Global Growth Worries Climb

         The WSJ reports, "Five years after the financial crisis ended, soft growth in Europe, a stop-and-start U.S. recovery and waning momentum in China have policy makers groping for what to do next.

A spate of worrying economic data Thursday shook stock and bond markets. Economic activity in the 18-country euro zone expanded at a weak annual rate of 0.8% during the first quarter, data released Thursday showed. Excluding Germany, which grew at a robust 3.3% pace, the rest of the euro-area economy contracted slightly during the quarter.

European Central Bank officials are now moving toward enacting additional low interest-rate policies to prevent the region from sliding into a lengthy period of economic stagnation, while the U.S. Federal Reserve guardedly tries to wind down a bond-buying program meant to revitalize economic growth.

Meantime, Chinese authorities are trying to prod banks to lend more to first-time home buyers shut out of their real-estate market. U.S. officials privately say they expect Chinese officials to act to boost their economy and support banks if growth slows severely, though Chinese officials say they will avoid major stimulus if it undermines economic overhauls or deepens credit woes.

Underscoring the sense of angst, stock prices dropped sharply Thursday in Europe and the U.S. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 167.16 points, or 1.01%, to 16446.81.

Yields on bonds issued in big developed markets continued to fall Thursday. Yields on German bunds with 10-year maturities sank to 1.307%, their lowest level in a year, while yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes fell to 2.498%, the lowest level in six months".

Special Edition 05/14/2014 World Heritage China Part 8- Longmen Grottoes - CCTV News - CCTV.com English

Special Edition 05/14/2014 World Heritage China Part 8- Longmen Grottoes - CCTV News - CCTV.com English

  Sorry for the indirect link to this  excellent documentary of the Longmen Grottoes in China.

China urges Vietnam to ensure safety of Chinese nationals

China's Foreign Ministry has confirmed reports that rioters inside Vietnam have attacked Chinese nationals and property across the country. The Chinese government has urged Vietnam to take responsibility for the issue and safeguard Chinese nationals and their property. Staff from the Chinese embassy in Vietnam are travelling to the areas where the attacks happened to confirm the numbers of casualties and count losses.

"China’s Foreign Ministry will hold an emergency meeting with Vietnam’s Ambassador to China to make a solemn representation, and to urge the Vietnamese side to take effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals and their property in Vietnam. I have to point out that, the recent violent attacks against Chinese nationals and companies have direct links to the Vietnamese government’s indifference and tolerance of anti-China forces in the country. We urge the Vietnamese government to take responsibility to investigate the attacks, punish the rioters, and provide compensation for the losses. We have said it many times, that the Chinese oil company has been conducting normal operations within Chinese territory." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

Source: CCTV

Single-person households in China double in ten years

The size of the Chinese family has been getting smaller in recent years, with single-person households on the rise. According to an official report on family development, the average number of family members in a house was three in 2012, compared with over five in the 1950s. The report attributes the decline to low birth rates, late marriages and population migration.

A smaller family has become the trend in the past decade. From 2000 to 2010, the number of single-person households doubled. The report attributes this to the growing number of unmarried and old people who live alone. In 2010, the number of such one person households with the member aged between 30 and 80 stood at 43.2 percent. The percentage of one person households with the member over 80 years of age stood at 40 per cent in 2010

Source: CCTV

Xinhua: Commentary: Cool heads needed in viewing China's economy

Recent statistics show China's industry, investment and consumer price index grew at a slower pace, but these are temporary fluctuations and no cause for panic as several upbeat signals were easily overlooked amid the gloom.

Every coin has two sides. China's Consumer Price Index increased 1.8 percent year on year in April, much lower than the 2.4 percent in March. But the positive view is that China has no worries about inflation and is in a strong position to keep its interest rates low.

China's producer price index contracted 2 percent in April, following a 2.3-percent decline in March, pointing to low confidence among enterprises. But this was a lag effect reflecting the winter slowdown and should not be read as a sign of the future.

The real estate development climate index dropped 0.61 points from March to 95.79 points in April, its third consecutive monthly decline. But China's central bank responded quickly, urging commercial banks Tuesday to speed up approving and issuing loans to qualified home buyers.

On a positive note, the 8.7-percent year-on-year industrial added value growth reading in April, if sustained in May and June, means gross domestic product (GDP) expansion in the second quarter could be similar to the 7.4-percent pace in the first quarter of 2014.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector also rose, to 50.4 in April, up from 50.3 in March.

Foreign trade in the first four months of this year saw a moderate increase through policy support and improving exports to major countries, though the global economic situation is gloomy in general.

So the picture is not as gloomy as some foreign media insist.

After robust growth at an average annual rate of nearly 10 percent over the past 30 years, the Chinese economy has expanded into the world's second largest, and is gradually losing its heavy dependence on exports and investment as it pushes for quality and efficiency in its products.

Undoubtedly, economic transformation in any country will take time and take a toll.

As President Xi Jinping said recently, China should adapt to new norms for its economic growth and stay cool-headed about the slowdown, as should other countries.

The Chinese government has released a series of economic reform policies and attached great significance to the prevention of various risks for its economy. It has also taken timely countermeasures to reduce potential negative effects.

The State Council, China's cabinet, issued a key document Friday on promoting healthy development in the domestic capital market. It maps out guidelines for reform, development and supervision of China's stock, bond and fund markets.

