Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 06 September 2020

Sun Sep 6 08:26:43 CAT 2020

 <http://www.bulls.co.zw/> Bulls.co.zw        <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw?subject=View%20and%20Comments> Views & Comments        <http://www.bulls.co.zw/blog> Bullish Thoughts        <http://www.twitter.com/BullsBears2010> Twitter         <https://www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe> Facebook           <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bulls-n-bears-zimbabwe/57/577/72> LinkedIn          <https://chat.whatsapp.com/CF6wllAfScU9Wr6dXxoQnO> WhatsApp         <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw?subject=Unsubscribe> Unsubscribe

Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 06 September 2020

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

ü  Yahoo is giving away a free website to businesses

ü  Huawei Finally Launches Brilliant Google Alternative

ü  Daimler rules out expanding production in Germany

ü  Australian companies getting jobkeeper shouldn't be paying bonuses, business council head says

ü  3 reasons why Bitcoin suddenly dipped under $10K today — and recovered

ü  Flash Crash! Bitcoin dips below $10,000, Ethereum drops 12%

ü  SoftBank’s bet on tech giants fueled powerful market rally

ü  Buffett dumps Wells Fargo amplifying bull case for gold and Bitcoin

ü  Saudi crude price cuts for October signal wavering oil demand

ü  Amazon.com bans foreign sales of seeds in U.S. amid mystery packages

ü  TikTok troubles narrow gap between Beijing and ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming

ü  The basic economics of spending R10 in South Africa – and the importance of supporting local

ü  South African businesses are looking at Canada post-Covid-19 – particularly from this one sector

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Yahoo is giving away a free website to businesses

Until December 31, Yahoo is helping businesses get online with a free website, domain and email package with code PAYITFORWARD. You also get access to a comprehensive website builder - so what are you waiting for?

It might be worth a reminder that Yahoo, which is now part of sprawling conglomerate Verizon, is offering web hosting services for small businesses based in the US. 

The firm is currently running an offer (ending December 31) that includes a free website, free domain name and five business email accounts for a whole year, to help businesses navigate the pandemic.

You also get access to a website builder with more than 150 templates, email inboxes with a total capacity of 1TB, a private domain registration, a business plan creator and much more.

You will need to create a Business Maker account and use the code PAYITFORWARD at checkout. After the first year, expect to pay a little less than $800, which includes a one-off legal package charge and additional state filing fee.

An interesting feature of Yahoo’s Business Maker package is that it includes hardware and software for in-person customer payments, something that may or may not be relevant depending on your line of business.

Rounding off the package is a local business directory feature that acts like a local SEO tool to help businesses raise their profiles within their community. Alternatives exist at a much lower price, but with a very minimal feature set.

Here's our list of the best small business web hosting services around-TechRadar

Huawei Finally Launches Brilliant Google Alternative

Huawei’s latest devices have no access to Google’s Play Store, instead relying on its own store, called Huawei AppGallery. This means many crucial apps aren’t available. Now, an important arrival means one area with a big gap – navigation – suddenly has enough apps to make AppGallery a potent alternative.

This week, TomTom Go Navigation launched on AppGallery. This means it’s now available on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store as well as on Huawei phones.

September 5 update. This week saw the opening of the IFA electronics show which takes place in Berlin but is mostly online this year, At the opening day, Walter Ji, who is President of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, Europe, delivered a (virtual) keynote speech – you can see it here, it lasts 26 minutes.

The content of the speech chimed with Huawei’s commitment to make the AppGallery a credible alternative to iOS and Android. It was primarily designed to reassure what the company described as “the millions of European customers who voluntarily choose and trust Huawei’s technology”. Why is this important? Well, if that commitment is there for Europe, then customers outside China are being strongly supported, Huawei is saying.

The AppGallery, the keynote mentioned, is now the third largest app marketplace – well, that’s hardly a surprise and there’s a pretty big gap between numbers two and three. All it really means is it’s overtaken Amazon’s app store. Peter Gauden, Head of WEU EcoSystem Marketing, contributed to the keynote and explained that more than 5,000 new apps were being added each month. Which is more than might have been expected. Globally, there were 184 billion downloads of AppGallery apps in the first half of the year, though that’s not broken down by nation. Gauden also shared the detail that there are 33 million monthly active users of AppGallery in Europe out of 460 million worldwide.

Globally registered developers now total 1.6 million, Gauden said, which is a 76% increase over the first half of 2019.

He also said that Petal Search has proved very popular, with more than 1 million European users. Set against the number of European iPhone users, say, that’s not huge but here’s the thing: Petal Search, realistically, is only used by users of Huawei phones which don’t have full-fat Android on board, that is, phones from the Huawei Mate 30 onwards.

There was a strong commitment by Ji to research and development, including the claim (which is pretty powerful, assuming it’s true), that Huawei is the fifth biggest investor in R&D worldwide. It’s also the fifth on the 2019 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. No, I’ve never heard of that scoreboard either, so I can’t judge what it means. But Huawei committed to invest an extra $100 billion in R&D over five years, back in 2018 and there was a confirmation that this was on track.

All of which seems to indicate one thing: if any company in the world could create a viable third app system, it would be Huawei – something that neither Microsoft nor Nokia were successful in doing. Nor BlackBerry, for that matter.

