Company Chairman, Wife Cut Stake as Hong Kong Stock Plunged 89%

Shum Tin Ching and his wife Wang Xinmei sold 93.6 million shares of Jiayuan International Group Ltd. on Jan. 17 at an average of HK$2.7611 apiece -- about a 79 percent discount from the previous day's close -- according to a Hong Kong exchange filing. Jiayuan tumbled as much as 24 percent before shares were suspended. Stocks that plunged last week with Jiayuan also sank, with Sunshine 100 China Holdings Ltd. falling as much as 13 percent and Rentian Technology Holdings Ltd. retreating 9.1 percent.

Foxconn says trying to hire 50,000 people in first quarter after job cut reports

Taiwan's Foxconn (2317.TW), assembler of Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhones, on Tuesday said it was trying to recruit for more than 50,000 positions across its China campuses for the January-March quarter, amid reports of mass lay-offs. The world's largest contract manufacturer, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, said in a stock exchange filing that changes in employee numbers were part of its usual adjustments based on global strategy and clients' needs. Last week, the Nikkei reported that Foxconn had let go around 50,000 contract workers in China since October, months earlier than normal.

• Foxconn says there is a need to hire 50,000 people in Q1 after job cut reports

  Reuters
• BRIEF-Hon Hai Precision Says It Still Needs To Recruit At Some Factories In China

  Reuters

Gold Price Futures (GC) Technical Analysis – Taking Out $1282.40 on Weekly Chart Could Trigger Acceleration to Downside

Gold prices fell last week with the market hitting its lowest level since December 27. The catalyst behind the price action was the news that the United States and China may have offered concessions during the mid-level trade talks in Beijing earlier in the month. This zone is also providing resistance, having stopped the rally the week-ending January 4 at $1300.40.

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  USD/JPY Forex Technical Analysis – Key Level to Overcome This Week for Bullish Traders is 109.695

  FX Empire
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  AUD/USD Forex Technical Analysis – Major Weekly Downside Target at .7000 to .6944

  FX Empire

Tesla will overrun traditional car companies because they still aren't moving fast enough

It took the worst corporate scandal in automotive history for Volkswagen to make the necessary decision to transform itself into an electric car company. The world's largest car maker will spend $50 billion over the next five years to develop 50 new electric models, an increase from six today, and produce 1 million electric cars by 2025. This radical reinvention is exactly what is needed to stave off a challenge from Tesla (TSLA) and a band of upstarts from California and China that are building for an electric future.

'Radical savers' shred trader for backing Suze Orman on needing $5 million to retire

But one thing he said really rattled Reddit's “FIRE” board, where half a million subscribers gather to share their thoughts on the “financial independence, retire early” strategy that's become a hot-button topic for millennials. Here's what set them off: 'Suze Orman was criticized as being elitist and out-of-touch for suggesting that you might need $5 million to $10 million to retire at 35. But she's not wrong under her framework, which is that in retirement, you want to live well, not poorly.

Health Savings Account Rules: 6 Little-Known HSA Tips That Will Save You Money

Health Savings Account Rules: 6 Little-Known HSA Tips That Will Save You Money

IMF pessimism + trade tensions = sickly stocks

Pessimism about global growth drove down world shares and commodity markets on Tuesday and left investors seeking refuge in the dollar, government bonds and gold. The International Monetary Fund's warning of a darkening outlook on Monday, after China's confirmed its slowest growth rate in nearly 30 years, continued to weigh on the mood. European shares followed Asia into the red as disappointing earnings from Swiss bank UBS (UBSG.S) compounded what had been a catastrophic 2018 for Europe's banking sector (.SX7E), which lost nearly 30 percent of its value over the year.

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  Asian shares, U.S. stock futures dented by growth worries

  Reuters
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  Global Growth Jitters Resurface, Pushing U.S. Stock Futures Down

  Bloomberg

Stocks Struggle, Bonds Rise as Risk Rally Sputters: Markets Wrap

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index erased an early drop as Switzerland's UBS Group AG reported outflows in the fourth quarter, but struggled to stay positive as U.S. futures pointed to a softer open. Without any direction offered from American markets that were shut Monday for a holiday, the focus turned to comments from Chinese President Xi Jinping stressing the need to maintain political stability and news that the U.S. is seeking extradition of a top Huawei executive. After stocks rallied to start off the year, investors now find their conviction tested anew as a familiar litany of concerns weigh on sentiment.

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  Asian shares, U.S. stock futures dented by growth worries

  Reuters
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  Global Growth Jitters Resurface, Pushing U.S. Stock Futures Down

  Bloomberg

The financial traits of millionaires we can all learn from

Everyday Millionaires' author Chris Hogan offers tips for getting rid of debt and building your personal wealth.

