10 things in tech you need to know today | ||
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Good morning! Here are the 10 things in tech you need to know to start your week. 1. Alibaba is getting ready to launch the Netflix of China. The Asian online retail giant is preparing to launch its own video streaming service. 2. Facebook is eating the $140 billion hardware market. Its Open Compute Project started as a controversial idea within the company — but four years later, it has turned the data-centre computer industry on its head. 3. Developers aren't sure what the "killer feature" of iOS 9 is. We polled developers about Apple's upcoming update to its mobile OS, and the verdict is that it's not a radical departure from what we're already used to. 4. Uber is using GPS tracking to punish drivers in China who get too close to taxi protests in the country. The established industry is protesting Uber and the company wants its drivers to steer clear of them. The company threatens to track its drivers with GPS and cancel contracts with those who refuse to obey, the Wall Street Journal reports. 5. Google has hired superstar architect Thomas Heatherwick to build its new $1 billion London HQ. Heatherwick is already being Google's new headquarters in California, and Google is now asking him to look at London. 6. France is trying to force Google to implement the "right to be forgotten" worldwide. The contentious right allows European users to appeal to have search results taken down, but only applies to European versions of Google. The French privacy watchdog thinks it should be extended across the globe. 7. UK government sources say that Russia and China have been able to decrypt a trove of documents leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden. However, the claims have been disputed, and at least one key detail from the report is demonstrably false. 8. South Korea's Lee dynasty, the family that controls Samsung, is about to have its biggest test yet. Lee Jae-yong faces the difficult task of reorganising one of the world's largest and most complex companies. 9. The hacking of the White House Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the US could provide a treasure trove for foreign spies. The massive hack has likely exposed large amounts of compromising information about government employees. US officials suspect China was behind the attack. 10. Europe has produced 13 unicorns — tech startups worth at least $1 billion — so far this year. The figure is higher than ever before, and comes via a study by investment bank GP Bullhound. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The guy who took a picture every day while walking through China is now a huge star on Weibo  | ||
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'This could be the last chance of a deal' for Greece as talks collapse and default looms | ||
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After less than an hour of discussion, Greece's latest talks with its creditor institutions fell apart on Sunday night. Greece's representatives say the discussion lasted for 45 minutes, while EU sources say it barely stretched to half an hour. There still seem to be huge gaps between the positions of the creditors (the other eurozone nations, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) and Greece's radical government. The remaining major disputes still seem to be over the extent of austerity (including things like VAT increases), Greece's state pension system and further reform to hiring and firing laws in the country. These were the sticking points to a deal two months ago, and there seems to have been very little progress on them. According to the Associated Press, on Sunday an anonymous Greek official said that the country will never accept cuts to pensions and wages, or increases in the cost of basic necessities. At the same time, outgoing IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard made it clear in his own blog just how important those reforms are to his institution, making it clear that pension and VAT reforms will be crucial to a deal: We believe that even the lower new target cannot be credibly achieved without a comprehensive reform of the VAT – involving a widening of its base – and a further adjustment of pensions. Why insist on pensions? Pensions and wages account for about 75% of primary spending; the other 25% have already been cut to the bone. Pension expenditures account for over 16% of GDP, and transfers from the budget to the pension system are close to 10% of GDP. The next best hope for a deal or some sort of progress is Thursday 18 June, when the Eurogroup gathering of finance ministers goes ahead. "Time is running out and [the Eurogroup meeting] could be the last chance of a deal before the June 30 deadline when the bundled June IMF payments come due and the current program expires," said Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) analysts in this week's look-ahead note. BAML's Athanasios Vamvakidis even suggested last week that without meaningful progress by the Friday just passed, it would be extremely difficult to get any deal cobbled together by June 30. So the meeting of eurozone finance ministers coming will be the next big signal of how close a deal is — and whether Greece will get its latest €7.3 billion ($8.07 billion, £5.19 billion) bailout disbursement — cash it needs to make the International Monetary Fund (IMF) payments due at the end of the month. But those June 30 IMF payments are just the beginning. Greece will have to fail to make those payments for a month before the IMF takes action. Before then, Athens has to make €3.5 billion (£2.52 billion, $3.92 billion) in payments to the European Central Bank (ECB) on June 20. The ECB is probably the most important factor here. If the ECB judges that the Greek government has defaulted on its bonds, it will likely pull away its Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ECB) from the Greek banking system. That assistance is currently keeping the banks propped up, and withdrawing it could send the country's whole financial system into free fall. So according to analysts at HSBC and elsewhere, 20 July is the hard deadline — both a payment which the government almost certainly can't wait, and one which could have immediate consequences if it's missed. A Greek default could mean capital controls for the country, and it could even be the first step towards Grexit. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants  | ||
