syria
Its Amaq news agency Telegram has been continuing business as usual posting since Sunday more than 30 claims of attacks in Syria Egypt Afghanistan and Iraq praising its fighters
There has also been less chatter among jihadist supporters on social media compared to the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011 and other militant leaders
Analysts said the remains of Islamic State s leadership were in a state of shock probably trying to keep the group together and agree on a successor before confirming Baghdadi s killing
There is probably right now chaos inside what is left of the leadership Key aides have been killed and documents destroyed said Hisham al Hashimi an Iraqi expert on militant groups
They will want to agree on a successor before announcing the death he said adding that a split of the group could delay this
The group might also need to rebrand itself since using Baghdadi s declared Islamic caliphate was no longer appropriate having lost the swathes of Iraq Syria and Libya its fighters used to control until 2017 analysts said
Many of Baghdadi s followers were also killed Trump said on Sunday
On Tuesday he wrote on Twitter the U S military had likely killed the person who likely would have succeeded Baghdadi as Islamic State leader Trump did not specify who he was referring to but a senior State Department official on Monday confirmed the killing of Abu al Hassan al Muhajir Islamic State spokesman and a high ranking IS figure in an operation separate from the one that killed Baghdadi
It took al Qaeda another Sunni militant group following a similar ideology which carried out the Sept 11 2001 attacks on the United States several days before it confirmed the killing of Osama bin Laden in a U S raid said Aymenn al Tamimi a researcher at Swansea University focused on Islamic State
About six weeks passed before the group announced a successor to bin Laden
Islamic State could announce the death in their weekly news letter which could come out on Thursday if they were able to agree on a successor said Tamimi
He said Hajj Abdullah a deputy of Baghdadi was his likely successor provided he was still alive
There had been conflicting reports before whether Baghdadi was still alive after the Islamic State lost its last significant territory in Syria in March resorting since then to hit and run guerrilla tactics
His last audio message was in September
DEFIANCE
There has been less chatter online among supporters of militant groups compared to times when militants were previously killed
Social media platforms such as Twitter are now quicker at deleting accounts linked to militants while several Arab countries have stepped up online surveillance That forces users to constantly change encrypted accounts
Of those Islamic State supporters who went online after Trump s announcement following an initial stunning silence many voiced disbelief or dismissed the news as fake
A Telegram account linked to IS warned supporters not to believe an alleged image announcing the death The message ended with God almighty preserve him Baghdadi suggesting the poster still believed Baghdadi was alive
Other supporters seemed ready to embrace his death urging supporters to continue the jihadist fight in any case
Whatever happens the jihad convoy moves forward and will not stop even if the state is annihilated one supporter wrote on a personal Telegram account
Tamimi said there was not much mourning as many militant supporters were glad to see Baghdadi dead because he had in their view damaged the jihad project by his group s cruelty by meting out punishments such as amputations of legs and hands
Hayat Tahrir al Sham the Sunni group formerly known as the Nusra Front and which dominates Idlib in northwestern Syria where Baghdadi was killed praised his death
The only regret they had was that they hadn t killed him instead of U S forces said Tamimi
In contrast to Islamic State supporters of al Qaeda quickly accepted Baghdadi s death according to the U S based SITE Intel NASDAQ INTC Group which monitors jihadist websites
How much blood has been shed in the name of his imaginary Caliphate posted Sirajuddin Zurayqat a former official in a former al Qaeda linked group Brigades of Abdullah Azzam SITE said
Late on Monday hardline Saudi Sunni cleric Abdullah al Muhaysini also published an 18 minute video praising Baghdadi s death urging followers to quit IS
For some Baghdadi s death might be the final straw to quit the group and go back to al Qaeda said Elisabeth Kendall senior research fellow in Arabic and Islamic studies at Oxford University | 10/29/2019 |
INTC | Ex Apple executive joins startup aimed at banishing smartphone cables | By Stephen Nellis CAMPBELL California Reuters For over 14 years at Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL Rub n Caballero had to include a cable with every iPhone design whose wireless engineering he oversaw from the first prototypes in 2005 to iPhone 11 models on shelves now Now as chief wireless strategist for Silicon Valley startup Keyssa Inc Caballero hopes to cut the cord for good for all smartphones His new position has not been previously reported Every iPhone since the first released in 2007 has come with a cable as a failsafe way to transfer data as has virtually every other brand of phone Keyssa wants to end that with its chip that can transfer data nearly as fast as a wire by placing two devices next to each other Early customer LG Electronics Inc uses the chip to connect the second screen of its LG V50 smart phone Wireless charging has taken hold in phones but wireless data connections like Bluetooth and Wi Fi remain too finicky to discard cables altogether Keyssa has raised more than 100 million from the venture groups at Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC Samsung Electronics KS 005930 Co Ltd Foxconn parent Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd and a fund run by Tony Fadell another former Apple executive who helped create the iPod and then hired Caballero for the original iPhone team Every single consumer product would love to solve the external connector Caballero who left Apple earlier this year said in an interview at Keyssa s headquarters in Campbell California Caballero a retired Canadian Air Force captain who favors all black attire also has his eyes on the inside of phones There cables cause engineering headaches Camera modules connect to main circuit boards with a thin cables Bend them enough and they break creating an unintentional beautiful antenna that interferes with cellular data connections Caballero said With Keyssa s chips camera modules could touch the circuit board to transmit data wirelessly The chips use high frequencies that cause no interference inside the phone or with nearby devices What s beautiful about this is the frequency Caballero said It just fixes a lot of problems Aside from phones Keyssa is testing chips with video display makers and at least one maker of lidar sensors the electronic eyes of self driving cars Ruben is a powerhouse when it comes to commercializing great technology Fadell told Reuters Caballero brings with him experience overseeing more than 1 000 Apple wireless engineers in a department with a budget of 600 million for testing equipment alone Before joining Apple Caballero worked at two startups and relished the frenzied pace there and during his early days at Apple working with Fadell When Fadell brought him to Apple in 2005 Caballero asked where all the test equipment and labs were for the group
He said We don t have anything but we ll get it done Caballero said You know when has something in his eyes you can see the vision After that I was hooked I used to sleep under my desk When you have that passion it s incredible And I feel it here | 10/31/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft Azure Announces Blockchain Token and Data Management Service | Microsoft s blockchain enabled cloud service Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Azure announced new tokenization and blockchain data management services
In a post published on the official Microsoft Azure blog on Dec 6 the IT service giant announced the Azure Blockchain Tokens and blockchain data manager | 12/7/2019 |
MSFT | Jeff Bezos says Amazon wants to work more with the Pentagon | By Mike Stone SIMI VALLEY Calif Reuters Amazon com Inc founder Jeff Bezos said it would support the U S Department of Defense as technology companies vie for more defense contracts and the Pentagon seeks to modernize itself We are going to support the Department of Defense this country is important Bezos said at an annual defense forum at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley California Tech companies have faced challenges when trying to work with the Pentagon Last year a defense program named Project Maven set off a revolt as some employees opposed Google NASDAQ GOOGL technology being used in warfare Those employees said it clashed with Google s stated goal of doing no harm and cited risks around using a nascent artificial intelligence technology in lethal situations While Bezos said he supported employees having passionately held views he said it was up to the senior leaders of companies to provide guidance on what projects they would and would not do My view is that if big tech is turning their back on the Department of Defense this country is in big trouble Bezos said Amazon O AMZN had competed to provide cloud computing capabilities to the Pentagon But last month the company filed a lawsuit in federal court contesting the Defense Department s September decision to award a cloud computing contract worth up to 10 billion to rival bidder Microsoft Corp O MSFT Amazon had been considered a favorite for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud JEDI contract part of a broader digital modernization project at the Pentagon before software developer Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner Amazon has previously said that politics got in the way of a fair bidding process Bezos the chief executive officer of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post has been an outspoken critic of U S President Donald Trump
This December 7 story corrects to say country not company in fifth paragraph | 12/8/2019 |
MSFT | Global financial watchdogs take aim at Big Tech s data dominance | By Huw Jones
LONDON Reuters Google NASDAQ GOOGL Alibaba NYSE BABA and other Big Tech companies could be forced to share data on financial services customers with banks and financial technology firms to prevent unfair competition
As Facebook s plan for its Libra stablecoin faces scrutiny a global body of regulators from the world s main financial centers said that Big Tech s growing tentacles raised questions for financial stability competition and data privacy
The Financial Stability Board FSB called in a report released on Sunday for vigilant monitoring of Big Tech s shift into financial services which it said could crimp the ability of banks to generate capital through retained profits
While still only nascent in most countries Big Tech in countries like China has brought financial services within reach of underserved communities the FSB which is chaired by Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles said in the report
The FSB said players including Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Amazon NASDAQ AMZN eBay NASDAQ EBAY Baidu NASDAQ BIDU Apple NASDAQ AAPL Facebook NASDAQ FB and Tencent have massive databases while some offer asset management payments and lending
Many Big Tech firms like Amazon Facebook eBay Alipay and Google have acquired payments related licenses in European Union countries including Luxembourg Ireland and Lithuania although most have not yet built up any big volumes
Banks in Europe and elsewhere are already required to share customer data with third party fintech companies that want to offer rival payments services and this may need to be the case with Big Tech too the FSB said
Big Tech firms ability to leverage customer data raises the question of whether and the degree to which authorities could consider the potential to promote the mobility of data between the various actors that are involved in the provision of financial services the FSB said
Doing so may help encourage competition and help ensure a level playing field amongst market participants
GRAPHIC
Regulators may also need to replicate their approach to insurers and asset managers by focusing on activities that have implications for financial stability rather than a focus solely on the size of the firm the FSB said
GRAPHIC | 12/8/2019 |
INTC | Global stocks mostly gain with earnings in focus sterling slips | By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK Reuters Global stock indexes were flat to higher on Friday as upbeat earnings offset weaker than expected results while the British pound extended losses from the previous day amid fresh uncertainty around Britain s exit from the European Union
Strong results from Intel O INTC helped to buoy the S P 500 index in early trading even as Amazon com Inc O AMZN shares weighed following the company s forecast for revenue and profit for the holiday quarter below expectations
Trade talks were also back in focus with U S and Chinese trade officials due to discuss plans for China to buy more U S farm products while Beijing in return will request cancellation of some planned and existing U S tariffs on Chinese imports
The two sides are working to try to agree on a text for a Phase 1 trade agreement announced by U S President Donald Trump on Oct 11 in time for him to sign it with China s President Xi Jinping next month at a summit in Chile Though there are still large gaps to bridge
The majority of U S companies have beaten Wall Street expectations so far this earnings season despite concern about the trade war
We ve had some misses mostly due to trade war concerns but overall it looks like we re headed for a fairly good earnings season said Peter Cardillo chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJI rose 124 07 points or 0 46 to 26 929 6 the S P 500 SPX gained 8 16 points or 0 27 to 3 018 45 and the Nasdaq Composite IXIC added 31 91 points or 0 39 to 8 217 71
The pan European STOXX 600 index STOXX lost 0 01 and MSCI s gauge of stocks across the globe MIWD00000PUS gained 0 15
The world s largest beer maker by Anheuser Busch InBev BR ABI tumbled on disappointing quarterly profit and a glum outlook as the earnings season rumbled on
Sterling was last trading at 1 2831 down 0 15 on the day
