https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/15/economy/china-economy-us-china-trade/index.html
2019-05-15 09:39:00Z
CAIiEHRRPzppCm9tdOuch7LssvYqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowocv1CjCSptoCMPrTpgU
Jeff Bezos kicked off work at Amazon's new $1.5 billion airport development in Kentucky on Tuesday.
Bezos, who reportedly made a surprise appearance at the opening, hopped aboard a front loader to lift the first pile of dirt. "If you're wondering, that's fun," he said after stepping down from the machinery.
Amazon agreed to a 50-year lease for more than 900 acres of property from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 2017. This space is close to the size of the global hubs of top cargo airlines, according to the Associated Press.
Amazon plans to take greater control of its shipping process and become less reliant on carries such as UPS, FedEx, or the USPS, to cut costs and speed up delivery times. This will be especially pertinent as it rolls out one-day shipping for Prime members.
Read more: Amazon says it's cutting its Prime 2-day shipping guarantee to just one day
"This hub is going to let us get packages to customers faster...We're going to move Prime from two-day [delivery] to one day, and this hub is a big part of that," Bezos said, according to WCPO-TV.
The development is expected to open in 2021 and bring 2,000 jobs to the airport.
Watch Jeff Bezos' full video here:
We’re investing $1.5 billion in our new air hub to get you your packages faster. Three million square feet, and it’s going to create 2,000 jobs. And if you’re guessing that driving a front loader was fun, you’re right! #amazon #prime pic.twitter.com/Cud4orKrC4
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos)
May 14, 2019
An offshore oil platform.
Cavan Images | Cavan | Getty Images
Oil demand growth estimates for both 2018 and 2019 have been cut, the International Energy Agency revealed in its latest report issued Wednesday.
Last year's oil demand growth estimate has been revised downward by 70,000 barrels per day (kb/d) to 1.2 million barrels per day (mb/d), while the forecast for this year is cut by 90 kb/d to 1.3 mb/d, the IEA said.
The estimates come amid global worries over the U.S.-China trade war and increased tensions in the Middle East, but are attributable to a range of factors specific to individual markets.
"The changes reflect lower-than-expected 2018 data in large consuming nations such as Egypt, India, Indonesia and Nigeria," the report said, adding that early data for this year showed demand in Brazil, China and Japan as below the agency's estimates.
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks rebounded from a 3-1/2-month low on Wednesday as a slight softening in rhetoric from U.S. President Donald Trump eased worries about the U.S.-China tariff war, and on expectations that Beijing could unveil more economic stimulus.
In Europe, the pan-region rose 0.24% in early trade, Germany's gained 0.25% and futures were up 0.3%.
Shares in Asia were led by strong gains in Chinese equities, which rebounded after two days of losses.
"Chinese stocks are mounting a rebound as they had been oversold in recent sessions. Sentiment is also better as President Trump seems to be desiring a compromise," said Kota Hirayama, senior emerging markets economist at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.6%. The index had fallen to its lowest level since the end of January the previous day as the Sino-U.S. trade conflict intensified. Beijing on Monday imposed a tariff hike on U.S. goods following Washington's decision last week to hike its levies on Chinese imports.
However, Trump on Tuesday said he had a "very good" dialogue with China and insisted talks between the world's two largest economies had not collapsed. Wall Street shares were able to bounce overnight in wake of Trump's comments. ()
The advanced 1.4%, shrugging off concerns about economic growth following weaker-than-expected Chinese data released on Wednesday.
China on Wednesday reported surprisingly weaker growth in retail sales and industrial output for April, adding pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus as the trade war with the United States escalates.
"The latest data shows that the Chinese economy still needs stimulus. Its stock markets could sustain its recovery if the government indicates it will continue to keep supporting the economy," Hirayama at SMBC Nikko Securities said.
Australian stocks added 0.8%, South Korea's gained 0.6% and Japan's climbed 0.5%.
The was a shade firmer at 6.9028 per dollar in offshore trade, having edged away from a five-month trough of 6.9200 set on Tuesday.
The dollar was steady at 109.650 yen , having pulled away from a three-month low of 109.020 plumbed on Monday when trade war worries boosted investor demand for the safe-haven Japanese currency.
The euro was unchanged at $1.1207 . The common currency had dipped nearly 0.2% the previous day after Italy's deputy prime minister said the country is ready to break European Union budget rules on debt levels if necessary to spur employment.
The against a basket of six major currencies was nearly flat at 97.524 after gaining 0.2% the previous day.
The Australian dollar brushed a 4-1/2-month low of $0.6922 after Wednesday's data showed domestic wage growth stalling in the first quarter, adding to the case for an interest rate cut. The underwhelming Chinese economic indicators also weighed on the , which is seen as a proxy of China-related trades.
In commodities, futures were down 0.76% at $61.31 per barrel after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a bigger-than-expected build in crude oil inventory. [O/R]
U.S. crude inventories rose by 8.6 million barrels in the week to May 10 to 477.8 million, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease of 800,000 barrels.
lost 0.45% to $70.92 per barrel.
Brent and U.S. crude futures had surged the previous day after top exporter Saudi Arabia said explosive-laden drones launched by a Yemeni-armed movement aligned to Iran had attacked facilities belonging to state oil company Aramco.