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Saudi stock market opens to foreigners | ||
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Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's stock market will allow foreign investors to trade shares for the first time Monday, further opening up the conservative Islamic kingdom to the global economy. But analysts did not expect a sudden rush of funds after the Tadawul All-Shares Index, the Arab world's largest exchange, begins trading under the new rules at 0800 GMT. In a notice issued Sunday, the exchange confirmed that "as of Monday... Qualified Foreign Investors can commence dealing in listed shares." Foreign banks, brokerage houses, fund managers and insurance companies based outside the Gulf can now invest directly provided they meet the requirements. "There will remain heavy restrictions... on foreign equity ownership," the Capital Economics research group wrote. At the same time, the measures "could be seen as the first step in a broader liberalisation" of the economy in a country traditionally cautious about foreign political and economic influence, the firm said. To be registered as a Qualified Foreign Investor (QFI) an overseas institution must have a five-year track record, with at least 18.75 billion riyals ($5 billion, 4.5 billion euros) under management. Each QFI can hold no more than five percent of a stock, and QFIs and their clients together are limited to 20 percent of any one listed company. Analysts estimate foreign investment in the market, whose capitalisation is more than $500 billion, could eventually reach $40-$50 billion but say the new rules are not about boosting investment. "We don't need that in the Saudi market," said Mazen al-Sudairi, head of research at Alistithmar Capital. He said the kingdom, which is part of the G20 group of the world's largest economies, already has good liquidity and high foreign exchange reserves. Sudairi and other analysts believe the main payoff from attracting foreign investors will be improved transparency, accountability, and availability of macroeconomic data, alongside reduced market volatility. A fifth of the market consists of petrochemical firms, whose earnings are tied to oil prices that have plunged 40 percent from a year ago, Capital Economics said. Saudi Arabia, the world's leading oil exporter, faces a budget deficit of 20 percent of gross domestic product this year because of lower oil revenues while government spending stays strong, the International Monetary Fund has projected.
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10 things you need to know in markets today | ||
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Eurozone trade figures are coming. At 10 a.m. London time (5 a.m. New York) the eurozone's trade balance figures for April will be released. In March, the seasonally adjusted trade surplus ran to €19.7 billion (£14.20 billion, $22.07 billion). Presidential front runner Hillary Clinton dropped a massive hint on a controversial trade deal. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said drug companies that would benefit from a Pacific trade pact should sell their products to the US government at a discount in her strongest comments yet on an issue that has divided her party. Clinton's comments amount to an implicit rebuke of President Barack Obama's efforts to secure the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The Greek government says it's ready to resume talks after a breakdown. Greece remains open to finding a deal with lenders and is prepared to bridge a budget gap as demanded by lenders but not by cutting pensions or raising taxes, the deputy prime minister said on Sunday after a breakdown in negotiations. But Greece's finance minister is still ruling out Grexit. Greece Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he could rule out a 'Grexit' because it would not be a sensible solution to the Greek debt crisis and in a German newspaper interview on Monday also said a debt restructuring was the only way forward. "I rule out a 'Grexit' as a sensible solution," Varoufakis told Bild newspaper. "But no one can rule out everything. I can't even rule it out a comet hitting earth." China is going to make a massive investment in Europe's infrastructure fund. China will pledge a multi-billion dollar investment in Europe's new infrastructure fund at a summit on June 29 in Brussels, according to a draft communique seen by Reuters - Beijing's latest round of chequebook diplomacy to win greater influence. Some South Korean investors are siding with US hedge Elliott fund against Samsung. Small stakeholders have converged on a public web forum in recent days to protest what they say is a low-ball all-stock takeover offer from Cheil Industries, an affiliate of Samsung Group and the conglomerate's de facto holding company. Heirs of Samsung Group's founding Lee family want the $8 billion (£5.15 billion) merger to consolidate holdings of key affiliates including Samsung Electronics into a company under their control. Analysts and investors are starting to name another Twitter executive as a potential CEO. Twitter Inc's next chief executive officer faces a crucial challenge as the company seeks to appease Wall Street after this week's management shakeup - helping disaffected advertisers connect with users. And many advertisers, analysts and investors say Twitter already has the right person for the job: not interim CEO Jack Dorsey but Adam Bain, the company's president and head of revenue, who has emerged as an early favourite. Asian stocks are falling. Japan's Nikkei is down 0.39%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng is down 1.40% and the Shanghai Composite Index is down by 1.06%. Gunmaker Colt is filing for bankruptcy. Storied American gunmaker Colt, which has roots stretching back centuries, plans to file for bankruptcy protection, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company, which lost a large US Army contract, is in need of the protection "amid business-execution issues and a heavy debt burden," the report said. Hong Kong is bracing for a showdown. Hong Kong is gearing up for a vote this week on a contentious electoral reform package backed by Beijing, with a weekend poll showing public support has shifted against the proposal amid renewed street marches by pro-democracy protesters. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This 1998 supercar could auction for $15 million  | ||
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Good morning! Here's what you need to know in markets today.