The release of the new document, also known as the "New Nine-Article Cabinet Document", marks the birth of a program for protecting the interests of small investors on China's capital market.

On Wednesday, the State Council announced an acceleration in the development of production-oriented service industries in a bid to step up industrial restructuring and support economic growth.

Priority will be given to the development of research and design, commercial services, marketing and after-sales services, and will be driven by the market and innovation, according to an executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

The move is expected to stimulate domestic demand, boost employment and improve people's lives, as well as stabilize economic growth.

It will also help the sector move up the value chain, and prompt integrative development of the country's tertiary, agriculture and industry sectors.

As for foreign trade, Chinese leaders are trying to create new opportunities using their new way of thinking. For instance, Premier Li took railway diplomacy to Africa during a recent tour.

Some economists think similarly, deeming that infrastructure investment will become a main engine for global economic recovery and even prosperity.

People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said at the weekend the central bank would only fine-tune its policy to counter economic cycles and would not carry out large-scale incentive policies to boost activity.

In a word, China is vigilant about its economic challenges and will not over-react to the pressure of the slowing momentum.

Those books and articles that trumpet the fading of China to boost their sales should stop uttering nonsense and make a fair analysis and judgement of China first.

Source: Xinhua

News Analysis: China to boost production-oriented service industries

China will accelerate the development of production-oriented service industries in a bid to step up industrial restructuring and prop up economic growth.

Priorities will be given to the development of research and design, commercial services, marketing and after-sales services, and will be driven by the market and innovation, according to an executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.

The move is expected to stimulate domestic demand, boost social employment and improve people's livelihoods, as well as stabilize economic growth, according to the meeting.

Wang Jun, deputy director of the China Center For International Economic Exchanges' consultancy department, said the move indicated the country has started to tap the potential of industrial restructuring to maintain economic growth, rather than direct stimulus to investment and industry.

It will help improve growth quality and efficiency in the long run, he said.

Zhang Zhiqian, researcher with the Investment Research Institute under China Jianyin Investment, also endorsed the move that seeks impetus from structural adjustment, as the dependency on expanding investment would lead to serious side effects including overcapacity and environmental issues.

China's economic growth continued to shrink in the first quarter, as downward pressure still existed. However, the country's rapidly-growing service industry has been emerging as a new engine for its slowing economy.

In the January-March period, China's tertiary sector increased 7.8 percent year on year to 6.29 trillion yuan (1.02 trillion U.S. dollars), making up 49 percent of the country's GDP in the first quarter. Its growth pace was also faster than the 3.5 percent of agriculture and 7.3 percent of the industry sector.

According to the meeting, design and application of new materials, products and techniques will be strengthened. Improvements will be made in information technology and energy saving services, as well as logistics services for manufacturers.

The move will help the sector to move up the value chain, and prompt integrative development of the country's tertiary, agriculture and industry sectors, the meeting said.

"The high-tech production-oriented service industries will accelerate the country's industrial upgrade and prompt 'Made in China' to evolve to 'Created in China'," Zhang said.

In addition, financial services for the manufacturing of construction equipment, delivery vehicles and production line will be promoted, while the country will encourage service outsourcing and the nurturing of high-end talents.

The central government will ease market access to attract social capital to the industries, encouraging Chinese enterprises of the sectors to invest overseas and lifting access restrictions gradually for foreign companies on architectural design, accounting audit and commercial logistics.

Enterprises of research and design, inspection and certification, and energy saving will be allowed tax breaks that have been enjoyed by high-tech companies.

According to the meeting, value-added tax will be promoted to the entire tertiary sector and favorable policies will be introduced to build a sound environment for companies in production-oriented service industries.

In addition, the country will continue to develop service industries concerning daily life, such as health, elderly care and information consumption, in a bid to improve people's well-being and build a new engine for healthy economic and social development.

A draft of the Food Safety Law was approved at the meeting, which requires full supervision, stricter punishment, accountability, increased risk monitoring and improved food safety standards.

The draft is still subject to deliberation of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, according to the meeting.

Source: Xinhua

Chinese enterprises' investment in Britain surges

The Chinese enterprises' investment and merger in Britain has reached 4 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months of this year, which exceeded the total amount of last year, a Chinese diplomat said on Thursday.

The trade and economic relationship between China and Britain kept growing this year, Zhou Xiaoming, minister counsellor of the Chinese embassy in Britain, told the China Britain Investment and Partnership Forum.

The trade amount between the two countries rose 20.6 percent year-on-year in the first four months of this year, he added.

Chinese enterprises' investment and merger amount in Britain surpassed 10 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 and 2013.

According to the diplomat, over 500 Chinese enterprises have been operating in Britain. The investment fields have been expanded from trade, finance and telecommunications, to high-value manufacturing, infrastructure and research markets.

The political and economic relationship between China and Britain were very strong now, said former mayor of London, David William Brewer.

China emphasized the importance of service sectors, which would bring British companies large opportunities, he added.

The forum, which was attended by 200 people from the two countries, is aimed at building a communication and cooperation bridge between Chinese and British enterprises.

Source: Xinhua

China Focus: Chinese Government unveils trade support

The Chinese government on Thursday announced support for stable growth of foreign trade and job creation, as businesses come under pressure to increase exports.

