WSJ: High Volatility on the U.S Stock Market the New Normal

      The WSJ reports:"it rises to a record, or near one, and then falls back. Just as investors start to fear a big decline, stocks recover. They get back near a record and, whoops, they fall again, and the yo-yo action resumes".

This marks a big change from last year, when the main indexes rose 25% to 30%, their best in more than a decade. This year, the S&P 500 is up 1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1%.

Money managers and analysts have several explanations centering on the scale of previous gains, the scope of central-bank support for markets and the outlook for corporate profits. Meanwhile, they are beginning to caution clients: This choppy market is more normal than the buoyant one we have seen since 2009, and the erratic action could become more common now.

China expects special courts on intellectual property

New special courts on intellectual property rights (IPR) are expected to be set up in China, targeting to meet the increasing litigations amid the country's boosting innovations.

Zhu Xiaodan, governor of south China's Guangdong Province, said that he hopes the Supreme Court would set up the country's first IPR court in Guangdong, where one fourth of China's IPR disputes happen.

"The most pressing task in Guangdong's industrial transformation is to enhance enterprises' ability to innovate. Legal justice is crucial to the protection and encouragement of innovation," Zhu said.

Zhu made the remarks during a week-long campaign on IPRs held by the Supreme Court in Guangdong on the eve of World Intellectual Property Day on Saturday.

It has been a hot topic in the judicial system, and was put into China's key reform plan after the Third Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The CPC has vowed to strengthen China's facilitation and protection of intellectual property rights, improve the mechanism to encourage innovation, and explore ways of setting up IPR courts.

A four-level court system is applied in the Chinese mainland, consisting of the Supreme Court in Beijing and three tiers of local courts. The country also has special courts dealing with military and maritime cases, both of which date back to decades ago.

The establishment of new IPR courts will be a big move in China's legal system reform, and is welcomed by local governments.

According to statistics released by the supreme court, 100,399 IPR cases were heard in Chinese courts in 2013 alone.

Many of these cases were extremely complicated of foreign entities, cutting-edge technical issues, new business models on the Internet, or world renowned brands, said Jin Kesheng, deputy chief judge of the IPR tribunal of the Supreme Court.

The "complicated" cases have included the long-standing iPad trademark dispute between Apple and Shenzhen-based company Proview, as well as Chinese tech firm Huawei suing InterDigital Communications of the United States over monopolistic practices. Both litigations were heard in Guangdong.

"It's very demanding for judges to hear IPR lawsuits," said Yu Mingyong, deputy chief judge of the Intermediate People's Court in Guangzhou. "They must be familiar with not only the laws and procedures but also science and technology."

Yu believes that a special court will help judges to be better prepared for cases, and it should cover all intellectual property related cases in a certain region, no matter they are civil, criminal or administrative ones.

Such three-in-one trials on IPR cases have been experimented in over 100 local courts in China, according to the Supreme Court.

Some cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Foshan have applied to set up special IPR courts, said Xu Chunjian, deputy chief judge of the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court.

"As an important reform, it needs to be discussed at state level," said Xu. "As far as I know, there'll be some progress soon."

He also stressed that setting up special IPR courts will bring China in line with other large economies in protection of intellectual property rights.

"Similar courts were established in Germany and the United States in 1961 and 1982, and in more countries since the mid 1990s," Xu said. "It will help China to better fit into the process of globalization."

China's other developed cities and provinces like Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu are also seeking the establishment of special IPR courts.

Source: Xinhua

Baidu Web Search Engine reveals trend of Chinese auto market

Many cars at the ongoing Beijing auto show can momentarily seize the attention of visitors, but such scenes can hardly tell what sorts of automobile are customers' favorites.

A new report based on big-data technology, however, discloses some clues in the world's largest auto market.

Prior to the opening of the auto show, Baidu, a leading Chinese search engine, issued a report on the features and demands of Chinese car buyers, by analyzing massive search data in the past year generated by the country's 600-million-plus Internet users.

The report has been upgrading with a real-time feed of search inquiries related to the show, which kicked off on April 21 and will conclude on April 29.

One finding may get foreign investors excited is that the number of search queries for "imported cars" increases slightly year on year, up to 26.1 percent, though domestic automobiles still dominate the current Chinese vehicle market.

According to real-time results generated by Baidu Index, searchers of imported cars are mainly young people under 30 years old.

Another surprising finding shows that 42.6 percent of web users searching cars come from the fourth-tier, or very small cities, and the number is almost three times that from first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, which have rolled out car-purchase restriction policies to tackle traffic congestion and air pollution.

Price-sensitive Chinese consumers are beginning to pay more attention to car's comfort and functions, as more than 50 percent of search queries are related to SUVs or compact cars, according to the report.

The report also offers a list of popular search keywords, including "most popular new models", "new-energy cars", "Top 10 traffic violations" and hot issues related to car consumption.

Though the data-based report seems only to include web users, it also reflects some changes and habits of Chinese car buyers.

"It is becoming very important for people to get information about cars online, especially in cities with very few test-drives," said one web user.

One analyst added that the report may invoke a revolution in the auto industry, indicating that search engine marketing would be prevailing.