Huawei Mobile Services Core has 81,000 apps globally integrated with it, the keynote explained, which is important as that’s what’s on offer as an alternative to Google Mobile Services which underpins many apps such as Google Maps, for instance. And one of those 81,000 is TomTom Go Navigation…

As reported by fellow Forbes contributor Zak Doffman earlier in the year, AppGallery previously took a big step forward in mapping terms when the excellent Here WeGo Maps debuted on Huawei’s store.

Here WeGo offers special benefits such as offline use thanks to free downloads of country maps in advance. But using it offline means no traffic information, for instance.

And though Here WeGo has an impeccable pedigree – it began as Nokia Maps when the Finnish company bought NavTel – it has never reached critical mass.

TomTom, however, is an unquestionable big beast in the world of mapping with huge name recognition. It also has an offline setting, something that’s strikingly important for navigation apps, since you may well be using it abroad where roaming costs can be high. With TomTom Go Navigation, detailed 3D maps are stored on the phone.

Go online and traffic information and speed camera warnings are available.

TomTom specialities include moving lane guidance which helps drivers navigate intersections by indicating which lane is best. You can also customize maps by adding or deleting regions as needed.

The only downside is that TomTom Go Navigation, unlike Here WeGo and indeed Google Maps, is not free. There’s a 30-day free trial, after which it costs $12.99 per year, $8.99 for six months or $1.99 per month.

This is not TomTom’s first collaboration with Huawei. The company uses TomTom’s mapping solution in its Huawei Mobile Services kits, which developers can use – ride-share apps need mapping kits, for example. Those are not accessible to consumers, of course, but this app, based on the same mapping, is.

Oh, and that’s not the end of the story. Huawei’s own Maps app is coming and is being developed in conjunction with TomTom. It Huawei gets it right, it could diminish the loyalty to Google Maps decisively.

You can, of course, use Google Maps already, through a web browser, but that’s hardly the same. You can even download the app on to Huawei phones, but its features are not as comprehensive. No, the big change will come with Huawei Maps, but this week’s TomTom Go Navigation addition is a very welcome arrival which works flawlessly and has the best mapping in the business.-forbes

Daimler rules out expanding production in Germany

German automotive giant Daimler has ruled out expanding production in its home country as it prepares for further cost cuts in the face of a sharp fall in global car sales.

Ola Kallenius, chief executive of the group, which owns Mercedes-Benz and is the country’s oldest carmaker, told the Financial Times it would invest in the rapidly growing Chinese market instead, “and perhaps overseas, to further keep this balance of trying to produce where you sell”.

His comments come days after German car parts supplier Continental said that a further 10,000 jobs were at risk worldwide, on top of 20,000 announced last year.

The German car industry is the backbone of Europe’s largest economy and directly employs about 815,000 people in the country, according to the VDA lobby group. A total of 2.2m work in roles related to car manufacturing.

In June, IG Metall, the union that represents most German car workers, said at least 80,000 jobs could be lost in Germany due to the downturn in the global car market caused by the pandemic.

Tens of thousands of job losses had already been announced before the outbreak, as the industry has struggled with the high costs of shifting to electric vehicle development and production.

Unlike rival Volkswagen, which has just 40 per cent of its workforce in Germany, more than half of Daimler’s 300,000 or so staff are based in its home country, where wages are significantly higher than in central and eastern Europe and Asia.

Roughly 130,000 of those jobs are guaranteed until the end of the decade, thanks to a 2017 deal between unions and former chief executive Dieter Zetsche.

However last year, Germany accounted for less than 15 per cent of Mercedes car sales, while the company sold double that amount — some 700,000 vehicles — in China alone.

Mr Kallenius, who has previously emphasised that Mercedes would seek to locate its factories closer to its biggest markets, conceded that “labour cost on the production side is higher [in Germany]”, and that Daimler would “have to get more out of labour productivity”.

Last year, it announced it would cut more than 10,000 jobs worldwide over the next couple of years, as part of efforts to save at least €1.4bn in personnel costs.

Because of the pandemic, “the restructuring is going to have to go a little bit deeper”, Mr Kallenius said, but he would not say how many more jobs would be lost.

“We will present to the markets when we have more information on where we think the market is going to go next year,” he added.

On Thursday, Daimler announced it had invested €730m in upgrading parts of its Mercedes factory in Sindelfingen, near Stuttgart, which supports approximately 200,000 jobs in the region, and is where its flagship luxury S-Class saloon is made.-ft

Australian companies getting jobkeeper shouldn't be paying bonuses, business council head says

Companies receiving jobkeeper wage subsidies should not give executive bonuses and should think twice before paying dividends, the head of the Business Council of Australia has said.

Jennifer Westacott made the comments in a wide-ranging interview on ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday during which she also decried the mooted extension of Melbourne’s lockdown and called for investment in renewable energy to kickstart the economy out of the Covid-19 recession.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed the government’s jobkeeper 2.0 legislation despite concerns companies are using it to pay dividends, the rate is being reduced even as Australia enters the first recession in 30 years, and the scheme allows employers who previously accessed the scheme to cut workers’ hours.

Jobkeeper, which pays workers of companies suffering revenue downturns $1,500 a fortnight through their employer, is now set to continue until March 2021. But the rate of jobkeeper will reduce to $1,200 a fortnight in September and $1,000 in January, with lower rates paid to part-time workers.

The 'dividendkeeper' shuffle: how jobkeeper payments are flowing to shareholders

Read more

Westacott said jobkeeper had been a “blunt but nation-saving instrument”.

