Happy New Year 2017

A promising and a fulfilling new year is waiting just for you. Open your arms and behold
it with grace and mirth. Hope you have prosperous one.

Merry Christmas 2016

May God bless you with a joyous, loving and peaceful celebration this Christmas and all throughout the year. Merry Christmas!!!

Gold Slump Again, On Worst Losing Streak in 2016

Gold prices slumped on Friday and it is on its way to a 5th straight weekly decline. As it get hit from all directions. The gold prices are being pulled down by a stronger U.S. dollar and expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike next week. U.S. equities are also at record levels luring money out of the safe haven and fund holdings wither. The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are at all-time highs amid speculation President-elect Donald Trump’s policies will spur growth. Investors are also assessing the European Central Bank’s decision on Thursday to tweak its bond buying.

Spot gold was down 0.3% at $1,167.11 an ounce by 0245 GMT, and was set for a weekly decline of about 0.8%. U.S. gold futures lost 0.2% to $1,169.60 per ounce. The dollar held large gains against the yen and euro early on Friday.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell from a five-month high last week, pointing to labour strength that underscores the economy's sustained momentum and reinforcing the case for a Federal Reserve rate increase.

Rising bond yields and a flight to stock markets have also dampened the appeal of gold.

Meanwhile, Asian shares edged down on Friday but were on track for robust weekly gains, while the euro became more settled after the volatility seen in the wake of the European Central Bank's decision to trim the size of its asset purchase program while also extending it for longer than many analysts had expected.

Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.34% to 860.71 tonnes on Thursday. SPDR holdings have fallen nearly 9% since November and are on track for a 5th straight week of losses.

Elsewhere, silver was down 0.4% at $16.94 an ounce and platinum fell 0.9% at $930.10.

Palladium was down by 0.2% to $734, after reaching its lowest since November 18 in the previous session.

Cyber Monday Expected to Reach $3.39 billion in Online Sales

Onlines sales on Black Friday was the country's biggest yet though it didn't last very long just three days. However, retailers are expected to keep hearing the Ka-Ching of the cash registers as Cyber Monday is expected to garner $3.39 billion in online sales, this according to the latest statistics from Adobe, edging out Black Friday by roughly $50 million.

According to Becky Tasker, analyst for the Adobe Digital Insights, online retailers began giving away discounts later this year, on Thanksgiving morning instead of a few days earlier which have resulted to big demands on Black Friday. That fact shows that both retailers and consumers are getting more comfortable having holiday shopping take place later in the season, Tasker said, as online shipping improves and "buy online, pickup in-store" options grow.

"Everything is growing, but there's more growth toward the end of the season as people take advantage of better shipping to get their products on time," she said.

This data keeps is in line with the trend of online sales spreading out to more days during the holidays, as consumers spend more money online and are able to shop using a wide range of products that includes TV sets, toys, appliances, PCs, tablets and smartphones. Overall, Adobe expects 53 consecutive days of $1 billion-plus online sales days this holiday season, up from just 31 consecutive days last year.

She said that top toys that will be on demand this Cyber Monday includes Lego sets, Shopkins, Nerf, Barbie and Little Live Pets, and the 5 best-selling electronics were Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox, Samsung 4K TVs, Apple iPads and Amazon Fire.

On Amazon, their Echo Dot smart speaker was the best-selling product on Thanksgiving, and Black Friday.

It Seems Investors Like Trump Presidency U.S. stocks are Up Friday

U.S. stocks closed mostly on a higher note on Friday as a postelection rally lost some steam. Losers includes Energy, health care and materials companies while Consumer goods, technology and financials stocks closed on gains. The S&P 500 index still had its best weekly gain in two years.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 39.78 points, or 0.2%, to 18,847.66. Last Thursday it hit a new all-time intraday of 18,873.6, and closed more than 200 points higher, with IBM and Goldman Sachs contributing the most gains to the tune of 34 points and 52 points, respectively.  The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.03 points, or 0.1%, to 2,164.45 still it's up 79.27 points, or 3.8% for the week.

The Nasdaq composite rose 28.32 points, or 0.5%, to 5,237.11.

Happy Halloween 2016

Wishing each one of you a very happy and joyful Halloween.
Enjoy the party with your friends and family...

Happy Halloween!

Asian shares rise led by Tokyo, dollar firms after upbeat U.S. data

Asian stock markets closed mostly higher Tuesday, with Japanese markets leading the way as solid U.S. manufacturing data helped bolstered the U.S. dollar and weaken the yen.

The Nikkei Stock Average NIK, +0.83%  was up 0.8%, Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.55%  was up by 0.4% and Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times Index added 0.2%. Chinese markets are shut for the week. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index HSI, +0.28%  , however, reversed early gains and end up flat.

The U.S. September purchasing managers’ index which is a key measure of factory activity—jumped to 51.5, shifting back into expansionary territory, following a surprise dip to 49.4 in August. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of 6 major currencies, added 0.3% to 95.970 .DXY.

However, the up trend is unlikely to happen in Europe, where German markets will reopen after a holiday to rekindled fears about the stability of the country's largest lender.

U.S. stocks slumped overnight, with Deutsche Bank (DB.N) shares resuming their slide as hopes faded that the bank would reach a swift deal with the U.S. Department of Justice over a fine of up to $14 billion for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities.

Australian shares closed at 0.1% higher after Australia's central bank kept its cash rate steady at 1.5% on Tuesday, a widely expected decision as it assesses the impact of its May and August rate cuts.