It is not the first time that Baidu has used big data to launch hot issue discussions. In February, it applied the real-time result to trace human migration during the Chinese Spring Festival travel rush and made a similar quantitative report on the most popular issues during the annual political sessions in March.

Source: Xinhua

Profit of China's largest coal producer falls 9.9%

China Shenhua Energy, the country's largest coal producer, posted a decline in first-quarter net profit compared with a year earlier, citing falling coal prices.

Net profit went down 9.9 percent to 10.4 billion yuan (about 1.66 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months, said a report on the website of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Saturday.

During the January-March period, Shenhua Energy's revenue dipped 0.1 percent on an annual basis to 60.9 billion yuan, it added.

The Beijing-based company attributed the poor performance mainly to rising production costs and falling coal prices.

While the cost of producing every tonne of coal increased 4.6 percent on an annual basis to 127.8 yuan, the Bohai-Rim Steam-Coal Price Index, a key indicator of coal prices in China, plummeted from 631 yuan per tonne at the end of last year to 530 yuan at the end of March, down by 16 percent.

In addition to weak demand, the company also blamed growing coal imports, which rose 5.1 percent to 84 million tonnes in the first quarter.

The coal producer painted a gloomy picture for the coal-making industry in the second quarter of this year, due to weaker demand, and the government's drive to readjust energy structure to cleaner fuels.

However, Shenhua Energy expects the coal market to be more balanced as the government would accelerate steps to reduce overcapacity in coal production and the price advantage of imported coal is set to weaken.

Source: Xinhua

Net profit plummets for China's carmaker BYD

China's carmaker BYD Co, backed by Warren Buffet, posted a slump in first-quarter net profit compared with a year earlier, citing sluggish traditional auto business.

Net profit plummeted 89.35 percent to 11.97 million yuan (about 1.91 million U.S.dollars) in the first three months, said a report on the website of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Saturday.

During the January-March period, BYD's revenue went down by 9 percent on an annual basis to 11.7 billion yuan, it added.

The Shenzhen-based company attributed the poor performance mainly to its shrinking market share in the traditional auto market, and forecast its petrol and diesel car sales to fall in the first half of the year.

On the positive side, BYD saw profit grow from the sales of its all-electric bus K9 and its plug-in hybrid compact sedan called Qin.

The company, which also makes mobile phone components, also benefited from a booming smartphone market in China, and sold more phone shells in the first quarter to domestic and foreign customers.

BYD, which is listed in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, expects losses in its solar energy business in the first half. However, the business is starting to recover as the global solar industry rebounds from a two-year slump.

Source: Xinhua

China Focus: Chinese private firms tap into overseas markets. China has become the world's third largest foreign investor.

More Chinese private companies are pinning their hopes on overseas markets as they search for profits.

Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd., a private drug maker, is involved in a bidding war for American healthcare company Chindex and has raised its offer, Fosun announced on its website this week.

In February, Fosun and private equity firm TPG made an offer for Chindex, which runs the United Family Healthcare chain in China, the country's first foreign-invested hospital.

Liang Xinjun, CEO of Fosun, said in a country with a growing and aging population, the healthcare industry is expected to boom. Considering overburdened public hospitals and increased competition, the acquisition would help the company increase access to the market,

"Now it might be the best time for Chinese enterprises to seek mergers and acquisitions (M&A) overseas," Liang said.

Chinese private enterprises have been involved in a wave of overseas M&A in real estate, food and other areas in recent years.

Property developer Dalian Wanda Group acquired America-based cinema operator AMC in 2012. Last year, China's largest meat processing enterprise Shuanghui International announced the acquisition of Smithfield, the largest Chinese takeover of a U.S. company.

After developing in China for nearly 20 years, Greenland Holding Group is now seeking real estate projects in European and American cities.

The company's chairman Zhang Yuliang said it will increase foreign investment by more than 10 billion U.S. dollars this year.

China has become the world's third largest foreign investor. Since reform and opening up in the late 1970s, Chinese accumulated overseas investment topped 600 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2013. Investment was worth 104.5 billion U.S. dollars alone last year, statistics showed.

Other figures revealed that foreign investment of non-public enterprises in Shanghai had reached 7.83 billion U.S. dollars over the past five years, accounting for 54.2 percent of total overseas investment.

China's economic restructuring and industrial upgrading have provided opportunities for private enterprises to go global, said Zhang Lizhou, general manager of the investment banking department of China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd..

"In the past, real estate, energy, manufacturing firms all made money in China, but now it is very hard. Overcapacity has haunted various industries like steel, photovoltaic and shipbuilding. Private enterprises have to go overseas for more opportunities," he said.

Booming overseas investment by Chinese private firms can be attributed to more freedom, the yuan's appreciation and comparatively low prices of foreign assets, according to a survey jointly published by U.S. think tank Asia Society and consulting firm Rhodium Group.

A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said new trends are emerging as the proportion of Chinese private firms seeking M&A overseas has gradually increased.

It said unlike Chinese state-owned enterprises which invest in industries like energy, electricity and resources, private firms choose diversified areas including consumer goods, services and high technology.

Gao Zhen, a managing partner at Mandarin Capital Partners, said, "Previous waves of Chinese overseas investment mainly focused on resources, but now more private firms are preferring business opportunities that could help them in industrial upgrading," he said.