Reuters reported a source close to French President Emmanuel Macron said an extension to the negotiations for Britain s departure from the European Union was not justified at this stage
In the U S bond market benchmark 10 year notes US10YT RR last fell 2 32 in price to yield 1 7714 from 1 766 late on Thursday
A Reuters poll of economists showed that most think a steeper decline in global growth is more likely than a synchronized recovery despite central bank easing
Markets are pricing in a 90 chance of a rate cut at next week s Federal Reserve meeting
On the energy front U S crude rose 0 07 to 56 27 per barrel and Brent was last at 61 59 down 0 13 on the day | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | Intel data center rebound eases U S China trade war worries | By Munsif Vengattil and Stephen Nellis
Reuters Intel Corp O INTC on Thursday beat Wall Street estimates for third quarter revenue and profit and raised its full year revenue forecast powered by sales to data centers and easing concerns about slowing demand during the U S China trade war
The chipmaker s shares rose 3 5 to 54 08 in extended trading
The results came as a relief to the industry after dour forecasts from major chipmakers Texas Instruments Inc O TXN and Xilinx Inc O XLNX earlier this week
After years of acquisitions outside its core area of processing chips under previous leaders Intel under Chief Executive Bob Swan has reined in spending slowing investments in areas like memory chips and shedding struggling businesses
Intel based in Santa Clara California has doubled down on its core markets such as personal computers and data centers both of which beat analysts third quarter expectations
Chief Financial Officer George Davis said Intel anticipated most of the year s data center spending would come in the second half because many customers bought chips in 2018 and took time to install them
Data center came back much more strongly than even we anticipated this quarter Davis said in an interview Cloud customers actually grew year over year and last year was an extraordinary year
Cascend Securities analyst Eric Ross said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd TW 2330 which supplies some of Intel s rivals had also forecast strong data center demand suggesting a broader market recovery
We ve finally seen another major semiconductor company that sees the data center returning as a major driver as we ve seen in our measurements and the electronics supply chain sees he said
Intel has also been contending with a U S China trade war that led to tariffs on its chips About 200 million of Intel s third quarter revenue came from Chinese data center owners purchasing chips sooner than they otherwise would have likely out of trade concerns Davis said
But analyst Kinngai Chan of Summit Insights Group said he suspected much more of Intel s results were driven by sped up buying because of tariffs and that could slow sales during the fourth quarter of 2019 and first quarter of 2020
We think this could result in the supply chain inventory digestion as Intel s customers work through the chips they have bought he said
Intel which is racing against rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to make smaller chips said the move to the newer process called 10 nanometer was on track and it would have its next generation 7 nanometer chips by 2021
Swan also said Intel was well down the engineering path for even more advanced 5 nanometer chips
Revenue in Intel s client computing business which caters to PC makers and is the biggest contributor to sales fell 5 to 9 7 billion but still beat FactSet estimates of 9 60 billion
Davis said revenue could have been higher but Intel was unable to make enough chips for entry level PCs
Demand has just outstripped our ability to add capacity Davis said In some ways it s a good problem to have but anytime you can t satisfy your customers that s not a good outcome
Asked by an analyst on a conference call whether Intel would consider turning to an outside foundry to make central processing units or CPUs to alleviate shortages Swan noted that Intel had used outside suppliers in the past and would evaluate the option
We re investing to recapture process leadership going forward At the same time we re going to be extremely open minded about How do we ensure that we re building the best products Swan said Where we build them is something that we ll always evaluate
Revenue from its higher margin data center business rose 4 to 6 4 billion in the quarter while analysts were expecting revenue of 5 62 billion according to FactSet
Intel forecast fourth quarter revenue of 19 2 billion and adjusted earnings of 1 24 per share
Analysts on average were expecting revenue of 18 82 billion and a profit of 1 21 per share according to IBES data from Refinitiv
For the full year the company expects revenue of 71 billion up from its earlier forecast of 69 5 billion That came in above analysts estimate of 69 43 billion
Intel said net revenue was steady at 19 19 billion beating estimates of 18 05 billion
Excluding items the company earned 1 42 per share above estimates of 1 24 per share | 10/24/2019 |
INTC | Oysters Rockefeller or rotisserie chicken The Fed is watching | By Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir
DENVER WASHINGTON Reuters The fortunes of Denver chef Alex Seidel are telling Sales at his upscale eatery Fruition which features Oysters Rockefeller and a 29 pork chop are down for the first time since the restaurant opened in 2007 the year the last U S recession began
But Seidel s new venture Chook a rotisserie chicken restaurant where he promises to feed a family of four for 40 is so popular that he s planning two more outlets
Fast casual restaurants are growing around the United States and competition for high end restaurants like Fruition has increased in Denver in recent years But it may also reflect a broader trend U S consumers are cutting back
I ve personally been worried about our economy for the last couple years Seidel said I m surprised that it hasn t affected us more already
Seidel s experience is the kind of ground level nuance that Federal Reserve policymakers are hungry for as they weigh whether consumer spending which accounts for roughly 70 of economic activity will continue to power the U S economy Global growth is slowing and trade tensions are weighing on manufacturing and business investment Next week Fed policymakers will weigh whether to cut interest rates for a third time this year and their take on U S consumers will have global economic ramifications
The nation s 17 central bankers may not have tried Seidel s chicken or oysters but they are getting hints from a patchwork of calls surveys in person interviews and questionnaires about consumers true strength as they head into the interest rate setting meeting on Oct 29
When hard data like the Bureau of Labor Statistics monthly payrolls report the Census Bureau s monthly retail report or the consumer spending report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis are all moving in the same direction the Fed s choices are clearer
But the U S economic picture is murky now Unemployment is near a 50 year low but business investment has dropped which could affect job creation in the future Economic growth continues but the trade war threatens to slow it down In this situation soft data such as sentiment surveys and anecdotes from individual business and community leaders become increasingly valuable
I used to tell people at the table Data is old by the time you get it and what we are trying to do is get a sense of what is happening now said Richard Fisher who in his decade as Dallas Fed President chatted regularly with dozens of executives ahead of each Fed meeting
Intel NASDAQ INTC from home builders prompted him to warn colleagues about a coming crisis in May 2007 months before the last U S recession began Fed transcripts show Less reliable was chatter from businesses in summer of 2008 that led him to warn about a surge in inflation that never came
Still says Fisher who left the Fed in 2015 I think this anecdotal evidence or input is helpful particularly now because we are in a time of uncertainty
Kansas City Fed President Esther George has been a staunch opponent of rate cuts and says she so far has seen few warning signs of a consumer slowdown Nonetheless she is on the hunt for more information and not just in the hard numbers Community and business leaders in her district which stretches from Wyoming to Oklahoma provide timely information that is not likely to appear in the data for several weeks or months she said
Or as Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari explained in a St Cloud Minnesota town hall on Oct 8 My colleagues and I spend a lot of time traveling around the region meeting with folks including business leaders workers students and academics
Kashkari then embarked on some soft data gathering of his own He electronically polled his audience on how they felt about the economy and read the responses aloud as they were projected on a word cloud behind him They ranged from good to hazy to recession and together were valuable feedback Kashkari said This will help make me more informed about the economic outlook he told the audience
TO CUT OR NOT
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in a decade in July and followed that with another reduction in borrowing costs last month Investors are overwhelmingly betting on another interest rate cut at next week s meeting and U S president Donald Trump has been publicly pressuring the bank to do the same
But Fed policymakers themselves remain divided on the issue as they try to determine whether U S household spending will falter as it has in other parts of the world
There are some concerning signs Last week the government reported that U S retail sales which represent about a third of consumer spending fell for the first time in seven months in September Consumer confidence also ebbed last month
Every six weeks or so staff at the 12 regional banks publish anecdotes they ve gathered through reports from their board of directors plus phone and in person interviews and online questionnaires completed by businesses and other sources
Accounts of consumer spending in this so called Beige Book for September were mixed In the Philadelphia district contacts reported solid traffic at malls while in the Atlanta region retailers were concerned the trade dispute would reduce upcoming holiday sales
Consumers are dramatically cutting down on their overall spending at restaurants and bars and spending more at eating at home
For a graphic please see
Overall visits to restaurants often the first thing to go when households tighten purse strings were flat in September data analytics firm NPD Group says
Trends at more expensive eateries may be particularly illustrative as households with annual income above 70 000 represent the majority of spending on food away from home Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show
The Fed s current considerations are part of a broader evolution for economists San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said earlier this month in an interview on the Freakonomics podcast She confessed she was totally wrong to solely focus on hard data earlier in her career to assess the economy
Ultimately economics if it s going to be really good has to be about people Daly said | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | Top 5 Things to Know in the Market on Friday | 1 Prime delivery roll out hurts Amazon s profits
Investing com Amazon s earnings fall for the first time in two years while Indonesia formally blames Boeing for the 737 MAX Lion Air crash and Anheuser Busch Inbev struggles with a drop in Chinese demand for beer Here s what you need to know in financial markets on Friday 25th October
Amazon com s NASDAQ AMZN earnings fell 26 on the year in the three months to September the first annual decline in two years and the second quarter in a row that it s missed analysts expectations Revenue rose 24 to 70 billion which beat analysts forecasts but the shares are set to open sharply lower after falling over 7 in after hours trading on Thursday
The figures reflected another heavy increase in investment this time to pay for the roll out of same day delivery for its Prime subscription service Global shipping costs were up 46 on the year Revenue and profit growth at its cloud hosting unit AWS which has been the company s cash cow in recent years also came in below expectations
Amazon said it expected its fourth quarter operating profit to fall to between 1 2 and 2 9 billion well short of the 4 2 billion expected previously by analysts
2 Stocks set to open mixed
Wall Street is set to open mixed with the Amazon news offset by better than expected results after the bell last night from both Visa NYSE V and Intel NASDAQ INTC
By 6 15 AM ET Dow futures were unchanged while S P 500 Futures were up 0 1 and the Nasdaq 100 Futures contract was up 0 2
Today s earnings roster is led by Verizon NYSE VZ which is due to report before the opening along with Charter Communications NASDAQ CHTR Illinois Tool Works NYSE ITW refiner Phillips 66 NYSE PSX and Aon NYSE AON
It s a light day on the data front with only the University of Michigan s final figures for consumer sentiment in October due In Europe there were further signs that Germany the region s largest economy may be bottoming out The closely watched Ifo business climate index stayed unchanged at 94 6
3 Pound stumbles as Johnson gambles
The British pound and U K FTSE 100 both fell after Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for a general election to break the deadlock over his Brexit bill
Johnson s last move reflected a lack of confidence that the bill would pass as planned after rising signs of concern amid lawmakers that it doesn t banish the likelihood of a disorderly no deal Brexit either this year or at the end of the supposed transitional period at the end of 2020
Johnson was forced by parliament at the weekend to ask the EU for another extension to the Oct 31 deadline and while the EU has been sympathetic to the request Reuters reported Friday that it will not take a decision on how long an extension to grant until parliament votes on Johnson s request for an election on Monday The opposition has signalled that it won t support an election before the risk of No Deal is completely removed
4 Trouble brewing for Bud
Shares in Anheuser Busch Inbev NYSE BUD the world s largest brewer tumbled by over 9 in Europe after the company reported weak sales in China in the third quarter and slashed its profit forecast for the year
The brewer now sees only a moderate increase in underlying earnings instead of the strong increase it expected earlier noting that it expects the headwinds to continue through the end of the year
There was better news from the luxury sector where both Gucci owner Kering PA PRTP and Italy s Moncler MI MONC both reported robust increases in Asian sales shrugging off the troubles that hit their boutiques in Hong Kong over the summer
5 Boeing blamed for Lion Air crash
Indonesia rounded off a miserable week for Boeing NYSE BA by formally blaming it for the Lion Air 737 MAX crash earlier this year in the final report of officials investigating the disaster
It said the design and certification of the MCAS flight control system were not adequate and said the airplane maker had relied on false assumptions It also faulted Boeing for giving airlines inadequate guidance on how to respond to problems with MCAS
Boeing promised again to fix the problems as soon as possible | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Flat as Disappointing Amazon 3Q Drags on Sentiment | Investing com Futures were flat on Friday after disappointing third quarter earnings from Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN which fell in year on year terms for the first time since 2017
Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN declined 6 in premarket trade after the company also forecast operating income well below consensus forecasts Revenue and profit growth also slowed at AWS the cloud computing business that has generated most of its profits in recent years
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 13 points or 0 2 by 6 48 AM ET 10 48 GMT while Dow futures rose 5 points or 0 1 and S P 500 futures inched up 3 points or 0 1
Ambev NYSE ABEV was also in focus after its earnings came in lower than expected due to weak sales in China and it saw only a moderate increase in earnings for the year
Elsewhere Verizon NYSE VZ gained 0 7 after the company added more than expected monthly subscribers while Charter Communications NASDAQ CHTR were up 1 6 on upbeat earnings Visa NYSE V gained 0 8 and Intel NASDAQ INTC jumped 3 5 after their earnings came in better than expected
Investors were also keeping an eye on developments in the U K after Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for a general election in an attempt to break a deadlock over the Brexit bill Opposition parties have refused to support the call
Johnson called for the election after hitting an impasse with Parliament over the timing of voting on the bill Parliament wanted more time to debate while Johnson wanted the bill to be approved this week so the U K could leave the EU by Oct 31
On the data front consumer sentiment numbers are released at 10 00 AM ET Earnings is set to continue with reports from Barclays LON BARC and Verizon NYSE VZ before the opening bell
In commodities gold futures rose 0 2 to 1 508 25 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was flat at 97 387 Crude oil futures declined 0 1 to 56 20 a barrel | 10/25/2019 |
MSFT | Gates Foundation CEO Sue Desmond Hellmann to step down after five years | By Kate Kelland Reuters The multi billion dollar philanthropic Bill Melinda Gates Foundation said on Thursday that its chief executive officer Sue Desmond Hellmann is to step down after more than five years to be replaced by Mark Suzman Desmond Hellmann who until October was also on the board of the social networking company Facebook Inc O FB said she was stepping down from the Gates Foundation as of February 2020 to be able to care properly for myself and my family Desmond Hellmann was previously Chancellor of the University of California San Francisco the first woman to hold that position and had worked at the pharmaceutical firm Genentech now owned by Roche S ROG where she helped develop some of the first gene targeted cancer drugs Avastin and Herceptin This was without a doubt the toughest decision of my career But one of my mantras is take your own pulse first Over the last few weeks and months I have done just that and concluded that I need to slow down Desmond Hellmann said in a letter to Foundation employees a copy of which was shared with Reuters The Gates Foundation led by Microsoft O MSFT co founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda is one of the world s largest funders of global health programmes to combat disease and poverty It has around 50 billion in assets Desmond Hellmann s successor Mark Suzman joined the Gates Foundation in 2007 and is currently its chief strategy officer
This story corrects spelling of CEO s surname in headline first sentence and throughout story to Desmond Hellmann not Desmond Hellman In penultimate paragraph deletes former in describing Gates as company co founder | 12/5/2019 |
INTC | Day Ahead Top 3 Things to Watch | Investing com Here s a preview of the top 3 things to watch
1 How will traders react to Amazon s earnings miss
Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN will likely weigh on the broader market ahead of trading after earnings and guidance released after Thursday s close disappointed Wall Street Shares fell more than 7 after hours
Amazon blamed the earnings miss on investments it s making to be able to deliver products free to Amazon Prime customers in a day
The company has made no secret of its spending plan but the size of the earnings miss was a shock
Amazon shares were up 1 1 in regular trading If the postmarket decline carries through to Friday the shares would fall to about 1 660 its lowest level since March and down 18 5 from its 52 week high reached on July 11
But tech stocks should get some support from chip giant Intel NASDAQ INTC Intel reported strong numbers and offered an upbeat fourth quarter outlook taking some of the sting away from Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN weak results on Wednesday
Intel said it earned 1 42 a share in the quarter a bit higher than a year ago and 15 better than the consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Investing com Revenue was up slightly from a year ago at 19 2 billion
2 Consumer Confidence Update Due
There s little top tier economic data on the calendar tomorrow with just consumer confidence numbers due
The University of Michigan releases its final measure of October consumer confidence at 10 00 AM ET 14 00 GMT
Consumer sentiment is expected to improve to a reading of 96 0 according to economists forecasts compiled by Investing com
The expectations component is forecast to show a reading of 84 8
The data comes as many are searching for clues to whether the U S consumer can continue to prop up the economy after recent weakness in retail sales stoked worries that consumers were turning frugal
3 Verizon Calls in Q3 Report
Verizon NYSE VZ reports earnings before the opening bell on Thursday with many keen to assess whether the wireless carriers efforts to rope in more subscribers have paid off
In August the carrier replaced its Go Above and Beyond unlimited plans with four cheaper replacements an entry level Start Unlimited Play More Unlimited Do More Unlimited and high end Get More Unlimited
The wireless carrier has boosted growth by lowering the price of some of its data which has led to some growth
Verizon is expected to report earnings of 1 24 per share on revenue of 32 74 billion
Earnings aside investors will also be eager for an update on the company s 5G wireless network rollout | 10/24/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Verizon Intel Rise Premarket Amazon Boeing Fall | Investing com Stocks in focus in premarket trading on Friday
Verizon NYSE VZ stock rose 0 7 in premarket trade by 8 20 AM ET 12 20 GMT after the company added more monthly subscribers than expected
Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN stock declined 6 in premarket trade after the company forecast operating income in the current quarter well below the consensus Revenue and profit growth also slowed at AWS in the third quarter the cloud computing business that has generated most of its profits in recent years
Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC stock jumped 3 after the company posted a quarterly profit of 1 42 per share which was above forecasts The chipmaker also raised its full year revenue outlook
Boeing NYSE BA stock dipped 0 6 after it was blamed in an Indonesian report for the fatal crash of a Lion Air flight involving the company s 737 MAX jet
Anheuser Busch Inbev NYSE BUD stock slumped 8 3 after the brewer cuts its full year forecasts due to declining sales in Brazil and South Korea It also reported a sharp drop in sales volumes in China
Visa NYSE V stock inched down 0 2 even as its revenue was higher than expected due to more debit and credit card spending | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | Intel Rises 5 | Investing com Intel NASDAQ INTC rose by 5 16 to trade at 54 87 by 09 31 13 31 GMT on Friday on the NASDAQ exchange
The volume of Intel shares traded since the start of the session was 3 94M Intel has traded in a range of 53 92 to 55 00 on the day
The stock has traded at 54 9900 at its highest and 51 0300 at its lowest during the past seven days | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Opens Mixed After Amazon Earnings Miss | Investing com Wall Street was mixed on Friday as disappointing earnings from Amazon NASDAQ AMZN offset positive results from other companies
The Dow was up 62 points or 0 2 by 9 47 AM ET 13 47 GMT while the S P 500 was down 2 points or 0 1 and the Nasdaq composite slipped 20 points or 0 3
Shares of Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN slumped 3 7 after the e commerce giant forecast operating income in the current holiday quarter will be well below the consensus due to competition
Anheuser Busch Inbev NYSE BUD slumped 8 5 after the brewer cut its full year forecasts due to declining sales while Boeing NYSE BA dipped 0 9 after it was blamed in an Indonesian report for the fatal crash of a Lion Air flight involving the company s 737 MAX jet
Still most companies have posted positive results this quarter with 80 of the 168 S P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far beating profit expectations according to Refinitiv data
We ve had some misses mostly due to trade war concerns but overall it looks like we re headed for a fairly good earnings season said Peter Cardillo chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York
Intel NASDAQ INTC was one of the stocks to do better than expected Its stock jumped 6 after it raised its full year revenue outlook on the back of a strong third quarter while Visa NYSE V gained 1 on a jump in revenue
In commodities the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was up 0 2 to 97 547 and gold futures gained 0 8 to 1 516 95 a troy ounce Crude oil futures were down 0 3 to 56 08 a barrel
Reuters contributed to this report | 10/25/2019 |
INTC | India s Infosys U S listed shares plunge after whistleblower complaints | BENGALURU Reuters U S listed shares of Infosys Ltd N INFY NS INFY fell nearly 16 in premarket trading on Monday after the Indian software services exporter said it had received whistleblower complaints alleging unethical practices by the company s executives
The company issued a statement after The Economic Times reported that an anonymous group sent letters to Infosys board and the U S Securities and Exchange Commission alleging that the company was taking unethical steps to boost short term revenue and profit
The group alleged that Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh was bypassing reviews and approvals for large deals the ET report said
In large contracts like Verizon NYSE VZ Intel NASDAQ INTC JVs in Japan ABN AMRO AS ABNd acquisition revenue recognition matters are forced which are not as per accounting standards the report said citing cited the letters
Reuters was not able to independently review the letters
The complaints follow a strong quarterly show by Infosys which raised the lower end of its annual revenue forecast on upbeat demand for its digital services from Western clients
The complaints have been placed before the audit committee as per the company s practice and will be dealt with in accordance with the company s whistleblower policy Infosys said in a filing to Indian stock exchanges
ADRs of Infosys were down 15 7 at 8 91 in premarket trading on the New York Stock Exchange Indian markets were closed on Monday for a holiday | 10/21/2019 |
INTC | Chip Stocks Chalk up Gains on U S China Trade Optimism | Investing com Throughout the months long U S Sino trade war chip stocks have ebbed and flowed with the ups and downs of trade relations between the world s biggest economies But with recent positive comments from both sides chip stocks are in the ascendency ahead of aslew earnings from semis this week including chip bellwether Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN due Tuesday
After notching their phase one agreement which has yet to be signed China and the U S stoked optimism citing progress toward ratifying the deal sending chip stocks many of which generate sizable revenue from China higher The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index was up about 1 8
Following China saying it would work with the U S to address the core concerns of each party White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow expressed optimism about ongoing talks and said that tariffs scheduled for December could be withdrawn if talks continue to go well
The upturn in sentiment on trade between the two countries marks a sharp contrast from the summer when trade relations soured leading the U S to not only increase tariffs on Chinese imports but target companies like Huawei an important customer for U S chip companies
The U S however temporarily lifted the ban on U S companies allowing them to work with Huawei until August The reprive was then extended to November
The uptick in chip stocks comes just a day ahead of the quarterly update from TI seen as a bellwether for semiconductor companies given its global customer base Other tech earnings also hit the deck this week with Xilinx NASDAQ XLNX reporting on Wednesday after the bell and Intel NASDAQ INTC reporting on Thursday after the close | 10/21/2019 |
INTC | Day Ahead Top 3 Things to Watch | Investing com Here s a preview of the top three things that could rock markets tomorrow
1 Earnings Season Heats Up McDonald s Texas Instruments and Procter Gamble
McDonald s NYSE MCD reports third quarter earnings on Tuesday before the opening bell