US Dollar is down; Nasdaq hits new high

The U.S. dollar retreats Thursday amid investors doubt that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year. In the WSJ Dollar Index (US$ vs 16 other currency) was down by 0.1% to 86.297. The dollar went down against the euro, British pound and some emerging-market currencies but was higher against the Japanese yen.

Last Wednesday, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged but signaled it could tighten policy in the months ahead. Still, investors remain doubtful that rates will go up this year. According to Fed officials they want to raise short-term borrowing costs but have been repeatedly stymied by turmoil in global markets and a string of soft data, from U.S. economic growth to productivity. Even though reports about the U.S. economy is in good shape and unemployment rate is falling.

The central bank also has acknowledged that rates are likely to remain lower in the future as economic growth slows, which analysts see as a negative for the dollar.

The biggest question is why there are reports that the economy is doing great and umployment rate is improving but when it comes to the Feds the sky is falling? Maybe Donald Trump is right about the Federal Reserve, doing what President Barack Obama wants by keeping interest rates low.

U.S. stocks extend gains as Nasdaq rallies to record high

U.S. stocks climbed for a third session Thursday as the Nasdaq finished at a record-high close following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep the interest rates low. The S&P 500 rose 14 points, or 0.6%, to end at 2,177 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 98 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 18,391. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 44 points, or 0.8%, to close at 5,339 after touching an intra-day record of 5,342.88. The Fed on Wednesday kept rates unchanged even as Chairwoman Janet Yellen hinted that a tighter monetary policy is likely by the year end.

- U.S. jobless claims drop to two-month low
- Amazon.com hits all-time high on analyst report
- Indexes up: Dow 0.54 pct, S&P 0.65 pct, Nasdaq 0.84 pct (Updates with close of U.S. markets)

U.S. household income up by 5.2% in 2015 but still poorer than it was 15 years ago

The Middle-class Americans and the poor American families have experience their first gain in eight years. The Census Bureau reported Tuesday, that the median household income rose 5.2% from a year earlier, after adjusting for inflation, or $2,800, to $56,500. The rise broke a long streak of disappointment for American workers but did not fully repair the damage inflicted by the Great Recession. The household incomes now is around 1.6% below the 2007 level, before the last recession began, and around 2.4% below the all-time high reached in 1999.

Officials at the Census Bureau said that the 5.2% growth rate was not statistically distinguishable from five other previous increases in the data over a 50-year period, most recently the 3.7 percent jump from 1997 to 1998.

There are some statistics that suggested that the year 2015 was strong for US workers. Just last week, the Agriculture Department reported their yearly data on hunger in the United States. It shows that food insecurity declined substantially last year for the first time since the recession.

Economic growth has lagged in 2016, but the labor market has remained strong, suggesting continued income gains. The unemployment rate declined to 4.9% last month. Adjusted for inflation, wages for full-time workers were up by nearly 2% in the first half of the year, compared with the same point in 2015.

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index is down from last year.

Asian Shares Gave Varied Results Ahead of U.S. Jobs Report

Asian markets gave varied results Friday as investors awaited latest U.S. job data that could influence the Fed's interest rate policy. If there's a sooner than expected rate increase in September by the Federal Reserve, it could pull foreign capital out of emerging markets in Asia, according to analysts. Even though a December rate increase would have already been priced in by investors.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.9%, with the Nikkei Stock Average flat, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index falling 0.4%. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.2 percent to 2,037.40. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5 percent to 23,275.83 and the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China slipped 0.1 percent to 3,060.06. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Thailand fell while indexes in the Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand rose.

A report on U.S. jobs due out later Friday is likely to be the big market moving event of the day, though Asian investors won't get a chance to react until next week. Economists forecast that the nonfarm payroll report will show employers added 180,000 jobs in August, according to a survey by data provider FactSet. That would be under July's 255,000 extra jobs and 292,000 in June, which was an eight-month high.

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Stock in Asia Mixed as Oil Prices Fall and Dollar Loses Ground

Asian Shares gave mixed results on Tuesday, as oil prices fell and the U.S. dollar weakened ahead of a key meeting of Federal Reserve officials and other central bankers later this week.

The Nikkei Stock Average lost 0.4%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 were up by 0.8%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down by 0.3%, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2%. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was down 0.1%.

Crude-oil prices sank below $47 a barrel in New York overnight on skepticism the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would reach a deal to cut production, sending commodity stocks in Japan sharply lower. Oil explorer Inpex was down 1.9%, while Japan Petroleum Exploration slid 3.4%. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was recently down 1% from the previous close to $48.67 a barrel, a five-day low.

Copper three-month futures on the London Metal Exchange hovered near six-week lows, and share prices of mining companies on Australia’s benchmark index rose.

U.S. dollar slipped against other major currencies as the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.55% from around 1.60%. The U.S. dollar index was recently down 0.1%. The yen rose 0.1% against the dollar, adding to pressure on Japanese exporters by making them less competitive, with auto makers Honda Motor falling 2.1% and Mazda Motor shedding 3% of its value.

BRAIN SUPPLEMENT

Macy's to close 100 stores, Legacy Retailers Hit Hard by Online Discount Stores

A lot of top retailers in the U.S. are feeling the heat, yes American consumer are still buying but they don't want to pay the full price and they want to shop at home. Legacy stores has been hit hard by this consumer shift. Macy’s, the largest department store in the U.S., announced on Thursday that they would close 100 stores. The company said that they were more valuable as real estate properties. The department store chain continues to shrink.