“We believe that the government has stayed the course in phasing it out, because it’s having a lot of distortionary effects,” she said.

“You hear of restaurants making a 75% increase in profits when they haven’t been open. That doesn’t make any sense.”

Westacott said “companies should not be paying executive bonuses if they are receiving jobkeeper” because “it wasn’t designed for that, it was designed to keep people working”.

Paying dividends was “more complicated” because they are “usually a long-run policy of companies to [pay] their shareholders”, many of who are self-funded retirees and mum and dad investors, she said.

“If I were those companies, I would exercise some very careful judgement about these. Certainly on executive bonuses, I think that companies should not do that.”

The Australian Financial Review has reported that Domino’s Pizza, Southern Cross Austereo, K&S Corporation, Adairs, ARB, Ingenia, and Korvest have averaged profit of 70% but received a combined $57.5 million in jobkeeper payments.

On Friday the BCA made a pre-budget submission calling for the government to boost growth by bringing forward stage two and three of personal income tax cuts, introducing a 20% investment allowance for business, and investing up to $53bn in energy investments to de-carbonise the economy and lower prices.

Westacott said the submission reflected that Australia “is in the worst position we’ve been in for 100 years and there’s no guarantee that we’ll just easily find our way out of this”.

Westacott said business investment is in “free-fall” and a 20% tax deduction “will make things that don’t stack up now, stack up”.

“We think that it should be broad, it should be simple, and it should be available to all parts of the economy,” she said, including both big mining companies and retailers.

Westacott blasted Australia’s two-tier company tax rate, renewing calls to lower the 30% rate for big business down to 25%.

Despite the BCA now advocating for the government to pick industries to receive support to lead the recovery, Westacott reiterated that the BCA opposes underwriting energy projects for favoured sources of electricity generation.

“We’ve always been calling for that to not occur, because we think that it squeezes out important investment that the private sector would do,” she said.

“There’s a lot of pent-up investment in the energy sector.

“So let’s prioritise investment in those projects that are going to lower prices, in those projects that are going to lower our emissions, so we get our energy system set up for the future.”

Westacott called for governments to remove moratoriums on conventional and unconventional gas, but demurred on whether Australia should pursue a gas-led recovery as advocated by the National Covid-19 Commission Advisory Board.

“Let’s have a look at that,” she said. “Be very careful about spending taxpayer money when the private sector would do it.

“When governments do things that the private sector would normally do, they discourage private sector investment. More importantly, they divert important taxpayer money away from other vital areas.”-theguardian

3 reasons why Bitcoin suddenly dipped under $10K today — and recovered

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to sub-$10,000 across major exchanges again on Sep. 5, marking two consecutive days of testing the crucial level. Other major cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum’s Ether (ETH), fell by nearly 10%.

The daily chart of Bitcoin

The daily chart of Bitcoin. Source: TradingView.com

Three factors likely contributed to the abrupt drop of Bitcoin include miners, a strong dollar and whales taking profits. 

Did whales take profit?

When the price of Bitcoin suddenly dropped by 5% to $9,975 on Binance, BitMEX liquidations were below $40 million. Typically, when a massive price movement occurs, it causes over $100 million worth of futures contracts to get wiped out.

The futures data suggests that the selling pressure came from the spot market. While possible, there is a low probability that retail investors began to dump aggressively at above $10,500. 

Whales taking profit at $10,500, which has historically served as a multi-year resistance level for Bitcoin, is more likely. 

But whales have been taking profit since Bitcoin achieved $12,000. As Cointelegraph previously reported, a whale sold at $12,000 after “HODLing” BTC for over two years. 

Some miners potentially selling

Throughout the week, on-chain data provider CryptoQuant said that mining pools had been taking profits. Ki Young-Ju, the firm’s CEO, said:

“Miners send a certain amount of BTC to exchanges periodically, so they already have a large amount of BTC in the exchange. Whenever they decided to sell, it seems they move a relatively significant amount of BTCs to other wallets, and some of them are going to exchanges.”

The gradual sell-off of BTC by miners since mid-August could have built significant selling pressure on Bitcoin. However, Poolin vice president Alejandro De La Torre emphasized that it is challenging to accurately track miner outflows. He noted:

“I can reassure you that CryptoQuant does NOT know which wallets are owned by Poolin. perhaps it's a handful of (big) miners they are tracking... even still, many assumptions.”

A strong dollar, ETH weakness

A common theme throughout the past two weeks — as Bitcoin consolidated — was the strengthening of the U.S. dollar. The USD began to show signs of recovery after four months of downside while the euro began to slump.

Since both Bitcoin and gold are valued mostly by the U.S. dollar, and many BTC traders are based in the United States, the increasing value of the dollar contributed to BTC’s weakening momentum.

Furthermore, the substantial decline in the price of ETH could have amplified the downtrend. On Sep. 5, ETH dropped below $360, to as low as sub-$340. A well-known trader known as “Byzantine General” said if ETH falls below $360, $290 is the next likely target. He said:

“I've learned that this is an ‘ascending, right angled, broadening formation.’ Very typical after an uptrend, and a pretty neutral pattern: 55% of the times breaks out upwards. But man, 360 better hold or otherwise we go straight to 290, possibly 250.”

Ether front-ran the Bitcoin rally since early April and the weakness in ETH could have intensified the short-term drop of BTC. But Bitcoin has since recovered, stabilizing above $10,200. The trend demonstrates decent buying demand above $10,000, which could result in longer consolidation.