Ahead of the company s earnings Wall Street appears optimistic as analysts expect the fast food giant s initiatives to drive demand will be reflected in comparable sales growth for the quarter The company not only launched promotional offers but added new items to its menu
Same store sales are expecting to have risen 5 4 in the quarter according to consensus estimates from FactSet
McDonald s is expected to report earnings of 2 21 per share on revenue of 5 49 billion
Consumer products giant Procter Gamble NYSE PG is also out with its report before the opening bell
P G has won investing fans in the recent months with many cheering the company s efforts to keep demand high for its products underpinning top line growth
But keeping its products in demand has come at a cost as spending on marketing has kept a lid on profit growth in recent quarters
P G is expected to report earnings of 1 24 a share on revenue of 17 45 billion
After bell on Tuesday chip maker Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN releases its quarterly report in what will be a busy week for chip stocks with Xilinx s NASDAQ XLNX earnings due Wednesday and Intel s NASDAQ INTC on Thursday
Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN is expected to report earnings of 1 42 per share on revenue of 3 82 billion
As well as earnings guidance will be closely watched as TI has seen orders come under pressure as customers reign in capital spending amid geopolitical uncertainty
2 API Report on Tap
The weekly American Petroleum Institute report due Tuesday comes as investors continue to fret about the ongoing build in domestic crude supplies as refinery activity continues to tick lower
API data last week showed crude stockpiles rose 10 5 million barrels It was the second straight weekly increase at a time when many are concerned that weakening global growth will keep a lid on oil demand growth pressuring oil prices
WTI futures settled 0 7 lower at 53 31 a barrel
3 Housing Activity in Focus
The National Association of Realtors releases its report on September existing home sales at 10 AM ET 14 00 GMT
Forecasts compiled by Investing com expect the report to show sales in September fell 0 7 to an annual rate of 5 45 million units
The backdrop for home sales activity has been mixed Plunging mortgage rates have increased demand but a lack of supply of lower priced homes has sidelined many homebuyers | 10/21/2019 |
INTC | Intel files antitrust case against SoftBank backed firm over patent practices | By Stephen Nellis Reuters Chipmaker Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC has filed an antitrust lawsuit against a SoftBank Group Corp owned investment company alleging the firm stockpiled patents to hold up technology companies with numerous lawsuits The complaint filed late Monday in the U S District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose alleged that Fortress Investment Group which SoftBank bought in 2017 for 3 3 billion acquired control of more than 1 000 U S technology patents Intel said that Fortress and other companies it owns or controls filed lawsuits against the Santa Clara chipmaker claiming that nearly every Intel processor made since 2011 infringed patents the companies had obtained control of from NXP NASDAQ NXPI Semiconductors One way in which Fortress has tried to turn around its performance and justify SoftBank s investment in it is through increased speculation on patent assertions the lawsuit said Intel brings this complaint to end a campaign of anticompetitive patent aggregation by Fortress and a web of patent assertion entities that Fortress owns or controls SoftBank did not immediately respond to a request for comment SoftBank also owns Arm Holdings a British chip firm whose technology is making inroads on key Intel markets such as personal computers and data centers Intel said Fortress efforts to gather patents constituted anticompetitive behavior because they were driven by the idea that its purchases would cost less than what technology companies would pay to avoid lawsuits
Fortress aggregation is intended for an anticompetitive purpose to invest in patents at costs lower than the holdup value of the patents Intel wrote in its complaint | 10/22/2019 |
INTC | Stocks U S Futures Slightly Higher Ahead of Tech Earnings | Investing com U S futures were higher on Thursday supported by upbeat results from Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Tesla NASDAQ TSLA after the bell on Wednesday
Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT beat expectations for its fiscal first quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday and raised its guidance for cloud bookings in the current quarter The tech company gained 1 in premarket trade
Other companies expected to report on Thursday include Amazon NASDAQ AMZN Comcast NASDAQ CMCSA American Airlines NASDAQ AAL Twitter NYSE TWTR and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC
Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 35 points or 0 5 by 6 53 AM ET 10 53 GMT while Dow futures rose 18 points or 0 1 and S P 500 futures were up 3 points or 0 1
Tesla NASDAQ TSLA surged 18 5 after a surprise profit from the electric car company while PayPal was up 8 after a solid third quarter
Elsewhere eBay NASDAQ EBAY slipped 6 6 after the online marketplace operator cut its sales and earnings outlook for the year while Ford NYSE F dipped 4 1 after cutting its yearly outlook
On the data front jobless claims and durable goods come out at 8 30 AM ET and new home sales data is released at 10 00 AM ET
In commodities gold futures lost 0 2 to 1 492 55 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies inched up 0 1 to 97 282 Crude oil futures declined 0 6 to 55 64 a barrel | 10/24/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Mixed Nasdaq Jumps on Upbeat Tech Earnings | Investing com Nasdaq surged on Thursday after upbeat tech earnings from Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Tesla NASDAQ TSLA but other indices remained flat after lackluster results from bellwether companies on Wednesday
The Dow was down 23 points or 0 1 by 9 49 AM ET 13 49 GMT while the S P 500 was up nearly 5 points or 0 2 and the NASDAQ Composite jumped 48 points or 0 6
Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT jumped 1 7 after its cloud computing services forecast was better than expected while Tesla NASDAQ TSLA gained 16 8 on a surprise profit PayPal NASDAQ PYPL rose 9 3 after it raised its full year outlook with payment volume coming in above forecasts
The outlier was social media company Twitter NYSE TWTR which slumped 18 after posting disappointing third quarter results 3M NYSE MMM was also down dipping 4 after it cut its full year profit forecast
Of the 124 S P 500 companies that reported results up to Wednesday more than 82 topped earnings estimates according to Refinitiv data Amazon NASDAQ AMZN Intel NASDAQ INTC and Visa NYSE V are expected to report after the close
Meanwhile trade remained in focus after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said the phase one trade deal between Washington and Beijing would include much of an agreement scrapped in May around intellectual property Earlier in the session Bloomberg reported that China was willing to buy as much as 20 billion of American agricultural products in one year That s still less than it bought in 2016
In commodities the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was up 0 1 to 97 325 and gold futures gained 0 4 to 1 501 30 a troy ounce Crude oil futures were flat at 56 02 a barrel
Reuters contributed to this report | 10/24/2019 |
MSFT | Strong subscription growth drives Slack s earnings beat shares rise | By Neha Malara
Reuters Slack Technologies Inc N WORK beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue and profit as it signed on larger companies to its workplace communication platform sending its shares up nearly 3 in trading after the bell
The company competes directly with Microsoft Corp s O MSFT workplace messaging platform Teams which grew more than 50 to roughly 20 million daily active users in the September quarter
In the latest quarter ended Oct 31 Slack grew by about 20 to more than 12 million daily active users
It may take some time for Slack to shake off the Microsoft overhang but this is a step in the right direction to dispute that narrative with investors said Rishi Jaluria from research firm DA Davidson Co
The company has seen strong adoption and benefits from allowing users to use other apps like Salesforce and Google NASDAQ GOOGL Drive without leaving the platform he added
Slack added more than 105 000 paid users during the quarter
It went public in June opting for a direct listing instead of an initial public offering at an offering price of 26 per share Its shares soared nearly 50 on debut taking its valuation past 23 billion
The company forecast fourth quarter loss between 6 cents and 7 cents per share Analysts on average were expecting a loss of 6 cents per share according to IBES data from Refinitiv
It forecast current quarter revenue between 172 million and 174 million compared with analysts estimates of 172 9 million
Slack s revenue jumped nearly 60 to 168 7 million in the third quarter ended Oct 31 above analysts average estimates of 156 0 million according to IBES data by Refinitiv
The company s total operating expenses soared 68 4 to 142 9 million during the quarter
However net loss attributable to common stockholders widened to 89 2 million from 47 7 million a year earlier
Excluding items the company reported a loss of 2 cents per share compared with analysts estimates of a loss of 8 cents per share | 12/4/2019 |
MSFT | Amazon faces U S antitrust scrutiny on cloud business Bloomberg | Reuters U S Federal Trade Commission FTC has broadened scrutiny of Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN beyond its retail operations to include cloud computing business Bloomberg reported on Wednesday citing people familiar with the matter The U S antitrust enforcers have been asking software companies about practices around Amazon s cloud unit Amazon Web Services the report said Big tech companies such as Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL and Amazon face a slew of antitrust probes by the federal government state attorneys general and congress FTC s Technology Enforcement Division was focusing its probes of multi sided platforms on illegal conduct and mergers that previously won antitrust approval FTC and Amazon declined to comment on the report In cloud computing one of the fastest growing areas in the technology industry businesses rent out servers from Amazon instead of running their own data centers Amazon is the biggest cloud services provider competing most closely with Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT Smaller companies also compete to provide services on cloud networks to developers and corporate customers Analysts expect Amazon s cloud unit to generate 34 9 billion in sales in 2019 according to IBES data from Refinitiv
In addition to the FTC probes the Justice Department and House of Representatives Judiciary Committee are investigating all four big tech companies | 12/4/2019 |
MSFT | Stocks U S Futures Extend Gains as Trade Hopes Revive | Investing com U S futures pointed to another day of gains on Wall Street with belief in a near term trade deal reviving again after Tuesday s shock comments by President Donald Trump
Markets rose on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported that U S officials expect a phase one deal with China before a new round of American tariffs takes effect on Dec 15 China repeated on Thursday that it expects tariffs to be lifted as part of that deal
The Chinese side believes that if the two sides reach a phase one deal tariffs should be lowered accordingly ministry spokesman Gao Feng said Both sides remain in discussions over the deal he added
Nasdaq 100 rose 43 points or 0 5 by 6 41 AM ET 11 41 GMT while Dow futures jumped 125 points or 0 5 and S P 500 Futures gained 113 points or 0 4
Slack Technologies NYSE WORK rose 4 6 after delivering better than expected earnings and a brighter outlook after the bell on Wednesday
Microsoft Corporation NASDAQ MSFT gained 0 6 after keeping its quarterly dividend at 51c while Pacific Gas Electric Co NYSE PCG gained 4 5 on news that it is nearing a 13 5 billion deal with victims of last year s California wildfires
On the data front weekly jobless claims and international trade figures for October will be released at 8 30 AM ET with factory orders at 10 00 AM ET
In commodities gold futures were flat at 1 479 80 a troy ounce while the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was down 0 2 to 97 450 Crude oil futures gained 0 3 to 58 62 a barrel | 12/5/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft gets new Street high target | Bernstein raises its Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT target from 167 to 174 citing the strong long term potential of Azure and the commercial cloud business
Analyst Mark Moerdler says the cloud business is core to Bernstein s Outperform thesis
Microsoft shares are up 0 4 pre market to 150 45 The company has a Very Bullish average Sell Side rating | 12/5/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft Announces Token Collectibles on Ethereum Blockchain | Microsoft s blockchain enabled cloud platform Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Azure announced the Azure Heroes blockchain non fungible tokens NFT aimed at rewarding its developer community
The tokens represent cartoonish badgers a play on the word badge and aim to compensate positive behavior in Azure s community Each badger has a limited supply ranging from just 100 units to 10 000 Microsoft announced on Dec 4 The firm said | 12/5/2019 |
INTC | Intel Earnings Revenue Beat in Q3 | Investing com Intel NASDAQ INTC shares rose postmarket after it reported third quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts expectations Thursday and boosted its guidance
The semiconduction maker also announced an increase in its share buyback program
Shares rose 7 5 in after hours trading
The news will be some relief to chip investors who took the hit of a dismal report earlier in the week from Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN
The company reported earnings per share of 1 42 on revenue of 19 19 billion Analysts polled by Investing com forecast EPS of 1 23 on revenue of 18 02 billion That compared to EPS of 1 4 on revenue of 19 16B in the same period a year earlier
Intel NASDAQ INTC said it expects earnings of 1 24 per share on revenue of 19 2 billion in the fourth quarter Analysts were looking for a profit of 1 21 per share on revenue of 18 83 billion according to forecasts from S P Capital IQ