GRAPHIC: Asian stock markets - https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
As Bitcoin has returned over the past few days, many have been left asking where the cryptocurrency market could top. It may be a bit too early to tell, but some are that optimistic. Level’s Josh Rager notes that over Bitcoin’s three completed cycles, the trough to peak gains decreased by around 80% each time, which is a concept defined by the law of diminishing returns. As Rager notes, 2011’s rally saw a return of 320,000%; 2014, 58,500%; and 2017, 12,000%. Thus, if history is followed to a tee, BTC will rally by 2,400% off its bottom, giving it a potential high of just shy of $80,000, $78,500.
Rager’s followers are under the belief that Bitcoin’s next top is going to be dramatically higher than $80,000. In a poll released prior to the tweet seen above, 43% of the 4,300 that responded expected highs of anywhere from $80,000 and beyond. Of course, this isn’t a majority, but it shows that there are many traders in this market that don’t expect for Bitcoin to follow historical trends of diminishing marginal returns to an exact tee.
Others have also speculated that the next peak in the cryptocurrency market will result in much higher prices for Bitcoin than $80,000. As Ethereum World News reported previously, Galaxy, claims that Bitcoin’s current monthly chart looks eerily similar to that seen in late-2015, when BTC finally began to embark on a rally yet again.
This is notable, as the last time BTC’s chart structure looked as it did now (a massive green candle after ~one year of selling pressure), what followed was a 6,500% price surge in a two-year time frame. Thus, Galaxy notes that if historical precedent is followed to a tee, a bull run of the previous one’s magnitude will place BTC at over $333,000 per unit by the end of 2021.
Funnily enough, he isn’t the notable analyst to have thought this. As reported by Ethereum World News in early-March, crypto personality $carface notes that if BTC continues to follow its multi-year trends of boom and bust, the asset could appreciate to $102,000 to $336,000 if it follows historical trends of rallying 5.1 to 16.89 times higher than its previous peak. Naeem Aslam, a crypto-friendly analyst at Think Markets, echoed this analysis, explaining that per his “simple maths calculation,” the leading digital asset trading at a hefty $400,000 isn’t a “fool’s paradise.”
And on the fundamental side, there are clear reasons why the cryptocurrency market could see another crazy move. As Filb Filb, a popular trader and researcher, explained in an extensive Twitter thread posted near December’s bottom, if BTC’s supply is issued on schedule, if crypto adoption follows that of the Internet’s, and if debt continues to increase, Bitcoin could easily see six figures by 2021, not decades down the line.
Moreover, some are sure that in the next couple of years and decades, Bitcoin will begin to absorb some of gold’s market capitalization, which sits at $8 trillion. An $8 trillion dollar Bitcoin, as Mark Yusko, speculates will give each coin the value of ~$500,000.
Title Image Courtesy of Marco Verch
6:11 AM PDT 5/14/2019 by Natalie Jarvey
Disney is taking over full control of Hulu.
The majority owner of Hulu said Tuesday morning that it has entered into an agreement with Comcast that will allow it to be the controlling shareholder of the streaming service. As part of the agreement, Comcast can require Disney to buy NBCUniversal's interest in Hulu as early as January 2024.
Disney has guaranteed a sale price that would value Hulu at no less than $27.5 billion. That mans NBCU's take would be worth at least $9 billion.
"Hulu represents the best of television, with its incredible array of award-winning original content, rich library of popular series and movies, and live TV offerings," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. "We are now able to completely integrate Hulu into our direct-to-consumer business and leverage the full power of The Walt Disney Company’s brands and creative engines to make the service even more compelling and a greater value for consumers."
The deal spells the end of a long complex corporate history for Hulu, which launched in 2008 as a joint venture of News Corp. and NBC Universal. Disney didn't buy into Hulu until 2009. With Disney's acquisition of the Fox assets earlier this year, it became the major owner of Hulu. But because NBCU was a founding stakeholder, it retained certain control over major decisions about the fundamentals of the Hulu business. It also held three board seats that will be vacated as part of this new deal with Disney.
Now, Disney and Comcast have laid out a path for the future of their ownership in Hulu. Through the deal, Comcast can remain an owner for another five years, during which time it is expected to launch a standalone, ad-supported streaming service. Disney, meanwhile, can now invest in the future of Hulu unencumbered, likely bundling the service with its other direct-to-consumer offerings and staging an international expansion.
Hulu, which relies heavily on next-day and library programming from a number of networks, has a new deal to license NBCU programming for both its on-demand and live services through late 2024. But NBCU can terminate most of its content licensing agreements with Hulu in three years. And after NBCU launches its own streaming service, it has the right to stream programming it currently licenses exclusively to Hulu on that offering in exchange for reducing Hulu's license fee.
Hulu has seen a lot of change to its ownership over the last few months. Following Disney's acquisition of the Fox interest, AT&T announced that it was selling its nearly 10 percent stake back to Hulu. Disney and Comcast have agreed to fund that buyback proportionate to their current stakes, meaning that Disney now owns 67 percent of Hulu and Comcast owns 33 percent. In the future, Comcast will have the option, but will not be obligated, to fund its share of future Hulu investments. If it does not, its share will be diluted.
May 14, 6:55 a.m. Updated with Bob Iger's statement on Hulu.