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Alibaba Is A Pone Stock Seeking AlphaAlibaba has one of thea widest economic moats in the world because of the company's ecosystem and its strong network effect. Despite a slowdown in the ...
Do markets care about the Mueller report? No.
Investors have already digested stories about a chaotic White House. They know the president lashes out on Twitter and there’s no secret about his style of governing. They know Washington is a mess.
Unless there is some bombshell that threatens his presidency and unless the Barr summary has dramatically underplayed the Mueller report concerns, the redacted Mueller report is a non-event.
Removing the uncertainty about the Russia probe could actually be a positive for stocks. Besides the report, it is earnings season as usual, with banks reporting this week and tech companies rolling out next week.
Tech stocks are on fire this year: Facebook (FB) is up more than 30%, Amazon (AMZN) is up 25% and Microsoft (MSFT) is up 20%.
The United States and China are still working toward a trade deal with new in-person talks scheduled, moving trade concerns to the back burner for now.
The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell to more than a 49-1/2-year low last week, pointing to sustained strength in the economy.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 192,000 for the week ended April 13, the lowest level since September 1969, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.
Claims have now declined for five straight weeks. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would rise to 205,000 in the latest week.
The Labor Department said no states were estimated last week. Claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year because of the different timings of the Easter holiday and spring breaks.
The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 6,000 to 201,250 last week, the lowest reading since November 1969.
The claims data covered the survey week for the nonfarm payrolls portion of April's employment report. The four-week average of claims decreased by 19,250 between the March and April survey weeks. This suggests solid employment growth after payrolls increased by 196,000 jobs in March.
Though the trend in hiring has slowed, job gains remain above the roughly 100,000 needed per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The unemployment rate is at 3.8 percent, near the 3.7 percent Federal Reserve officials project it will be by the end of the year.
A report from the Fed on Wednesday showed "modest-to-moderate growth" in employment in a majority of the U.S. central bank's districts in April. The Fed's "Beige Book" report of anecdotal information on business activity collected from contacts nationwide showed notable worker shortages "most commonly in manufacturing and construction."
Thursday's claims report showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid declined 63,000 to 1.65 million for the week ended April 6. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims dropped 22,750 to 1.71 million.
T-Mobile's entry into the mobile banking game is now available nationwide, a bit over four months after it first rolled out as a pilot program. The mobile-first checking account is called T-Mobile Money, and it comes with some sweet perks for the carrier's subscribers. It has no fees and offers a four percent Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for users' money up to $3,000 -- everything above that will have a one percent APY -- so long as they sign up with their T-Mobile ID and deposit at least $200 each month.
If users can stick to the required minimum deposit, they can also opt in for the Got Your Back overdraft. That gives them a $50 overdraft protection, so they can withdraw a few more bucks without incurring penalties for when times are especially tough. The app also gives them a way to transfer money, make mobile check deposits, pay bills, send checks and even pay with mobile wallets, including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.
T-Mobile created the service in partnership with BankMobile, a division of Customers Bank. An account comes with a Mastercard debit card subscribers can use to pay for purchases or for withdrawals at 55,000 Allpoint ATMs worldwide. Anyone interested can use the service either via its official website or its Android and iOS app, which are now available for download from Google Play and Apple App Store, respectively. Residents from any of the 50 US states 18 and older with a social security number can sign up for an account. Later this year, the service will become available to more potential users when it makes its way to Puerto Rico.
Queenie Liao, an office worker in Guangzhou, China, shops online several times a week. Alibaba's Taobao and JD.com are her go-to platforms, but it wasn't always that way.
"I used to use Amazon a few years ago. Amazon was one of the first online shops in China and a lot of friends told me that the things from Amazon were much more trustable. That's why I used it," Liao told CNBC. "Taobao and JD have more items now."
Her shift in attitude underscores one of the major reasons why Amazon is thought to be struggling in China. The U.S. e-commerce giant now plans to close its domestic marketplace business in China.
"We are notifying sellers we will no longer operate a marketplace on Amazon.cn and we will no longer be providing seller services on Amazon.cn effective July 18," the company said in a statement, referring to its Chinese-language site, according to the Financial Times.
"Over the past few years, we have been evolving our China online retail business to increasingly emphasize cross-border sales, and in return we've seen very strong response from Chinese customers. Their demand for high-quality, authentic goods from around the world continues to grow rapidly, and given our global presence, Amazon is well-positioned to serve them," the company added.
Customers in China will still be able to buy items from the U.S., Germany, Japan and the U.K. through Amazon's global site as it focused more on cross-border sales into the world's second-largest economy, according to an earlier Reuters report. Amazon's cloud business will reportedly continue to operate in China.
Amazon entered the Chinese market in 2004 through the acquisition of Joyo, a domestic online shopping market. Joyo was rebranded to Amazon China in 2011. It enjoyed success in the early days with market share of over 15 percent in 2011 to 2012, according to China-based analyst Choi Chun of iResearch. That has now plummeted to less than 1 percent, according to another China-based market research firm, Analysys.
As Liao mentioned, Amazon had a reputation in the early days of its China operation for being a site that would have legitimate products and so was trusted by Chinese consumers. Chinese players like Alibaba struggled with policing fake items on their sites. Chinese e-commerce players, however, have been taking proactive measures to fight counterfeit goods.
Not only is Amazon trying to compete with e-commerce giants like JD and Alibaba, who are often able to deliver goods to Chinese customers faster, but smaller domestic like Pinduoduo and VIP.com are also offering a challenge.
The U.S. giant has also not been as aggressive on the marketing front as some of its rivals. Alibaba and JD both do huge sales promotions and big advertising campaigns on Nov.11 each year, known in China as Singles Day.
Amazon said in its statement that it is emphasizing cross-border trade. While that may have been a unique part of the business in the past, China's domestic players have put a big focus on that in recent years. In November, Alibaba announced plans to help global businesses sell $200 billion in goods to China in the next five years. However, analysts said Amazon can still compete for now.
"JD and Alibaba are better positioned because they have larger traffic and consumers trust these two platforms (relatively to other platforms). But one thing I need to point out is that cross-border e-commerce in China is not as consolidated as regular domestic e-commerce, online shoppers go to different platforms for different overseas merchandises," Chun told CNBC. "Therefore, Amazon's cross border e-commerce is still very competitive."
Chun said Amazon's cross-border business is "not insignificant," but the U.S. firm "doesn't realize their problem in the Chinese operation and doesn't want to catch up."
"I don't rule out the possibility that Amazon's cross-border business will follow the same path of Amazon's China domestic e-commerce business," Chun said.
In its statement Amazon said its "commitment to China remains strong."
