Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 15 January 2021

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Fri Jan 15 09:31:58 CAT 2021


 

	
 


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Major International Business Headlines Brief::: 15 January 2021

 


 

 




 


 

 


ü  Bitcoin surge helps lift Grayscale assets to record $20 billion in 2020

ü  Google closes Fitbit deal as U.S., Australia probes continue

ü  Steinmetz denies corruption as trial over Guinea’s Simandou prospect gets underway

ü  Parler urges U.S. judge to order Amazon to restore its platform

ü  Decline in Zimbabwe small scale mining results in 31% lower annual gold sales

ü  Zambia reportedly concludes deal with Glencore to increase stake in Mopani Copper

ü  SA mining confident it can tackle risk of heightened infections amid Covid-19 surge

ü  Trump Plans to Live at Mar-a-Lago, Employ Some Current Aides

ü  Analysis: Biden's $1.9 trillion rescue package offers bridge for hard-hit economy

ü  Trump's China tech war backfires on automakers as chips run short

ü  Amazon faces class-action lawsuit over eBook pricing

ü  Samsung launches new flagship Galaxy S smartphone early, targets remote workers, gamers

 


 

 


Bitcoin surge helps lift Grayscale assets to record $20 billion in 2020

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Grayscale, the world’s largest digital currency manager, said on Thursday its assets under management surged more than 900% to $20.2 billion at the end of last year, lifted by record inflows in the fourth quarter and the surge in the price of bitcoin.

 

The cryptocurrency manager started 2020 overseeing $2 billion in assets.

 

In a report, Grayscale said it saw record investor demand in the fourth quarter, with approximately $3.3 billion in inflows. Investments into the Grayscale products surpassed $5.7 billion during 2020, more than four times the $1.2 billion cumulative inflow from 2013-2019.

 

Also helping Grayscale’s cause was a sky-rocketing bitcoin, which hit an all-time peak of $42,000 last week. Bitcoin was last up 6.4% at $39,748. In 2020, bitcoin soared more than 300%.

 

“The monetary and fiscal measures by governments globally served as the catalyst for the surge of interest in bitcoin,” the crypto fund manager said in the report. “As monetary inflation became a pressing concern, institutional investors took action by allocating to bitcoin.”

 

Grayscale’s bitcoin-focused flagship product -- Grayscale Bitcoin Trust -- ended the 2020 with assets of $17.5 billion, from $1.8 billion at the beginning of the year.

 

Institutions have historically accounted for the majority of Grayscale’s inflows and this was particularly true in the fourth quarter. Institutions accounted for 93% of capital inflows, or $3.0 billion, Grayscale said.-Reuters

 

 

 

Google closes Fitbit deal as U.S., Australia probes continue

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Search and advertising giant Google closed its deal to buy fitness tracking company Fitbit, the companies said on Thursday, even as U.S. and Australian competition regulators said they were continuing probes of the $2.1 billion transaction.

 

The Justice Department, which sued Alphabet Inc’s Google in October for allegedly violating antitrust law in its search and search advertising businesses, said it “has not reached a final decision about whether to pursue an enforcement action” regarding the Fitbit deal.

 

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Chair Rod Sims said “depending on the results of our investigation, we will consider whether to take legal action on this matter.”

 

Google said it “complied with the DOJ’s (Justice Department’s) extensive review for the past 14 months, and the agreed upon waiting period expired without their objection.”

 

“We continue to be in touch with them and we’re committed to answering any additional questions,” the company added.

 

Google did not immediately respond to Sims’ statement.

 

It is rare for a big deal to close without antitrust approval.

 

Google won EU antitrust approval last month for its Fitbit bid after agreeing to restrictions on how it will use customers’ health-related data.

 

Australia rejected similar restrictions proposed by Google, expressing concern that the company might block Fitbit rivals from connecting to phones running Google’s Android operating software.

 

Fitbit makes a watch-like device to measure physical activity that competes with Apple Watch and others. Google said it was buying the company to compete in this market.

 

“We worked with global regulators on an approach which safeguards consumers’ privacy expectations,” Google said in a blog post, which said Fitbit had 29 million active users.

 

“(That includes) a series of binding commitments that confirm Fitbit users’ health and wellness data won’t be used for Google ads and this data will be separated from other Google ads data.”

