All three iPhone 8 models likely to have glass backs -- source

All three iPhone 8 models likely to have glass backs -- source
DEBBY WU, Nikkei staff writer
An Apple executive talks about the iPhone 7 at an event in San Francisco on Sept. 7. © AP
TAIPEI -- The three new iPhone models to be launched next year are likely to sport glass backs supplied by China's Biel Crystal Manufactory and Lens Technology, an industry source told the Nikkei Asian Review.
Apple is preparing to unveil a made-over iPhone at the device's 10th anniversary in 2017. The source said however, that the U.S. tech titan could change its plans for the new backs, given that it ceased production of the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 model bearing a single lens less than six months before launch.


"Apple has tentatively decided that all the 5.5-inch, 5-inch and 4.7-inch models will have glass backs, departing from metal casings adopted by current iPhones, and Biel and Lens are likely to be providing all the glass backs for the new iPhones next year," the source said.
The new iPhone 8 range is now expected to also bear glass covers supplied by Biel and Lens. The glass front and back will be held together by a metal frame.
Apple is in a drive to woo potential customers and nudge its existing fans into buying the new range by coming up with a radically different look after its iPhone 7s were criticized for being too similar to previous models and lacking innovative features.
The source said that while key iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn Technology Group, and its subsidiaries have been working to develop glass backs, it is unlikely the Taiwanese manufacturing mammoth will be able to secure orders for this component for the iPhone 8 series because its Chinese rivals have the technological edge.
Foxconn is also a major metal casing supplier to Apple, its biggest customer that accounts for over 50% of its total sales. Foxconn is the key metal casing maker for iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone SE and splits iPhone 7 orders with Catcher Technology and U.S.-based Jabil.
The source said that it was unclear if Foxconn's revenue would be affected next year as Apple had not made a final decision on the design of the new metal frames.
Apple did not respond to an email seeking comments. Biel Crystal, which is reportedly preparing for a listing in Hong Kong, Foxconn and Shenzhen-listed Lens all declined to comment.
Nikkei Asian Review reported late August that Apple's iPhone overhaul will also see the premium 5.5-inch iPhone 8 model sporting a curved display using advanced organic light-emitting diode panels, reportedly to be supplied by embattled Samsung Electronics, while the other two handsets will stick with low-temperature poly-silicon panels adopted by iPhone 7.

Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Investment Consulting, wrote in an Oct. 20 note that another major improvement in the iPhone 8 series would be the inclusion of a wireless charging feature.

>>> ECB all but certain to keep buying bonds beyond March, ease QE rules - centr

  • 26-Oct-2016 14:46:38 - ECB ALMOST CERTAIN TO KEEP BUYING BONDS BEYOND MARCH, ADJUST PROGRAMME RULES- CENTRAL BANK SOURCES
  • 26-Oct-2016 14:46:38 - CHANGES TO CAPITAL KEY, ISSUE LIMIT AND YIELD FLOOR ARE UNDER CONSIDERATION - CENTRAL BANK SOURCES

ECB all but certain to keep buying bonds beyond March, ease QE rules - central bank sources - Reuters News

26-Oct-2016 14:48:06

  • Purchases likely to continue beyond March
  • Amount will depend on economic data
  • Rules to be eased to source enough paper
  • Capital key, issue limit and yield floor under scrutiny

By Francesco Canepa and Frank Siebelt

FRANKFURT, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank is nearly certain to continue buying bonds beyond its March target and to relax its constraints on the purchases to ensure it finds enough paper to buy, central bank sources have told Reuters.

The moves will come in an attempt to bolster what is being heralded as the start of an economic recovery in the euro zone.

ECB policymakers are due to decide in December on the future shape and duration of their 80 billion euros ($87.36 billion) monthly quantitative easing (QE) scheme, based on new growth and inflation forecasts.

They did not discuss specific options at last week's meeting and no policy proposal has been formulated. But sources familiar with the matter said it was all but sure that money printing would continue in some form beyond March, currently the ECB's earliest end-date.

This would be consistent with ECB President Mario Draghi's guidance last week that the Bank would keep a "very substantial degree of monetary accommodation" and his dismissal of an abrupt end to the bond scheme. (Full Story)

The ECB declined to comment for this article.

Whether the current monthly volume of purchases will be maintained or reduced after March has not been decided and will depend on incoming economic data, the sources said.

Recent data has shown a slight uptick in inflation and other gauges of economic activity, suggesting a nascent recovery. (Full Story)

Business activity in the euro zone expanded this month at the fastest pace this year while the Ifo indicator of German business confidence improved unexpectedly in October. (Full Story) (Full Story)

But with price growth still seen missing the ECB's target of almost 2 percent for at least two years, not even the most hawkish members of the ECB's Governing Council are prepared to argue bond purchases should stop in March, the sources said. (Full Story)

 

LOOSENING RULES

The extension means some of the ECB's self-imposed constraints on what it can buy will have to be eased as eligible German bonds become harder to find, the sources said. (Full Story)

One possible change being considered would see the ECB buying fewer bonds from countries where scarcity is starting to emerge, such as Germany, whose government debt up to five years is often ineligible because it yields less than the deposit rate.

This would be a small departure from a rule dictating that sovereign bonds be bought in proportion to the amount of capital each country has paid into the ECB, which depends on the size of its economy.

While ditching this 'capital key' altogether would invite political and even legal accusations that the ECB is financing governments, a small deviation is now seen as acceptable and well within the scope of a recent court ruling on ECB money printing, the sources said.

They noted the ECB is already deviating from the key, for example by buying fewer Portuguese and Estonian bonds than the rule dictates in recent months. Germany has typically enjoyed slightly oversized purchases as a result of that. (Full Story)

Another way to get around a dearth of German paper would be the relax a 'yield floor' rule barring the ECB from buying debt that yields less than its -0.40 percent deposit rate.

This option would be favoured by the more hawkish ECB rate setters but the economic benefits of further depressing already negative yields are unclear.

The ECB is also considering buying more than a third of any individual bond issue, except for a few which have a specific restructuring proviso known as a collective action clause (CAC). (Full Story)

"It could come to a combination of measures and it will be a difficult decision," one of the central bank sources said.

ECB rate setters have so far been tight lipped in public, although growing acknowledgment by the ECB's most senior officials of the negative impact of negative interest rates on financial firms' profits suggest a further rate reduction is not likely.

Money markets no longer price in a 10 basis point cut in the ECB's deposit rate, currently at minus 0.40 percent, by year-end. ECBWATCH

That contrasts sharply with June, when the market priced in an 80 percent chance of a cut as Britain's shock decision to quit the European Union fuelled concerns about the outlook for growth and inflation. L8N1CW3F5

($1 = 0.9158 euros)

 

(Additional reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

(( francesco.canepa@thomsonreuters.com ; 004906975651247; Reuters Messaging: francesco.canepa.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ))

 



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Handelsblatt :Exclusive: U.S. Secret Service Intervened to Stop Aixtron Sale to

Exclusive: U.S. Secret Service Intervened to Stop Aixtron Sale to Chinese Firm

The U.S. intelligence agencies intervened to stop German chip maker Aixtron from being sold to a Chinese company, Handelsblatt has learned from sources in Germany’s own intelligence services. U.S. authorities alerted Germany’s chancellory that Aixtron products could potentially have military uses. Sources said Washington feared that China could use chips from Aixtron in its nuclear program. Germany’s economics ministry last Friday surprisingly pulled its approval for Aixtron’s takeover by a Chinese investor. It had been speculated since that possible security fears originated from the German side. The chancellor would not comment when contacted by Handelsblatt.

(ZH) Investors Have Pulled $8 Billion From Deutsche Bank's ETF Unit

Earlier this month, Deutsche Bank stock was shaken following a Bloomberg report that Deutsche Bank's hedge fund clients had withdrawn billions in margin cash from the bank's prime brokerage unit, adding a shade of liquidity concerns to the bank's ongoing capitalization woes. It now appears that DB has continued to hemmorhage cash with the FT reporting that the German lender's exchange traded fund unit has seen billions in outflows as Germany’s biggest lender considers whether to sell parts of its asset management business.
Investors have pulled $8bn from Deutsche’s ETF arm so far this year. This is an unwelcome collapse after a strong performance in 2015 when the unit attracted positive inflows of $28bn, according to ETFGI, a London-based consultancy. DB's clients have been heading for the exit after the bank was threatened with a $14bn claim by the DOJ.
“The noise around Deutsche Bank has clearly not helped its ETF business,” said a senior executive from a rival asset manager who did not wish to be named.
As the FT adds, Deutsche has put aside €5.5bn to cover potential litigation costs but the threat of a larger bill has forced it to consider selling a minority stake in its asset management arm, its best-performing division in recent years. However, efforts to raise fresh capital could be hindered by the outflows from the ETF unit, which is widely regarded as one of the crown jewels of Deutsche’s asset management operations.
To be sure, DB defended itself when a spokesman for the bank said the ETF outflows were “part of the broader industry-wide” trend away from currency-hedged ETFs. The outflows account for 10 per cent of Deutsche’s total ETF assets under management, and indeed the difficulties at Deutsche coincide with a period of upheaval across the European ETF industry. A cut-throat price war led by BlackRock and Vanguard, the world’s two largest fund managers, has forced rivals to abandon their strategic plans.

Still, the cash strapped bank may find it more complicated to unwind positions and provide the needed cash at a time when each of its moves is scrutinized under a microscope.
DB is not alone: Source, the London-based ETF provider, has been put up for sale fewer than three years after being acquired by Warburg Pincus, the private equity group. Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest lender, has also confirmed it plans to spin off its ETF business into a separate unit.
Some industry observers believe Deutsche’s ETF business could make an attractive acquisition target for a rival looking to establish a foothold in the market. A former Deutsche employee said that efforts had been made in the past to find a buyer for the ETF unit, which has assets of $76.9bn and ranks as the fifth-largest ETF provider globally.
“We heard a lot of rumours that senior management put [the ETF business] up for sale several times but they were unable to get much traction for the price they were asking,” he said.
It wouldn't be the first time Deutsche has tried to monetize some of its better performing assets. Following a review in 2011, the Frankfurt-based lender tried to sell large chunks of the asset management business but a potential deal with Guggenheim Partners, the US investment firm, fell apart in 2012. The bank subsequently merged the asset management division with the bank’s wealth unit, bringing the two together under the leadership of the scandal-plagued Michele Faissola whose involvmenet in a series of Monte Paschi deals has prompted the Italian government to launch an investigation into his "market manipulation" activities. As reported previously, the former investment banker is one of four executives to have led the asset management division in as many years. His involvement in the suicide of former Deutsche Banker William Broksmit was profiled here recently. Faissola’s departure from Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management last year led to another reversal: the separation of the asset and wealth management divisions just three years after they had been brought together.

NYT : AT&T Cheerleading Squad for Merger: Nearly 100 Lobbyists

AT&T Cheerleading Squad for Merger: Nearly 100 Lobbyists

WASHINGTON — From the political right and the left, AT&T’s $85 billion bid for Time Warner has provoked pushback. But AT&T, in addition to its billions of dollars of capital, has another arsenal at its disposal: one of the most formidable lobbying operations in Washington.
The company’s list of nearly 100 registered lobbyists already on retainer in 2016 includes former members of Congress. AT&T is the biggest donor to federal lawmakers and their causes among cable and cellular telecommunications companies, with its employees and political action committee sending money to 374 of the House’s 435 members and 85 of the Senate’s 100 members this election cycle. That adds up to more than $11.3 million in donations since 2015, four times as much as Verizon Communications, according to a tally by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group.
AT&T has also spent decades building a national alliance of local government officials and nonprofit groups — particularly from black and Hispanic communities — that it will certainly be asking to weigh in again in Washington, as it tries to get the merger approved.
“We have seen our fair share of deals,” AT&T’s general counsel, David R. McAtee II, said in an interview. “Our job is informing consumers what a good development this is for them.”
But navigating this transaction will be a test of just how much influence AT&T has in Washington these days, especially as it tries to persuade antitrust officials at the United States Department of Justice, who will be crucial in approving the deal. The task may be particularly tricky as AT&T’s lobbying team undergoes a transition after losing its longtime leader, James W. Cicconi, a former aide to President George H. W. Bush.
For AT&T, the regulatory environment around megadeals has also soured. Antitrust officials have muscled up in recent years, blocking dozens of deals across industries including pharmaceuticals and retail. Other prominent telecommunications deals have imploded even after huge lobbying efforts, most notably Comcast’s attempt to buy Time Warner Cable in 2014 andAT&T’s bid in 2011 to buy T-Mobile, a cellular telephone competitor.
Issues that led to the collapse of those deals seem even more prevalent now, as the nation closes out a presidential campaign that has featured candidates from both parties — most notably Donald J. Trump and Bernie Sanders — promising to challenge corporate power.