Enterprises have matured during the process. Technology and strategic cooperation now seem more attractive than mere share holdings.

Agricultural Bank of China's Q1 profits up

The Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), the country's third-largest commercial bank by market value, announced on Friday that its profits soared 13.75 percent year on year in the first quarter.

The bank reported a net profit of 53.52 billion yuan (8.7 billion U.S. dollars), according to a statement filed with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Net profit attributable to the parent company's shareholders rose 13.65 percent to 53.43 billion yuan.

The ABC attributed the surge primarily to the increase in net interest income, which was up by 15.52 percent year on year to 103.14 billion yuan.

By the end of March, total assets rose 5.52 percent from the end of 2013to 15.32 trillion yuan, while liabilities rose 5.1 percent from end of last year to 14.42 trillion yuan.

The non-performing loans ratio remained at the same level as that for the end of 2013 at 1.22 percent by the end of last month, while its capital adequacy ratio stood at 11.87 percent, the bank said.

The ABC is listed in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. On Friday, its shares edged up 0.42 percent in Shanghai but were down by 1.23 percent in Hong Kong.

Source: Xinhua

China issues 20-year treasury bonds

China will issue 26 billion yuan (4.22 billion U.S. dollars) in 20-year book-entry treasury bonds, the Ministry of Finance announced Saturday.

It is the ministry's ninth issuance of book-entry treasury bonds this year, according to a ministry statement.

The interest rate for the bonds is fixed at 4.77 percent. Interest will be paid twice each year on April 28 and Oct. 28, and the last year's interest and the principal will both be paid upon maturity on April 28, 2034.

The bonds are being sold on the inter-bank bond market until April 30 and will become tradable on May 5, according to the statement.

Source: Xinhua

China's growth in current, capital accounts diverge

The trend of growth in China's current and capital accounts diverged in the first quarter with a smaller surplus in the former and a bigger one in the latter.

China reported both current and capital account surpluses from January to March, marking the sixth consecutive quarterly "twin surplus", according to official data released on Friday.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said China had a surplus of 7.2 billion U.S. dollars in the current account in the first quarter, down sharply from the 47.6-billion surplus seen in the same period in 2013.

The current account surplus was at the lowest level since the first quarter in 2011.

The country's surplus in the capital account expanded to 118.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter from 90.1 billion in the first three months of 2013.

Net foreign direct investment stood at 51.2 billion U.S. dollars in the period, 19.3 billion more than the same period last year. And China's foreign exchange reserves increased by 125.8 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter, 31.3 billion less than in 2013.

Zhang Zhiwei, chief China economist with Japan's Nomura Securities, attributed the decline in current account surplus to RMB depreciation, seasonal effect and structural reasons.

Capital inflows were strong last year and some of these were disguised as current account transactions, boosting last year's surplus, while RMB depreciation in the first quarter discouraged such inflows, said Zhang.

There was also a seasonal effect as exports tend to be weak in the first quarter because of the Spring Festival holiday, said the economist.

In his view, structural reasons drove down the current account surplus as well, such as the increased importance of domestic demand.

"We expect the current account surplus to widen through the rest of the year as the seasonal effect in the first quarter fades," said Zhang.

As for the increase in the capital account surplus, Guan Tao, director of SAFE's balance of payments department, said low interest rates and a flood of liquidity outside China, resulting from quantitative easing monetary policies in developed countries, were major contributors.

But Guan said China's balance of payments is within a proper range.

The current account surplus-GDP ratio, a measurement to gauge a country's balance of payments, was 2 percent in China in 2013, lower than the widely recognized proper level of 4 percent, according to Guan.

Source: Xinhua

China Life's Q1 profit nosedives

China Life Insurance Company, the country's largest insurer, said on Friday that its profit slumped 28.3 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2014.

The firm made a net profit of 7.23 billion yuan (1.17 billion U.S. dollars), according to a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

It attributed the plunge in profit mainly to falling investment earnings, which was down by 7.49 percent year on year to 24.08 billion yuan in the first quarter.

By the end of March, total assets rose 3.9 percent from the end of 2013to 2.05 trillion yuan, while insurance premiums surged 17.2 percent from the same period last year to 128.97 billion yuan.

China Life is listed in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. On Friday, its shares dropped 0.58 percent in Shanghai and were down by 1.45 percent in Hong Kong.

Source: Xinhua

Japanese Stocks Lower on Ukraine Concerns

Japanese stocks moved lower early Monday, as a stronger yen and the unrest in Ukraine weighed on sentiment in Tokyo, at the beginning of a week that will be busy with regional earnings and economic news.

The Nikkei lost 1.3% as the yen strengthened closer to the ¥102 to the dollar mark. The dollar was last at ¥102.07, compared with ¥102.19 late Friday night in New York, with the safe haven currency firming up as U.S. and European governments planned to ramp up sanctions against Russia as early as Monday. The move comes as pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine on Sunday paraded Western military observers as hostages.