 

While Alphabet is best known for a free service, its search engine, it has many other businesses, including online advertising services, audio device and thermostat maker Nest, video streamer YouTube and self-driving car company Waymo.

 

Google’s plan to buy Fitbit raised concerns when it was announced in late 2019 because of its already rich trove of data about people, what they buy, where they travel, and more.

 

Fitbit’s fitness trackers and other devices monitor users’ steps and calories burned. They also measure floors climbed, heart rate, and how long and how well people sleep.

 

Alphabet shares closed down about 1% on Thursday. The company is expected to retain Fitbit’s 1,800 employees.-Reuters

 

 

 

Steinmetz denies corruption as trial over Guinea’s Simandou prospect gets underway

 

BENY Steinmetz denied any role in corruption or forgery related to mining rights his company, Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR), secured in Guinea, said Reuters.

 

Steinmetz was indicted in August 2019 by a Geneva prosecutor who accused him and two aides of paying $10m in bribes to obtain exploration permits to Simandou, considered one of the world’s richest iron ore deposits. Reuters cited Steinmetz of saying he was the owner of BSGR but not the boss.

 

“My name was 10 on a scale of 10, seen like a white diamond,” he said when asked why the company carried his name if he was not running it. If convicted, Steinmetz could face up to 10 years in prison. BSGR told Reuters it could not comment on the proceedings.

 

Swiss prosecutors allege Steinmetz and his aides won the mining rights by bribing Mamadie Toure, who they say was one of the wives of the former Guinean President Lansana Conté, between 2006 and 2010, and that they forged documents to cover it up.

 

“I met Mamadie Toure, the woman or girl, once in my life for only five minutes. We have not spoke,” Steinmetz said. His lawyer has said Toure was not married to Conte and could not be considered a public official.

 

The size of the iron deposit at Simandou meant it had the potential to transform Guinea’s economy but the legal wrangles, together with the difficulty and cost of access have ensured it has never been developed, said Reuters.

 

“It’s really a tragedy. If the project had been carried out, it would have quadrupled the GDP of Guinea. Now 10 years later, there is nothing,” Steinmetz told the court.

 

The trial, which opened on Monday, is expected to last two weeks.-miningmx

 

 

 

 

Parler urges U.S. judge to order Amazon to restore its platform

 

(Reuters) - Parler urged a U.S. judge on Thursday to order Amazon.com Inc to restore the company’s account, saying Amazon had no evidence the social media platform was used to incite last week’s storming of the U.S. Capitol.

 

At a hearing in Seattle federal court, Parler’s lawyer, David Groesbeck, said the company would suffer irreparable harm if forced to close and that keeping it alive served the public interest. He also downplayed Parler’s role in the Jan. 6 riot in Washington by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump.

 

“Millions of law-abiding Americans have had their voices silenced,” Groesbeck told U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein. “There is no evidence, other than some anecdotal press references, that Parler was involved in inciting the riots.”

 

Parler is favored by many Trump supporters and claimed more than 12 million users.

 

Amazon Web Services cut off Parler on Sunday night, saying Parler had shrugged off repeated warnings to remove violent content.

 

It said that content included calls to assassinate Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg and members of the media.

 

Ambika Doran, a lawyer for Amazon, said Parler violated its contract by allowing such content and had not shown it could effectively monitor content.

 

“Amazon made the only real choice that it could, which was to suspend the account,” she said.

 

Parler said Amazon had no contractual right to pull the plug and did so in a politically motivated bid to benefit Twitter Inc, a larger Amazon client that Parler said did not censor violent content targeting conservatives. In a statement, Amazon said that “suspending Parler had nothing to do with politics.”

 

Parler wants a temporary court order that it be restored to Amazon’s servers while it litigates.

 

Rothstein said she would rule “as quickly as possible.”

 

Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google removed Parler from their app stores after last week’s unrest.

 

John Matze, Parler’s chief executive, told Reuters on Wednesday that Parler may never get back online, but said later that it would return and be stronger.-Reuters

 

 

 

Decline in Zimbabwe small scale mining results in 31% lower annual gold sales

 

ZIMBABWE reported a 31% decline in gold sales in 2020 owing to lower deliveries from small-scale miners, said Reuters.

 

Citing official data, Reuters said sales to Zimbabwe’s sole buyer and exporter of bullion, Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR) fell to 19 tons.