Well, all is not lost. Macy's has a plan and they also announced a series of strategic changes to lure shoppers.  The plan includes bringing in more brand shops within the stores, improving online search and ordering and hosting in-store events to drive foot traffic.

The closure of 100 store is 15% of Macy's 675 full-line locations. It is only the latest round of closures Macy's has undertaken in recent years to rid the company of unprofitable stores. The company didn't identified the locations of stores that will close, but said they represent about $1 billion in annual sales, excluding sales the company expects to retain online or at nearby stores. That's nearly 4% of Macy's total annual sales in 2015.

Investors were happy about the latest news that send Macy's stock up 17% on Thursday to $39.81 a share, up $5.81. Still, the stock is down about 40% from its 52-week high.

Also Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, said on Monday that they would purchase a small online rival for more than $3 billion. The hope is that the deal will reverse its sputtering online growth.

Google AD Business is Surging

Google parent company the Alphabet Inc. reported their quarterly profit that surge 24%, these surge is driven by consumers’ rapid shift to mobile devices.

The company said that more companies are continuing to buy more ads on its search engine and other products, while users due to mischievous Google techniques unknowingly clicked on those ads. Revenue, fueled by Google’s advertising business, rose 21% to $21.5 billion in the second quarter from a year ago, beating analysts’ average estimate of $20.76 billion.

With the continued increase of smartphones that are connected by internet more and more people worldwide are boosting internet use and in effect it is also increasing people who use the free services of Google and Facebook Inc.

Alphabet stock, which struggled and went down by 1.6% in 2016 through Thursday’s close, jumped 4% in after-hours trading. The company had recently struggled to meet investor expectations, with earnings missing analysts’ estimates in eight of the past 12 quarters.

Facebook, Google’s chief rival, also is gaining strength from mobile. Facebook said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit nearly tripled from a year earlier to $2.1 billion, easily beating Wall Street estimates. Mobile accounted for 84% of its $6.2 billion in second-quarter advertising sales.

While Google still controls about 31% of the roughly $187 billion world-wide digital-ad market, Facebook’s market share has risen to 12% from 8.6% in 2014, according to research firm eMarketer.

Verizon is close to Acquiring Yahoo

Bids for Yahoo which is headed by CEO Marissa Mayer, were due on Monday, and expert says that Verizon has long been the front-runner.

On a report on Bloomberg News, it said that Verizon is nearing a deal to buy the core business of internet company Yahoo. Verizon is negotiating the amount that they will pay which is close to $5 billion for Yahoo’s core internet business after emerging as the lead suitor in the final round of bidding. While some people said that that Yahoo worth as much as $10 billion for its core business (excludes its stake in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan) bids so far came in below that.

Among those believed to also have submitted final bids for Yahoo were telecom giant AT&T, Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA team, supported by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Private equity firm TPG has also been among the suitors that were in the final final round.

Verizon is due to report earnings next week on Tuesday, July 26, so that’s a logical day for the news to come out. When Verizon executive were asked for comment on reports about this possibility of the deal, all they say is “watch this space”.

“No comment at this time,” Caroline Campbell, SVP of brand and communications at AOL, said in an emailed response.

Later, a report from Recode noted that Verizon, which had originally thought to be offering around $3 billion for core assets, might have bumped its figure up to about $5 billion.

S&P 500 hits new record high close as stocks rally for 4th week

The technology and commodity stocks and in the driver seat and they are leading the S&P 500 Index for the first time in this last two months. Computer and software companies were the best group in this week trade they powered the benchmark gauge for American equity to a record and its fourth straight weekly advance.

The S&P 500 finished at a new record high close on Friday with the broader market gaining for a fourth week in a row as stocks bounced back from Thursday’s correction. The S&P 500 index rose 10 points, or 0.5%, to end at 2,175 for a weekly gain of 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 53 points, or 0.3%, to close at 18,570, adding 0.3% for the week. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 26 points, or 0.5%, to finish at 5,100, closing the week 1.4% higher.

Shares in Asia Continue its Gains as risk appetite improves

Asian equity markets continue making gains and they are within reach of their 2016 highs on Wednesday as the anticipation of solid U.S. growth and likelihood that Japan may consider an aggressive form of policy easing to boost their economy brightens investors outlook despite the damaged done by uncertainty from Brexit.

The Nikkei Stock Average was up 1%, paring earlier gains, while the yen changed tack to trade 0.6% stronger against the U.S. dollar. Earlier Wednesday, the Nikkei had recovered all its losses from before the Brexit vote when the index was up 1.6%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose as much as 0.4% to 427.83, just below its year-to-date high of 428.22 hit on April 21.

Australian stocks added 0.5% and South Korea's Kospi .KS11 rose 0.6% New Zealand shares .NZ50 inched down 0.1% but were near a record high struck Tuesday. Shanghai .SSEC advanced 0.4%.

"A while ago, everything looked so uncertain on Brexit. But now that the UK looks set to have a new prime minister ... that is soothing investor sentiment," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.

Britain's interior minister Theresa May is set to take over as prime minister on Wednesday.

Elsewhere, Philippine shares .PSI reached a more than 1-year high and Vietnam .VNI scaled an 8-year peak.

In commodities, oil prices dropped after industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise build of 2.2 million barrels in U.S. crude stockpiles last week.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 1.2% to $47.90 after surging roughly 5% on Tuesday on broad improvement in risk sentiment.

Zinc CMZN3 touched a 13-month high of $2,210 a tonne and nickel climbed to a 10-month peak of $10,670 a tonne CMNI3. Aluminum and copper have also gained.

UK Pound Down below $1.30 on Brexit jitters

The UK Pound drop below $1.30 on Wednesday amid increasing anxiety about Britain’s vote to leave the European Union that force investors to put their money on safe haven assets.

“Sterling hit fresh lows against all of the major currencies and while there was no news to explain the move, the sharp sell-off sent fresh jitters across the financial markets, driving investors into the safety of the US dollar, Japanese yen and gold,” according to Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.

At one point of trading the UK pound drop to $1.2798, its lowest level since June 1985, before it recovers. The British currency dropped 1.0% against the euro at 85.88 pence.

The euro strengthened slightly against the dollar, up 0.2% at $1.1097.

“The eurozone is hardly sheltered from the UK’s troubles and there could be a banking sector crisis brewing in Italy but for now, the greater concern is clearly Britain,” Lien said in a client note.

The dollar was little moved by the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June 14-15 policy meeting, which showed Fed officials divided over US growth prospects as they kept rates on hold.

Omer Esiner of Commonwealth Foreign Exchange said the dollar stands to benefit from continued aversion to risk, but that the outlook for the Fed leaving rates unchanged through 2016 was likely to keep its upside limited.

“Even upcoming economic data, like the all-important payrolls report for June this Friday, may have a limited impact on the dollar as the Brexit story continues to dominate market focus,” he said.

BREXIT EFFECT: Global Markets Shock and Awed

Britain has voted to leave the European Union which is a historic decision that will have a huge effects in the world. The value of the British pound sunk as financial markets absorbed the news.

Financial institution took a beating as the prospect of a sinking pound eating into the profits of British companies as well as broader worries about the financial sector have battered the shares of the British banks HSBC and Standard Chartered.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index are down by 5% pulled down by stocks in banks, which had fallen more than 6%.

But HSBC’s stock slipped almost 12%, and Standard Chartered’s plummeted more than 13%. Prudential also saw its shares sink more than 11%.

Shares in Indian and Chinese banks have dropped, too, and Japanese bank shares have experienced a rout as the yen has surged.

Morgan Stanley has already said it will consider moving its European headquarters to Dublin or Frankfurt in the event of a vote to leave. Markets are a factor in the cost of potentially streamlining operations in Britain and shifting operations to other parts of Europe.

The United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, a decision that sent global markets into a tailspin early Friday.

The margin of victory was 52% to 48%.

It is the first departure from the alliance since the EU was formed 43 years ago. It could prompt other member nations to follow the U.K.'s lead and reverse a decades-long drive for European unity.

United States stocks rose sharply Amid Brexit Fears Ease

With the positive news that the polls are leaning towards Britain remaining in the European Union, the United States stocks sharply rose.

Asian stocks also traded higher and indexes in Europe were up as the latest opinion polls and betting markets suggested it was more likely that Britain would stay in the E.U. Britons vote in a referendum on the matter on Thursday.

The British pound rose sharply, and investors dumped ultrasafe assets like American government bonds, gold and utility stocks, sending those prices lower. Machinery and consumer companies jumped, and energy companies rose with the price of oil.

- Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index up by 12.03 points, 0.6% to 2,083.25.
- The Nasdaq composite up by 36.88 points 0.8% to 4,837.21.
- The Dow Jones industrial average up by 129.71 points, 0.7% to 17,804.87.
- Boeing gained $2.93, or 2.3% to $132.75
- Honeywell up by $1.14, or 1% to $117.06.
- General Electric up by 23 cents to $30.83.
- Amazon up by $7.62, or 1.1% to $714.01,
- Priceline up by $32.72, or 2.5% to $1,341.96
- Nike rose 65 cents, or 1.2% to $54.36.
- Benchmark United States crude oil rose $1.39, or 2.9% to $49.37 a barrel
- Brent crude gained $1.48, 3% to $50.65 a barrel in London.
- Chevron up by $1.04, 1% to $102.61.
- Marathon Oil up by $1.32, 10% to $14.48, company agreed to pay $888 million for PayRock Energy.

Bond prices dropped as investors moved money out of ultrasafe assets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.68 percent from 1.61 percent late Friday.

The FTSE 100 in Britain leapt 3 percent and the CAC 40 in France rose 3.5 percent. The German DAX was up 3.4 percent. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged 2.3 percent. The South Korean Kospi climbed 1.4 percent and in Hong Kong the Hang Seng added 1.7 percent.

In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline added 8 cents, to $1.58 a gallon. Heating oil edged up 5 cents, to $1.53 a gallon. Natural gas rose 12 cents, to $2.75 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Gold slipped $2.50, to $1,290 an ounce. Silver rose 10 cents, to $17.51 an ounce. Copper added 4 cents, to $2.09 a pound.

The pound rose to $1.4684 from $1.4361. The dollar fell to 103.86 yen from 104.21 yen and the euro rose to $1.1305 from $1.1277.

U.S. Crude Reserves Fall, Oil Hits 2016 Highs

Oil has recorded near 10-Month high as U.S. crude stockpiles decline, U.S. oil inventories fell 3.23 million barrels last week. It was also affected by disruptions in producing countries like Canada and Nigeria.

