Archives for February 2017

The greater availability of both hardware and software could help the emerging VR market grow in 2017, the research company said.

It added the VR market is already solidifying as consumers become increasingly aware of and comfortable with the devices, such as Google Daydream mobile VR device. Sales of the premium headsets are expected to reach 21 million in 2017 with Google’s VR device leading the field with 6.8 million devices sold.

Statistics from SuperData show male millennials are most likely to use console headsets over any other device (52 percent) since three in four are gamers. Forty-eight percent of females over 35 try headsets at home, often using a family member’s device.

Tinder introduces ‘dating’ Virtual Reality headset for two

According to the report, this year revenue from VR software are expected to increase by $1 billion from 2016’s $300 million. North America will be the fastest-growing market, expanding from $97 million in 2016 to $403 million this year. Asia will be the top VR software market at $430 million in 2017.

READ MORE: Facebook’s Oculus to pay $500mn in virtual reality case

Goldman Sachs predicted the virtual and augmented reality market could become an $80 billion industry by 2025, outpacing the TV market in annual revenue. It said the industry could pull in $45 billion in hardware revenue and $35 billion in software by then.

Last month Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said virtual reality technology was still around a decade away from providing consumers with a good VR experience. “It’s going to take five or 10 years of development before we get to where we all want to go,” Zuckerberg said on behalf of Facebook-owned VR company Oculus which plans to invest around $3 billion into the technology.

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/378767-virtual-reality-market-growth/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The step sent shares in Deutsche Boerse four percent lower in early trading with the London Stock Exchange tumbling three percent.

Le Pen win in French elections will boost German equities – JPMorgan

The European Commission has previously ruled the LSE must sell its 60 percent stake in Italy’s MTS, its fixed-income trading platform. The measure was to satisfy antitrust concerns over the merger of Europe’s two largest stock markets.

The move was vehemently opposed by Rome, according to a source close to the LSE. “MTS has the biggest chunk of Italian government bonds which made the Italian authorities wary of a change of ownership,” Reuters cites the source.

Moreover, the LSE described the Commission’s request as disproportionate and warned investors it would struggle to sell MTS and that a sale would be detrimental to its business.

“Based on the Commission’s current position, the LSE believes the Commission is unlikely to provide clearance for the merger,” the British exchange said in a statement.

The German exchange said it would await a further assessment from the Commission and expected a decision by the end of March.

LSE and Deutsche Boerse announced plans for the merger nearly a year ago. The deal aims to create a European trading powerhouse that would better compete with US rivals.

The planned merger has been widely criticized by politicians both in Germany and Britain, particularly after the vote to quit the EU last June.

READ MORE: Germans to take over NYSE

Earlier this month, the LSE agreed to sell part of its clearing business to satisfy the conditions set by the EU antitrust regulator.

READ MORE: Monsanto rejects $62bn bid from Bayer

Over the past decade, there had been four attempts to combine the London and Frankfurt exchanges, with Brussels blocking a $17 billion tie-up between what was then NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse in 2012.

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/378764-lse-deutsche-boerse-merger-doubt/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

The Swiss investor doesn’t expect the rally’s disruption to be evoked by any catalyst, as the markets are overbought and sentiment is way too bullish for the so-called Trump rally to continue.

Red alert: Prepare for severe stock market crash, warns HSBC

“Very simply, the market starts to go down. As it goes down, it will start triggering selling, and then it will be like an avalanche. I would underweight US stocks,” Faber said in an interview with CNBC.

This bearish forecast is not tied to President Donald Trump, according to Faber.

“One man alone, he cannot make ‘America great again.’ That you have to realize. Trump, unlike Mr. Reagan, is facing huge, huge headwinds — including a debt to GDP that is gigantic, as it is in other countries,” he said.

Faber lists rising interest rates and record earnings and margins as additional risks to the historic rally.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record level for an eleventh consecutive session on Friday with the SP 500 to see the fewest declines in February than in any month since May 1990.