 

FPR pays US dollars in cash to small-scale gold miners, but a shortage of hard cash caused delays in payments most of last year. This forced many of the miners to sell their gold to illegal buyers, said Reuters.

 

Deliveries of gold, the top foreign currency earner, have been on the decline since reaching a record 33.2 tons 2018, mainly due to delays by FPR in paying miners, the newswire said.

 

The central bank last month announced plans to unbundle FPR into two separate companies and sell a majority stake in the new gold refinery business to miners, in a bid to boost output.

 

FPR data showed that total gold deliveries fell to 19.05 tons from 27.66 tons in 2019. Small-scale producers sold only 9.35 tonnes last year compared with 17.48 tons in 2019.

 

The government says gold worth at least $1.2bn is illegally exported from the country annually.

 

Last month, Zimbabwe banned the use of mercury in mining, which could further curtail output in the short term from the small-scale sector, which is the major user of the toxic metal when extracting gold.-miningmx

 

 

 

 

Zambia reportedly concludes deal with Glencore to increase stake in Mopani Copper

 

THE Zambian government had concluded its talks with Glencore about buying a majority stake in Mopani Copper Mines, said Reuters.

 

The newswire quoted a report by Zambian state radio which cited the southern African country’s president, Edgar Lungu. It did not give details about the outcome of the negotiations.

 

Zambia’s state mining investment arm ZCCM-IH has been in talks to buy Glencore’s majority stake in Mopani since August, said Reuters.

 

 

Glencore did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the radio report. Zambia’s mines minister was not immediately available to confirm the report, Reuters said.

 

Glencore, which owns 73.1% of Mopani Copper, was blocked from mothballing the operation last year. It also risked having its mining rights revoked by the state as part of a dispute between it and the Zambian government.

 

There have been questions about the ability of Zambia to pay for the shares in Mopani Copper having defaulted on a Eurobond interest payment in November.

 

Barnaby Mulenga, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Mines, told Bloomberg News last year concerns about the government’s ability to fund a deal were unfounded. “The resource attracts money, so the issue of financing is the least of the worries for the Zambian government,” he said.

 

Glencore previously booked impairments of $1.14bn at Mopani Copper.

 

Zambia, Africa’s second largest copper producer, relies on copper for about 70% of its export earnings.-Mining MX

 

 

 

 

SA mining confident it can tackle risk of heightened infections amid Covid-19 surge

 

SOUTH Africa’s mining industry was confident of handling a surge in Covid-19 infections as the sector resumed full activities following the seasonal holidays, said BusinessLive.

 

“The industry’s focus is back to prevention of infection, which is social distancing, masks and sanitation, as well as robust screening and testing protocols,” Charmane Russell, spokeswoman for the Minerals Council South Africa told the publication.

 

“What we have this time around is the wonderful benefit of hindsight … This time it’s not so much about the learning how to cope with something we’ve never experienced before, but the doing,” Russell said.

 

 

BusinessLive quoted Gold Fields vice-president of Gold Fields South African operations, Martin Preece, as saying there was some concern regarding the higher incidence of Covid-19 infections identified among returning employees.

 

But Preece added the company would demonstrate it was safer to be at work than at home, as it had done during the peak of Covid-19 infections last year. A variant of Covid-19 has played a role in the increase in daily infections nationally above 20,000.

 

In the last week of December and into the first week of January, 27% of Gold Fields’ employees tested positive for the coronavirus, but this had fallen back to 22% in the most recent batch of tests, Preece said.

 

“Depending on how this second wave plays out, that number could get worse,” said Preece. “Last year, we said it was safer to come to work than travelling or going to a shopping mall. We will get there again,” Preece said.

 

About 90% of 4,093 employees at Gold Fields South Deep mine, west of Johannesburg, had returned to work, said BusinessLive.

 

James Wellsted, spokesman for Sibanye-Stillwater, said protocols were in place to ensure the smooth restart of operations at the facilities of the platinum group metal and gold producer.

 

“It’s traditionally a slow start-up period in the new year,” said Wellsted.

 

“The only difference now really is that Covid has added the element of screening and testing, but we’ve learnt from 2020 which means we’ve improved the way we bring people back and conduct the screening process. It’s a lot smoother now,” he said.-MIning mx

 

 

 

 

Trump Plans to Live at Mar-a-Lago, Employ Some Current Aides

 

Donald Trump plans to fly to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida the morning of Joe Biden’s inauguration, where several current White House staff are expected to work for him or his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, after his presidency, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

Trump intends to live at the Palm Beach resort, the people said, though some of his future neighbors are trying to stop him from taking up permanent residence.

 

In Washington, the State Department extended an invitation to Biden and his wife, Jill, to stay at Blair House, a historic home near the White House, the night before the inauguration on Jan. 20, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The Bidens have accepted, people familiar with the matter say, continuing a tradition for presidents-elect.

 

There has been uncertainty in the White House about where Trump would go after his presidency. Aides had assumed Mar-a-Lago, but the president hadn’t told them his plans or said publicly what he’ll do after leaving the White House, the people said.

 

Kushner plans to live in at least part of the time in Miami with his wife, Ivanka Trump, the people said.

 

Trump aides who may work for him after the White House include Nick Luna, the director of Oval Office Operations and Trump’s “body man;” Molly Michael, a deputy assistant to Trump; and Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, the people said. Luna’s wife, Cassidy Luna, a deputy assistant to the president, may work for Kushner.

 

After some speculation among aides that he might leave earlier, Trump now plans to depart Washington for Florida the morning of Jan. 20, according to two people familiar with the matter. The president on Jan. 8 announced he would not attend Biden’s inauguration, after his false claims that the election was stolen from him inspired a bloody riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.

 

It was his last tweet before Twitter permanently suspended his account over concerns he could use it to spark more violence. Vice President Mike Pence -- who angered Trump by refusing to go along with his bid to overturn the election and was furious with the president following the riot -- will attend Biden’s inauguration.

 

Presidents are not constitutionally required to attend the inaugurations of their successors, but they traditionally do so to symbolize the importance of transferring power peacefully-Bloomberg

 

 

 

Analysis: Biden's $1.9 trillion rescue package offers bridge for hard-hit economy

 

(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s proposal to pour $1.9 trillion into a hobbled economy could lay the foundation for a surge in jobs and spending that many economists say is needed to avoid long-term damage from a record-breaking pandemic recession.

 

Analysts had already begun marking up their forecasts for economic growth this year after last week’s elections in Georgia delivered control of both houses of Congress to Democrats.

 

Many, though, had penciled in smaller packages, more along the lines of the $892 billion stimulus passed in December.

 

Spending big on vaccine rollout, testing, and to shore up state and local governments on the frontlines of those efforts could help bring a swifter end to the country’s healthcare crisis, which remains at the root of the economic crisis.

 

The incoming Democratic administration’s proposed package provides targeted aid that economists say delivers the most effective economic boost, including an increase to the current extra weekly benefit to the unemployed, to $400 from $300.

 

It would also direct $170 billion toward reopening schools, the closure of which in many parts of the country has forced millions of workers, particularly women, to leave their jobs.

 

And it would put an extra $1,400 into the hands of most Americans - money that can be spent on rent or food for those who need it, or saved for a splurge on travel or dining out later in the year once wider vaccine distribution allows everyday life to get back closer to normal.

 

The new spending comes at a critical time for the world’s largest economy. A winter resurgence of COVID-19 sent a partially recovered labor market into reverse last month as employers shed 140,000 jobs, especially low-income positions in restaurants, bars and other high-touch service industries.

 

All told the new package, which must still be voted on by Congress, would bring to $5.2 trillion the total fiscal stimulus delivered to the U.S. economy since the crisis began, equivalent to about a quarter of U.S. annual economic output.

 

That is enough of a boost for the economy to recoup all its decline from the COVID-19 recession by the third quarter of this year, Moody’s economist Ryan Sweet estimates. But, he adds, “the recovery in the labor market will take longer.”

 

The Biden plan will be welcomed at the Federal Reserve, where some officials had been concerned late last year about a diminishing fiscal response to the crisis. In his final days as president, Republican Donald Trump has devoted most of his energy to a failed effort to contest the results of the November election and had not engaged extensively on the smaller relief package that passed just before year end.

 

Earlier Thursday Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that early and forceful government spending had helped save the economy from a much more dire fate.

 

And it was clear that the Fed would not respond to additional government spending as it did to the tax cuts under Trump, by slowly tightening monetary policy.

