Amazon will no longer sell Chinese goods in China - CNN

It will close its marketplace in China in the coming months, meaning Amazon customers in the country will no longer be able to buy goods from Chinese merchants.

Amazon (AMZN) did not explain why it was withdrawing its marketplace service, saying only it will instead focus on selling goods shipped from other countries into China.

"We are notifying sellers we will no longer operate a marketplace on Amazon.cn, and we will no longer be providing seller services on Amazon.cn effective July 18," the company said in a statement.

Amazon's platform competes for Chinese sellers with Tmall, owned by the country's e-commerce leader Alibaba (BABA).

Amazon first entered the Chinese market 15 years ago, when it acquired an online book retailer, but it has struggled amid fierce competition. Research suggests that the company's market share in China was miniscule compared to local rivals.

China's online retail market is huge, notching up about $2 trillion in sales annually, according to research firmer eMarketer. The US market is worth just over one quarter of that.

The Chinese market is dominated by Alibaba, which accounts for more than half of all transactions, and local rival JD.com (JD), eMarketer data shows.

"There is too much domestic competition and Amazon lacks the kind of brand awareness that Tmall or JD.com have," said Ben Cavender, an analyst at China Market Research Group. "That leaves Amazon in a position where it has to spend a lot of money to acquire customers while also competing aggressively with multiple strong players on price."

Singles Day, Alibaba's annual online spending blitz, regularly racks up bigger sales than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

Users logging onto Amazon's Chinese site after July 18 will see products sold from its global store, the company said.

"Over the past few years, we have been evolving our China online retail business to increasingly emphasize cross-border sales, and in return we've seen very strong response from Chinese customers," Amazon said.

It will retain its other operations in China, such as cloud computing services. It will also continue to sell its Kindle e-readers and content in the country.

"Amazon's commitment to China remains strong. We have built a solid foundation here in a number of successful businesses and we will continue to invest and grow in China," the company added.

Michelle Toh contributed to this report.

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2019-04-18 14:13:00Z
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Pinterest: Priced For Failure - Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS) - Seeking Alpha

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1. Pinterest: Priced For Failure - Pinterest, Inc. (NYSE:PINS)  Seeking Alpha
2. Pinterest prices IPO at $19, valuing social media company at $10 billion  CNBC
3. Pinterest and Zoom IPOs: Here's how to avoid another Lyft disaster  Yahoo Finance
4. Pinterest raises $1.4 billion in better-than-expected IPO  Axios
5. Pinterest IPO Percolates – WWD  WWD
6. View full coverage on Google News

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4255183-pinterest-priced-failure

2019-04-18 13:35:00Z
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Alibaba Is A Pone Stock - Seeking Alpha

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Alibaba Is A Pone Stock  Seeking Alpha

Alibaba has one of thea widest economic moats in the world because of the company's ecosystem and its strong network effect. Despite a slowdown in the ...

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4255054-alibaba-pone-stock

2019-04-18 13:00:00Z
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What's moving markets today: Live updates - CNN

Do markets care about the Mueller report? No.

Investors have already digested stories about a chaotic White House. They know the president lashes out on Twitter and there’s no secret about his style of governing. They know Washington is a mess.

Unless there is some bombshell that threatens his presidency and unless the Barr summary has dramatically underplayed the Mueller report concerns, the redacted Mueller report is a non-event.

Removing the uncertainty about the Russia probe could actually be a positive for stocks. Besides the report, it is earnings season as usual, with banks reporting this week and tech companies rolling out next week.

Tech stocks are on fire this year: Facebook (FB) is up more than 30%, Amazon (AMZN) is up 25% and Microsoft (MSFT) is up 20%.

The United States and China are still working toward a trade deal with new in-person talks scheduled, moving trade concerns to the back burner for now.

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https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/stock-market-news-today-041819/index.html

2019-04-18 12:56:00Z
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US weekly jobless claims lowest since 1969; unemployment rolls shrink - CNBC

The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits fell to more than a 49-1/2-year low last week, pointing to sustained strength in the economy.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 192,000 for the week ended April 13, the lowest level since September 1969, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Data for the prior week was revised to show 1,000 more applications received than previously reported.

Claims have now declined for five straight weeks. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims would rise to 205,000 in the latest week.

The Labor Department said no states were estimated last week. Claims tend to be volatile around this time of the year because of the different timings of the Easter holiday and spring breaks.

The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 6,000 to 201,250 last week, the lowest reading since November 1969.

The claims data covered the survey week for the nonfarm payrolls portion of April's employment report. The four-week average of claims decreased by 19,250 between the March and April survey weeks. This suggests solid employment growth after payrolls increased by 196,000 jobs in March.

Though the trend in hiring has slowed, job gains remain above the roughly 100,000 needed per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. The unemployment rate is at 3.8 percent, near the 3.7 percent Federal Reserve officials project it will be by the end of the year.