Futures were stable in New York, it just recorded an earlier increase of 0.9%, after settling on Wednesday at the highest since July 15. Crude stockpiles dropped by 3.23 million barrels last week to the lowest in two months, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. A new wildfire prompted Canadian oil producers Cenovus Energy Inc. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. to shut production.

Crude has surged more than 95% from a 12-year low in February amid unexpected disruptions and a steady slide in U.S. output, which is under pressure from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ policy of pumping without limits. Militant attacks have hobbled production in OPEC member Nigeria.

West Texas Intermediate for July delivery traded 12 cents lower at $51.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 9:23 a.m. London time, having risen as much 44 cents to $51.67. Total volume traded was about 20 percent below the 100-day average. The contract rose 87 cents, or 1.7 percent, to close at $51.23 on Wednesday, the highest since July 15.

International Brent crude oil futures hit a high of $52.86 a barrel, and were up 23 cents at $52.74 a barrel at 0700 GMT. U.S. crude hit a fresh high of $51.67 and was up 33 cents higher at $51.56 a barrel.

Hackers that Targeted Bangladesh have attacked other Asian banks

Hackers that are responsible for the $81 million heist from Bangladesh's central bank have been linked to other cyber attacks on a bank in the Philippines, in addition to the 2014 hack on Sony Pictures, according to cybersecurity company Symantec Corp.

A senior executive at Mandiant, the cybersecurity company investigating the Bank Bangladesh heist said that the hackers has also broken into other banks in Southeast Asia.

On a blog post by Symantec, they did not name which Philippine bank or say that if money has been stolen. However, they said that the attacks could be traced back to October last year. They also did not identify the hackers.

The Philippines central bank's deputy governor, Nestor Espenilla, told Reuters that no bank in the country had lost money to hackers, although he did not rule out the possibility of cyber attacks.

Marshall Heilman, vice president for Mandiant, a part of U.S.-based FireEye (FEYE.O), said it was not known whether any money was lost in the other attacks he described or whether the hackers had been successfully blocked.

"There is a group operating in Southeast Asia that definitely understands the bank industry and is at more than one location," he said.

Heilman declined to identify the country or countries, or the institutions attacked. He said it was the same group as the one involved in the Bank Bangladesh theft and that the attacks were recent, but declined to be more specific.

Central banks in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and East Timor) refused to make any comment or denied knowledge of any other breaches.

There have been at least four known cyber attacks against a bank involving fraudulent messages on the SWIFT payments network, one dating back to 2013. SWIFT, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, urged banks this week to bolster their security, saying it was aware of multiple attacks.

Banks around the world use secure SWIFT messages for issuing payment instructions to each other.

US Dollar is Up, Asian stocks and gold are Down

Due to the possibility of another interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve as early as June it push the US dollar sharply higher against major Asian currencies Thursday, with the Chinese yuan at its weakest level since February and the Japanese Yep losing its recent gains. The U.S. dollar index rallied to a two-month high.

Experts didn't expect the possibility of an interest-rate increase in June, but the latest Federal Reserve minutes, along with a batch of strong economic data, have changed that view.

Asian currencies falls into multi-month lows as traders adjusted positions to reflect the interest-rate expectations. The Indonesian rupiah fall to its three-month low, as did Thailand’s baht, while the South Korea won, the Philippine peso and the Singapore dollar fall into two-month low against the U.S. dollar.  The rise of the U.S. dollar also weakened the Japanese yen by nearly 1%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fall 1%, South Korea market fall by 0.6% while Australia were down by 0.8%.

Meanwhile, gold which are inversely correlated to monetary policy easing, fell 0.1% to a three-week low $1256 per ounce.

The stronger dollar also weighed on commodities such as oil, with U.S. crude futures losing 0.4% to $48.00 a barrel. A stronger dollar tends to put non-U.S. buyers of greenback-denominated commodities at a disadvantage.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange fell to as low as $4563.50 overnight, the weakest since Feb. 19.

Asian shares ends lower ahead of closely watched US jobs report

Asian markets are on the down trend on Friday as investors braced for the closely watched U.S. jobs-report that may influence interest rate decisions and the value of the U.S. dollar.

European markets are also expected to open for lower, with financial spreadbetter IG expecting Britain's FTSE 100 to fall 0.2% and Germany's DAX to start the day down 0.4%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.9%, set for a weekly decline of 3.2%, the biggest drop in 12 weeks.

Japan's Nikkei, which resumed trading after being closed for holidays ("Golden Week" national holidays) since Tuesday, lost 0.3% to 16,106.72 as the yen's strength renewed concerns about corporate profits.

China's Shanghai Composite index was down 1.6%, wiping out most gains for the week.

Hong Kong shares retreated 1.2%, that puts their weekly loss to 4.1%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.3% higher to 5,358.60,

Wall Street shares were mixed on Thursday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index's slight 0.02% drop nevertheless sending it to a three-week low. Dow Jones industrial average rose 9.45 points, or less than 0.1%, to 17,660.71.

Economists polled by Reuters forecast Friday's payrolls data will show U.S. employers added 202,000 workers in April following a 215,000 increase in March, with the jobless rate holding at 5.0 percent.

But job-related data published over the past couple of days has been softer than market expectations, casting a shadow on expectations of solid job growth.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil lost 33 cents to $43.99 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 54 cents on Thursday to $44.32 a barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, was down 29 cents at $44.72 a barrel in London.

