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Billionaire Builds and Donates World’s Largest Yacht to Clean Up Ocean Platic Trash

Kjell Inge Røkke announced recently his plan to donate most of his multi-billion dollar fortune toward building the Research Expedition Vessel (REV). REV, a future mega-yacht, will be able to vacuum up 5 tons of plastic per day from the ocean and melt it down.

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Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 November 2017

Billionaire Builds & Donates World’s Largest Yacht to Clean Up Ocean Platic Trash

The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)
Billions of pounds of plastic – a material that never fully goes away – is floating in our planet’s oceans today. Found in everything from soda bottles and grocery bags to food containers and straws, plastic pieces make their way into Earth’s oceans daily.

The living beings most affected by this human negligence are marine wildlife. Countless sea turtles, whales, dolphins, fish and more are killed each year after ingesting plastic.

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Now, one man is trying to help.

Kjell Inge Røkke, a Norwegian billionaire, one of the richest men in his country, and previously known as “a ruthless corporate raider” is giving away $2.7 billion of his fortune to build a mega-yacht that will help clean plastic from our oceans.

Røkke made his billions in off-shore drilling and shipping companies, but now he wants to clean up the plastic that is choking marine life and making our oceans a sea of death.

He wants to build a 596-foot vessel, called the REV, that will clean 5 tons of plastic trash daily from waters and then melt it down , Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper reported. It would be large enough to travel around the world to make autonomous expeditions gathering trash and measuring the ocean’s health.

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 The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)
Kjell Inge Røkke announced recently his plan to donate most of his multi-billion dollar fortune toward building the Research Expedition Vessel (REV). REV, a future mega-yacht, will be able to vacuum up 5 tons of plastic per day from the ocean and melt it down.
The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)


Managed by the World Wildlife Foundation, the main focus of R∅kke’s boat will be cleaning up plastics polluting the ocean. The REV, short for research expedition vessel, will have a plastic retrieval system using a retractable crane. The ship, built by VARD, will also have an array of environmental sensors to take soil, water, and air samples.

The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)


Once completed in 2020, the REV will have room for 60 scientists and a crew of 40. Those aboard will have access to two aerial drones, an underwater drone, an R&D workshop, gym, recreational lounge, multiple laboratories, and a 40-seat lecture hall.
The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)


According to the ship’s owner Rosselinis Four-10, the REV will be available for private charters when it’s not deployed on research missions around the world.
The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)


VES will be the worlds largest mega-yacht, according to Business Insider, and will be able to house 60 scientists and 40 crew. Additionally, the yacht will be fully equipped with the most up-to-date laboratories, an auditorium, two helipads, a hangar for a remote operated vehicle, an autonomous underwater vehicle as a multifunctional cargo deck aft of the ship, and high-tech equipment for monitoring and surveying marine areas.
The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)


Røkke, who ironically was also once a fisherman, told a Norwegian newspaper that he “wanted to give back to society the bulk of what I’ve earned and the ship is a part of that.”
The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)


Røkke noted that “the oceans are also under greater pressure than ever before from overfishing, coastal pollution, habitat destruction, climate change and ocean acidification, and one of the most pressing challenges of all, plasticization of the ocean. The need for knowledge and solutions is pressing.”
The Research Expedition Vessel, or REV. (VARD/Rosellinis Four-10)


REV will not only be the largest yacht in the world once built, but will also be the world’s heaviest at 16,000GT. The yacht is expected to be completed and operational by summer, 2020.

Saturday, 11 November 2017

Bitcoin slides by over $1,000 in less than 48 hours

Bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday to trade more than $1,000 down from an all-time high hit on Wednesday, as some traders dumped it for a clone called Bitcoin Cash, sending its value up around a third.

Bitcoin has been on a tear in recent months, with a vertiginous sevenfold increase in value since the start of the year that has led to many warnings the bitcoin market - now worth well over $100 billion - has become a bubble that is about to burst.

It reached a record high of $7,888 around 1800 GMT on Wednesday after a software upgrade planned for next week that could have split the cryptocurrency in a so-called “fork” was suspended.

But it has quickly retreated from that peak, falling to as low as $6,718 around 1330 GMT on Friday. It later recovered a touch to trade around $6,880 by 1645 GMT, but that was still down almost 4 percent on the day.