A report from the Fed on Wednesday showed "modest-to-moderate growth" in employment in a majority of the U.S. central bank's districts in April. The Fed's "Beige Book" report of anecdotal information on business activity collected from contacts nationwide showed notable worker shortages "most commonly in manufacturing and construction."

Thursday's claims report showed the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of aid declined 63,000 to 1.65 million for the week ended April 6. The four-week moving average of the so-called continuing claims dropped 22,750 to 1.71 million.

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2019-04-18 12:31:14Z
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T-Mobile's Money banking app makes its nationwide debut - Engadget

T-Mobile's entry into the mobile banking game is now available nationwide, a bit over four months after it first rolled out as a pilot program. The mobile-first checking account is called T-Mobile Money, and it comes with some sweet perks for the carrier's subscribers. It has no fees and offers a four percent Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for users' money up to $3,000 -- everything above that will have a one percent APY -- so long as they sign up with their T-Mobile ID and deposit at least $200 each month.

If users can stick to the required minimum deposit, they can also opt in for the Got Your Back overdraft. That gives them a $50 overdraft protection, so they can withdraw a few more bucks without incurring penalties for when times are especially tough. The app also gives them a way to transfer money, make mobile check deposits, pay bills, send checks and even pay with mobile wallets, including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

T-Mobile created the service in partnership with BankMobile, a division of Customers Bank. An account comes with a Mastercard debit card subscribers can use to pay for purchases or for withdrawals at 55,000 Allpoint ATMs worldwide. Anyone interested can use the service either via its official website or its Android and iOS app, which are now available for download from Google Play and Apple App Store, respectively. Residents from any of the 50 US states 18 and older with a social security number can sign up for an account. Later this year, the service will become available to more potential users when it makes its way to Puerto Rico.

In this article: banking, gear, mobile, t-mobile, t-mobile money

By Mariella Moon @mariella_moon

Mariella loves staring at her cute dog while writing space, science and tech stories for Engadget. In her spare time, she enjoys pretending to be an opera diva, watching action movies, reading detective/horror fiction and playing video games. 

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2019-04-18 11:00:01Z
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Pinterest IPO; Unilever's healthy boost; Qualcomm soars - CNN

The image bookmarking social network priced its initial public offering at $19 a share on Wednesday, above its original proposed price range of $15 to $17 a share.

Shares will begin trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "PINS."

Strong demand may ease investor concerns about the stampede of tech unicorns racing to go public this year after Lyft's lackluster Wall Street debut.

Lyft (LYFT), which debuted on the Nasdaq in late March at $72 per share, has been hammered because worries over its steep losses. Its stock closed at just below $60 a share on Wednesday.

Zoom (ZM), a video conferencing company, will also make its public market debut on Thursday. It has priced its shares at $36, above its original proposed price range.

Unlike most of the other brand name technology companies going public this year, Zoom is profitable and still growing sales fast.

2. Vegan success: Unilever posted stronger than expected first quarter sales growth on Thursday. The owner of brands like Ben and Jerry's and Dove said sales were particularly strong in Asia.

Unilever also highlighted rising demand for healthier and niche food options — such as its new vegan Magnum ice cream.

"Our actions to modernize our portfolio to meet the trends towards authentic, organic and natural, healthy and on-the-go products are working," the company said in a statement.

Analysts have some concerns over the large proportion of revenue growth that came from price increases, rather than sales improvements. Unilever (UL) stock was up more than 2% in London.

Rival consumer goods company Nestle (NSRGF) also reported stronger than expected sales growth on Thursday. Its stock opened 1% higher.

3. Qualcomm soars: Shares in Qualcomm have continued to skyrocket since the chipmaker announced on Tuesday that it had resolved a patent dispute with Apple (AAPL).

Qualcomm (QCOM) will continue charging Apple royalties for its patents, and Apple will pay Qualcomm a substantial fee as part of the agreement.

The stock has soared by 40% to a 5-year high following the announcement.

4. Global market overview: US stock futures were lower ahead of the long weekend. Markets will be closed on Good Friday.

European markets opened mostly lower, following a negative trading session in Asia.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed flat on Wednesday. The S&P 500 dipped 0.2% and the Nasdaq shed 0.1%.

Before the Bell newsletter: Key market news. In your inbox. Subscribe now!

5. Earnings and economics: American Express (AXP), Blackstone (BX), Honeywell (HON), Philip Morris International (PM), Skechers (SKX) and Schlumberger (SLB) will release earnings before the open.

The US Census Bureau will publish retail sales data for March at 8:30 a.m. ET.

6. Coming this week:
Thursday — American Express (AXP), Skechers (SKX) earnings; US retail sales
Friday — US markets are closed

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2019-04-18 09:10:00Z
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