For the full year the company is guiding for a profit of 4 60 per share against a consensus of 4 38 per share and revenue of 71 billion compared with expectations for 69 74 billion
Intel said it would also boost its stock repurchase program by 20 billion | 10/24/2019 |
INTC | Intel buys software business from Canada s Pivot Technology in 5G push | By Stephen Nellis Reuters Intel Corp O INTC has agreed to purchase a software business from Toronto based Pivot Technology Solutions Inc TO PTG for 27 million the U S chipmaker said on Tuesday Intel said it would buy Smart Edge a software that helps split up data and store it closer to users to make computing devices respond faster The software is designed to run on Intel s chips which are best known as the heart of most personal computers but which the company is aiming to sell into equipment for 5G the next generation of wireless data networks that is being rolled out starting this year According to Pivot s securities filings Smart Edge did not generate significant revenue in the first six months of 2019 but made a loss of about 1 million before depreciation and amortization Pivot which has a market value of about 43 million was issued a U S patent on Smart Edge s technology in July Intel which expects to close the Smart Edge deal in the fourth quarter views 5G as a chance to expand its sales beyond personal computers and data centers its two largest business segments In 5G networks more data will be stored on computers scattered near cell towers and other network gear Storing the data there a practice called edge computing in the industry is expected to help large files like videos show up more quickly on users screens than if they were stored in centralized data centers We plan to take full advantage of our combined technologies and teams to accelerate the development of the edge computing market Dan Rodriguez a general manager of the network compute division in Intel s data center group said in a statement
Intel s shares rose nearly 1 to 52 15 in morning trade while of Pivot Technology stock gained 4 9 to C 0 70 | 10/15/2019 |
INTC | Chipmaker TSMC boosts capex by up to 5 billion sees fourth quarter sales jump on smartphones | By Yimou Lee TAIPEI Reuters Apple Inc NASDAQ AAPL supplier TSMC raised its 2019 capital spending plan by up to 5 billion on Thursday and forecast a nearly 10 rise in fourth quarter revenue on strong demand for faster mobile chips and new high end smartphones The bullish forecast by the world s top contract chipmaker should ease investor fears of a global tech slowdown as the world economic growth outlook has dimmed largely due to a 15 month trade war between the United States and China 5G smartphone growth momentum is stronger than we expected We have good reasons to increase our capex this year and next year TSMC CEO C C Wei told an earnings briefing after reporting the Taiwanese company s strongest quarterly profit growth in more than two years Wei said TSMC almost doubled its forecast for fifth generation 5G smartphone penetration for 2020 to mid teen percent from a forecast of single digit made just six months ago Smartphone makers including Samsung Electronics KS 005930 Co Ltd and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd are racing to develop phones enabled with the 5G technology which could be up to 100 times faster than current 4G networks TSMC formally Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd whose clients also include Qualcomm NASDAQ QCOM Inc and Huawei raised its 2019 capex to a record 14 billion 15 billion on Thursday from an earlier forecast of 10 billion 11 billion It expected fourth quarter revenue of between 10 2 billion and 10 3 billion up from 9 4 billion a year ago and gross margin at 48 50 versus 47 7 in the same period a year ago TSMC reported a 13 5 rise in third quarter net profit to T 101 07 billion 3 30 billion its strongest growth since the first quarter of 2017 thanks to strong sales to smartphone makers The profit figure compared with a T 96 33 billion average forecast drawn from 20 analysts according to Refinitiv data Revenue rose 10 7 to 9 4 billion compared with the company s own estimate of 9 1 billion to 9 2 billion Sales earned from smartphone makers accounted for 49 of its total revenue up from 45 from a year ago while China sales amounted to 20 up from 15 making up for modest slowdown in every other major region including North America BIGGER THAN INTEL TSMC shares closed down 1 on Thursday prior to the earnings announcement They have risen 28 so far this year giving it a market value of 251 3 billion bigger than U S rival Intel NASDAQ INTC Corp s 232 billion The Taiwan company s strong results come after Huawei the world s No 2 smartphone maker said on Wednesday it has shipped 185 million smartphones in the first nine months of the year That implies a 29 surge in Huawei s third quarter shipments as it benefited from promotions and patriotic purchases in China that more than offset weak international sales on U S trade sanctions
New smartphone launches ahead of the year end shopping season as well as rising demand for new technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence will continue to drive sales for TSMC s high performance chips known as 7nm analysts said | 10/17/2019 |
INTC | U S stocks higher at close of trade Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0 09 | Investing com U S stocks were higher after the close on Thursday as gains in the Healthcare Consumer Services and Industrials sectors led shares higher
At the close in NYSE the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0 09 while the S P 500 index gained 0 28 and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0 40
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated NYSE UNH which rose 2 78 or 6 59 points to trade at 243 75 at the close Meanwhile Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc NASDAQ WBA added 2 38 or 1 30 points to end at 55 95 and Caterpillar Inc NYSE CAT was up 1 47 or 1 92 points to 132 10 in late trade
The worst performers of the session were International Business Machines NYSE IBM which fell 5 48 or 7 79 points to trade at 134 25 at the close The Travelers Companies Inc NYSE TRV declined 1 44 or 2 05 points to end at 140 54 and Intel Corporation NASDAQ INTC was down 1 08 or 0 56 points to 51 88
The top performers on the S P 500 were Dover Corporation NYSE DOV which rose 5 87 to 101 40 United Rentals Inc NYSE URI which was up 5 21 to settle at 127 92 and Cardinal Health Inc NYSE CAH which gained 4 44 to close at 51 25
The worst performers were Textron Inc NYSE TXT which was down 5 53 to 47 79 in late trade International Business Machines NYSE IBM which lost 5 48 to settle at 134 25 and M T Bank Corp NYSE MTB which was down 4 42 to 152 10 at the close
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Professional Diversity Network Inc NASDAQ IPDN which rose 56 19 to 1 6400 ContraVir Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ HEPA which was up 45 90 to settle at 3 5600 and Piedmont Lithium Ltd ADR NASDAQ PLL which gained 38 62 to close at 9 01
The worst performers were Provident Bancorp Inc NASDAQ PVBC which was down 51 06 to 10 82 in late trade Bionano Genomics Inc NASDAQ BNGO which lost 50 18 to settle at 1 37 and Waitr Holdings Inc NASDAQ WTRH which was down 44 43 to 0 62 at the close
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1828 to 940 and 124 ended unchanged on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange 1638 rose and 798 declined while 82 ended unchanged
Shares in Provident Bancorp Inc NASDAQ PVBC fell to all time lows losing 51 06 or 11 29 to 10 82 Shares in Waitr Holdings Inc NASDAQ WTRH fell to all time lows down 44 43 or 0 49 to 0 62
The CBOE Volatility Index which measures the implied volatility of S P 500 options was up 0 80 to 13 79
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0 10 or 1 45 to 1495 45 a troy ounce Elsewhere in commodities trading Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1 35 or 0 72 to hit 54 08 a barrel while the December Brent oil contract rose 0 05 or 0 03 to trade at 59 94 a barrel
EUR USD was up 0 03 to 1 1125 while USD JPY rose 0 01 to 108 66
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0 41 at 97 322 | 10/17/2019 |
INTC | Take Five Super Saturday Super Mario | Reuters 1 BEGINNING OF THE END OR
Britain may be about to draw a line under almost 3 1 2 years of political chaos economic uncertainty and tortuous discussions with the European Union over the terms of its exit from the bloc If the UK parliament gives its nod to the divorce deal Prime Minister Johnson has secured unlikely but possible we might well see sterling rally more than 5 shares in domestic focused British companies might rocket to record highs
Markets will be less euphoric if Johnson has to request an extension to the Oct 31 Brexit deadline it means three more months of Brexit noise with a bitterly fought election likely thrown in But with no deal Brexit risks fading the pullback may not be too drastic Depending on the election outcome Britain will either leave with Johnson s deal or hold a second referendum that may cancel Brexit altogether
But if the Brexit battle does end another one may commence the race to negotiate long term trade deals with the rest of the world Johnson or his successor may find that even more tough going
Brexit on a knife edge as PM Johnson stakes all on Super Saturday vote
EXPLAINER Britain s Super Saturday Brexit showdown in parliament
GRAPHIC Sterling UK focused shares rally
2 SUPER MARIO LEAVES THE STAGE
Thursday could be an emotional day for Mario Draghi the ECB chief credited with saving the euro and euro zone with his pledge in 2012 to do whatever it takes
Big policy decisions are not anticipated at the European Central Bank s meeting given the sweeping easing steps unveiled in September Instead it will largely be a goodbye to Draghi whose eight year term as president ends on Oct 31
Dubbed Super Mario Draghi has restored confidence in the ECB s crisis fighting ability and navigated the uncharted waters of quantitative easing QE all in the face of fierce opposition from Germany and other conservative euro zone states
Draghi might feel a slight sense of disappointment though Inflation remains well below the ECB s target of below but close to 2 meaning he leaves office as the first ECB president to never raise interest rates And the unprecedented stimulus implemented under his regime leaves his successor with little ammunition to combat another crisis
Draghi may use his last meeting to urge governments to use fiscal policy more effectively to boost growth and inflation He s also likely to be pressed on the divisions within the ECB over restarting QE but clearly healing that rift will be down to his successor Christine Lagarde
ANALYSIS As Draghi leaves ECB his opponents get chance to turn the tables
POLL ECB s efforts to counter weak inflation will fail
Spend more if you want ECB to raise rates Draghi tells governments
GRAPHIC Inflation unemployment during the Draghi era
3 TIME FOR TECH
Third quarter U S earnings season kicks into high gear in coming days more than 130 S P 500 companies and over one third of the Dow industrials will be reporting results according to IBES data from Refinitiv
Reports flow in from many corners of Corporate America from industrial bellwethers Boeing NYSE BA and Caterpillar NYSE CAT to internet retailing titan Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN Biotech leaders Biogen NASDAQ BIIB and Gilead Sciences NASDAQ GILD and carmaker Ford are among others to post results
Investors have been bracing for gloom but expectations have improved as early reports rolled in and analysts now expect third quarter earnings to fall by 2 9 from the prior year That compares with a 3 2 drop expected a week ago IBES data shows
But the outlook doesn t seem to have improved for information technology SPLRCT a sector comprising more than one fifth of the S P500 index Here Refinitiv data indicates earnings could drop by nearly 8 from a year earlier
Aside from Amazon Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT the largest company by value as well as semiconductor stalwarts Intel NASDAQ INTC and Texas Instruments NASDAQ TXN will post earnings as will payments processor Visa NYSE V Tech haves and have nots face third quarter tests
GRAPHIC US tech stocks
4 EARNINGS IN EUROPE
Europe s Q3 season too opens in earnest next week and is likely to again elicit unfavourable comparisons with corporate America Since 2013 Wall Street has outperformed Europe s STOXX 600 index benefiting from stronger economic growth and the Trump administration turbocharging companies with massive tax cuts
Europe Inc on the other hand seems to be stuck in corporate recession Earnings across the STOXX 600 will likely fall for the third quarter straight down by 3 7 percent year on year according to Refinitiv data But as U S tax cut effects fade now might be a good time for Europe to catch up Indeed European earnings growth is seen overtaking the United States in 2020 But with powerhouse economy Germany teetering on the brink of recession and the manufacturing sector sunk in gloom Europe s come back seems as elusive as ever
There are some though who believe a comeback is nigh if the Brexit issue is resolved Germany agrees to some fiscal stimulus and economic gloom lifts a bit Any sign of a rebound in next week s corporate earnings flurry might lead portfolio managers to rethink exposure to the old continent
ANALYSIS More pain for Europe Inc as earnings drought seen spilling over into 2020
Europe Inc s recession expected to deepen as Q3 earnings outlook dims
GRAPHIC U S vs European earnings
5 SUBMERGING MARKETS
Emerging market hotspots Turkey and Argentina are back in the limelight and not necessarily for the right reasons
Turkey s central bank will announce its latest interest rate decision on Thursday No doubt with interest rates at 16 5 the general direction is down thanks to easing inflation pressures and a leader who is a self declared enemy of interest rates
But the meeting comes at a time when the lira is facing fresh challenges from the country s geopolitical roller coaster moving currently at breakneck speed after Ankara s much condemned military push into Syria on Oct 9 which whacked its bonds and weighed on its currency
Meanwhile Argentina s government is getting ready to face the music as voters are heading to the poll on Sunday Oct 27 Incumbent Mauricio Macri who suffered a surprise defeat in August primary elections is trailing well behind Peronist Alberto Fernandez