Michael van de Poppe, a full-time trader at the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, said the move could be bullish for BTC, noting:

“Finally, liquidity at the lows taken. Reclaim of $10,000 would mean a S/R flip and a very probable chance we'll look for liquidity above the range highs. That would suit a bounce towards $10,750-10,900 and majority of the markets bounce 25-40%.”-cointelegraph

Flash Crash! Bitcoin dips below $10,000, Ethereum drops 12%

The first and second largest coins by market cap suffered heavy defeats this week.

It was too good to be true: What goes up must come down. Still, traders were disappointed by today's Ethereum flash crash of not-quite 12% and Bitcoin's latest drop of 2%.

Here's what happened to Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap. All was going well for ETH this week, which on Wednesday hit $487, its highest price since the summer of 2018, according to metrics site CoinMarketCap. Then, like a flaming plane searching for a cornfield to land on, Ethereum started to nosedive. It finally hit the ground this morning, falling from $385 to $339, its lowest price since the end of July. Its crash scuppered the profits of local yield farmers; decentralized finance coin YFI fell by 27% over the past 24 hours.

(A little explanation for the labored metaphor: this summer's ETH boom can be in part attributed to the rise of decentralized finance, or DeFi. DeFi, a catch-all term for non-custodial financial services, runs almost exclusively on the Etheruem blockchain, so an easy way to access its protocols is to swap ETH tokens for DeFi coins. Lots of DeFi protocols offered extra DeFi coins as a reward for investing lots of money in them. That's called yield farming. So when ETH took a hit, so did the rest of the yield farming market).

Bitcoin's fall looks a little more graceful since its price only dropped by 2% in the past 24 hours, per CoinMarketCap. But take a closer look and the largest cryptocurrency by market cap is just as wounded. First, Bitcoin's fell from $12,000 this week. Its price hit in the past 24 hours is the latest of three sharp jabs in the gut this week.

And on some crypto exchanges, such as Binance, Bitcoin briefly fell below $10,000. (According to CoinMarketCap, its price is $10,202 right now). That's significant, because Bitcoin's price hasn't fallen below $10,000 since the beginning of the summer. And it spent the spring recovering from its previous fall from $10,000, which occurred back in March due to the pandemic.

Is this summer's bull run finally coming to an end?-decrypt

SoftBank’s bet on tech giants fueled powerful market rally

Investors watching the vertigo-inducing rise -- and this week's fall -- of technology stocks are buzzing about a single trade, a giant but shadowy bet on Silicon Valley big enough to pull the market up with it.

The investor behind that trade, according to people familiar with the matter, is Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., which bought options tied to around $50 billion worth of individual tech stocks. Investors and analysts, aware of the activity but in the dark as to who is behind it, say it has turbocharged the tech sector, whose sheer size drives broader market moves.

A SoftBank spokesperson declined to comment.

The stock market rebounded to record highs this year despite serious pain in the economy from the coronavirus pandemic. Tech stocks led the charge as work, school and entertainment shifted online, but entered a new phase in recent weeks.

Before this week's retreat, Apple Inc. had gained nearly $700 billion in market value since the end of July and Tesla Inc. shares more than doubled, making the electric car maker one of world's 10 most valuable companies.

Regulatory filings show SoftBank bought nearly $4 billion of shares in tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Netflix Inc. this spring, plus a stake in Tesla. Not included in those disclosures is the massive options trade, which is built to pay off if the stock market rises to a certain level and then lock in gains, the people said.

Ticker Security       Last   Change        Change %

AAPL  APPLE INC.   120.96        +0.08 +0.07%

TSLA  TESLA INC.  418.32        +11.32        +2.78%

AMZN AMAZON.COM INC. 3,294.62     -73.38         -2.18%

MSFT MICROSOFT CORP. 214.25        -3.05 -1.40%

NFLX  NETFLIX INC.         516.05        -9.70 -1.84%

GOLDMAN SACHS JOINS ANT’S UP TO $30B IPO BANKING SYNDICATE, SOURCES SAY

SoftBank bought a roughly equal amount of call options tied to the underlying shares it bought, as well as on other names, according to people familiar with the matter. It also sold call options at far higher prices. This allows SoftBank to profit from a near-term run-up in stocks and then reap those profits by unloading its position to willing counterparties.

Investors pay a small premium to buy options, giving them exposure to a much larger notional amount of shares. In SoftBank's case, the roughly $4 billion in options generated an exposure of around $50 billion, according to the people familiar with the matter.

A handful of massive tech stocks -- Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, and Google-owner Alphabet -- make up about a quarter of the S&P 500 index. They take the broader stock market with them when they rise or fall. Their dramatic rally in recent weeks has pushed the stock market to new highs, but raised concerns of a dangerous unwind that could drag the market down with them.

Ticker Security       Last   Change        Change %

FB      FACEBOOK INC.     282.73        -8.39 -2.88%

GOOGL        ALPHABET INC.      1,581.21     -48.30         -2.96%

ETSY GETS INTO S&P 500, TESLA DOES NOT

The possibility of such an unwind came into focus Friday, as the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell sharply for the second day, dropping 1.3% and capping off its worst week since March.

Traders say the market dynamics could be partially explained by investments like SoftBank's. Options activity has been so robust that traders have said it has helped intensify the rally in tech stocks and unleashed unusual dynamics across markets. SoftBank's options positions were reported earlier by the Financial Times.