Facebook Proposes New Stock Class to Solidify Mark Zuckerberg’s Control

Facebook is making major moves to ensure its founder Mark Zuckerberg remains in charge of the company. On Wednesday the company proposed a new class of stock named as "C shares", this will allow Mr. Zuckerberg to maintain control of the company. The new class of shares will enable the chief executive to protect and keep his voting power at the company, even as he begins an effort to give away the majority of his stock for charitable purposes.

Facebook said the move was “not a traditional governance model,” but it added that “Facebook was not built to be a traditional company.”

The company also revealed their first-quarter earnings, sales shoot up 52% to $5.3 billion from a year ago, Profit also increased to $1.5 billion from $512 million a year earlier. The company's profit was 77% a share, far surpassing Wall Street expectations of 62 cents a share.

First Quarter 2016 Other Financial Highlights

•     Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 82% of advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2016, up from 73% of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2015.
•     Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2016 were $1.13 billion.
•     Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $20.62 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2016.
•     Free cash flow – Free cash flow for the first quarter of 2016 was $1.85 billion.

More Than 40,000 Verizon Workers Will Have A Strike

Verizon will have a pretty big headache when more than 40,000 Verizon workers are preparing to go on strike at 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday if they have not reached a new labor agreement with the company.

The Verizon workers who are mostly service their traditional phone business have gone without a contract since August, according to the Communication Workers of America. The union says they are doing everything to prevent Verizon from moving jobs offshore or cutting benefits for injured workers.

Verizon said that if the strike goes forward, the company is prepared to continue to serve its customers. It said that thousands of non-union workers have been trained to cover new assignments in the event of a strike.

Alibaba buys Controlling Stake in Southeast Asian Online Retail Giant Lazada for $1 billion

China based e-commerce titan Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Tuesday that they have agreed to buy a controlling stake in Southeast Asian online retailer Lazada to tap into the region's lucrative consumer market for about $1 billion. This will expand Alibaba's reach to the Southeast Asian market.

Under the deal worth approximately $1 billion which is Alibaba's biggest overseas investment so far, they will buy around $500 million worth of newly issued shares in Lazada, as well as acquire shares from some existing shareholders. These include Britain's biggest supermarket operator Tesco Plc, which said it would sell an 8.6 percent stake for $129 million, valuing Lazada at $1.5 billion. Rocket and Investment AB Kinnevik will also sell shares.

Alibaba President Michael Evans said the investment will support Alibaba's expansion plans in Southeast Asia.

Lazada Group was founded by Germany's Rocket Internet in 2012, their headquarters is in Singapore and they also operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Alibaba and Lazada did not specify the size of the stake purchased but the sales imply a two-thirds holding.

The e-commerce market for business-to-consumer sales across all of Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand was just $10.5 billion in 2015, or 1.5 percent of retail volume, according to consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan. Just to compare, it accounts for 12% of retail in China, and 8% in the United States.

Oil Prices is Down as U.S. crude stocks hit record for 7th week in a row

Oil futures fell amid the rising U.S. crude stockpiles kept supplies at the highest level in more than eight decades. It renewed worries of global oversupply

Brent crude futures fell as much as 1.5% in New York after closing little changed Wednesday, 45 cents to $38.81 a barrel as of 0518 GMT. It ended up 12 cents in the previous session after touching a session peak of $40.61. U.S. crude futures dropped 53 cents to $37.79 a barrel.

Inventories expanded for a 7th week by 2.3 million barrels to 534.8 million barrels, according to a report from the Energy Information Administration. Imports and production dropped. Ecuador and Venezuela will support a cut to output at a meeting between major exporters in Doha next month, Ecuador’s Oil Minister Carlos Pareja said in a post on the ministry’s Twitter account.

But the increase was less than analysts' expectations of a 3.3 million barrel build after crude imports fell 636,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 7.4 million bpd.

Refinery crude runs rose by 414,000 bpd and refinery utilization rates rose 2 percentage points to 90.4 percent of total capacity, the highest seasonal rate since 2005.

U.S. Dollar is Up

U.S. Dollar were up to a one-week high against a basket of currencies on Thursday. The U.S. dollar index were able to hit 96.235, its highest since March 16. The U.S. currency was on the front foot after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard added his support to the possibility of more U.S. interest rate hikes this year.

U.S. Dollar was up 0.4% at 112.795 yen. The euro eased to $1.1171 EUR=, leaving it well off last week's top of $1.1342. Sterling GBP also slid to $1.4096 GBP= on concerns the attacks in Brussels would aid the campaign to leave the European Union in June's "Brexit" vote. The common currency has lost 0.8% so far this week.

Gold Prices Ended Lower Ahead of ECB Meeting

Gold prices ended lower on Wednesday, as investors worries about this week’s European Central Bank monetary-policy meeting.  It is possible  that the European Central Bank might surprise markets by giving more stimulus than is expected, since expectations are unduly low.

Gold for April delivery closed down 0.4% at $1,257.40 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Most market watchers expect the central bank to ramp up its bond-buying program and push interest rates deeper into negative territory at the conclusion of their monetary policy meeting on Thursday.

China Shares Down Due to Weak Metals Prices, Steel Plant Concerns

Shanghai Composite Index six-straight sessions of gains halted as China shares went down Wednesday amid concerns on metals prices and the consolidation of steel plants.

The Shanghai Composite Index loss about 1.4%, that ended their six-session winning streak, dragged by losses in basic materials and energy shares. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index ended 2.1% down. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was dragged to a 0.1% loss.   

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.35%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 1%. In Japan, the Nikkei sold off for the second straight day, giving back 0.8% as a stronger yen weighed on major exporters again.