“The public is really stirred up and angry about the growing dominance of a small number of firms,” said Gene Kimmelman, president of Public Knowledge and a former antitrust official at the Justice Department during AT&T’s bid for T-Mobile.
The alarms over AT&T’s deal for Time Warner stem from mounting frustration over high prices and the lack of competition in the telecom industry, with most Americans limited to one or two providers of broadband services. Regulators are set to focus on AT&T’s powerful control over broadband and television customers since it is the nation’s second-largest wireless company, after Verizon, and biggest paid television provider since its recent acquisition of DirecTV.
Time Warner’s marquee content from its HBO and CNN channels and movies from Warner Bros. will lead regulators to also scrutinize whether the creation of a multi-tentacled juggernaut could suppress competition in the technology, media and telecommunications industries. One way the combined company might do that, for example, is by offering unlimited streaming of HBO’s “Silicon Valley” or “Game of Thrones” to its wireless customers or making it harder for competing streaming video services and television programs to reach AT&T subscribers.
Lawmakers have already vowed a tough review of the deal, regardless of the lobbying full-court press they know will be playing out on Capitol Hill.
“We are seeing increasing consolidation, especially scary consolidation, between the content side of the media and the internet provider side,” said Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel.
The panel could hold a hearing on the proposal — with sworn testimony from AT&T executives — as soon as next month. “We have a duty to examine this deal,” Ms. Klobuchar said.
The merger sets up a monthslong battle in Washington with consumer advocates, smaller telecom and cable companies, and some tech companies preparing their own assault against the deal.

“The American people want more competition, not less,” said Chip Pickering, chief executive of Incompas, a lobbying group that represents internet companies including Netflix and Google. “Megamergers are leaving them with higher prices and less choice.”
AT&T’s lobbying playbook from the T-Mobile bid offers the most detailed blueprint of what might unfold. In that campaign, AT&T helped line up dozens of elected officialsfrom communities across the United States, many of whom had received financial support, to send letters or sign petitions urging the deal’s approval.
More endorsements came from community and nonprofit groups, many of which AT&T also helped fund through its corporate foundation, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
More than 100 lawmakers on Capitol Hill — again, many who had taken contributions from AT&T — also signed letters urging the Justice Department to sign off on the transaction. The company funded a $40 million advertising campaign in cities nationwide to build public support for the deal.
Arik Ben-Zvi, a lobbyist at the Glover Park Group, which was hired by rivals to Comcast to help challenge its deal with Time Warner Cable in 2015, said he thought it would be a mistake to rely on the same tactics this time. “This massive campaign of blanketing the Hill, that is the wrong way to go,” he said.
Instead, Mr. Ben-Zvi said, AT&T needs to be more specific and authentic to be more effective. The company must confront head-on any questions about the impact its deal would have on its competitors, for example, and make sure regulators and lawmakers understand that, with such rapid change in the tech sector, it has no choice but to pursue a deal like this.
“Incumbent telecommunications companies like AT&T are deeply threatened by the emergence of Silicon Valley giants that are poised to take over this space,” said Mr. Ben-Zvi, who is not working on the AT&T-Time Warner deal. “Companies like Amazon, Google, Netflix — those are now some of AT&T’s rivals, not just companies like Verizon.”
Photo
Robert Quinn Jr. will help lead AT&T’s lobbying efforts for the merger.CreditStephanie Green/Bloomberg
AT&T would not discuss details of its lobbying strategy, including whether it would employ tactics similar to those in previous mergers. “We are early in the process,” Mr. McAtee, the AT&T general counsel, said.
Mr. McAtee will help lead AT&T’s merger efforts in Washington, along with Robert W. Quinn Jr., a policy insider in charge of lobbying who has been at the company for three decades.
Both are new to being in charge. AT&T’s storied lobbying operations were long led by Mr. Cicconi, who retired last month. Mr. Cicconi in the past worked closely with Wayne Watts, who served for decades at AT&T, including as general counsel, and retired last year.
Together, Mr. Cicconi and Mr. Watts shepherded more than a half-dozen blockbuster mergers in the last two decades.
The company is offering some clues about how it will position the deal. Unlike a “horizontal” merger, which unites competing companies in the same line of business, this transaction would not reduce the number of options for consumers, AT&T executives have said.
AT&T also said it would not withhold Time Warner shows from competitors. It plans to create an advertising-based video business for mobile devices, similar to the ad business of the web giants Google and Facebook.
The biggest advantage AT&T may have is the likelihood that the deal may face little scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission, the regulatory agency that typically gets involved if there are transfers of telecom or broadcast licenses. If Time Warner divests the one Atlanta broadcast station it owns, that would make the F.C.C.’s jurisdiction moot. The merger would be reviewed under a new administration, potentially with new antitrust officials picked by the next president.
Even so, it will not be easy. Michael J. Copps, a Democrat and former commissioner for the F.C.C., said that he was preparing, with consumer groups, to battle an AT&T lobbying surge.
AT&T “has a huge lobbying budget and the sharpest lawyers money can buy to get this deal approved,” Mr. Copps said.

