technology

China-US trade: Deal or No Deal

The trade dispute between the two largest economies continues to deteriorate and this is not a surprise to us. It has been very clear that the current US administration is unlikely to make a deal with the China. The gap is too wide between the two countries so it is hard to envision a deal coming together. It seems to be getting worse and we don't expect a deal anytime soon. Back in our January conference call for clients, we pointed to VP Pence's speech from October 2018 at the Hudson Institute. If you want to understand the big issues, this is a must watch.

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Are you about to lose your Facebook and Google exposure? The sector shuffle explained

In a couple of months, drastic sector changes are coming to the S&P and MSCI indices which have potential implications to your investment portfolio. Some of the biggest names in tech, Netflix, Facebook, Google and others are changing sector classifications and if you aren't aware then it could have a major impact on your investment portfolio. Morgan Stanley has called the upcoming realignment “unprecedented” noting that there has only been one similar kind of sector change in the history of industry indexes when the real-estate sector was spun out of the financial group. This is different in that it is shifting some of the largest companies to a new sector called communication services.

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An epic infographic explaining Alibaba

In a recent US poll, 88% of respondents said that they had never heard of Alibaba. If you are one of those who don't know the Chinese e-commerce giant, then you can have a quick primer with this epic infographic from 16best.net. Here are a few interesting facts before you dive in:

  • Alibaba has a market capitalization of $511 billion as of 3/16/18, just a hair less than Facebook's $535 billion.
  • Alibaba has 528 million mobile active users.
  • Interestingly 11.1% of Alibaba's visitors are from the US.
  • CEO/Founder Jack Ma set up Alibaba with $60k that he borrowed from 18 people. At the end of 2017, the company employed over 50,000 people.
  • The company sold over $25 billion in just one day on Singles Day.

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