Optimizing the foreign trade structure -- including encouraging imports of technology and key parts, maintaining stable growth of goods trade and supporting services trade -- is the central issue of a policy document issued by China's cabinet, the State Council.

The document is a detailed version of the decision made at an executive meeting of the State Council on April 30.

"Foreign trade is not only critical to stable economic growth and job creation, but conducive to integration between the Chinese and global economies," said the State Council. Exports dropped 2.3 percent in the first four months of the year to 680 billion U.S. dollars.

Export tax rebates will be accelerated, and companies are encouraged to merge and acquire foreign brands and production lines to improve their competitiveness. They are also encouraged to set up factories overseas.

Efforts will be made to increase imports of scarce natural resources and support exports of high-tech products with high value added and high profitability.

The customs inspection list of export products will be shortened and the clearance process streamlined. Companies will be given support in responding to anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations.

This latest attempt to stabilize trade, economic growth and job creation comes after China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth eased pace to 7.4 percent in the first quarter.

More financial support should be given to exporters who have orders and are profitable, and use of yuan in foreign trade and investment should be increased. China will support private and smaller exporters, and encourage some exporters to become multinationals with core competitiveness through merger, acquisition and restructuring.

Source: Xinhua

China's logistics growth to slow: report

China's logistics industry will grow at a slower pace this year, following a period of industrial restructuring and weak economic growth, according to a report released on Thursday.

The total value of social logistics goods will expand by 9 percent year on year in 2014 from 197.8 trillion yuan's (about 32 trillion U.S. dollars) worth of goods circulated last year, said a report released by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the China Society of Logistics.

The expected growth will be 0.5 percentage points lower than that seen last year.

As the Chinese economy grew 7.4 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2014, the logistics industry also lost steam, expanding by only 8.6 percent to 47.8 trillion yuan.

Driven by the boom in e-commerce, express and warehouse services have outpaced shipments by roads, rivers and the sea, the report said.

Source: Xinhua

SALT Conference: Hegde-Fund managers generally upbeat about the U.S. Economy

       the WSJ reports,"participants at the SALT hedge-fund conference in Las Vegas generally were upbeat about the U.S. economy and stock market, with a number comparing the environment to the late 1990’s, when the country pulled ahead of other nations in economic growth.

Some pointed to Japan as an area of profit for many hedge funds lately, however.

Gregory Fleming, the president of Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management unit, said the firm recently polled clients and received a more upbeat reaction about the outlook for the United States than about investing abroad.

“The U.S. is the place investors are most confident of and most focused on,” he said. The feeling of many investors is that “it’s back to the nineties…the U.S. is on the leading edge of technology.”

Fleming agreed with the optimism about the country. “Corporate balance sheets are better than they have, literally, ever been,” he said".

"Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, argued that the stock-market’s climb is not solely due to aggressive monetary policy by the Federal Reserve".

“I don’t think the primary thing driving equities is monetary policy,” Goolsbee said. “Earnings have never been higher as a percentage of GDP…and price-earnings multiples are not out of line.”

Michael Novogratz, president of hedge-fund firm Fortress Investment Group, said he doubts the bond market will cause problems for stock investors any time soon.

“I’d be shocked” if bonds prices tumbled,  Novogratz said. He argued that yields on the 10-year Treasury notes would stay in a range of 1.5% to around 2% for the foreseeable future. The hope is the strength in stock and bond markets “trickles down” to the rest of the economy,  Novogratz said.

One notable, if expected, bear at the conference: Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics, who warned that the stock market’s gains don’t reflect underlying problems in the economy.

“There’s a gap between Wall Street and Main Street,” he said.

Fleming also noted that Morgan Stanley clients are just “wading into equities” and remain cautious. They are still allocating big chunks of money to bonds and safer investments, despite the run-up in stocks this year. Fleming said the lack of exuberance is unusual, given how far the market has come.

“I would have thought (the gains) would have led to more robust interest,” he said. “This time is different.”

Despite the impressive showing in U.S. markets, Novogratz argued macro-oriented hedge funds are making more money in Japan than anywhere else lately. “Seventy to 100% of the return of macro funds is coming from Japan,” he said. “It’s the most exciting place to invest in world…there’s energy on the streets” in the country.

Still, he argued that Japan only has a 50% chance of succeeding in its efforts to kill deflation.

WSJ: Notes From SALT: Europe Is Starting to Look Appealing

A couple of updates from the SALT conference in Las Vegas:

– Ray Nolte of SkyBridge Capital, which notched big gains off of residential mortgage-related bets last year, said the firm had trimmed its exposure to the space by 25% from last year and would probably reduce it further, as its return potential wanes.

Instead, he is moving money into event-driven equity strategies and continuing to invest in bank restructuring and bank recapitalization trades, he said. Europe was looking appealing too.

“People have been talking about the European trade probably going back 18 months to two years now. We haven’t seen the right entry time,” he said, “but now you’re beginning to see some of those opportunities emerge.”

– Todd Builione, president of Highbridge Capital Management, said the firm was moving money to stock-oriented strategies “partly as a result of the macro environment being more muted.” Some of the best opportunities are in Asia, Mr. Builione said, where there is less competition chasing ideas than in the U.S. and hedge funds based there tend to be focused on betting on and against stocks.

Source: WSJ MoneyBeat

York Capital’s Dinan: Interest Rates to Remain Low Longer Than Expected

      The WSJ reports,"Hedge-fund manager Jamie Dinan of $22 billion York Capital Management LLC predicted U.S. interest rates will remain low “longer than people expect.”

Mr. Dinan said he saw more deflationary pressures to the economy than inflationary ones, adding “it’s really hard for prices to go up.”

Mr. Dinan’s remarks came on stage at the hedge-fund-focused SALT Conference at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. His New York-based firm has long been a big credit investor, though it also puts money into stocks and other asset classes.

The hedge-fund veteran added that he continued be positive on investments in credit abroad, particularly in Europe. He said his firm has been lending to European companies in several hundred-million-dollar chunks, with as little as one or two weeks’ lead time on deals".

Hedge Fund Manager Tepper: U.S. cannot lift up Europe and China on its own.

   The WSJ reports,"Mr. Tepper, who runs the $20-billion Appaloosa Management LP, was just yesterday telling a gathering of wealthy hedge-fund managers and investors in Las Vegas that the European Central Bank was “really, really behind the curve.”  The global economy, he warned, may worsen unless the European Central Bank takes aggressive action".

And this morning, first-quarter figures from across the euro zone showed overall economic growth was weak, and revealed a contraction in GDP in the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal and Greece, while France showed no growth at all.

"Analysts are already calling it a major disappointment and say it puts added pressure on the ECB to enact fresh easing measures to prevent the region from sliding into a lengthy period of low inflation and economic stagnation. The news helped send stock markets lower in Europe and the U.S., and bond yields on both continents also dropped. The widely watched 10-year Treasury yield slid to 2.48%, the lowest since last year".

"Mr. Tepper’s warning is especially notable because he built his firm, and fortune, with concentrated wagers on certain assets appreciating. Though at times he’s made bearish investments, he’s best known for scoring huge paydays owning bank investments in 2009 and going big on U.S. equities, including airlines, in 2013.

Speaking at the annual SALT conference at the Bellagio resort, Mr. Tepper said the investment environment has become more difficult and cautioned that U.S. cannot lift up Europe and China on its own".

9 Tech Firms Receive Perfect Scores In EFF Ranking Concerning Data Protection From The Government

Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Dropbox were each awarded perfect scores in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) yearly scoring of major tech companies’ practices when it comes to protecting user data from government eyes. The six companies posted various improvements in the year interval regarding their work to defend user privacy. Twitter and Sonic.net repeated their perfect 2013 scores this year.

The six categories that the companies were ranked on when it comes to protecting user data from the government are as follows: Requires a warrant for content; Tells users about government data requests; Publishes transparency reports; Publishes law enforcement guidelines; Fights for users’ privacy rights in courts; Fights for users’ privacy rights in Congress.

For each category a company meets the mark in the EFF’s eyes, they are awarded a star. Companies can therefore be awarded up to 6 stars per year.

Apple picked up 5 new stars from 2013 to 2014, as did Yahoo. Facebook snagged 3 new stars. Microsoft picked up a more modest 2 stars. (2012 data from the same survey isn’t comparable as only 4 categories were ranked.)

What follows are the companies’ 2014 rankings, and their star differential, either positive or negative, since 2013. I’ve broken them into various classes, so we can better understand who does well now, and who has improved since last year.

6 stars last year, 6 stars this year:

• Sonic.net: 6 stars. Change from 2013: 0 stars.
• Twitter: 6 stars. Change from 2013: 0 stars.

6 stars this year, ranked by their raw improvement in star count from 2013:

• Apple 6 stars. Change from 2013: 5 stars. (Tie)
• Yahoo: 6 stars. Change from 2013: 5 stars. (Tie)
• • Facebook: 6 stars. Change from 2013: 3 stars.
• • Microsoft: 6 stars. Change from 2013: 2 stars.
  • Google: 6 stars. Change from 2013: 1 star. (Tie)
  • Dropbox: 6 stars. Change from 2013: 1 star. (Tie)

6 stars this year, and new to the ranking charts:

• Credo Mobile: 6 stars. Change from 2013: N/A.

5 stars in 2014:

• Internet Archive: 5 stars. Change from 2013: N/A.
• LinkedIn: 5 stars. Change from 2013: 0 stars.
• Pinterest: 5 stars. Change from 2013: N/A.
• Spideroak: 5 stars. Change from 2013: 0 stars.
• Tumblr: 5 stars. Change from 2013: 2 stars.
• Wickr: 5 stars. Change from 2013: N/A.
• WordPress: 5 stars. Change from 2013: 1 star.

4 stars in 2014:

• Lookout: 4 stars. Change from 2013: N/A.
• Verizon: 4 stars. Change from 2013: 4 stars.
• Wikimedia: 4 stars. Change from 2013: N/A.

Wall of Shame:

• Adobe: 3 stars. Change from 2013: N/A.
• Comcast: 3 stars. Change from 2013: 1 star.
• Foursquare: 3 stars. Change from 2013: -1 star.
• MySpace: 3 stars. Change from 2013: 0 stars.
• Amazon: 2 stars. Change from 2013: 0.
• AT&T: 2 stars. Change from 2013: 1 star.
• Snapchat: 1 star. Change from 2013: N/A.

If you compare the 2013 ranks to 2014, it’s clear that the average score has gone up. There were 2 companies that had perfect scores in 2013, and 9 in 2014. I think that it’s simple to put the onus for that gain on the leaks of Edward Snowden, who kicked off a global discussion about the intersection of government, and user data.

Source: TechCrunch

Foursquare’s Swarm And The Rise Of The Invisible App

Swarm is a new app from Foursquare out today that chisels off the check-in and proximity features of the main app and places them in a sparse, focus-driven new home. The app is nicely done, though it will be of most use to those in dense urban areas with lots of friends.

The underlying mechanics of Swarm are what’s really interesting here — and more importantly what it says about the next generation of apps you’ll be using on your smartphone.

There’s a fundamental shift in the way that we use apps underway, and the symptoms are all over the map. From a deeper, more thoughtful approach to push notifications to the breaking apart of large, unwieldy apps into smaller more focused components.

Now, we’re entering the age of apps as service layers. These are apps you have on your phone but only open when you know they explicitly have something to say to you. They aren’t for ‘idle browsing’, they’re purpose built and informed by contextual signals like hardware sensors, location, history of use and predictive computation.

These ‘invisible apps’ are less about the way they look or how many features they cram in and more about maximizing their usefulness to you without monopolizing your attention.

What happens when a social network knows exactly what posts you’ll want to read and tells you when you can see them, and not before? What about a shopping app that ignores everything that you’re unlikely to buy and taps you on the shoulder for only the most killer of deals? What about a location aware app that knows where you and all of your friends are at all times but is smart enough to know when you want people to know and when you don’t?

A confluence of factors have made these kinds of context-aware apps possible at this point in time. Increasing power efficiency in physical memory and device processors has led to better battery life. That, in turn, has allowed Apple to loosen restrictions on access to satellite location services, and has made it actually practical not to micro-manage on some Android devices. As iOS and Windows Phone and Android get more sophisticated and more contextually aware, they’re providing the tools needed by developers to not only collate and act on these signals, but also to present them to a user with speed and care.

And services like Foursquare have reached a critical mass of data and users that have enabled it to develop systems for accurately telling whether you’re walking by a restaurant or actually walking in the doors.

I spoke to Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley about Swarm a couple of weeks ago and he said they weren’t quite ready to passively ‘check people in’ to exact locations, but hinted that the technology was on its way. And, even with a powerhouse set of competitors like Google, Facebook and Apple — Foursquare seems to be thinking the hardest about this stuff and has a massive amount of historical data that puts other databases to shame.

The recent switch of Instagram’s location database to Facebook and away from Foursquare is an indicator of just how far ahead the company is when it comes to location. Try tagging a location to a photo these days and it’s a total crapshoot — a far cry from the spot-on results delivered when Foursquare data was being tapped.

This is far from the first attempt at this kind of serendipity + location thing. Highlight, of course, was one of the more high profile goes, and Facebook has its own friends nearby feature. And there is a trail of attempts even before that into the dark days where location tech wasn’t even strong enough to support its own neck. So Swarm has its work cut out for it, for sure.

I think a lot of whether it’s successful or not will come in how well Foursquare is able to capitalize on the passive aspects of knowing where you are and where your friends are. If it’s able to get its confidence in location to the near-perfect point, it could even offer quiet, automatic checkins to specific places, not just neighborhoods. And once that happens you’ll get all of the benefits of checking in (logging, diary, a friendly digital wave to your friends) without having to actively remember to do it.

That will increase the value of Foursquare as a whole, as well as increasing the likelihood that you’ll keep Swarm installed.

I personally find Foursquare absolutely essential when I’m away from home, and nearly useless when I’m there. But I live in a sparse suburban environment where ‘nearby’ is not very near at all — and I’m old(er) with a set group of friends. I’m curious to see whether the planning feature increases the utility of Swarm for me over time, otherwise it will probably be most effective in dense environments or where young people gather together to meet new people.

You’ve probably heard the argument that for an app to be truly successful it needs to earn a place on your home screen. That’s certainly true of a lot of mainstream messaging apps and will probably exist as a prominent metric until the home screen itself gets shaken up in a big way.

But, if Swarm does what it’s set out to, we could see another whole class of apps that not only don’t need to fight for a home screen slot, they don’t need to be opened at all to add value. And that’s interesting.

Source: TechCrunch

Tencent Q1 Results 2014 Press Release

Highlights of the First Quarter of 2014:

 Total revenues were RMB18,400 million (USD2,991 million2
), an increase of 8% over the
fourth quarter of 2013 (“QoQ”) or an increase of 36% over the first quarter of 2013 (“YoY”).
 Operating profit was RMB7,790 million (USD1,266 million), an increase of 64% QoQ or an
increase of 54% YoY. Operating margin increased to 42% from 28% last quarter.
Non-GAAP3
 operating profit was RMB6,477 million (USD1,053 million), an increase of 27%
QoQ or an increase of 28% YoY. Non-GAAP operating margin increased to 35% from 30%
last quarter.
 Profit attributable to equity holders of the Company for the quarter was RMB6,457 million
(USD1,050 million), an increase of 65% QoQ or an increase of 60% YoY.
Non-GAAP profit attributable to equity holders of the Company for the quarter was RMB5,194
million (USD844 million), an increase of 17% QoQ or an increase of 29% YoY.
 Basic earnings per share were RMB3.500. Diluted earnings per share were RMB3.449.

Mr. Ma Huateng, Chairman and CEO of Tencent, said, “During the first quarter of 2014, we
substantially expanded our mobile ecosystem, providing new services to users, generating value
for our business partners, and enhancing our own financial performance. Our smart phone
games business achieved clear market leadership, allowing us to achieve 29% year-on-year
growth in our non-GAAP net income while funding significant investments in various strategic
initiatives. We transformed our eCommerce strategy through our combination with JD.com,
China’s leading online retailer; deepened our mobile games pipeline via an in investment in CJ
Games; and broadened our O2O offerings through partnerships with category pioneers such as
Dianping and Leju. We look forward to continuing to balance our strategic investments in O2O
services, online payment and digital content with maintaining healthy financial returns, and to
developing new services for users as China’s internet evolves."

Financial Review for the First Quarter of 2014

- VAS. VAS revenues increased 21% QoQ to RMB14,413 million and represented 78% of our
total revenues for the first quarter of 2014. Online games revenues increased 23% QoQ to
RMB10,387 million. The growth was mainly driven by increased revenues from smart phone
games integrated with Mobile QQ and Weixin, increased revenues from major PC titles which
benefited from promotional activities and positive seasonality, as well as contributions from new PC
game titles such as Blade & Soul. Social networks revenues increased 16% QoQ to RMB4,026
million. This mainly reflected an increase in platform revenues from smart phone games
integrated with Mobile QQ and Weixin.

- Online advertising. Online advertising revenues decreased 21% QoQ to RMB1,177 million and
represented 6% of our total revenues. This mainly reflected the impact of weaker seasonality on
advertisers’ spending around the Chinese New Year holidays, together with the transition in our
eCommerce strategy which affected eCommerce-related advertising revenues.

- eCommerce transactions. eCommerce transactions revenues decreased 24% QoQ to
RMB2,524 million and represented 14% of our total revenues. This was mainly driven by weaker
seasonality in the eCommerce industry and the transition in our business strategy. Subsequent to
the completion of the transaction with JD.com in March 2014, we no longer recognise fee income
generated from physical goods transactions on our marketplaces.


Other Key Financial Information for the First Quarter of 2014

Share-based compensation was RMB568 million for the first quarter of 2014 as compared with
RMB463 million for the previous quarter.

Capital expenditure was RMB1,138 million for the first quarter of 2014 as compared with
RMB1,679 million for the previous quarter.

The Company didn’t repurchase any shares on the Stock Exchange during the first quarter of 2014
and the previous quarter.

As at March 31, 2014, net cash position totaled RMB34,245 million which excluded borrowings of
RMB9,035 million and long-term notes payable of RMB9,232 million.

As at March 31, 2014, the total number of shares of the Company in issue was 1.864 billion.


Strategic Highlights

In the first quarter of 2014, we conducted several transactions to complement our corporate
strategy, including: (1) our transaction with JD.com for further developing our eCommerce
business; (2) our investment in and partnership with CJ Games, which should bring more high
quality mobile game experiences to our users; and (3) our investment in and partnership with Leju,
to broaden our O2O offerings for real estate services.

On the financing side, we gained increased market recognition for our strong credit profile and
raised new funds. In March 2014, we received an upgrade from Moody’s on our issuer and senior
unsecured debt ratings from Baa1 to A3. In April 2014, we established a USD5 billion global
medium term note programme and completed the initial issuance of an aggregate principal amount
of USD2.5 billion under the programme, which comprised USD500 million 3-year senior notes at a
2.000% coupon and USD2 billion 5-year senior notes at a 3.375% coupon. We are pleased that
global institutional investors actively participated in the initial issuance, showing their recognition of
our market leading position, history of stable growth and record of good corporate governance.
With our healthy cash generation and substantial net cash balance, we are well-positioned to
maintain our strong credit profile and we remain committed to our prudent financial management
approach.

Divisional and Product Highlights

 Key platform statistics:
- Monthly active Instant Messaging (“IM”) user accounts were 848 million, an increase of
5% QoQ or an increase of 3% YoY.
- Peak simultaneous online IM user accounts were 199 million, an increase of 11% QoQ
or an increase of 15% YoY.
- Combined MAU of Weixin and WeChat were 396 million, an increase of 12% QoQ or
an increase of 87% YoY.
- Monthly active Qzone user accounts were 644 million, an increase of 3% QoQ or an
increase of 5% YoY.
- Fee-based VAS registered subscriptions were 88 million, a decrease of 1% QoQ or a
decrease of 16% YoY.

Greek Ruling Coalition Faces Survival Vote in EU Election. Greece politics make markets shiver.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has persuaded investors to buy the story of Greece’s recovery as manufacturing recovers and unemployment starts to fall. Now he has to win over voters.

The premier heads into elections for the European Parliament on May 25 on the back of Greece’s first bond auction in four years and with the economy poised to return to growth later this year. With more than half the country’s youth still without work, polls suggest voters aren’t ready to credit Samaras for the changes just yet.

While New Democracy trails Syriza, the opposition group that rejected the terms of the bailout packages, the bigger threat to the government may be the collapse in support for Samaras’s coalition partner Pasok. Papandreou’s Pasok plunged to sixth place with just 5.5 percent of the vote in a recent poll as voters blame the party for the country’s economic meltdown.

Samaras’s governing coalition has 152 lawmakers in the country’s 300-seat legislature. The prospect of the 27 Pasok lawmakers withdrawing their support could deter the foreign investors helping to fuel the recovery, according to Megan Greene, chief economist at Maverick Intelligence and a columnist with Bloomberg View.

“If there were snap elections and investors were spooked by the prospect of Syriza being the negotiator for Greece, it could really hurt the Greek recovery because it’s so fragile,” she said in a telephone interview.

Greek bonds fell, with the yield on 10-year debt rising 51 basis points to 6.81 percent while the Athens’ Stock Exchange benchmark index dropped 4.6 percent at 5:52 p.m. in Athens today, even as data showed the economy contracting at its slowest pace in four years in the first quarter. Gross domestic product fell 1.1 percent compared with a year earlier, exceeding economists expectations for a 1.3 percent decline.

The economy’s improvement in the first quarter comes after a string of good news for Samaras. The country returned to the bond market last month for the first time since 2010, stocks have risen 15 percent over the past 12 months and yesterday Standard & Poor’s raised its rating on four Greek lenders including the country’s biggest, National Bank of Greece.

Surveys of purchasing managers show that manufacturing returned to growth this year and the European Commission forecasts that the unemployment rate, which peaked at 27.3 percent in 2013, has turned a corner and will fall to 24 percent next year.

In the May 10 Kapa Research survey for To Vima newspaper that saw Pasok fall to sixth place, Syriza led New Democracy by 23 percent to 21.7 percent. The pollster questioned 1,149 people between May 6 and May 9.

Anther poll today by VPRC for Epikaira magazine gave Syriza a 3 percentage-point lead over New Democracy and placed Pasok seventh with just 3 percent. VPRC surveyed 1,003 people on May 9 and May 13 and gave a 3.1 percent margin of error.

Syriza is trying to consolidate its support after the 2012 general election propelled its leader Alexis Tsipras into the international spotlight. The party aims to use a victory in the European elections to try to reverse the budget cuts that were imposed as a condition of Greece’s two bailouts.

“Syriza wants a clean victory in order to put an end to the catastrophic path of one-sided austerity and great depression,” Dimitris Papadimoulis, a Syriza candidate, said in an interview. “If Syriza gets a comfortable victory, or, even better, more than the sum of votes of New Democracy and Pasok, then we will see positive political developments.”

Greece’s political geography still remains in flux after two general elections in six weeks in 2012 that threw the country’s membership of the single currency into doubt after it had completed the world’s biggest sovereign debt restructuring. Samaras emerged from those votes to lead a country that’s lost a quarter of its gross domestic product in six years of recession and where unemployment is at 26.5 percent.

Source: Bloomberg

Xiaomi Launches Tablet and the Second-gen Smart TV

Chinese smart device maker Xiaomi finally launches a tablet today. We heard of the existence of it last year and thought it would come out soon as the company began testing a custom Android system earlier this year.

Specs:

• Processor: TEGRA K1 (192-core GPU)
• Screen：7.9‑inch retina display (by Sharp/AUO)
• Cameras: 5MP front-facing camera (OmniVision) & 8MP rear-facing camera (Sony)  – Five-element lens, f/2.0 aperture
• WiFi: (802.11a/b/g/n)
• Size & Weight: 202.1mm * 135.4mm * 8.5mm, 360g

Xiaomi tablet will be produced by Foxconn. The 16G version is sold for RMB1499 (less than $250) and the 32G one for RMB 1699 (less than $280) — both are less expensive than a Xiaomi flagship smartphone.

The company said their goal is to make the best Android tablet. Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi, addressed gaming when explaining what they mean by a good Android tablet. It could be a good selling point as gaming is one of the most popular and profitable mobile app categories in China, and bigger screens with devices like tablets make gaming experience so much better.

The Second Generation of Xiaomi Smart TV

The company also launched today a second generation of Xiaomi smart TV today that supports 4K. Also a separate stereo box is introduced to accompany the Smart TV. It’s priced at RMB 3999 (less than $650).

Apparently Xiaomi’s direct competitor in Smart TV now is LeTV who launched a 4K Smart TV last month. The Xiaomi one is 1000 yuan more expensive than the LeTV one. But LeTV will charge annual fee for video streaming and other content.

In last month the company launched a pair of smart WiFi routers. Earlier than that it launched a budget phablet. Now it’s product line includes a flagship Android phone, a budget Android phone, set-top box, Smart TV,  smart WiFi routers,

Last month the company also announced it’s expansion plan for this year is ten more markets in in Asia, South America and Europe. It is reported that its budget smartphone RedMi sells well in markets such as Taiwan and Singapore.

Source: TechNode

Major Europe Stock Indexes. Deep Plunge in Greece,Ireland, Italy and Portugal.

Source:  WSJ

WSJ: S&P 500 Tests (and Bounces Off) Key Technical Level

       WSJ reports,"for the third time in three weeks, the broad stock index slipped below this key technical level, a gauge that chart watchers use to track the market’s short-term trend. In all three instances, stocks rebounded intraday and finished above the 50-day moving average".