Options strategies were at play in gains in stocks like Salesforce.com Inc., which jumped 26% in one day after its earnings, traders said. Options are contracts that allow investors to buy or sell shares at a specific price, later in time. Call options confer the right to buy, while puts give the right to sell. Traders can tap these derivatives contracts to make directional bets on stocks or hedge their portfolios.

Ticker Security       Last   Change        Change %

CRM   SALESFORCE.COM 254.70        -10.31         -3.89%

WARREN BUFFETT'S BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY SLASHES STAKE IN WELLS FARGO

Investors buy options contracts tied to individual stocks or to broad indexes such as the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq Composite. When banks and brokerages arrange options for investors, they are left with their own exposure to the markets.

To zero that exposure out, options dealers buy derivatives and stocks. In the case of call options, this can give stocks and indexes another boost higher. As shares jump, they need to hedge more, adding fuel to the fire. Such hedging activity can also intensify moves when markets head lower.

According to traders, there have been mammoth options trades that include buying call options on stocks like Amazon.com Inc., Adobe Inc., Netflix Inc., Facebook Inc. Microsoft Corp, generating chatter across Wall Street.

Some of that options activity has come from individual investors, who have been lured by free trades on sites such as Robinhood Markets Inc. SoftBank's role indicates large institutions are also playing a role in the frenzy of tech options trading.

"It's exacerbating moves," said Danny Kirsch, head of options at brokerage Cornerstone Macro, of the surge in tech options activity. "That's why these moves are getting very stretched both ways."

SoftBank is best known for its $100 billion Vision Fund, which invests in startups including Uber Technologies Inc. and TikTok owner Bytedance. But in July its founder and CEO, Masayoshi Son, announced a new unit to invest in public markets, similar to a hedge fund in its scope and tactics.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son (REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo)

STOCKS TO GRIND HIGHER OVER NEXT DECADE: BANK OF AMERICA

Part of that unit includes a $555 million, 12-year fund, one-third of which is Mr. Son's personal money. It adds another tentacle to SoftBank's globe-trotting, asset-spanning investment ambitions. Mr. Son, often given to bouts of whimsy, hid a clue in the name: 555 in Japanese is pronounced "go, go, go."

SoftBank only recently emerged from a serious rough patch. The company's bet on office landlord WeWork soured, requiring SoftBank to bail it out. Concentrated investments in ride hailing startups were hammered when the pandemic shut down travel. It reported a $9 billion loss in the fiscal year ended March, its worst year ever.

Softbank's shares plummeted in March and the company announced a major shift in strategy. It would unload more than $40 billion in legacy assets. That number is now more than $50 billion and will include the sale of its stakes in T-Mobile US Inc., Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and SoftBank's Japanese telecom unit.

The stock market rebounded to record highs this year despite serious pain in the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.  

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE

Much of that cash was originally earmarked for share buybacks and debt redemption. But SoftBank paused the buyback plan it announced in March after its shares rocketed higher. Mr. Son said SoftBank is in no hurry to repurchase more of its roughly $47 billion in bonds, since the company has enough cash to cover redemptions for the next two years, and bondholders don't particularly want to sell.

It is a departure for Mr. Son, who is known for long-term bets on young tech firms, including his $20 million bet on Alibaba in 2000. The fund will instead invest primarily in highly liquid, publicly traded companies, making extensive use of derivatives and leverage to boost returns.

Some SoftBank shareholders are uneasy about the new stock trading unit. They invest in tech stocks themselves, and are perplexed that SoftBank is now aiming to do the same thing, according to SoftBank investors. Mr. Son, who has a one-third stake in the stock-trading fund, promised to make up a portion of shortfalls in the fund if it lost money at the end of its 12-to-14 year life, according to the company.

When questioned about the stake at a virtual investors' meeting last month, Mr. Son said he wanted to take risk and get upside, according to two people familiar with the gathering. "I'm not a bonus and salary guy, " he told the listeners, one of those people said.

Buffett dumps Wells Fargo amplifying bull case for gold and Bitcoin

Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway substantially cut their position on Wells Fargo, selling 100 million shares. The Oracle of Omaha is continuing to trim his position in bank stocks, buoying the bull case for gold and Bitcoin (BTC).

Berkshire reportedly held $32 billion in equity in Wells Fargo at one point, Fox Business reported on Sep. 5. The investment conglomerate now owns 3.3% in equity of the lender, worth just $3.36 billion.

Why did Buffett cut Wells Fargo and how could it benefit Bitcoin?

Throughout his career, Buffett emphasized the importance of value investing and cash flow. The investor typically prefers businesses with predictable and stable operations that result in consistent profitability.

In July, Wells Fargo posted a $2.4 billion loss, recording its first loss since the 2008 housing crisis. Following the disappointing quarterly report, the company said it would cut its dividend to 10 cents per share.

This month, Moody’s cut its rating from stable to negative, citing the slow process to overhaul its governance. Allen Tischler, a Moody’s analyst said:

“The outlook change reflects Wells Fargo’s slower-than-anticipated pace in resolving its legacy governance, oversight, compliance, and operational risk management deficiencies. The slow pace weighs on its expense base, further undermining its earnings potential against the backdrop of challenging operating conditions.”

The confluence of the quarterly loss, the dividend cut, and the downgraded outlook likely led Buffett to trim his position.