The August shocker has rattled Argentina s debt and currency markets driving the peso and bonds to record lows while investors fret about a shift back away from business friendly Macri to populist style policies
Another debt restructuring is looming for the serial defaulter and questions abound over the future of Buenos Aires program with the International Monetary Fund It s time to get ready and see who may answer them
ANALYSIS Turkey s forex reserves an Achilles heel if sanctions were to deepen
IMF will stand by Argentina during crisis Georgieva
Argentina s official black market peso rates diverge sharply
GRAPHIC Argentina s debt to the IMF dwarfs other countries | 10/18/2019 |
MSFT | Green s in fashion as Lithuanian used clothes site joins 1 billion club | VILNIUS Reuters Vinted an online marketplace for second hand clothes has surfed a sustainable fashion wave to become Lithuania s first technology startup to reach unicorn status with a valuation of over 1 billion
The company created in 2008 as one founder wanted to give away surplus clothes after moving to a new house is growing rapidly as the fashion industry comes under growing scrutiny for fuelling a throwaway culture
In a sign of the times Anna Wintour the editor of Vogue and one of the most powerful voices in fashion told Reuters the industry needed to pursue more sustainability and that fashionistas should care for their clothes and pass them on
Vinted said nearly 1 3 billion euros worth of reused clothing would change hands on its platform this year
We are approaching an inflection point in the market for second hand fashion Consumers around the world are becoming increasingly conscious of their buying choices Chief Executive Thomas Plantenga said
Vinted said on Thursday latest funding round had raised 128 million euros valuing the company at more than 1 billion euros 1 1 billion The latest investment was well above the 50 million euros raised in a previous round in August 2018
U S based venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round with participation from existing backers such as Sprints Capital Insight Venture Partners Accel and Burda Principal Investments
The funds will be used for further expansion in Europe as well as for doubling its product and technology teams to 600 people the company said It now has 25 million users in 11 European countries including France Germany Spain and the Netherlands as well as in the United States
With Vinted the Baltic states region of Estonia Latvia and Lithuania have spawned a third of all tech unicorns ever created in central and eastern Europe such as ride sharing service Bolt and money transfer company TransferWise according to a November 2019 report by investment tracking firm Dealroom co
Skype now part of Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and gambling software maker Playtech L PTEC were also founded in Estonia | 11/28/2019 |
MSFT | Microsoft to Turn 1980s Gamebook Series Into Blockchain Card Game | Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT major game developer Eidos and gamebook firm Fabled Lands are jointly developing a blockchain card game based on a 1980s best selling gamebook
According to a press release published on Dec 1 the new card game will be based on the 1980s best selling book called The Way of the Tiger written by Jamie Thomson and Mark Smith | 12/1/2019 |
MSFT | Twitter makes global changes to comply with privacy laws | By Elizabeth Culliford SAN FRANCISCO Reuters Twitter Inc NYSE TWTR is updating its global privacy policy to give users more information about what data advertisers might receive and is launching a site to provide clarity on its data protection efforts the company said on Monday The changes which will take effect on Jan 1 2020 will comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act CCPA The California law requires large businesses to give consumers more transparency and control over their personal information such as allowing them to request that their data be deleted and to opt out of having their data sold to third parties Social media companies including Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB and Alphabet NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s Google have come under scrutiny on data privacy issues fueled by Facebook s Cambridge Analytica scandal in which personal data were harvested from millions of users without their consent Twitter also announced on Monday that it is moving the accounts of users outside of the United States and European Union which were previously contracted by Twitter International Company in Dublin Ireland to the San Francisco based Twitter Inc The company said this move would allow it the flexibility to test different settings and controls with these users such as additional opt in or opt out privacy preferences that would likely be restricted by the General Data Protection Regulation GDPR Europe s landmark digital privacy law We want to be able to experiment without immediately running afoul of the GDPR provisions Twitter s data protection officer Damien Kieran told Reuters in a phone interview The goal is to learn from those experiments and then to provide those same experiences to people all around the world he said The company which said it has upped its communications about data and security related disclosures over the last two years emphasized in a Monday blog post that it was working to upgrade systems and build privacy into new products In October Twitter announced it had found that phone numbers and email addresses used for two factor authentication may inadvertently have been used for advertising purposes Twitter s new privacy site dubbed the Twitter Privacy Center is part of the company s efforts to showcase its work on data protection and will also give users another route to access and download their data
Twitter joins other internet companies who have recently staked out their positions ahead of CCPA coming into effect Last month Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT said it would honor the law throughout the United States and Google told clients that it would let sites and apps using its advertising tools block personalized ads as part of its efforts to comply with CCPA | 12/2/2019 |
MSFT | Republican privacy bill would set U S rules pre empt California senator | By David Shepardson and Diane Bartz WASHINGTON Reuters A draft consumer privacy bill written by Republican U S Senator Roger Wicker s staff would set nationwide rules for handling of personal information online and elsewhere and override state laws including one in California set to take effect next year Wicker who chairs the Commerce Committee said in an interview on Monday the 25 page draft bill is better stronger clearer than the California privacy law that will start to take effect at the beginning of 2020 Compared with California s law the staff bill has more detailed consumer protections covers more companies and has more explicit requirements that companies collect the minimum amount of personal data needed for their purpose Wicker said The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom did not immediately comment Privacy concerns are mounting as big tech companies experience data breaches and public discomfort over how information is being collected and used U S regulators have imposed hefty fines on Facebook Inc NASDAQ FB and Google NASDAQ GOOGL Inc s YouTube unit for privacy violations Wicker s office released a copy of the draft to Reuters that has circulated in recent days The bill largely focuses on online consumer privacy but covers other consumer data too Wicker said much of the bill aligns with legislation introduced by the top Democrat on the committee Maria Cantwell last week Democrats like Cantwell are determined not to sign a privacy bill that would pre empt state laws while Republicans appear equally determined to avoid a confusing patchwork of state measures Wicker said he and Cantwell disagree over whether individuals would have the right to sue for violation of privacy under the law Cantwell and the Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer need to decide if they want a bill if they would like to continue negotiating in good faith or whether we are going to abandon this over plaintiffs lawyers Wicker said Cantwell s office declined to comment Monday but she told Reuters last week that Democrats are in discussions with Republicans Wicker s draft would include any company that does business across state lines expand the definition of sensitive data to include biometric information require companies to have clear and conspicuous privacy policies and would allow consumers to request to have inaccurate information corrected The Commerce Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday on privacy that will include lawyers from Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT and Walmart NYSE WMT Inc
If there is something weak here if there are other protections that need to be added let s add them but let s make it a nationwide standard Wicker said | 12/2/2019 |
MSFT | New Crypto Stealing Malware Infected 80 000 Computers Microsoft Says | The Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT Defender ATP research team shares insights on a new cryptocurrency stealing malware variant that has infected close to 80 000 computers
On Nov 26 Microsoft security analysts revealed that the malware called Dexphot had already infected close to 80 000 devices since October 2018 reaching its peak in the month of June of this year | 11/26/2019 |
INTC | Stocks Wall Street Surges on Hope of Trade War De escalation | Investing com Wall Street rose for the third straight session on Friday as investors were buoyed by hope that the trade talks between the U S and China will result in at least a partial deal to de escalate the current stand off between the two
The Dow rose 357 points or 1 4 by 9 48 AM ET 13 48 GMT while the S P 500 was up 39 points or 1 3 and the Nasdaq composite gained 118 points or 1 5
U S President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that talks between the two countries were going really well which followed a tweet that he will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Friday
Trump again talked up market hopes early on Friday
U S President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that talks between the two countries were going really well which followed a tweet that he will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Lui He on Friday
It is still going to be a one step forward two steps backward tone with the talks but there are hopes of a de escalation said Scott Brown chief economist at Raymond James in St Petersburg Florida
Companies with exposure to China were higher with Apple NASDAQ AAPL up 1 3 NVIDIA NASDAQ NVDA gaining 3 3 and Intel NASDAQ INTC rising 2 3 Tesla NASDAQ TSLA surged 1 5 while Slack gained 5 after it said its active daily users rose by 37 in September from a year ago
Meanwhile oil companies were up after a report of attacks on an Iranian oil tanker caused crude oil futures to surge Exxon Mobil NYSE XOM and Chevron NYSE CVX were both up 1
In commodities the U S dollar index which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was down 0 5 to 97 928 and gold futures tumbled 0 8 to 1 488 80 a troy ounce Crude oil futures jumped 1 to 54 05 a barrel
Reuters contributed to this report | 10/11/2019 |
MSFT | Activist investors to pressure privately held Palantir on human rights | By Joseph Menn SAN FRANCISCO Reuters A group advocating ethical investing will ask backers of tech analytics company Palantir Technologies to push for changes to its business practices a rare case of coordinated shareholder action against a privately held company The Investor Alliance for Human Rights which claims more than 150 institutional members representing 4 trillion in managed assets faults Palantir for contracts with government agencies including U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement Through its multimillion dollar U S government contracts Palantir has played a mission critical role in enabling ICE NYSE ICE to carry out its activities the group said in a presentation provided to Reuters in advance of its announcement The company is failing to fulfill its human rights responsibilities Palantir said the report was misleading We always welcome an honest and open dialogue when it comes to complex societal issues so it is disappointing to see a one sided view said Courtney Bowman Palantir s director of privacy and civil liberties engineering Though Palantir itself is private the group says investors include such publicly traded entities as BlackRock NYSE BLK Allianz DE ALVG and Alger Capital The company is looking to raise another private financing round that would value the company at 25 billion Reuters reported in September It was co founded by prominent venture capitalist Peter Thiel who spoke at the 2016 Republican convention in support of then candidate Donald Trump The relative impunity of private companies heightens the risks of human rights impacts increasing the need for private equity investors to push those companies through other means to respect human rights said alliance Director Paloma Munoz Quick The alliance last year criticized Amazon com NASDAQ AMZN Inc s human rights record helping prompt unsuccessful shareholder resolutions on activities including the company s sale of facial recognition software Amazon last week published its global human rights principles in which it acknowledged a responsibility to respect and uphold internationally recognized human rights through the ethical treatment of our workforce and those within our value chain Kate Elliot senior ethical researcher at London based Rathbone Greenbank Investments an Alliance supporter said she would raise human rights with Rathbone portfolio company RELX formerly Reed Elsevier LON REL which has a venture investment in Palantir They are not immune from reputational damage because it s a venture project Elliot said Microsoft O MSFT and Alphabet s O GOOGL Google have also drawn attention this year for venture investments in startups that critics say might have fallen afoul of those companies stated principles on facial recognition and artificial intelligence technologies Microsoft invested in Israeli firm AnyVision whose facial recognition gear has been deployed by Israeli authorities at Palestinian checkpoints After media reports that AnyVision s gear was used for mass surveillance in Palestinian territory Microsoft said such use would violate our facial recognition principles and last week hired former U S Attorney General Eric Holder to audit AnyVision s compliance with its ethics guidelines Google investment arm Gradient Ventures meanwhile has backed Cogniac whose software is used to quickly process images from the battlefield Google s published principles include a commitment not to deploy AI for weapons or other technologies whose principal purpose or implementation is to cause or directly facilitate injury to people Google said Gradient investments follow the parent company principles but declined to discuss the Pentagon image processing | 11/22/2019 |