Also weighing on sentiment in Japan was a disappointing earnings report from Japan’s second-largest car company, with Honda Motor Co. losing 4.8% after its earnings guidance missed expectations. The company said that it expects its net income to rise 3.6% this fiscal year, but it is much slower than the recently ended fiscal year, when its net income soared by 56%.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets stuck close to the breakeven mark: Australia’s S&P ASX 200 was less than 0.1% lower and South Korea’s Kospi added 0.1%.

Upcoming events that could have a market impact on markets, are Chinese manufacturing numbers for April, out Thursday; while out of the U.S., investors will be looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting that concludes Wednesday and the monthly labor report at the end of the week.

WSJ: Oil: Return of the Blob

        The WSJ reports,"the spread between the prices of Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oils has rebounded to about $9 a barrel two weeks after hitting a low for the year of less than $3.70.

The blob is the Midwestern glut of crude oil resulting from production arising from the shale boom running into logistical bottlenecks. These have eased somewhat, allowing that oil to migrate south from the storage tanks at Cushing, Okla., toward the Gulf Coast. However, because there is a ban on exporting U.S. crude oil, the barrels’ journey ends there".

So the blob is getting bigger. Stocks at Cushing have dropped by 16 million barrels since late January. But they have jumped by 43 million on the Gulf Coast in that time. Overall, U.S. commercial crude-oil inventories now stand at their highest level on record, according to Barclays.

The result: prices of U.S. crude grades like WTI are starting to disconnect from Brent, a global benchmark, again.

With a big blob of oil stuck there with nowhere to go, Gulf Coast refiners can name their price. That is great for the likes of Valero Energy, because they can then refine that oil into products like gasoline that are allowable for export.

The big losers are onshore oil producers who, with midterm congressional elections coming up, aren’t likely to see any change to U.S. oil-export policy soon. The blob abides.

Ukraine: pro-Russian forces seize TV station in Donetsk and parade captives

Pro-Russian separatists seized control of the TV station in the eastern city of Donetsk on Sunday, and immediately set about switching off Ukrainian TV and replacing it with Russian channels that broadcast exclusively pro-Kremlin views.

A crowd of about 300 left a rally in Donetsk's Lenin Square and marched through the city centre, pulling down Ukrainian flags.

With police looking on but not intervening, the activists surged into the regional television centre. Masked youths, armed with baseball bats, ran up the flag of the "Donetsk People's Republic" from the roof of the Stalinist neo-classical building.

Its shaken director, Oleg Dzholos, emerged soon afterwards to say that the separatists had brought with them a technician who was turning off Kiev television and replacing it with Rossiya 24. The Russian state channel calls Ukraine's pro-western leaders "fascists" and frequently runs montages of them with footage of the Nazis.

"We hope to continue broadcasting," Dzholos said. His staff of 250 would be back at work on Monday morning, he said. With men in balaclavas and military fatigues standing on his steps, he admitted: "It's difficult to work in these circumstances. I hope we might be safe here."

The seizure is another blow to Kiev, which has struggled to assert its authority in the east, amid an insurrection that it says is plotted by Moscow. Law-enforcement agencies here have largely sided with anti-Kiev protesters and have made little effort to stop the occupations of town halls and other buildings. Three riot police with Kalashnikovs stood next to the TV station on Sunday, apparently ensuring the takeover went smoothly.

The capture of the TV tower appears to be part of an unfolding plan to shut out information critical of Moscow and replace it with Kremlin propaganda.

In Slavyansk, meanwhile, rebels released one of eight European military observers kidnapped on Friday. Stella Korosheva, a spokeswoman for the town's separatist leadership, said they had freed a Swede. "He has a mild form of diabetes so we decided to let him go." Asked if he was the only one to be released, she told the Associated Press: "Yes." An OSCE vehicle, with three unarmed men, collected him and drove off.

Earlier on Sunday, the military observers appeared in public for the first time, looking tired but unharmed. They took part in a press conference with Slavyansk's self-appointed mayor, Vyacheslav Ponomarev. As well as the Swede, the EU nationals include four Germans, a Pole, a Dane, and a Czech officer. Ponomarev did not produce five members of Ukraine's armed forces captured at the same time on Friday.

Two OSCE monitors were also briefly detained on Sunday in Yenakiyevo, also in the Donestk region, and the home town of Ukraine's ex-presidentViktor Yanukovych. They were seized at a checkpoint and taken to the administration building. Local police then secured their release.

In Slavyansk, Schneider said his team had followed diplomatic protocols. He said they had not tried to enter the town but were instead a few miles south of it heading back towards Donetsk, when gunmen intercepted their minivan. He said they had been looking for tanks and artillery at the time but had not found any.

The rebels have described the kidnapped Europeans as prisoners of war and said they might be bartered for imprisoned pro-Russian activists in Kiev. Schneider said he had no idea what the method for a prisoner-swap might be, adding: "We are completely in the hands of Mayor Ponomarev. We have no indication when we will be sent home to our countries," he said.

The pro-Russian militia is also holding Ukrainian journalists, local residents and the town's elected mayor, who has been allowed visits from her family and hairdresser. Another Ukrainian reporter, Lviv-based Yury Lelyavsky, was seized on Friday. The EU nationals appear to be high-value bargaining chips as further confrontation between the west and Moscow looms.