In the final trading hour on Thursday, bulls are hoping the pattern will repeat itself again.

"The S&P 500 was recently down 1% to 1869, after earlier falling as low as 1862. The index’s 50-day moving average sits at about 1865, according to FactSet.

The S&P 500′s drop on Thursday is part of a broad-based selloff that also sent the small-cap Russell 2000 into correction territory, down more than 10% from the record high it hit two months ago.

To be sure, banking on the S&P 500 immediately bouncing off the 50-day average hasn’t always been a successful strategy.

Just this year, the S&P 500 fell below this line in late January and early April. In the first instance, the S&P 500 fell another 4.7% after breaching the technical indicator, a drop which lasted for about two weeks before the index bottomed. In April it fell another 1% after breaching the chart line, although it bottomed the next day".

 Latest  Economic Indicators have been bearish for the Chinese economy,Growth data have been poor for
the Euro Zone, and economic data have been mixed for the U.S. Economy. I wouldn't follow technical
criterion for investment purpose, with the present world scenario.

WSJ:Europe Stocks Slide as GDP Number Disappoints. Flight to safe heavens: bonds.

"Gross domestic product grew 0.2% in the euro zone as a whole during the first quarter compared with the final three months of 2013, the European Union's statistics agency Eurostat said, well short of the 0.4% quarterly gain expected by economists.

Overall growth, which was driven by Germany, masked sharp differences among euro-area nations. Italy and Portugal both saw their economies shrink slightly.

Stock indexes in Milan and Lisbon led markets lower, losing 3.6% and 2.8% respectively. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 closed down 1.0%, having traded at a fresh six-year high early in the session.

"The euro-zone growth number was shocking. We had a bit of complacency in the market for a while when it looked like things were getting back on the rails," said Patrick McCullagh, head of fixed income credit research at Schroders.

Investors have already been turning cautious on previously highflying markets like Italy in recent weeks. That process quickened on Thursday, according to Nick Nelson, head of European equity strategy at UBS.

"[The data] is giving a little bit more fuel to the rotation out of the last year's winners," he said.

The equity selloff accelerated in the afternoon amid a slump in euro-zone debt markets.

Traders said gains for Greek opposition parties in polls ahead of European parliamentary elections later this month soured the mood.

Greek 10-year yields climbed more than half a percentage point to 6.72%, their highest in two months. Yields rise as prices fall. Ten-year yields in Italy, Spain and Portugal all climbed more than 0.2 percentage point.

German government debt, seen as a safe harbor by investors, surged.

Gary Jenkins, credit strategist at LNG Capital said that investors are particularly sensitive to the risk of a break-up of the Greek coalition, which could lead to a greater risk of debt restructuring or even default.

"Of course that might not happen, but the market is taking a 'sell first and ask questions later' approach, when it comes to Greece," he said.

The Greek finance ministry denied Wednesday that it was imposing a retroactive tax on capital gains on Greek government bonds held by investors based outside the country. It was attempting to contain what it called "completely untrue" reports that it had announced such plans in a circular, which traders said had added fuel to the selloff.

The move was part of a broader retreat into safe-harbor assets".

Where do bonds yields head to?

"The prospect that central banks will continue to inject money into the world's bond markets, as well as enact policies to keep interest rates low, has acted as a green light for the world's bond buyers.

Investors came into this year anticipating rates would move higher as economies picked up steam and as the Fed pulled back stimulus efforts.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury was about 3% at the beginning of the year, and Wall Street strategists and economists were predicting rates would rise steadily beyond that.

This year through Tuesday, U.S. Treasury bonds have handed investors a total return of 2.18%, according to data from Barclays PLC. The S&P 500 has returned 3.4% in the same period, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has returned 1.7%, according to FactSet and including price gains and dividend payments.

German government bonds have delivered investors a return of 3.5% so far this year and U.K. government bonds 3.17%. Total return includes price appreciation and interest payments and is calculated in local-currency terms.

By the end of the day Wednesday, the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was 21/32 higher in price, yielding 2.544%. In Europe, the yield on the 10-year German government bond fell to 1.37%, while the yield on the 10-year U.K. government bond dropped to 2.583%"

Source: WSJ.

U.S. Market Brief

The U.S. equity markets are seeing some pressure in late-morning action with a plethora of data keeping conviction hamstrung. Globally, Japan's GDP growth easily exceeded expectations as consumers appeared to ramp up spending ahead of April's tax hike, while eurozone 1Q GDP growth missed forecasts as disappointing output from France and Italy more than offset favorable expansion out of German and Spain. In the U.S., upbeat reads on jobless claims and regional manufacturing activity, along with roughly inline consumer prices, are being met with unexpected drops in homebuilder sentiment and industrial production. Meanwhile, the earnings calendar is mixed, with Dow member Wal-Mart missing analysts' expectations, along with Kohl's, while Dow component Cisco Systems beat the Street's expectations. Following the data, Treasuries are continuing to rally, the U.S. dollar gave up an early gain and is flat, while crude oil and gold prices are lower. Overseas, Asian stocks finished mixed, with the Japanese GDP report being overshadowed by disappointing earnings and a stronger yen, while European equities are mostly lower.

Source: Schwab