But the persistent theme in Berkshire’s portfolio reshuffle in recent months is its investment in Barrick Gold. While decreasing its exposure to the U.S. banking sector, Buffett invested in gold and Japanese trading companies.

The decision shows that Buffett is seeking safety in terms of cash flow and a hedge against inflation. The Barrick Gold investment fuels the bull case of Bitcoin because the perception of BTC as a store of value is improving, especially given the tight correlation between the two since the March 2020 crash.

Other notable investors, including the Winklevoss twins, believe Bitcoin as “digital gold” would compete against gold over the long term. Specifically, its immense upside potential makes it an attractive investment since BTC market capitalization is still roughly only 1.5% of gold. 

Cameron Winkelvoss, the co-founder of Gemini, said Bitcoin already made significant ground on gold. He said:

“Bitcoin has made significant ground on gold — going from white paper to over $200 billion in market capitalization in under a decade. It will continue to cannibalize gold dramatically over the next decade.”

As Cointelegraph Markets reported last Monday, Wall Street veteran and host of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser, believes Buffett exiting the dollar is a bullish signal for the price of gold and Bitcoin. 

“Buffett’s move into Japan, along with his gold investment, confirms he’s getting out of USD bigly,” he said. “Bitcoin - Gold - Silver Will all make new ATH in the near term.”-cointelegraph

Saudi crude price cuts for October signal wavering oil demand

(Bloomberg) --Saudi Arabia cut pricing for oil sales to Asia and the U.S. for October shipments, a sign that the world’s biggest exporter may see fuel demand wavering amid flare-ups in the coronavirus.

State oil producer Saudi Aramco is cutting its benchmark Arab Light crude more than expected and lowering the grade to a discount for the first time since June for buyers in Asia. It’s the second-consecutive month of cuts for barrels to Asia. Aramco will also trim pricing for lighter barrels to northwest Europe and the Mediterranean region.

Aramco is reducing pricing to Asia for October shipments of the Light grade by $1.40 a barrel, to 50 cents below the regional benchmark. The company was expected to pare pricing by $1 a barrel, to a 10-cent discount, according to a Bloomberg survey of eight traders and refiners.

Oil demand has plunged this year as the pandemic forced governments to lock down economies, airlines to cancel fights and workers to stay at home. Saudi Arabia joined with Russia and other producers in the OPEC+ coalition to make record cuts in production, taking about a 10th of global supply off the market. Crude prices have more than doubled since April to around $45 a barrel but are still down more than 30% this year.

The Saudis had previously supported the rally by raising pricing each month from June to August. However, demand from refineries has softened due to weak profits from turning crude into gasoline and other fuels. Even as economies began to recover, swollen stockpiles -- rather than supplies of fresh crude -- absorbed much of the increase in demand.

Saudi Arabia usually sets the tone for pricing decisions by other Middle Eastern suppliers, including Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, the second- and third-largest producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Amazon.com bans foreign sales of seeds in U.S. amid mystery packages

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said it has banned foreign sales of seeds in the United States after thousands of Americans received unsolicited packages of seeds in their mailboxes, mostly postmarked from China.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in July identified more than a dozen plant species ranging from morning glories to mustard in the bags of unsolicited seeds. It warned Americans not to plant the seeds.

According to plant experts, seeds from other parts of the world could be non-native varieties that harm commodity crops.

“Moving forward, we are only permitting the sale of seeds by sellers who are based in the U.S.,” Amazon said in an emailed statement on Saturday.

The company changed its policy on seed sales on Wednesday. The policy change was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The company added that sellers who do not follow its guidelines will be subject to action, including potential removal of their accounts.

According to Amazon’s policy web page, the ban extends to plants and plant products.

The USDA in July said the packages were most likely part of a “brushing” scam, in which people receive unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false positive customer reviews to boost sales.

In an update on Aug. 11, Osama El-Lissy, a deputy administrator for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), said the experts analyzing some of the seeds from China found very few problems. El-Lissy added that the two countries were working jointly on the investigation.

TikTok troubles narrow gap between Beijing and ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has long positioned himself as a global internet entrepreneur, largely eschewing Chinese government involvement, but U.S. demands to sell his crown jewel TikTok are testing the boundaries with Beijing.

A year ago, ByteDance was approached by the Chinese government with offers of help when TikTok, a short-video app with a huge following among young people globally, faced political heat in India, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters. But the company sent only mid-level staff to meet with government officials, signalling that the company wanted to go it alone.

The 38-year-old Zhang, who has trodden a different path to other high-profile Chinese tech tycoons, shifted tack in August when President Donald Trump threatened to ban TikTok in the United States unless it was sold to a U.S. firm.

Zhang’s team sought a meeting on his behalf with China’s ambassador in Washington, Cui Tiankai, two sources familiar with the matter said.

While Zhang was only hoping for an informal chat with Cui to seek advice, his approach was seen as a turning point, government and industry sources told Reuters.

The embassy directed the ByteDance team to the foreign ministry in Beijing. Although no further talks took place, and Cui and Zhang did not speak, the Chinese government interpreted the approach as a signal that ByteDance was open to assistance.

China entered the fray on August 28, by revising a tech export control list that experts said would give them regulatory oversight over any TikTok deal. Reuters could not determine if Beijing’s interpretation of Zhang’s approach and the Chinese government move were linked.

One of the sources said that by standing up for ByteDance, Beijing wanted to demonstrate to private companies caught in the crossfire of China-U.S. strategic competition that the country is firmly behind them.