The G7 is expected to announce on Monday an expansion of the list of Russian individuals and companies subject to sanctions. They will include close friends of Vladimir Putin as well as those allegedly involved in co-ordinating unrest across Ukraine. The US and EU accuse Moscow of failing to implement a deal agreed in Geneva under which illegal groups would end takeovers of official buildings and give up their weapons.

The British foreign secretary, William Hague, said that while diplomatic routes to de-escalate the crisis remained open, Europe and the US were also working on more far-reaching measures of economic, trade and financial sanctions in case Russia did not back down.He said Britain and its allies would be willing to accept the potential costs to their own countries of implementing further reaching economic or trade sanctions.

"It would be a price worth paying if this situation continues to deteriorate," Hague said. "We will calculate them in a way that has the maximum effect on the Russian economy and the minimum effect on our own economy and the European Union's."

Source: theguardian

"Doom-loop" broken? NBG preps bond sale at lower yield than sovereign

• The €750M 5-year unsecured note for National Bank of Greece (NBG -2.7%) is expected to come to market tomorrow maybe priced to yield as low as 4%. A recently government 5-year note is yielding 4.76%.
• Banks typically must offer a higher yield than the underlying sovereign due to the perceived added safety of government paper, but Greece's default kind of blew up that model. "The new institutional framework for banks in the eurozone could make a strong case for banks pricing through their sovereigns in the future," says L&G credit research head Georg Grodzki.
• "It doesn't make a lot of sense," says a syndicate banker, but people will buy the paper because they think it will perform.
• Source: Seeking Alpha April 23rd, 2014

Uber Celebrates 100-Cities Milestone as Launching Service in Beijing

Uber, the four-year-old US ride-hailing service, is rolling out service in Beijing, meaning that it is now available in 100 cities around the world. As part of a quiet “soft” landing in Beijing, Uber invited Hugo Barra, head of International at Xiaomi and a leading technology blogger Keso to kick off the service. The minimum fare in Beijing is 30 yuan ($4.80).
After landing in Chinese market last summer in Shanghai, the fast-growing company has launched service in Chinese cities of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, relatively on track with its ambitious plan of landing in one Chinese city every three months. To tap Chinese market, Uber now supports AliPay, a popular payment service under Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, and launched a Chinese name “优步” (a great step forward in Chinese).
In addition to Chinese market, Uber also launched hiring spree to accelerate its expansion into Asian markets. It is now available in more than 10 Asian cities, including Bangalore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, New Delhi, and Seoul.

Source: TechNode

Chinese Real Estate Service Leju Debuts on NYSE

Leju (NYSE:LEJU), once a wholly-owned subsidiary of real estate service E-House (NYSE:EJ) and former property channel of Sina, got listed on the New York Stock Exchange for overall $100 million of funding this Thursday, the same day of Sina Weio’s debut on Nasdaq Capital Market. The company has filed for an US IPO this March.

Leju sought to raise as much as $194 million by selling 17.70 million shares for $10-$12 each, but only saw demand through underwriters for 11.50 million shares at the low end of the offer at $10 apiece.

Leju shares opened slightly higher at $10.80 and faded to below the initial offering price later. But the shares closed 18.6% higher at $11.86 per share on the first day of trading, sending the company’s total valuation to $1.42 billion.

According to the prospectus, the company booked $335 million of revenue in 2013, nearly doubling the figure as compared with $171 million one year earlier. The capital will be used in market exploration and construction of technical infrastructures, according to the company.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent acquired 15% of the fully diluted shares of Leju with $180 million in mid-March. Moreover, the two companies has inked strategic cooperation program to jointly develop software and tools dedicated for mobile ecommerce solutions for real estate industry. They also planned to explore additional opportunities for potential cooperation by leveraging Tencent’s social communications platform such as WeChat, and/or other Tencent internet properties.

Source: TechNode

Lichi Wu: I’m a mobile monetization whiz at Millennial Media. Ask me anything

Lichi Wu is the director of global monetization solutions at Millennial Media, a publicly-traded global mobile ad platform. He helps publishers and developers monetize their mobile apps and sites effectively. Prior to Millennial Media, Lichi worked for Google in the US and Singapore and was part of AdMob APAC’s landing team. He also spent two years working at Singapore startups. Mobile ad monetization may sometimes feels like a mystery. There are companies who made their fortune via in-game purchases. But for every success story there are likely thousands of failures. And then there are reports that the mobile advertising market is skyrocketing. Advertisers from global brands to local names are increasingly spending boatloads of advertising dollars on mobile. It’s estimated that the mobile advertising spend will be US$18 billion in 2014 and around US$42 billion in 2017. Ultimately, a big chunk of that goes to publishers and developers because that’s what advertisers spend money for – to connect with end users like you and I. So how can you successfully deploy mobile advertising as part of your monetization strategy? What do advertisers want and how do you take advantage of that?

Source: TECHINASIA

Jones Lang LaSalle European Commercial Real Estate. Market Indicators 2014: Retail,Office & Warehousing

Add caption

El Consorcio Kuntur Wasi,ganó la licitación para construir el Aeropuerto de Chinchero en Cusco.