FT : Kering shares hit 15-year high on bumper third quarter

Kering shares hit 15-year high on bumper third quarter
French luxury group gets ‘its mojo back’ as Gucci revamp spurs revenue increase

Shares in Kering soared to their highest in more than 15 years after the French luxury group reported bumper third-quarter earnings helped by the successful makeover of its dominant Gucci brand.

Sales at the group behind Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Puma jumped 10.5 per cent on an organic basis — which strips out exchange rate fluctuations — in the quarter to September 30, far exceeding analysts’ forecasts of a 7 per cent rise.
Gucci, the Italian fashion house which sells products such as python handbags for €4,500 and spiked metallic leather sandals for €1,590, posted a 17 per cent rise in sales in the quarter, bucking a wider trend of depressed luxury goods sales.
The strong performance comes under the new creative direction of Alessandro Michele, who was appointed to Gucci in January last year following the exit of Frida Giannini. His new collections have been credited with revitalising the brand.
“Gucci has got its mojo back,” said Carole Madjo, analyst at Haitong Research, in a note following the results on Wednesday. “Growth should continue thanks notably to the increasing penetration of Gucci’s new offer.”
The results provide a welcome ray of light in the luxury sector. Upmarket fashion labels have been struggling under the shadow of slumping sales in once popular shopping destinations such as Hong Kong and Macau, and weak tourism in Europe following a spate of terror attacks over the past year.
Kering was not entirely immune to these effects. The group’s Bottega Veneta brand continued to suffer in the latest quarter — sales fell 10.9 per cent on a comparable basis — amid weak tourism in western Europe as well as Japan.
But this was more than made up for by the other brands. Sales at Yves Saint Laurent rose 34 per cent while revenues at Puma — which makes running shoes for Olympic champion Usain Bolt — rose 10.8 per cent during the quarter.
Analysts said the results were a positive sign for the upcoming and all-important Christmas shopping season.
Rogerio Fujimori of RBC Capital Markets said: “It does not get better than this for Gucci and Saint Laurent.” He added: “For the luxury sector, this is another example of current trading picking up as we get closer to the key festive season.”
Other luxury-goods makers have been having a harder time. While Burberry reported a modest rise in quarterly sales last month, Richemont, the maker of Cartier, said in September that first-half earnings would fall about 45 per cent. That same month, Hermes abandoned a long-term sales growth target.
Shares in Kering were trading 8.9 per cent higher at €205.35 early on Wednesday afternoon to their highest since early 2001, when the company was known as Pinault-Printemps-Redoute.

FT Lex : Kering: changing room, Clothing purveyor has had a good quarter but the

Kering: changing room
Clothing purveyor has had a good quarter but there’s more to do

What do dishy actor Tom Hiddleston and footballer Jamie Vardy have in common? It is not just that both are a long shot to play the next Bond. Each also share a sponsor in Kering, the Paris-based purveyor of clothes and accessories stretching from Gucci loafers to Puma sportswear. Those contrasting marques may strike some as a poor fit, but the market does not mind. Its shares have already outrun the MSCI Europe luxury goods index by a tenth this year. Kering has made the right moves to revitalise Gucci. Next, it must turn around its other ailing brands.

Kering boss François-Henri Pinault has an exacting eye for putting together a well-matched pair. He installed a new chief executive and designer in one go at Gucci last December. This was a risky move, as Gucci is by far the biggest contributor to Kering’s profits, accounting for 60 per cent of operating earnings. The experience at Brioni, Kering’s top-end suits label, shows how hard choosing the right team is: it fired its new designer after just six months. Kering’s third-quarter results rewarded Mr Pinault’s boldness. Gucci sales swelled by 17 per cent, helping Kering’s shares to a 9 per cent gain on the day.
There is more to do. Bought back in 2007 on double digit profitability, earnings fromPuma have halved in the past two years, on an operating margin of just 3 per cent. Kering claims a turnround has begun this year and that on a constant currency basis gross margins have improved. Revenues kept pace with the rest of the group in the quarter. A bigger concern is leather specialist Bottega Veneta, a fifth of group profits. Years of extraordinary growth ended recently. It too has a new CEO no doubt expected to turn over the brand’s pricey handbags and have a clear out.
Looks alone will not keep shareholders happy. New leading men will have to get their hands dirty, too, if only to boost free cash flow enough to ensure dividend coverage. But so far Kering wears its change of garb well.