In China, shares of steel producers plunged after the official news agency Xinhua reported that the governor of Hebei, a northern province near Beijing, said the province aims to close 60% of its steel factories by 2020. That report sparked selling of steel-related stocks. Shanghai Hualian Mining was down 8.2%, and Shandong Jinling Mining lost 8%.

Forbes Richest Man in the World 2016: Bill Gates

Bill Gates retains the record of being the richest person in the world for the 3rd year in the row according to Forbes Billionaires list. The Microsoft co-founder bag the top spot as the world's wealthiest businessman by Forbes in their 2016 list of top billionaires. Gates tops with $75bn. It's now his 17 times being on the top spot in 22 years.

This year's list featured 1,810 billionaires across the world. Combined, they have a net worth of nearly $6.5 trillion.

Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also reached the top ten for the first time. Zuckerberg is this years biggest gainer, it's his best year earning over $11bn.

Here are the rest of the business moguls rounding the top 10:

    1. Bill Gates, US, $75bn
    2. Amancio Ortega, Spain, $67bn
    3. Warren Buffett, US, $60.8bn
    4. Carlos Slim Helu, Mexico, $50bn
    5. Jeff Bezos, US, $45.2bn
    6. Mark Zuckerberg, US, $44.6bn
    7. Larry Ellison, US, $43.6bn
    8. Michael Bloomberg, US, $40bn
    9. Charles Koch, US, $39.6bn
    10. David Koch, US, $39.6bn

McDonald’s Franchisees Doubts all-day breakfast menu will be Successful

McDonald’s are doing everything they could to bring back lost customers, their recent trick is the all-day breakfast menu. Franchisees doubt that it will be successful based on their internal annual survey of franchisees. Only 14% of U.S. franchisees agreed or strongly agreed that the company’s turnaround agenda was working. And only 35% said they felt confident about McDonald’s success over the long term, down from 46% the previous year, according to survey results provided to The Associated Press.

Only 48% said they had a clear understanding of the company’s vision of becoming a “modern progressive burger and breakfast company.” Franchisees that say they were “proud to be a McDonald’s Owner/Operator” also fell to 77% down from 84% in 2014.

McDonald’s Corp. is working to refresh its image and combat slumping sales, with the chain facing changing eating preferences and intense competition. Lisa McComb, a McDonald’s representative, said in a statement that the results of the franchisee survey were “hardly surprising” since it was conducted between September 18 and October 4, ahead of the October 6 launch of all-day breakfast and “before McDonald’s ended the year with momentum.”

She said the company was starting 2016 “in a better place than where we were 12 months ago.”

However, according to a Business Insider report McDonald's all-day breakfast menu is crushing its competitors and sales at McDonald's US locations open for at least one year rose for the first time in two years in the fourth quarter thanks to the company's new all-day breakfast offering.

Jack in the Box sales in the last part of the quarter were lower than we anticipated as several competitors began promoting aggressive value offers.

Howard Penney, an analyst at Hedgeye Risk Management, tweeted that "the market is saying that [Dunkin Donuts] & [Bojangles] are the other companies impacted by the mighty @McDonaldsCorp all-day breakfast."

US Dollar Down Near 3-1/2-month as Yellen eyed for direction

The dollar weakens near 3-1/2-month low against a basket of major currencies on Wednesday, as traders awaits the announcement of U.S. interest rate guidance from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. It was also affected by fears of a global economic slowdown amid the recent falls in oil prices and growing concerns about the health of European banks.

Experts said that because of those difficulties, the U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates in the near future. Traders are also looking to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony later in the day for clues on the outlook for policy.

Against a basket of currencies the dollar was flat at 96.056 .DXY, having touched 95.663 on Tuesday, its weakest since October.

The low represented a 4.8% decline from its 12-1/2-year peak touched in early December when the consensus was for the Fed to keep raising rates this year, stoking a global capital rush of funds to higher-yielding dollar assets.

The dollar's fall has been most notable against the yen, which had been depressed at low levels over a long period because of the Bank of Japan's aggressive monetary easing since 2013.

The dollar fell 0.7% to 114.37 yen , not far from its 15-month low of 114.205 yen hit on Tuesday.

A fall in Japan's benchmark Nikkei share average <.n225> to its lowest levels since October 2014 helped spur demand for the safe-haven yen, analysts said.

Such weakness in Japanese equities could dampen Japanese investors' risk appetite and weigh on the dollar versus the yen in coming months, said Masashi Murata, currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.

The euro were steadfast at $1.1295, they've hit a 3-1/2 month high of $1.13385 on Tuesday.

Asia stocks Trades Lower Amid U.S. jobs data, US dollar is down

- Nikkei extends losses for fifth day, down 5.9% for the week

Asian markets were on the downside on Friday, closing mixed despite a positive finish on Wall Street overnight, as a newly weaker dollar brought fresh concerns ahead of the closely watched U.S. jobs report. The U.S. dollar basket has lost 3.2% since the close on Friday and 2.3% in just two days, with Wednesday being the worst single day in DXY in seven years.

The dollar index, where the dollar is weighted against a basket of currencies, was at 96.58.

Shanghai stocks, was slightly up by 0.2% while Australian shares dipped by 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei under performed, dropping 1.4% and headed for its fourth straight day of losses.