 

“Now is not the time to be talking about exit,” Powell said, referring to the Fed’s super-easy monetary policy that includes a massive bond-buying program and interest rates expected to stay near zero for years.

 

Back then, the economy was years into what would prove to be a record-long expansion, and with the labor market on the upswing, the extra stimulus was seen as potentially overheating the economy.

 

Not so now, with 10.7 million and rising out of work and an unemployment rate of 6.7%, nearly twice the pre-pandemic level.

 

The Fed has pledged to keep interest rates at their current near-zero level until inflation reaches and is on track to exceed 2%, and the economy hits full employment.

 

The massive added stimulus in the face of a quiescent Fed raises the specter for some that an economic boom later this year could push up prices uncomfortably or supercharge asset prices.

 

“I don’t know that we completely understand all the impacts of shoving this much money into the economy when a significant portion of the economy is still constrained from the pandemic,” said University of Oregon economics professor Tim Duy.-Reuters

 

 

 

 

Trump's China tech war backfires on automakers as chips run short

 

(Reuters) - Automakers around the world are shutting assembly lines because of a global shortage of semiconductors that in some cases has been exacerbated by the Trump administration’s actions against key Chinese chip factories, industry officials said.

 

The shortage, which caught much of the industry off-guard and could continue for many months, is now causing Ford Motor Co, Subaru Corp and Toyota Motor Corp to curtail production in the United States.

 

Automakers affected in other markets include Volkswagen, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

 

The problems stem from a confluence of factors as auto manufacturers compete against the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies. Consumers have stocked up on laptops, gaming consoles and other electronic products during the pandemic, creating tight chip supplies throughout 2020.

 

They have also bought more cars than industry officials expected last spring, further straining supplies.

 

In at least one case, the shortage ties back to President Donald Trump’s policies aimed at curtailing technology transfers to China.

 

One automaker moved chip production from China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International, or SMIC, which was hit with U.S. government restrictions in December, to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co in Taiwan, which in turn was overbooked, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

 

An auto supplier confirmed TSMC has been unable to keep up with demand.

 

“The systemic aspect of the crisis is giving us a headache,” said a supplier executive, who asked not to be identified. “In some cases, we find substitution parts that could make us independent from TSMC, only to discover that the alternative wafer manufacturer has no capacity available.”

 

TSMC and SMIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 

On an earnings call with investors Thursday, TSMC Chief Executive C.C. Wei said there was a shortage of automotive chips made with “mature technology” and that it is working with customers “to mitigate the shortage impact.”

 

It only takes the tiniest of chips to throw off production: a Ford plant in Kentucky that makes the Escape sport utility vehicle idled because of a shortage of a chip in the vehicle’s brake system, a union official in the plant said.

 

Ford also will idle its Focus plant in Saarlouis, Germany, for a month starting next week because of chip shortages.

 

The situation is unlikely to improve quickly, since all chips, whether bound for a laptop or a Lexus, start life as a silicon wafer that takes about 90 days to process into a chip.

 

The chipmaking industry has always strained to keep up with sudden demand spikes. The factories that produce wafers cost tens of billions of dollars to build, and expanding their capacity can take up to a year for testing and qualifying complex tools.

 

“The long and short of it is, demand is up about 50%. And there’s no asset-intensive industry like ours that has 50% capacity lying around,” said Mike Hogan, senior vice president at chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries and head of its automotive unit.

 

HUAWEI EFFECT

 

Tight capacity and soaring demand has made it difficult for chip producers to absorb two shocks from the Trump administration.

 

First, the White House in September banned Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the Chinese telecommunications giant and a major smartphone maker, from buying chips made with American technology. Huawei stockpiled chips ahead of the ban in order to keep building what products it could after it took effect. And Huawei’s rivals, eyeing a chance to grab market share, started snapping up chips, analysts said.

 

Second, the U.S. government enacted rules that bar SMIC from using some U.S. tools to make chips, a move that has prompted at least some of SMIC’s customers to look for a different chip factory because of concerns that production could be disrupted.

 

“There’s a fear of using a Chinese chip factory if the United States is going to put them on an entity list,” said Daniel Goehl, chief business officer of UltraSense Systems, referring to possible further restrictions.