“We want to show all other countries that this is what the Chinese government will do if you bully any of our companies, so don’t follow what the U.S. is doing,” the source said.

The diplomatic dance taking place around TikTok follows years of acrimony between Washington and Beijing over the role of China’s Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL], which the U.S. has alleged is effectively a Trojan horse for Chinese espionage.

Huawei and Beijing have repeatedly denied any such activity.

Asked about its engagement with ByteDance, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said he was not aware of the specifics of the situation, adding that the United States was over-generalising the concept of national security and abusing its power.

“Not only does it go against market principles and international rules, it is a mockery to the principles of market economy and fair competition that the U.S. prides itself on,” he added.

A senior U.S. administration official said China had blocked U.S. tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter for years and the United States’ actions were designed to protect the private information of its citizens.

“We’re just very concerned that, essentially, anything that could be done on that platform would be subject to the Chinese Communist Party’s algorithmic attempts to control human behavior worldwide.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ByteDance declined to comment.

TikTok has said it would not comply with any request to share user data with the Chinese authorities.

‘POLITICAL FOOTBALL’

China had originally considered speeding up the launch of an “entity list” to punish foreign companies, groups and individuals deemed harmful to its interests, a government source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

But this was dropped as a countermeasure to the Trump administration’s move to ban transactions with ByteDance and Tencent’s (0700.HK) WeChat because it would have escalated tensions and was replaced instead by the rules published last week.

Zhang did not know of the tech export rule revisions ahead of time, two sources told Reuters, and the company’s view is that it ultimately prefers to be free to make its own decisions, according to one of the sources. Others close to the TikTok sale talks say the move threw a spanner in the works of already-complicated negotiations and could scupper any deal.

China’s commerce ministry, which published revisions to the tech export control list, did not respond to a request for comment. 

ByteDance is negotiating with a Microsoft-Walmart (WMT.N)(MSFT.O) coalition, and a competing investor consortium led by software firm Oracle (ORCL.N), on a sale of TikTok that could be worth as much as $30 billion.

ByteDance is still keen not to become a “political football” and prefers to use legal means rather than rely on government backing to resolve the issue, the source said. The company is suing to block one of Trump’s orders.

“I doubt having the government speak up for this company can do much in helping it gain market access into another country,” said Chu Yin, a Chinese scholar with the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think-tank.

“ByteDance might fare better if it can share some interests with its competitors in the U.S.,” he added.

A DIFFERENT PATH

Zhang has pursued a different path to Chinese internet entrepreneurs such as Alibaba (BABA.N) founder Jack Ma, who is a Communist Party member, and Tencent’s Pony Ma and Baidu’s (BIDU.O) founder and chief executive Robin Li, who are both members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a ceremonial advisory body.

Zhang, who is not a member of either, has focussed on global growth even as his counterparts have retrenched from overseas and opted to focus on domestic markets.

This year he appointed new heads for the China operations to personally take up more responsibility over ByteDance’s international business and also began moving key research capabilities and decision-making functions abroad. In March, he said in an open letter that he spent two-thirds of 2019 overseas.

He has personally sought advice from around ten people at U.S. think-tanks and former U.S. government officials recently, a source familiar with the situation said.

Zhang has also taken numerous steps to assuage U.S. concerns that TikTok could be endangering Americans by collecting personal data and censoring political content.

He hired former Disney exec Kevin Mayer as TikTok CEO, moved TikTok content moderation work outside China and established a “transparency center” in the U.S. to give outsiders access to observe TikTok’s data security practices and policies.

The basic economics of spending R10 in South Africa – and the importance of supporting local

As South Africa battles the twin effects of illness and lockdown, the time is ripe to consider carefully how and where South Africans spend their money, writes Catherine Wijnberg, director and founder of the Fetola Foundation.

There are those who have lots, and those who have little, yet if people understood the power of a single Rand to change the future of the country, everyone might spend it very differently.

In 2015, a paper on the negative impact of shopping malls on local economies used research from India, USA and South Africa to explain how the arrival of a glamorous mall sucks the money out of the local community and pulls it away, into the coffers of big business.

The counterargument in favour of malls is that small, rural and township dwellers deserve first world shopping, which provide local jobs and convenience, entertainment and better pricing than traditional high street shops.

Most township residents would certainly vote for glorious first world shopping and low prices, at least in the first year. By year three however they might notice, for example in the small town of Grabouw or Knysna perhaps, how the main street is deserted. Small businesses that had thrived there for generations are now reduced to mere shells of their former self and replaced by those selling counterfeit, imported T-shirts or cheap bling.

The money circulating locally has dwindled, small businesses have closed, many jobs have disappeared, and local wealth departed along with them.

By year four or five, the shopping malls also suffer as local buying power is depressed along with the lower employment rate, resulting in an overall downturn in spending.

For those who need more convincing, it is important to look at the maths of it. In basic terms it works like this – in the days before the arrival of malls and major chain stores, Mary would spend R10 at the baker; who (assuming a 10% profit retention); would spend R9 at the butcher; who would spend R8 at the tailor; who would spend R7 at the school; who would spend R6 at the stationery store; who would spend R5 at the farmer’s market and so on. A simple illustration of how one R10 note can create wealth ten times over.