El Consorcio Kuntur Wasi,  conformado por Corporación América y Andino Investment Holding, ganó la licitación para construir el Aeropuerto de Chinchero en Cusco, anunció Pro Inversión.

Kuntur Wasi le ganó la partida a los otros dos consorcios: Aeropuerto Chinchero y Aeropuerto Imperial debido a que propuso un financiamiento de US$ 264.7 millones, menor al máximo de US$ 458 millones que fijó el Estado.

Los consorcios que perdieron proponían más financiamiento público: el Consorcio Aeroportuario Chinchero –conformado por las empresas VINCI Airports, VINCIConcessions y Graña y Montero– pidió US$ 411 millones; y el Consorcio Aeroportuario Imperial –intregado por el Grupo Odinsa y Mota Engil Perú– planteó un monto de US$ 348 millones.

El ministro de Transportes y Comunicaciones, Carlos Paredes, señaló que se ha superado largamente la “cifra histórica de concesiones con US$ 12 mil millones a la fecha”.

JJL: Global Real Estate Markets Gaining Traction

Source: Jones Lang Lasalle

The world's dominant commercial real estate markets have moved into 2014 in better shape than at any time since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009. Capital markets are exhibiting remarkable strength and the disconnect, that has emerged over the past two years between a more cautious occupational market, is showing signs of narrowing.

This latest edition of Global Market Perspective presents an encouraging picture of a global real estate market that is regaining its pre-crisis vigour:

• The global economy is steadily improving, GDP growth is accelerating, and higher business confidence and perceptions of fewer downside risks are spurring corporations to spend again. Crucially, the U.S. economy and real estate market look finally to be gaining some traction.
• The real estate investment market is displaying exceptional liquidity in both the equity and debt markets, with a huge weight of money chasing commercial property, as evidenced by:
• Full-year 2013 sales transactions up 21% to US$563 billion
• Q4 2013 volumes hitting nearly US$200 billion; a level not seen since mid-2007
• 24 countries achieving in excess of US$1 billion in transactions during Q4
• Several major markets registering record transaction levels in 2013, including China, Australia, Canada and Singapore
• Further prime yield compression and an acceleration in capital value growth, increasing by an average of 7.5% year-on-year for prime office assets

• Very strong competition for a limited stock of core assets is forcing investors up the risk curve, into 'non-core assets in core markets' and 'core assets in non-core markets'. For example:
• Global investment volumes in the hotel sector were up a massive 40% in 2013, while industrial transactions in Europe grew by 70%
• Second-tier cities, such as Seattle, Atlanta, UK regional cities and Osaka, are capturing a greater proportion of real estate capital
• Investors are seeking out markets that until recently were considered 'out of bounds', notably in Southern Europe where there has been a rapid change in sentiment
• Investors are also targeting value-added opportunities and moving into development in order to access product

Survey: Commercial property sales will reach 10-year high by 2016

    According to a forecast report based on a survey by 39 of the industry’s leading economists and analysts, commercial real estate property transaction volume will reach a 10-year high by 2016. The report, produced by the Urban Land Institute and EY, predicted that transaction volume will reach $430 billion by 2016, exceeding the volume of 2006.

The semiannual Real Estate Consensus Forecast is more optimistic than the previous one from October 2014. Although survey respondents moderated their expectations for the housing sector – the latest forecast projects housing starts will remain below the 20-year annual average through 2016 – the overall industry outlook remains positive. The issuance of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), a key source of financing for commercial real estate, is expected to continue its rebound with consistent growth through 2016. Hotel occupancy rates are expected to continue improving, while vacancy rates are expected to decrease modestly for office, retail and industrial properties. In addition, the forecast expects a turnaround in 2014 with retail rental rates, turning positive for the first time since 2007.

“Respondents to the Consensus Forecast survey project consistent growth in the real estate industry, bringing some key factors back to pre-recession levels and others moderating to long-term averages,” said Anita Kramer, vice president, ULI Center for Capital Markets and Real Estate. “Fundamentals beyond multifamily continue to improve with the retail sector now joining in. This overall outlook for real estate is supported by expected ongoing improvements in the economy.”

The Consensus Forecast expects the overall economy to continue expanding at a rate equivalent to the 20-year average. Gross domestic product is expected to grow by 2.8 percent in 2014 and then 3.0 percent in both 2015 and 2016. Survey respondents predict that employment will grow by over 7.5 million jobs in the next three years. The unemployment rate is expected to fall to 6.3 percent by the end of the year, 6.0 by the end of 2015, and 5.8 percent by the end of 2016.

Prices and total returns for commercial real estate investments are projected to increase at moderate rates. Institutional real estate assets are expected to provide total returns of 9.4 percent in 2014, moderating slightly up to 8.5 percent by 2016. NCREIF total returns in 2014 are expected to be fairly consistent across property types with retail and industrial at 10 percent, followed by office and apartments at 9 percent. Total office returns are expected to remain at 9 percent by 2016, while retail, industrial, and apartments are all expected to moderate downward.