 

A Commerce Department spokesman declined to comment on the implications of the SMIC and Huawei blacklistings for the auto sector but said that the top priority was “to ensure the Export Administration Regulation protects U.S. national security, economic security, and foreign policy interests.”

 

Analysts said the automotive chip shortage is likely to persist for as long as six months. An AutoForecast Solutions report estimated the global auto industry had already experienced lost volume of 202,000 vehicles as of Jan. 13.

 

Executives at automakers and suppliers said they are adapting production schedules to protect chips used in higher-profit vehicles. And companies are weighing sourcing chips from more suppliers and increasing inventory levels in the future.

 

“It’s four-dimensional chess all day long,” said one auto official, who asked not to be identified.-Reuters

 

 

 

 

Amazon faces class-action lawsuit over eBook pricing

 

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc was slapped with a class-action lawsuit on Thursday accusing the e-commerce giant of inflating the prices of ebooks in collusion with some publishers.

 

The lawsuit alleges that Amazon and the five largest U.S. publishers, collectively called the 'Big Five', agreed to price restraints that cause consumers to overpay for eBooks purchased from them through a retail platform other than Amazon.com. (refini.tv/2MXXVqs)

 

The lawsuit comes a day after Connecticut said it was investigating Amazon for potential anti-competitive behavior in its business selling digital books.

 

Amazon declined to comment.

 

About 90% of eBooks are sold through Amazon, the largest U.S. eBooks seller, the lawsuit claimed.

 

Law firm Hagens Berman, bringing the case, in 2011 filed a similar lawsuit against Apple Inc and the ‘Big Five’ over ebook prices-Reuters

 

 

 

Samsung launches new flagship Galaxy S smartphone early, targets remote workers, gamers

 

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd on Thursday unveiled the first Galaxy S smartphone with a stylus for on-screen work called the S Pen, more than a month ahead of its usual annual release schedule for models of its flagship compact phone.

 

Analysts have said offering a stylus within the Galaxy S21 series might signal the South Korean tech giant will merge the S line with its other premium smartphone range, the Note, already equipped with a note-taking stylus. That could free up resources for Samsung to push its separate range high-end foldable phones as key mass products rather than niche devices.

 

Samsung is also looking to grab market share after China’s Huawei Technologies was hit with U.S. sanctions that restricted its supply and hurt sales, analysts have said.

 

An early Galaxy S21 launch is a likely tactic to capitalise on Huawei’s woes, said Counterpoint Research analyst Sujeong Lim. New iterations of the Note typically come in the second half of the year.

 

Lim said Samsung faces intense competition in the high-end category from Chinese vendors amid growing demand for devices that can be used for remote work amid the coronavirus pandemic, as well as play like videogaming.

 

In the United States, the Galaxy S21 price range starts at $799.99, the S21 Plus version at $999.99, and the S21 Ultra at $1,199.99.

 

The series will be widely available starting Jan. 29 through Samsung.com, carriers and retailers online, Samsung said.

 

With the most advanced processing chip in any Galaxy device, the S21 is 5G compatible and designed for shooting and viewing video and images as well as on-screen work. The top end of the range, the Ultra - the only version compliant with the S Pen stylus, which has to be bought separately - sports a four-lens rear camera that allows different angles and zoom shots.

 

Samsung plans to offer the stylus with other devices, said TM Roh, head of Samsung’s mobile communications business.

 

The standard S21’s screen size is 6.2 inches, with the S21 Plus at 6.7 inches and S21 Ultra is 6.8 inches, optimal for watching videos and gaming. The latter two are close in size to last year’s Galaxy Note ‘phablets’ - a cross between a phone and a tablet.

 

The S21 series is powered by Qualcomm Inc’s Snapdragon 888 chips or Samsung’s own Exynos 2100 chips depending on the region, Samsung said. Qualcomm said last month the 5G chips will be manufactured by Samsung’s chipmaking division.-Reuters

 

 

 

 

 


 


 


Invest Wisely!

 

Bulls n Bears 

 

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INVESTORS DIARY 2021

 


Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 


Companies under Cautionary

 

 

 


 

 

 

 


ART

Seed Co

Dairibord

 


Starafrica

Medtech

Turnall

 


Seed co

Fidelity

Nampak

 


ZHL

 

 

 


 <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.

 


 

 


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