MSFT | EU countries fail to agree on privacy rules governing WhatsApp Skype | By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS Reuters EU efforts to create a level playing field between telecoms operators and Facebook s O FB WhatsApp and Microsoft O MSFT unit Skype stalled on Friday after member countries failed to agree on the scope of proposed rules
The European Commission kicked off the process two years ago with its proposal for an ePrivacy regulation which would ensure that tech companies offering online messaging and email services would be subjected to the same tough rules as telecoms providers
Disagreements between EU countries on complex issues such as rules for cookies tracking users online activities provisions on detecting and deleting child pornography and consent requirements however have stymied the process
EU countries need to come up with a stance before they start talks to thrash out a common position with the Commission and European Parliament
EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Friday again reached an impasse EU officials said
Tech companies and some EU countries have criticized the ePrivacy proposal for being too restrictive putting them at loggerheads with privacy activists who back the plan
By first watering down the text and now halting the ePrivacy Regulation the European Council takes a stance to protect the interests of online tracking advertisers and to ensure the dominance of big tech said Diego Naranjo at digital civil rights group European Digital Rights EDRi
It is not clear what the next step will be Croatia which takes over the EU presidency Jan 1 may seek to resume the negotiations | 11/22/2019 |
MSFT | Amazon files lawsuit contesting Pentagon s 10 billion cloud contract to Microsoft | Reuters Amazon com Inc NASDAQ AMZN filed a lawsuit in a federal U S court on Friday contesting the U S Defense Department s decision last month to award a Pentagon cloud computing contract worth up to 10 billion to rival bidder Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT The complaint and supplemental motion for discovery were filed in the U S Court of Federal Claims under seal according to a spokesman for Amazon Web Services a division of the online retail giant founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos The company did not explain the basis for its complaint The filings contain proprietary information trade secrets and confidential financial information that could cause either party severe competitive harm Amazon said in a court document seeking a protective order The record in this bid protest likely will contain similarly sensitive information it said Last week U S Defense Secretary Mark Esper rejected any suggestion of bias in the Pentagon s decision to award Microsoft the contract after Amazon announced plans to challenge it We believe the facts will show they DoD ran a detailed thorough and fair process in determining the needs of the warfighter were best met by Microsoft Microsoft said in an emailed statement Amazon had been considered a favorite for the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud JEDI contract part of a broader digital modernization project at the Pentagon before software developer Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner
Amazon has previously said that politics got in the way of a fair bidding process Bezos the chief executive officer of Amazon and owner of the Washington Post has been an outspoken critic of U S President Donald Trump | 11/22/2019 |
MSFT | Federer and Zverev Mexico City match breaks world attendance record | MEXICO CITY Reuters Broadcaster ESPN claimed a new world record for attendance at a tennis match on Saturday with more than 42 000 people watching Germany s Alexander Zverev go down 6 3 4 6 2 6 to Roger Federer in an exhibition match in Mexico City That smashed an almost decade old record of 35 681 set at an exhibition game between Belgian Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams NYSE WMB in Belgium in 2010 ESPN put the exact number of fans in Mexico City s bullring at 42 517 Even before Saturday s match Federer had announced his intention to set a new world record for attendance when he meets Rafael Nadal in an exhibition match in South Africa in February That duel will be staged at the Cape Town Stadium which has a capacity of 55 000 It will also have the draw of a preceding doubles match in which Federer will partner Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT founder Bill Gates and Nadal will play alongside South African comedian Trevor Noah | 11/24/2019 |
MSFT | U S based chip tech group moving to Switzerland over trade curb fears | By Stephen Nellis and Alexandra Alper SAN FRANCISCO WASHINGTON Reuters A U S based foundation overseeing promising semiconductor technology developed with Pentagon support will soon move to Switzerland after several of the group s foreign members raised concerns about potential U S trade curbs The nonprofit RISC V Foundation pronounced risk five wants to ensure that universities governments and companies outside the United States can help develop its open source technology its Chief Executive Calista Redmond said in an interview with Reuters She said the foundation s global collaboration has faced no restrictions to date but members are concerned about possible geopolitical disruption From around the world we ve heard that If the incorporation was not in the U S we would be a lot more comfortable she said Redmond said the foundation s board of directors approved the move unanimously but declined to disclose which members prompted it Created in 2015 the RISC V Foundation sets standards for the core chip architecture and controls who can use the RISC V trademark on products as other organizations do for Wi Fi and Bluetooth chips It does not own or control the technology More than 325 companies or other entities pay to be members including U S and European chip suppliers such as Qualcomm Inc O QCOM and NXP Semiconductors O NXPI as well as China s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd N BABA and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd The foundation s move from Delaware to Switzerland may foreshadow further technology flight because of U S restrictions on dealing with some Chinese technology companies said William Reinsch who was undersecretary of commerce for export administration in the Clinton administration There is a message for the government The message is if you clamp down on things too tightly this is what is going to happen In a global supply chain world companies have choices and one choice is to go overseas he said In a statement to Reuters the U S Department of Commerce said its controls were designed to safeguard U S national security and to ensure bad actors cannot acquire technology that harms U S citizens or interests while promoting innovation to fuel continued American technological leadership The department said it meets regularly with private industry to gauge market conditions and the effects of its regulations Some Republican U S lawmakers said they are concerned the United States will lose influence over RISC V chip architecture which can be used to make microprocessors for almost every type of electronic device making it a crucial building block of a modern economy The technology came from labs at the University of California Berkeley and later benefited from funding by the Pentagon s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA The lawmakers warn that the foundation s Chinese members could influence the technology s development to help China s semiconductor industry The Chinese Communist Party is trying to circumvent our export control system to support national security threats like Huawei we cannot let it succeed Representative Mike Gallagher a Republican from Wisconsin told Reuters Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton said moving the foundation to ensure it could retain Chinese members was short sighted at best He added that if American public funds were used to develop the technology it s also completely outrageous Redmond said in follow up emails after speaking to Reuters that given the technology is open source and available to anyone she does not see how the move could be against the U S national interest A DARPA spokesman told Reuters the agency intended for RISC V work it funded to be publicly available to companies and academics around the world Morgan Reed president of The App Association which receives funding from major U S technology firms such as Apple Inc O AAPL and Microsoft Corp O MSFT in Washington likened the RISC V Foundation s work to efforts between U S and Chinese companies to jointly develop Wi Fi chip standards The notion that China can be barred from participating in standards alongside the U S and the EU is simply not viable Reed said China is too important as a manufacturer and an end market to ignore INSURANCE POLICY The RISC V Foundation announced at a meeting last December it would seek a neutral country before making a formal decision to go to Switzerland earlier this year a decision that got little public attention Final approvals in Switzerland for the move are expected as soon as the end of November Redmond said Chinese companies have had access to the RISC V architecture which is publicly available since its creation Redmond said Alibaba claimed in July it had developed the fastest RISC V processor to date The company declined to comment for this story The RISC V Foundation s move shows how U S China trade tensions could make the United States a harder place to host technology standards groups according to two attorneys who represent such groups The lawyers said it is unclear whether standards groups are allowed to work with Huawei These groups are concerned U S authorities may decide that some closed door technical discussions involve the transfer of sensitive technology to the Chinese or others on banned lists said one of the attorneys Brad Biddle who works for several standards groups In June more than two dozen standards groups including those overseeing SD memory cards and Ethernet and HDMI cables wrote a letter to U S Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross asking for clarification of the rules on working with Huawei The groups warned Ross that the Huawei restrictions posed a serious risk that standards work could move out of the United States which could end a long held trend where U S based groups set de facto standards for the rest of the world they wrote The Commerce Department published an advisory opinion seeking to clarify the issue in August but standards lawyers said the rules remain confusing The RISC V Foundation s Redmond does not yet see a credible threat to international collaboration But we re taking out an insurance policy against that type of action by moving our incorporation she told Reuters HUAWEI SUPPORTS MOVE The board s seven current members are all based in North America After the move the foundation s board will be expanded and European and Asian members will be added said Redmond Reuters could not confirm whether any Chinese companies planned to join the board Andrew Updegrove an attorney who does work for standards groups said that U S restrictions on transferring U S origin technology to Chinese companies will still apply regardless of where the RISC V Foundation is headquartered At Netherlands based NXP Semiconductors which is a member of the foundation customers have asked the company to detail where the technology in its chips comes from said Lars Reger its chief technology officer The customers do not want to be cut off in future trade disputes he said U S officials and some lawmakers have alleged Huawei s telecom equipment may enable surveillance by China The resulting backlash has prevented it from making inroads into the U S market Huawei has denied the claims In response to Reuters questions a Huawei spokesman said We support RISC V Foundation identifying Switzerland as a neutral venue for open source development Making open source as open as possible is important for the industry He said that RISC V might fit well into Huawei s vision of this heterogeneous open world
This story corrects paragraph 16 to reflect that Apple and Microsoft are sponsors of The App Association rather than members | 11/25/2019 |
MSFT | NYSE seeks to let direct listings raise capital in IPO alternative | By Joshua Franklin NEW YORK Reuters The New York Stock Exchange NYSE said on Tuesday it had filed with the U S Securities and Exchange Commission to allow companies going public to raise capital through a direct listing instead of an initial public offering This new hybrid model comes after criticism by venture capital investors of the traditional IPO which for decades has been the route to the public markets for companies such as Amazon com Inc O AMZN Apple Inc O AAPL and Microsoft Corp O MSFT Will this displace the traditional IPO No but is it another pathway we are providing companies to come to the public markets and to have investors participate and have growth opportunities Yes Vice Chairman and Chief Commercial Officer John Tuttle said in a telephone interview about the plan by NYSE which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc N ICE A direct listing has so far differed from an IPO because it does not raise fresh funds rather it is a way for existing investors to monetize their shares In 2018 music streaming business Spotify Technology SA N SPOT pioneered direct listing followed in 2019 by communication platform Slack Technologies Inc N WORK Both had successful market debuts but their share prices have since struggled Venture capital investors have backed direct listings as a better way to price newly public shares Direct listings also avoid restrictions on stock sales by insiders which often includes venture capitalists and are less costly than an IPO in which companies pay banks to underwrite a share offering and to stabilize their share price if needed In this new direct model all of the shares being offered by a company so called primary shares are to be sold in the first trade to a variety of buyers Stock owned by existing investors referred to as secondary shares can be sold throughout the first day of trading The new model will make a direct listing more attractive to companies but it will not dislodge the IPO overnight as the most popular route to the public market according to Greg Rodgers a partner law firm Latham Watkins who worked on the Spotify and Slack offerings For the foreseeable future issuing primary capital in this way will be quite novel Rodgers said Bill Gurley a partner at venture capital firm Benchmark Capital and one of the biggest proponents of direct listings has complained banks have been fleecing companies by pricing shares low so that they pop on their first trading day | 11/26/2019 |
