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Friday, July 29, 2016

Google AD Business is Surging

google ads, business, economy


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.


Friday, July 22, 2016

Verizon is close to Acquiring Yahoo

CEO Marissa Mayer
Verizon


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

S&P, stocks, US stocks, business, finance


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.


Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Shares in Asia Continue its Gains as risk appetite improves

Nikkei Stock Average


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.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

UK Pound Down below $1.30 on Brexit jitters

UK Pound, finance, money


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.