The Consensus Forecast survey findings, by commercial property type, are listed below:

Apartments – The Consensus Forecast expects end-of-year vacancy rates to rise slightly to 5 percent in 2014, 5.2 percent in 2015, and 5.3 percent in 2016. Apartment rental growth rate, which slowed in 2013 after two years of significant growth, is expected to slightly increase in 2014 to 2.7 percent and then moderate to 2.3 percent in 2015 and 2.2 in 2016.

Industrial/warehouse – Decreases in the industrial/warehouse sector are expected to continue but at a slower pace. Vacancy rates are projected to go from 11.3 percent in 2013 to 10.7 percent in 2014, 10.3 percent in 2015, and 10.1 percent by the end of 2016. According to CBRE, the sector’s rental growth rate was strong in 2013 at 3.6 percent. The Consensus Forecast projects continued growth of 3.8 percent in 2014 and 3.7 percent in 2015 before moderating to 3.0 percent in 2016.

Office – Office vacancy rates declined for the third straight year to 14.9 percent in 2013 and are expected to continue at the same pace, decreasing to 14.3 percent in 2014, 13.7 percent in 2015, and 13.1 percent by the end of 2016. Survey respondents foresee a healthy and continued growth in office rental rates through 2016. According to the Consensus Forecast, office rental rates will increase by 3 percent in 2014, 3.9 percent in 2015, and 3.6 percent in 2016.

Retail – Retail availability rates decreased in 2013; however, the Consensus Forecast anticipates modest improvements over the next three years, with availability rates expected to decline to 11.5 percent by 2014, 11.1 percent by 2015, and 10.8 percent by 2016. CBRE reported a decline in retail rental rates for the past six year; however, survey respondents foresee a turnaround in 2014 with rental rates increasing by 1.9 percent, 2.5 percent in 2015, and 3 percent 2016.

Hotel – Hotel occupancy rates are expected to continue their steady improvement, with the 2016 projection surpassing the pre-recession peak in 2006. The Consensus Forecast projects that hotel occupancy rates will continue to strengthen, rising to 63.1 percent in 2014, 63.6 percent in 2015, and 63.8 percent by 2016. The strong growth in hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) of the last four years is expected to continue, remaining above the long-term average annual growth rate but decelerating, with growth of 5 percent in 2014, 4.7 percent in 2015, and 4 percent in 2016.

Source: Daily Reporter

72% of Chinese Mobile Music Users were Aged 21-30 in 2013

There were 313 million mobile music app users in China in 2013, while an estimated 912 million users ever consumed digital music through mobile phones during the year, according to the annual report released by iiMedia, a Chinese mobile market research agency.

43.1% of users were of age group 21-25, 29.2% of group 26-30 — that’s 72.3% of 21-30, while only 12.4% are over 30.

According to the estimation by iiMedia, China’ s mobile music sales in 2013 increased 6.1% to RMB39.7 billion (roughly USD6.5 bn).

Mobile music apps are more used for playing songs saved locally, streaming, downloads and searches, instead of creating or sharing playlists, or watching music videos.

The “mobile music” iiMedia refers to include both the mobile Internet-based and music consumed through SMS or MMS. So the majority of the total revenues were made by the three Chinese telecom operators through mobile ringtone sales and other offerings, while a minor fraction was generated from independent online music services.

The major revenue source of most mobile music apps’ was advertising which hadn’t brought them significant income yet. As of the end of the year, paid offerings include paid downloads, membership subscriptions or music data plans. Major digital music services such as Xiami launched data plans partnering with telcos during the year.

At the end of 2013 there were acquisition rumors that Alibaba had acquired TTPod and Kugou bought Kuwo. iiMedia concludes consolidation was thanks to the fact that many services were struggling to survive.

Some milestones that happened during the year,

• Duomi, one of the leading music apps in China, announced 180 million installs as of the end of 2013, a 20% increase.
• Douban FM, a Pandora-like music discovery service, announced ten million unique visitors in June 2013.
• Mobile Taobao, the mobile marketplace ran by Alibaba Group, added a music channel by integrating music offerings by Xiami, an online music streaming and download service that was acquired by Alibaba less than one year ago.
• Qianqianjingting, a music playing software acquired by Chinese search giant Baidu, was renamed Baidu Music.

China Mobile, the largest Chinese telco, has been one of the biggest players in terms of mobile music users and revenues. Migu, its mobile music brand , reached 450 million users with over 50 million monthly subscribers as of 2013.

Apart from working with musicians helping them publish and promote original songs or events, and reach users, China Mobile also offers business-facing services, charging for usage of APIs, user data analysis, among others. China Mobile counts on music videos, high quality music and in-car music services as 4G is coming around.

A few new mobile music apps, however, were working on new business models. Changba, a mobile Karaoke app, began monetization through virtual gift sales in 2013.

Source: TechNode

CNET: Digital storage basics.

When it comes to computer storage, judging from many questions friends and readers send me, there's quite a bit of confusion among general users as to what it actually is. And it's not your fault; digital storage can be as messy as my desk. This is the reason for this series, where I sort out the basics and more, in layman's terms.

That said, some information in this might be too basic for advanced users. Home and novice users, however, give yourself some uninterrupted time and dive in. You'll survive.

1. Understanding the units

No matter how boring this is, you can't grasp digital storage without know its measurement unit, which is byte.