INTC | Broadcom faces EU order to suspend some business practices source | By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS Reuters U S chipmaker Broadcom O AVGO will be told by EU antitrust regulators this month to suspend certain business practices including exclusivity clauses with TV and modem makers a person familiar with the matter said on Friday
Such a decision would be the European Commission s first interim order in almost two decades The measure prohibits certain activities until the regulator completes its investigations which typically take several years and could pave the way for similar action against other tech companies
The EU executive will brief national competition agencies on Oct 7 on its proposed interim measure before taking a formal decision and informing the company the person said
The Commission declined to comment
Broadcom did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment The company has previously said it did not expect a material impact on its set top box or broadband modem business from such a move by the Commission and that an interim measure would not preclude it from continuing to sell any products
Interim measures are rare because of the high bar proving a company s practice would cause lasting harm to market competition The Commission s last order 18 years ago was thrown out by an EU court after the company then involved challenged it
EU competition authorities opened the Broadcom investigation in June and detailed to the company why the interim measure might be necessary to avoid irreparable harm to the market
Regulators are looking into Broadcom s practices such as exclusive purchasing obligations and tying rebates or other benefits to exclusive or minimum purchase requirements
Broadcom defended itself at a closed door hearing in August Participants included Intel O INTC MediaTek TW 2454 Quantenna which is a unit of ON Semiconductor O ON and Humax KQ 115160 | 10/6/2019 |
INTC | U S puts Hikvision Chinese security bureaus on economic blacklist | By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON Reuters The U S Commerce Department said on Monday it was putting 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies including video surveillance company Hikvision SZ 002415 on a U S trade blacklist over Beijing s treatment of Uighur Muslims and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities
Those added to the so called Entity List include the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region People s Government Public Security Bureau 19 subordinate government agencies and eight commercial firms according to a Commerce Department filing The companies include Zhejiang Dahua Technology SZ 002236 IFLYTEK Co SZ 002230 Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co SZ 300188 and Yixin Science and Technology Co
Reuters reported on the planned additions earlier Monday before the Commerce Department made it official
The department filing said the entities have been implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China s campaign of repression mass arbitrary detention and high technology surveillance against Uighurs Kazakhs and other members of Muslim minority groups
U S officials said the announcement was not tied to this week s resumption of trade talks with China Being added to the Entity List bars companies or other entities from buying parts and components from U S companies without U S government approval
The Commerce Department previously added Huawei Technologies Co and more than 100 affiliates to the Entity List
Hikvision officially known as Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co Ltd with a market value of about 42 billion calls itself the world s largest video surveillance gear maker Reuters reported in August Hikvision receives nearly 30 of its 50 billion yuan 7 billion in revenue from overseas
Hikvision did not immediately comment on the Commerce Department s move
John Honovich founder of surveillance video research company IPVM said Hikvision and Dahua both use Intel NASDAQ INTC Nvidia Ambarella Western Digital NASDAQ WDC and Seagates as suppliers and that the impact on the Chinese companies would be devastating Shares in Ambarella fell more than 9 on the news
In August the Trump administration released an interim rule banning federal purchases of telecommunications equipment from five Chinese companies including Huawei and Hikvision
Huawei has repeatedly denied it is controlled by the Chinese government military or intelligence services and has filed a lawsuit against the U S government s restrictions | 10/7/2019 |
INTC | Enterprise Ethereum Alliance s Reward Token System Backed by Microsoft Intel | Microsoft NASDAQ MSFT and Intel NASDAQ INTC are backing a new system of reward tokens created by the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance EEA
The EEA which sets standards for Ethereum based blockchain applications in business shared the developments in a statement with Cointelegraph on Oct 7 | 10/7/2019 |
INTC | Arm joins with GM Toyota to find common ground on car chips | By Stephen Nellis SAN JOSE Calif Reuters Arm Holdings the British chip technology firm owned by Japan s Softbank Group Corp is joining with automakers General Motors Co NYSE GM and Toyota Motor Corp to establish common computing systems for self driving cars an effort the companies hope will speed development of the technology Arm supplies the underlying technology for the processors found in today s smart phones but does not make chips itself Its ties to the automotive industry go back to the late 1990s when automakers began to add computer chips to vehicles for functions like engine control and diagnostics On Tuesday the company said it was helping to create the Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium or AVCC along with the two automakers and industry suppliers Bosch Corp ROBSCJ UL Denso Corp and Continental AG DE CONG Also helping found the group are semiconductor companies Nvidia Corp and NXP NASDAQ NXPI Semiconductors both of which embed Arm s technology into their chips With automakers and tech companies working on self driving vehicles analysts expect the number of chips in cars to expand But the current test vehicles being used to develop self driving software are using the same kind of large electricity hungry chips found in data centers Across the industry chip firms and automakers agree that the power diet and size of the gear must be cut drastically to fit into cars for the general public to perhaps a tenth or less the levels of current systems I just came back from trips in the U S and China and had the opportunity to ride in four different types of autonomous vehicles They were great prototype platforms for proving the software but when I asked to look at the electronics powering these vehicles it literally was servers in trunks Chet Babla Arm s vice president of automotive told Reuters in an interview We ve got a long way to go The AVCC will be an independent group funded by membership fees from the companies that join Arm officials said its work will be open to non members The group s first task will be to establish a common computing architecture That effort aims to make it easier for car companies to write software that will work on chips from different vendors similar to how Microsoft Corp NASDAQ MSFT Windows based software works on processors from Intel Corp NASDAQ INTC or Advanced Micro Devices NASDAQ AMD Inc
The massive amount of technological innovation required to power fully self driving vehicles at scale requires collaboration at an industry level Massimo Osella chairman of the new group s board and a lab group manager for research and development at GM said in a statement | 10/8/2019 |
INTC | Goldman evaluating role in China s Megvii IPO after U S blacklist | By Joshua Franklin and Julie Zhu NEW YORK HONG KONG Reuters Goldman Sachs Group Inc N GS said on Tuesday it was reviewing its involvement in Megvii Technology Ltd s planned initial public offering after the U S government placed the Chinese artificial intelligence firm on a human rights blacklist The Trump administration said on Monday that Megvii and seven other Chinese companies were targeted because they were implicated in Beijing s repression of Muslim minority populations in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in the far west of the country In an emailed statement in response to a request for comment on the Alibaba backed Megvii IPO Goldman said it was evaluating in light of the recent developments Sources had previously told Reuters the listing was scheduled for Hong Kong in the fourth quarter and might raise as much as 1 billion Other U S companies involved with the blacklisted Chinese firms whether as investors or as underwriters are also likely to re evaluate their relationships risk consultants and Silicon Valley lawyers said Goldman is a joint sponsor of the Megvii IPO alongside Citigroup Inc N C and JPMorgan Chase Co N JPM which both declined to comment Megvii declined to comment on Goldman s statement but said that it was in close contact with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange about its IPO plans and would continue to monitor developments Goldman had thoroughly evaluated the Megvii deal before initially signing onto it using its usual due diligence process a person familiar with the matter said Known for its facial recognition platform Face Megvii will become the first Chinese AI firm to go public if the deal goes ahead The company provides facial recognition and other AI technology to governments and companies including Alibaba N BABA Ant Financial Lenovo Group Ltd HK 0992 and Huawei MUSLIM MISTREATMENT The U S Department of Commerce on Monday barred eight companies as well as 20 Chinese government entities from buying U S technology without U S government approval That will include high powered computer chips made by U S companies such as Nvidia O NVDA Intel O INTC and Qualcomm O QCOM which are considered critical for building and operating many AI systems The government said the entities were implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China s campaign of repression mass arbitrary detention and high technology surveillance against Uighurs Kazakhs and other members of Muslim minority groups Megvii said it strongly objects to being added to the blacklist and there were no grounds for the designation In a statement it said around 1 of revenues were derived from Xinjiang in 2018 and none in the six months ended June 30 It added that a May 2019 report from Human Rights Watch HRW on a surveillance app in Xinjiang had implicated Megvii s Face but in a corrected and reissued report HRW did not highlight Megvii s name On Tuesday the U S government imposed visa restrictions on Chinese government and Communist Party officials it believes responsible for the detention or abuse of Muslims in Xinjiang U N experts and activists say at least 1 million Uighurs and members of other largely Muslim minority groups have been detained in camps in the remote region Beijing denies any mistreatment at the camps which it says provide vocational training to help stamp out religious extremism and teach new work skills U S Senator Marco Rubio who has been seeking to spotlight both the easy access that Chinese companies have been given to U S markets and human rights abuses in Xinjiang said the government s move had been long overdue We should continue to do more to hold Chinese government and Communist Party officials accountable for potential crimes against humanity being committed in Xinjiang he said in a statement PUTTING THEMSELVES AT RISK In recent years Chinese and some foreign investors have poured money into startups that specialize in facial and voice recognition software as well as other surveillance equipment and software They have been buoyed by China s plans to build a ubiquitous CCTV surveillance network Another company on the U S government s blacklist SenseTime is among the world s most highly valued artificial intelligence firms and counts marquee U S technology investors Tiger Global and Silver Lake Partners among its backers Fidelity the U S mutual fund firm is also a SenseTime investor along with Qualcomm The Massachusetts Institute of Technology said it will review its relationship with SenseTime the first company to join the U S school s research effort into human and machine intelligence MIT will review all of existing relationships with organizations on the blacklist and modify any interactions as necessary a spokeswoman said in an email Risk consultants say that investors and underwriters have jumped into the sector without fully assessing the dangers both to their reputations and to the valuations of the companies concerned There has been a dearth of adequate due diligence performed on these companies from both a national security and a human rights perspective said Roger Robinson president and CEO of Washington DC based risk consultancy RWR Advisory Group and a former senior director of international economic affairs at the National Security Council He said that investors and others involved with these Chinese companies may well be putting themselves at risk Silver Lake Tiger Global and Qualcomm all declined to comment Fidelity didn t immediately return a call seeking a comment There will be a judgment call as to whether any U S investor would want to be associated with such businesses said Rocky Lee managing partner of the Silicon Valley office of law firm King Wood Mallesons
I believe you will see some quiet exiting by U S funds and possibly LPs at least those U S investors who feel strongly that owning companies engaging in these activities are either immoral or politically incorrect | 10/9/2019 |
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