UBS Warns on Client Activity After $13 Billion of Outflows

UBS Group AG warned client activity is still recovering after investors pulled $13 billion of assets in the final quarter of last year and said that wealth management revenues will be hit by the market declines. Withdrawals at the Zurich-based bank's key global wealth management unit totaled almost $8 billion in the fourth quarter, with the remainder coming from asset management. In a sign that the worst may not be over, UBS said increased volatility, rising protectionism and geopolitical tensions are still weighing on investors.

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  UBS CEO: Our asset management business outperformed indus...

  CNBC Videos
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  UBS sees bumpy road ahead after fourth-quarter profit miss

  Reuters

5 ways to avoid becoming a failed retiree

Then we talked about community festivals where she could show her work and sell it. Most of the festivals required an entrance fee, so she did a lot of research and entered a couple, to try it out. She sold several paintings and even got a couple of custom orders.

Berkshire's lithium venture may supply U.S. automakers, including Tesla: FT

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc has signed an agreement to allow extraction of lithium from its geothermal wells in California, a project that could offer U.S. carmakers and battery producers a secure supply of the metal, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The venture has been in talks to supply Tesla Inc with lithium, a component for batteries to power electric cars, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the company. Berkshire Hathaway's geothermal wells could produce up to 90,000 tonnes of lithium a year worth $1.5 billion at current prices, the report said, citing a fundraising document.

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  Exclusive: Tesla says it received battery quotes from China's Lishen but no deal signed

  Reuters
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  Tesla says it has no agreement with Chinese battery maker Lishen

  Reuters

Why the stock market is headed for a swift recovery

In my four earlier ones, I covered why December was lousy and why stocks are on the right side of a swift V-shaped recovery. U.S. stocks have climbed more than 10 percent since the market close on Christmas Eve. Assuming December 24 remains the bottom, this correction ended later in a calendar year than any correction or bear market ever.

Jack Bogle's counter-intuitive lesson on American excellence: Don't chase it

Vanguard founder Jack Bogle, who died this week at the age of 89, has been rightly celebrated as one of the most important innovators in the history of capitalism, upending Wall Street retail brokerage and the mutual fund industry. Bogle's winning bet that the average market return would beat most active managers includes an important, if counter-intuitive lesson about success: the path to it does not always mean you have to spend more, or stretch. If Vanguard Group founder Jack Bogle, who died this week at the age of 89, represented the pinnacle of American success, his success is one that includes a counter-intuitive lesson.

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  Jack Bogle was the greatest investor who never managed money

  MarketWatch
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  A Foolish Take: The Monumental Growth of Jack Bogle's Vanguard Group

  Motley Fool

Huawei launches a PR offensive — but it may face a 'literally impossible' task

Chinese tech giant Huawei has been stung by a string of recent negative headlines, including a probe on allegations of trade-secret theft, moves from multiple countries to block the company's equipment from sensitive infrastructure projects, and the arrest of its CFO in Canada. Public relations executives say increased transparency is a step in the right direction, but is unlikely to quickly improve the telecommunications company's global reputation. Beleaguered Chinese tech behemoth Huawei kicked off 2019 with a charm offensive, in a bid to counter damaging headlines that have hit the company in the past few months.

Chinese Drone Giant DJI Unearths $150 Million Losses From Fraud

DJI has unearthed cases of fraud involving its own employees that may trigger losses of about 1 billion yuan ($150 million) for the world's largest drone maker, marking one of the largest recent cases of graft among China's technology giants. SZ DJI Technology Co., which discovered the corruption in an internal probe, said it's fired multiple workers who inflated parts costs for personal gain, and contacted law enforcement. DJI, which employs 14,000 people around the globe, is the runaway leader in consumer drones with almost three-quarters of the market.

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  Staff fraud may cost China's DJI drone maker $150 million

  AFP
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  Chinese drone maker DJI says employees inflated cost of parts

  Reuters

Natural Gas Price Forecast – natural gas markets quiet four holiday session

As it was Martin Luther King Junior holiday in America, natural gas markets were extraordinarily quiet as it would have been relegated to a minor electronic trading. That being the case, the gap lower shows that there is more of a proclivity to go to the downside, and I think rallies will continue to be sold in general. I believe that the $3.50 level of course is going to be significant resistance, that extends all the way to the $3.75 level.

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  Silver Price Forecast – Silver markets pulled back to major Fibonacci levels

  FX Empire
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  USD/CAD Daily Price Forecast – USD Continues Recovery Price Action For Third Consecutive Session

  FX Empire

Silver Price Forecast – Silver markets pulled back to major Fibonacci levels

Silver markets pulled back during thin trading on Monday as traders came back from the weekend. With the holiday schedule, and of course volume would have been late, so I don't read too much into the pullback other than the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level offered a bit of a bid. Quite frankly, I have no interest in shorting Silver, because the US dollar, although strengthening over the last couple of days, has to deal with the Federal Reserve changing its stance over the last couple of days.

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  USD/CAD Daily Price Forecast – USD Continues Recovery Price Action For Third Consecutive Session

  FX Empire
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  Crude Oil Price Forecast – crude oil continues to press resistance

  FX Empire