Byte (symbol: B): Byte is generally the smallest unit in digital storage. You can think of 1 byte as one character in a document. For example, we actually need to use 4 bytes to store just the word "byte." In real life, we use larger units, including kilobyte, megabyte, gigabyte, and terabyte.

Kilobyte (KB or kB): By general definition, one kilobyte is 1,024 bytes. In many cases, for the sake of simplicity, 1 kilobyte is understood as 1,000 bytes.

Megabyte (MB): By general definition, 1 megabyte is 1,024,000 bytes. Similarly, it can also be understood as 1,000,000 bytes.

Gigabyte (GB): By general definition, 1 gigabyte is 1,000,000,000 bytes.

Terabyte (TB): By general definition, 1 terabyte is 1,000,000,000,000 bytes, or 1,000GB.

Currently, the largest 3.5-inch hard drive (commonly found inside a desktop computer) offers 4TB of storage space. Most computers come with drives with capacities of somewhere between 120GB and 2TB. Most mobile devices, such as tablets or smartphones, offer between 8GB and 120GB of storage space.

Generally, a typical photo taken by the iPhone 4 takes up about 2MB of storage space. A digital song uses about 5MB. A compact disc (CD), which has the capacity of 700MB, can hold about 350 iPhone photos or some 140 songs. The actual size of digital content varies a great deal, however, depending on the format and the compression level. The common rule is the richer (and/or higher quality) the content, the larger storage space it requires. A 10-minute audio podcast needs anywhere between 4MB and 10MB, but a 10-minute high-def movie requires a few hundred megabytes or even a gigabyte of storage space.

Storage vs. memory

These are two terms that are often mistakenly used for each another, though they are two very different things.

Storage, in a nutshell, is where the information (such as Word documents, photos, movie clips, programs, and so on) is stored. In a computer, the whole operating system itself, such as Windows 7 or Mac OS, is also stored on the internal storage device. Storage is nonvolatile, meaning that the information is still there when the host device (a computer, for example) is turned off and is readily accessible when the device is turned back on. It's like a book or a paper notebook that's always there, ready for you to read or write on.

Memory (aka system memory, random access memory, or RAM), on the other hand, is where information is being processed and manipulated. Data in the system memory is volatile, meaning that when the computer is turned off, it's gone; the memory becomes blank, as if nothing has been there before. It's somewhat like the short-term memory part of your brain, where images or ideas are being formed and processed when you read a book -- those that disappear the moment you stop reading.

Source:   by Dong Ngo, CNET.

Vietnam is now Apple’s fastest growing market in the world

If you know anything about Vietnam, you know that Vietnamese people are highly brand conscious. Brands are associated with status and status is everything. Vietnam is so brand conscious that a business person will not trust that you are successful unless you drive a nice Mercedes Benz. So it’s no surprise that Apple, which has been deemed the world’s number one brand, is seeing its iPhones and iPads flying off the shelves in Vietnam. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is experiencing a sales boom in Vietnam right now, according to Apple executives talking in the company’s earnings conference call this week. Reuters notes that in Apple’s fiscal first half of the year, Vietnam sales tripled – that’s five times faster than Apple’s sales growth in India. iPhone sales in Vietnam have doubled quarterly. Vietnam is now Apple’s fastest growing market. This seems bizarre when you look at Vietnam’s overall economy. In 2013, the annual income of of an average Vietnamese person was just below US$2,000. Vietnam’s economy has been sluggish since 2009. But that hasn’t dampened demand for smartphones. As Reuters’ Nguyen Phuong Linh notes, Vietnamese people are willing to spend more than they can afford just to have the appearance of status. A smartphone is the cheapest luxury item out there and it also has the highest visibility.

According to research group IDC, one of the key factors in Apple’s growth is its latest partnership with FPT, the tech juggernaut that does everything from manufacturing to internet services to outsourcing. FPT is an authorized distributor of Apple products and FPT Retail is an Apple Premium Reseller in the country. Retail channels in Vietnam accounted for 70 percent of the total iPhone shipments in the first quarter of 2014, while the telcos likes Viettel and Vinaphone accounted for the remaining 30 percent. Overall, Vietnam’s smartphone shipments reached 7.6 million units in 2013. That’s an increase of 89 percent from 2012. This growth will likely continue for many years to come.

Source:  TECHINASIA

AliPay Now Available on Another Japanese E-commerce Giant Rakuten

AliPay, the payment arm of Chinese Internet titan Alibaba, reached cooperation with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten to added AliPay as a payment option for purchases on Rakuten Global Market, the cross-border e-commerce unit of the Japnese company. The service is currently available in 250 stores on the platform and will be expanded to all the stores in the future.

Rakuten is the second Japanese e-commerce service that AliPay announced cooperation this month. Last week, AliPay announced it will be added as payment option on Yahoo! Shopping Japan.

Japan has become a popular marketplace for Chinese netizens who want to purchase products overseas, largely due to the depreciation of JPY. The total consumption of Chinese online shoppers in Japanese e-commerce sites surged more than 300% YOY in 2013.

As of the first quarter of this year, AliPay is available in more than 100 Japanese e-commerce sites and more than 1,000 platforms globally, according to data from the company.

Source: TechNode