The biggest concern for the Japanese market now is whether the dollar will weaken against the yen further. You don't know how U.S. stocks will perform after the jobs data release, so most investors are nervous.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng bounce by 0.8% while other gainers included Malaysian and Singapore shares.

The euro were down 0.2% to $1.1188, trimming some of the gains from Thursday's surge. The common currency was headed for a 3.3% gain on the week, its biggest in more than four years.

The markets will look to the U.S. jobs data for direction, with the employment report expected to show employers adding 190,000 jobs in January.

Stocks in Asia Rally; Energy Shares Advance

Asian stocks are gaining that gave boost to global equities as markets across the region climbed, with energy shares leading the advance.

- MSCI Asia Pacific Index up by 1.2% to 119.98 as of 5:12 p.m. in Tokyo, Japan.
- Japan’s Topix index up by 1.3%
- South Korea’s Kospi index climbed 0.7%
- New Zealand’s benchmark up by 0.9%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index increased by 1.8%
- Shanghai Composite Index up by 0.8%
- Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index are up by 1.4%
- Mainland shares up by 0.8%
- Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 0.2%
- Cnooc Ltd., China’s largest offshore oil company, jumped 4.8%
- Santos Ltd. increase by 4.2% in Sydney
- Japan’s Inpex Corp. gained 3.3%
- West Texas Intermediate slide by 2.5% to $31.40 a barrel

European Stocks Bounce A Little

Stock markets around the globe and oil prices has been pretty gloomy and they slumped to year lows last Monday. They are hit by continuous stress by shrinking global growth. However, European stocks has beat the odds and staged early bounce following last week's sell-off.

Since the United States markets are closed for the holiday (Martin Luther King Day), they don't have a chance to reverse the worst start in which main indices have lost as much as 10% in just 2 weeks.

Middle Eastern stocks plunged overnight, catching up with the fall across global bourses on Friday, while the prospect of a jump in Iranian crude exports after the lifting of sanctions against the country weighed heavily on oil.

Early Monday the FTSEuroFirst 300 index of leading shares was up 0.7%. Germany's DAX was up 0.6%, France's CAC 40 was up 0.4% and Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.3%.

Gains at mobile telecoms gear marker Ericsson and luxury goods group LVMH floated the FTSEuroFirst off its 1-year low struck on Friday.

In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell to its lowest since October 2011 and was last down 0.3%.

Japan's Nikkei lost as much as 2.8% to a one-year low before closing 1.1% lower. It has lost 20% from its peak hit in June, meeting a common definition of a bear market.

MSCI's emerging stock index dropped to 6-1/2-year low on Monday, and was last down 0.3% on the day.

Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.4%, however it was still down nearly 18% this month.

On Wall Street the S&P 500 .SPX hit a 15-month low on Friday, ahead of Monday's market holiday.

In oil markets, Brent crude fell below $28 a barrel LCOc1 for the first time since December 2003 after international sanctions against Iran were lifted over the weekend, allowing Tehran to return to an already over-supplied oil market.

U.S. crude also slumped to 12-year lows CLc1, intensifying the pressure on U.S. energy sector "junk" bonds.

China Stocks Bounce Back as State Funds Said to Buy Equities

Chinese stocks bounce back after being pounded, the trading is very volatile after the Chinese government halt the controversial circuit breaker system, the central bank put up a higher yuan fix and state-controlled funds were said to buy equities.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended 2% higher, after falling as much as 2.2% earlier. The government suspendted the circuit breakers after plunges this week closed trading early on Monday and Thursday. The central bank set the currency’s reference rate little changed Friday after an 8-day stretch of weaker fixings that roiled global markets. State-controlled funds purchased Chinese stocks on Friday, focusing on financial shares and others with large weightings in benchmark indexes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Without the circuit breaker system it will help stabilize the market, but because of sense of panic that remains specially among retail investors it will be very volatile. The Government will have to continue to buy stocks significantly to stabilize the market.

While China’s high concentration of individual investors makes its stock-market notoriously volatile, the extreme swings this year have revived concern over the Communist Party’s ability to manage an economy set to grow at the weakest pace since 1990. The selloff has spread around the world this week, sending U.S. equities to their worst-ever start to a year and pushing copper to the lowest levels since 2009.

The CSI 300 Index of large-cap companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen advanced 2 percent. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed 1.7 percent from a four-year low at 3:22 p.m. as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. led gains by energy companies, while the Hang Seng Index added 1.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite pared its weekly decline to 10 percent, its biggest loss since August.

China’s decision to suspend a stock circuit breaker makes sense, but the implementation and timing don’t, said Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser at Allianz SE. China realized that it had very tight limits, which did more harm than good, El-Erian said Thursday in an interview with Scarlet Fu on Bloomberg Television.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has fallen 4.9 percent this year, its worst start in data going back to 1928. The MSCI All-Country World Index has tumbled 5.3 percent.

Trading in S&P 500 e-mini futures soared during Asia hours on Thursday, with volumes in the hour after 9 a.m. in Hong Kong more than six times their level during the same period on Monday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China releases the daily yuan reference rate around 9:15 a.m. Hong Kong time, and markets in that city and on the mainland start at 9:30 a.m.

Asian shares rebounded on Friday, led by strong gains for battered Chinese stocks after China suspended its market circuit breaker system and set a firmer midpoint rate for yuan trading for the first time in nine days.

The improved sentiment looks unlikely to spill over into Europe, however, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to open flat, and Germany's DAX .GDAXI and France's CAC 40 .FCHI to start the day 0.5 percent lower.