“Bitcoin is all ups and downs,” said Thomas Bertani, chief executive of Eidoo, a cryptocurrency wallet provider that recently became the first startup in the space to take out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal newspaper.

“The market realized that the price rise was an over-reaching, so people started selling... (and) there are many long and short positions that amplify price movements.”

As bitcoin tumbled, Bitcoin Cash, which was generated from another software split on Aug.1, surged, trading up as much as 35 percent on the day to around $850, according to industry website Coinmarketcap.

Bitcoin Cash’s transactions are processed in so-called “blocks” that are larger in capacity than bitcoin‘s, so can therefore in theory allow for more transactions to be processed at any given time, making transaction fees much cheaper.

The fork that had been planned for next week, known as “SegWit2x”, had also intended to increase the capacity of the blocks, and could thus have reduced fees for bitcoin transactions.

Any investors, therefore, that see bitcoin more as a currency than a store of value might be choosing to buy into Bitcoin Cash now that Segwit2x had been scrapped, Bertani said.

“People who had been supporting Segwit2x could as an alternative move to Bitcoin Cash,” he said.

“There are good reasons to believe that Bitcoin Cash could be an alternative for people who believe that low fees on bitcoin transactions are needed today.”
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Monday, 4 September 2017

Stocks and the best way to invest

As many look to repositioning their portfolios with U.S. equities trading near record highs, investors should consider exchange traded funds with a value tilt.
"Trying to determine the best time to get back in the market can be an impossible exercise. For investors, we believe the question isn’t 'Should I Invest in Stocks?' but rather, 'What Is the Best Way to Invest in Stocks?'" according to OppenheimerFunds.
U.S. equities have surged to record highs in the post-Trump rally, with growth stocks leading the charge. Looking at valuations, or a measure of stock prices in relation to underlying companies' worth, like earnings or revenue, stocks are now trading near historically high valuations.
Price-to-sales ratios at current levels have not been seen since the tech bubble. According to FactSet data, the forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of the S&P 500 is 18.0, compared to the 5-year average P/E of 15.7 and the 10-year average of 14.1.

Valuations is particularly worrisome for passive investors whom largely rely on traditional, market capitalization-weighted index funds, which mirror an index and weight components by each company's market capitalization. As the markets strengthen and break new highs, investors in market-cap funds will have greater exposure to company stocks that have increased in price the most, which leaves many exposed to sudden bouts of devaluation.
Specifically, the recent bull market record run up has been driven by technology stocks, and tech names make up a hefty 25% tilt in the S&P 500, with major components like Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL), Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT), Amazon.com (NasdaqGS: AMZN) and others among the top holdings.
As investors seek out new ways to diversify their portfolio risks, many may look to value-oriented strategies, such as one that weights securities by companies' revenue in an attempt to avoid the risk of overpriced stocks.
Investors who believe in a return to fundamentals can look to the revenue-weighted methodology, including options like the Oppenheimer Large Cap Revenue ETF (NYSEArca: RWL), Oppenheimer Mid Cap Revenue ETF (NYSEArca: RWK) and Oppenheimer Small Cap Revenue ETF (NYSEArca: RWJ).
The underlying index implements a rules-based, disciplined smart beta indexing methodology targets known indices like the S&P 500 and tries to improve their performance return through weighting each security in the index by top line revenue. Components are then rebalanced every quarter to keep the Revenue-Weighted indices in line with the companies’ most recently reported revenue levels.
Revenue weighting could provide diversified exposure to the market, is not influenced by stock price, reflects a truer indication of a company’s value and offers stable sector exposure. Moreover, revenue weighting may provide a more value-oriented portfolio and historically outperformed in a value-driven market while showing lower drawdowns during growth-driven markets.
By rebalancing toward companies with persistent sales, revenue weighting helps keep a portfolio from overstaying during an overheating market. The result could be a portfolio with better risk-adjusted returns over the long haul.
"Investors face a challenge today, constructing portfolios at a time when stocks may be considered expensive. Revenue weighting offers the means to focus on a key company fundamental—revenue—to target companies’ economic contributions as opposed to market cap. This approach can provide disciplined and consistent exposure to the market," according to OppenheimerFunds.
This article was provided courtesy of our partners at etftrends.com.