Local wealth

In today’s reality (especially in poor communities such as the Eastern Cape where up to 60% of the population live off social grants and there is very little local economic activity), Mary gets R10. She spends R7 at the local Boxer store where R2 of her money goes to a local shop wages, R5 goes to national suppliers elsewhere in the country and R1 goes to shareholders at the JSE.

She also spends R3 to buy data at MTN, so all that money goes to MTN headquartered in Gauteng. None of her R10 circulates in the local economy so no one other than Mary benefits from it. Money in equals money out and there is zero local wealth creation. Mary’s R10 didn’t stay in the local community for even one day.

This is not just a South African phenomenon though. In America: “Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days. How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!

African American buying power is at 1.1 trillion; and yet only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses.”

This indicates that this is more than a mere economics problem, but a social and cultural one – why do some communities care for each other, by shopping local and others not? Is it because South Africans simply haven’t understood the power of that rand in their hand, or is something else at play?

Why supporting local matters

It is time to ask the question of rich and poor alike: “If I knew this R10 could change the lives of ten other families in my community simply by spending it locally in a small spaza shop, a corner café or a farmer’s market rather than at a mall, a chain retail store or a chain restaurant then why am I not doing that?”

By supporting small independent businesses in our community, encouraging citizens to trade with other local businesses using local collaboration platforms, local discount cards, and pleasurable local entertainment will build stronger, supportive human communities, generate local jobs, and ensure that our money circulates so that ten families can benefit from every R10 that enters the system.

Shopping malls can also develop more viable long-term strategies such as those showcased by the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, who have improved their lasting appeal and built a more sustainable and healthy surrounding economy by actively encouraging a diverse mixture of smaller businesses, and ensuring their survival with business support in a win, win, win for the mall, the small shops and consumers.

Recovery and regrowth of South Africa’s economy is our responsibility; now that you know the power of your money, where are you going to spend your next rand?

South African businesses are looking at Canada post-Covid-19 – particularly from this one sector

Covid-19 and the national lockdown in South Africa have had a devastating impact on small business. As a result, many are taking the decision to look elsewhere, rather than starting over again in a country deep in recession.

Businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry have been particularly hard-hit, given the uncertainty of around future travel. Many restaurants and bars were forced to close permanently over the past six months, forcing owners to contemplate the future.

Bloomberg’s Misery Index, which relies on the age-old concept that low inflation and unemployment levels show how good a country’s residents feel, ranks South Africa as the third-worst country among major economies.

Nicholas Avramis of Canadian Immigration service, Beaver Immigration, told BusinessTech that he has seen a 50% spike in his business since the beginning of June, with small business owners in particular, looking at their options to immigrate.

“Businesses are starting to leave South Africa,” he said. The types of business are from industries across the board: franchise owners, alcohol related businesses, restaurants and hospitality businesses, textiles, software companies, and other IT related businesses.

Avramis said that he has seen a particular jump in enquiries from businesses in the hospitality industry, notably restaurant owners. He said many of these business owners have been forced to close down and are now questioning whether they should reinvest in a country facing long term load shedding, and constant CCMA labour disputes.

The immigration specialist said that what really killed restaurants is that they applied to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), and temporary employer/employee relief scheme (Ters) for benefits for their workers, and didn’t see a cent.

“Many questioned, ‘do I start over again with the capital I have left, or do I take that capital and invest in Canada?'”

Avramis said that a common story he hears from clients is the difficulty to do business in the country these days, citing regulation and inconsistency.

Moving abroad is becoming a serious consideration not only for the rich but the middle class as well, said Jean-François Harvey, global managing partner of Harvey Law Group (HLG) Africa.

“Amid these uncertain times people investing in immigration programmes are no longer just the ultra-high-net-worth individuals; it has become a popular option for the middle-class South Africans as well.”

Popular destinations include New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, UK, and the US. Harvey Law Group said that the residency and citizenship-by-investment are sought-after strategies.

A second residency or passport provides a safety net for an exit strategy, wealth preservation, as well as financial protection against economic slowdowns and political uncertainties in third world countries, it said.

Invest Wisely!

Bulls n Bears 

Cellphone:      <tel:%2B263%2077%20344%201674> +263 77 344 1674

Alt. Email:       <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw  

Website:         <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNH8LYgdY55h-XKseuM8Kpr-JKdfhQ> www.bulls.co.zw 

Blog:            <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bulls.co.zw%2Fblog&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFoIy6F9IXAiYnSoPSgWDYsr8Sqtw> www.bulls.co.zw/blog

Twitter:         @bullsbears2010

LinkedIn:       Bulls n Bears Zimbabwe

Facebook:      <http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FBullsBearsZimbabwe&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGhb_A5rp4biV1dGHbgiAhUxQqBXA> www.facebook.com/BullsBearsZimbabwe

Skype:         Bulls.Bears 

INVESTORS DIARY 2020

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Companies under Cautionary

Bindura Nickel Corporation

Padenga Holdings

Delta Corporation

Meikles Limited

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

(c) 2020 Web: <http:// www.bulls.co.zw >  www.bulls.co.zw Email:  <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> info at bulls.co.zw Tel: +263 4 2927658 Cell: +263 77 344 1674

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20200906/ac78c63b/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 31411 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20200906/ac78c63b/attachment-0004.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 31397 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20200906/ac78c63b/attachment-0005.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image003.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 4846 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20200906/ac78c63b/attachment-0006.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 31402 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listmail.bulls.co.zw/pipermail/bulls/attachments/20200906/ac78c63b/attachment-0007.jpg>