Post liebäugelt mit Beteiligung an Volksbanken

Genau, so schaut ein genossenschaftliches Banken-Modell aus. Aber vielleicht wird die Post AG zur Genossenschaft! (hfk)

Renate Graber, 31. März 2018, 09:00, derstandard.at

Auf die Scheidung zwischen Post und Bawag könnte eine Hochzeit folgen. Die Post könnte sich am Volksbankensektor beteiligen: mit mehr als 30 Prozent

Wien – Die Bawag PSK hat sich von der Österreichischen Post AG getrennt und zieht aus den Postfilialen aus. Von den rund 320 beamteten Postlern, die als Finanzberater an den Bawag-Schaltern der Postämter gearbeitet haben, hat die Bank schon rund 140 zurückgeschickt. Für die pensionsfähigen unter ihnen wird an einem Sozialplan gebastelt, die jüngeren sollen umgeschult und in den Postbetrieb eingegliedert werden. Parallel dazu sucht die teilstaatliche, börsennotierte Post (knapp 53 Prozent hält die Öbib) nun dringend nach einem neuen Bankpartner – und könnte diesmal in einer echten Ehe landen, und zwar mit den österreichischen Volksbanken, konkret der Volksbank (VB) Wien AG. Angepeilt wird, gut informierten Kreisen zufolge, eine Beteiligung der Post, von rund 35 Prozent ist die Rede.

Weit gediehene Überlegungen

AI providers will increasingly compete with management consultancies

Date: 28-03-2018
Source: The Economist

A thriving ecosystem has sprung up to offer AI expertise and technical help

MANY TECH FIRMS’ offices boast luxurious perks such as nap pods, massages and soda fountains that offer employees a choice of exotically flavoured sparkling water. Corporate bosses like to think that finding customised AI solutions is just as easy as selecting a fizzy drink with a hint of grapefruit. They are wrong. Buying AI takes time, can feel like hard work, and the results are often imperfect.

A number of vendors are scurrying to come to would-be users’ aid. The leaders are the West’s biggest providers of cloud storage: Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Cloud computing is a vast market worth $300bn, and fiercely competitive. All three firms offer pre-trained models that corporate clients can use to build AI-enabled systems. For example, they all sell “vision” tools that enable customers to use computer vision to improve their existing services and build new ones. Uber, the ride-hailing firm, worked with Microsoft’s toolset to design a system that scans drivers’ faces to confirm their identity when they start a shift. C-Span, a television network, used Amazon’s vision system to compile a database of politicians so it can quickly name them when they appear on screen.

AI will make workplaces more efficient, safer—and much creepier

Date: 28-03-2018
Source: The Economist
Subject: There will be little privacy in the workplace of the future

WALK UP A set of steep stairs next to a vegan Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto in Silicon Valley, and you will see the future of work, or at least one version of it. This is the local office of Humanyze, a firm that provides “people analytics”. It counts several Fortune 500 companies among its clients (though it will not say who they are). Its employees mill around an office full of sunlight and computers, as well as beacons that track their location and interactions. Everyone is wearing an ID badge the size of a credit card and the depth of a book of matches. It contains a microphone that picks up whether they are talking to one another; Bluetooth and infrared sensors to monitor where they are; and an accelerometer to record when they move.

“Every aspect of business is becoming more data-driven. There’s no reason the people side of business shouldn’t be the same,” says Ben Waber, Humanyze’s boss. The company’s staff are treated much the same way as its clients. Data from their employees’ badges are integrated with information from their e-mail and calendars to form a full picture of how they spend their time at work. Clients get to see only team-level statistics, but Humanyze’s employees can look at their own data, which include metrics such as time spent with people of the same sex, activity levels and the ratio of time spent speaking versus listening.

Big Tech’s Decline Hits a Heavily Owned Stock Sector

Date: 29-03-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Investors piled into hot technology stocks last year and reaped outsized gains. Now the sector’s sharp reversal stands to have the opposite effect.

High-flying companies including Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., and Facebook Inc., were among the most widely held last year by institutional equity strategies, such as pension funds and endowments, according to eVestment data. In the final three months of 2017, more than 22% of such portfolios held Microsoft, up from less than 21% a year earlier, making the technology giant the most widely held.

Alphabet, the second most owned company, was in nearly 22% of portfolios in the fourth quarter, up from less than 21% a year ago. And Facebook, the sixth most widely held company, was in 16% of portfolios, versus 14% a year earlier, the eVestment data show. Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., technically a consumer stock, also cracked the top 10 in ownership breadth.

Trump Reportedly Wants to Go After Amazon–and Its Stock Tanked

Date: 29-03-2018
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Shares of Amazon.com slid Wednesday amid speculation that the White House wants to clamp down on the e-commerce giant’s growing dominance.

Amazon shares ended the day down 4.4% at $1431.42 after falling more than 7% earlier in the day.

The stock decline came after Axios reported President Donald Trump is “obsessed with Amazon” and has discussed changing Amazon’s tax treatment due to concerns about how the company is impacting mom-and-pop businesses. Axios also reported that Mr. Trump has questioned “if there may be any way to go after Amazon with antitrust or competition law.”

In a briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Mr. Trump wants a “a level playing field “for all businesses but noted “there aren’t any specific policies on the table at this time.” An Amazon spokesman declined to comment.

It isn’t the first time the company has faced Mr. Trump’s criticism. In December, Mr. Trump called for the U.S. Postal Service to charge Amazon more to deliver its packages.

He has also criticized the company for how it collects sales tax on customers’ purchases.

Wednesday’s report adds to uncertainty surrounding the tech sector as investors also question whether a growing controversy over Facebook handling of user data will lead to more regulation for the industry. Facebook’s shares are down 14% this month, while Alphabet has fallen 8.9%.  The big rally in tech shares in recent years has been a key driver of the stock bull-market; their declines are now dragging down the broader market.

Chugging along: India’s economy is back on track. Can it pick up speed?

Date: 28-03-2018
Source: The Economist

Narendra Modi needs to pass further reforms if India is to fulfil its potential

IT IS easy to be awed by the Indian railway network. The 23m passengers it carries daily travel, in total, over ten times the distance to the sun and back. It is just as easy to find it unimpressive. Delays are frequent and trains antiquated. It takes 14 hours to get from India’s capital, Delhi, to its commercial hub, Mumbai. The equivalent trip in China—from Beijing to Shanghai, a similar distance—takes just over four hours.

Similarly, India’s economy can be seen in two lights. Its long-term growth rate of 7% a year has proved far more dependable than the rail timetable. GDP has doubled twice in the past two decades. Yet deep poverty still lingers and jobs are scarce. And Indian growth has been left in the dust by the Chinese express (see chart).

Europe is sending African migrants home. Will they stay?

Date: 28-03-2018
Source: The Economist

Facing horrible conditions in Libya, many Africans are accepting free flights home. But some are ashamed to return

ONCE considered the smartest hangout in town, the Benin Plaza motel in southern Nigeria’s Benin City has seen better days. Its chalet-style rooms are normally empty, and the Moat Bar, which promises “groovy nights and exotic cocktails”, has fallen into disrepair.

For the Plaza’s recent influx of guests, though, the motel is the first comfortable night they have had in rather a long time. Requisitioned by the government for migrants repatriated from Libya, it offers new arrivals free accommodation for a few days while they find their feet.

The repatriation programme is part of a joint UN and EU effort to stem the flow of migrants to Europe. It encourages those who have made it to Libya to go home voluntarily, rather than risk a rickety boat across the Mediterranean. People who turn back get a free flight—cutting out the need for a perilous return journey across the Sahara.

White, right and pretentious

Date: 28-03-2018
Source: The Economist

How “identitarian” politics is changing Europe

Having learned from the identity politics of the left, right-wingers are shaping the conversation

THE Flemish city of Ghent is so packed with medieval antiquities that it is in no danger of forgetting its history. Nonetheless, cultural identity is a burning political issue there. On March 22nd marchers led by a conservative Flemish student group, the Nationalist Student Union (NSV), filed into the square of the Cathedral of St Bavo. The march was a protest over the large number of murders of white South African farmers by blacks. It was also part of a growing movement led by young European activists aimed at reshaping identity politics, long the province of the left, into a right-wing cause.

White Afrikaners, like Flemings, speak a form of Dutch, so there is a cultural bond. The NSV, founded in 1976 as part of the Flemish independence movement, wanted to show solidarity with them, said Bavo Janssens, one of the group’s leaders. Behind him flew flags bearing the Flemish lion and a banner reading “ANC murderers”. In a jab at multiculturalism everywhere, Mr Janssens said the Belgian media were too politically correct to admit that “the rainbow nation of Nelson Mandela has failed.”

Wirtschaftsboom am Bosporus: Türkei wächst stärker als China

Im Vorjahr ist die türkische Wirtschaft um starke 7,4 Prozent gewachsen, in China lag das Wachstum bei „nur“ 6,9 Prozent.

 29.03.2018 um 15:44, diepresse.com

Nach einer Wachstumsdelle wegen des Putschversuches 2016 hat die Wirtschaft in der Türkei im vergangenen Jahr noch stärker als die in China zugelegt. Die türkische Volkswirtschaft sei 2017 im Jahresvergleich um 7,4 Prozent gewachsen, wie das türkische Statistikamt in Ankara heute, Donnerstag, mitteilte. Der Wert übertraf die Erwartungen von Analysten leicht. Im Jahr zuvor hatte das nachträglich angepasste Wirtschaftswachstum bei 3,2 Prozent gelegen. In China lag das Wachstum der weltweit zweitgrößten Volkswirtschaft 2017 im Jahresvergleich nach offiziellen Angaben bei 6,9 Prozent.

Die Gründe für den geheimnisvollen Dax-Verlust

Von Frank Stocker | 29-03 Stand: 07:18 Uhr |welt.de

Auslöser für das Börsenbeben ist die Zinsangst – vor allem in den USA. Aber ist die Sorge berechtigt? Bernd Meyer, Chefstratege bei Berenberg, erklärt, welche Fehler Anleger jetzt vermeiden sollten.

Gerüchten zufolge spekulieren Hedgefonds massiv gegen den Dax. Tatsächlich schneidet dieser seit Wochen wesentlich schlechter ab als US-Indizes. Doch die wirklichen Ursachen dafür liegen woanders.

Es scheinen geheimnisvolle Mächte am Werk, klandestine Händler, die den Aktienmarkt zuungunsten der europäischen Börsen beeinflussen. Denn steigt der Dow Jones um zwei Prozent, dann legt der Dax am folgenden Tag nur um ein Prozent zu.

Und gibt der Dow Jones ab, sei es ein Prozent, folgt der Dax mit einem Abschlag von zwei Prozent. So geht das seit rund vier Monaten, seit Ende November hat sich dadurch ein Unterschied von rund zwölf Prozentpunkten bei der Entwicklung deutscher und amerikanischer Aktienindizes aufgebaut.

Doch wer steckt dahinter? Gerüchte wabern, dass einige große US-Hedgefonds Wetten gegen europäische und insbesondere gegen deutsche Unternehmen laufen haben. Solche Wetten können den Trend zwar verstärken, sie sind aber sicher nicht die Ursache dafür.

Die Wette auf fallende Kurse ging auf