The investor said that markets in Mexico, Brazil, and Asia also have been picking up significant gains so far this year. However, Faber doesn’t expect the worst-case scenario for all countries that have been benefiting from a strong run.

“China looks quite attractive. For the next three months, money can flow into China. The economy, surprisingly, has begun to do quite well. We see that in retail in Hong Kong. We see that in the hotel industry, and we see that in demand for commodities,” he said.

READ MORE: ‘We’re all on the Titanic’, as old bear says get ready for ugly stock market crash

Faber says that resource commodities such as copper and gold would probably bring the traders solid profits this year.

“When you look at Trump and his administration, and the way the budget is, I think further money printing down the line is inevitable,” he said, stressing that such a policy could push commodities even higher.

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/378734-marc-faber-selling-markets-avalanche/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Warren Buffett bites into Apple with $1 billion purchase ahead of shares’ fall

He estimates investors wasted more than $100 billion on high-fee Wall Street money managers over the past 10 years.

“The bottom line: When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients,” Buffett wrote to shareholders. “Both large and small investors should stick with low-cost index funds.”

During the financial crisis, Buffett bet a founder of the asset management company Protege Partners $1 million that the Vanguard SP 500 stock index fund would outperform several groups of hedge funds over ten years through 2017.

The 86-year old investor declared an early victory on his bet. He said a $1 million investment in hedge funds would have generated a $220,000 gain in the nine years through 2016, compared with the index fund’s $854,000 increase.

He said the figures left “no doubt” that he would win the bet which ends on December 31. Buffett also called Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle “a hero” for his early efforts to popularize index funds.

According to Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway gained 20.8 percent per year from 1965 to 2016, compared to the SP 500’s 9.7 percent gain. In 2014, Buffett said he planned to put 90 percent of the money he leaves his wife when he dies into an SP 500 index fund and ten percent in government bonds.

Buffett’s stock picks have turned Berkshire Hathaway into one of the world’s most successful conglomerates. The company’s stock portfolio includes significant stakes in Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, Apple, and others.

The billionaire investor praised the US market system for its ability to allow Americans to continue building “mind-boggling amounts” of wealth.

“One word sums up our country’s achievements: miraculous,” Buffett said. “From a standing start 240 years ago – a span of time less than triple my days on earth – Americans have combined human ingenuity, a market system, a tide of talented and ambitious immigrants, and the rule of law to deliver abundance beyond any dreams of our forefathers.”

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/378730-buffett-slams-hedge-funds/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

Russia overtakes Saudi Arabia as world’s top crude producer

Ahead of the initial public offering (IPO), Saudi Aramco’s value is no more than a guess. The company has stuck to its claim that it has 261 billion barrels of proven reserves, enough for decades to come, and has never publicly released financial statements.

The $2 trillion estimate put forward by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last March comes by multiplying the industry-standard estimate of $8 a barrel by the number of Saudi-claimed reserves.

However, as Bloomberg reports, quoting unnamed WoodMac clients in London, the British consultancy group estimates Aramco’s business at $400 billion. Wood-Mackenzie is acknowledged for its analysis and valuation of energy companies.

WoodMac took into account the current tax rate, a cost of capital of 10 percent and its own oil price forecast, the clients told the media.

According to Bloomberg, if calculation like the one proposed by the Saudis is made for other oil companies, Russia’s Rosneft would be worth $272 billion instead of $64 billion, and the valuation of Exxon Mobil would be 53 percent less.

“I didn’t know that the value of an oil company was a multiplicator of the reserves of the company,” Total SA chief executive officer, Patrick Pouyanne said, as quoted by the media.

Several factors should be “discounted” before “we’ll see what will be the real value of” Aramco, he said.

The Saudis have scheduled the IPO for 2018. If investors agree with the price set by Riyadh, just a five percent stake will raise $100 billion, four times more than China’s Alibaba in 2014.

Article source: https://www.rt.com/business/378720-saudi-arabia-aramco-woodmac/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS