News about finance, currency, securities 6

 Warren Buffett makes $9.8 billion a day on Apple shares The value of Berkshire Hathaway's holdings in Apple jumped by $9.8 billion on Friday as shares of the company rose nearly 7%. On Thursday (January 27), Apple reported quarterly earnings of $124 billion and strong sales growth across every product line except the iPad. Investors seem particularly interested in CEO Tim Cook's comments that supply chain headaches are improving. Thanks to positive information, Apple shares closed Friday session (January 28) up 6.98% to $170.33. According to FactSet data, Berkshire Hathaway began accumulating Apple stock in 2016 and now owns 887 million shares of the iPhone maker, or more than 5% of the shares outstanding. Yesterday's increase helped the value of shares held by this group increase by $ 9.8 billion. Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett. Photo: AP Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett. Photo: AP Billionaire Warren Buffett has been one of Apple's biggest backer...

 Jeff Bezos' ex-wife 'divorced' $ 8.5 billion in Amazon shares The number of Amazon shares MacKenzie Scott holds fell 2.5 million units last year, as she gave to charity at a record pace. That equates to $8.5 billion, based on the average price of Amazon stock between Mackenzie Scott's two most recent announcements. At current prices, they're worth $7.3 billion. According to the document just released, Scott still holds 14.9 million shares. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates she is worth the equivalent of $48.3 billion. This number could have been much higher had she not donated more than $8.6 billion to charities across the United States since her divorce from Jeff Bezos in 2019. MacKenzie Scott is this year's most powerful woman in the world. Photo: Bloomberg MacKenzie Scott is this year's most powerful woman in the world. Photo: Bloomberg "I have too much money to share," she wrote in May 2019, when she signed the "Giving Pledge,...

 European economy lags behind the US and China Eurozone growth is slowing due to high energy prices, supply chain bottlenecks and new restrictions in response to Omicron. Data from three of Europe's largest economies released over the weekend showed that many countries in the region are still lagging behind before the pandemic. Meanwhile, the US has returned to pre-pandemic levels since the middle of last year. China is also quickly returning to normal in 2020, although growth has slowed down recently because of the plunge in the real estate market. GDP in the 19 eurozone countries is likely to grow 1.6% in the final quarter of the year, down sharply from 9.1% in the previous quarter, according to Commerzbank estimates based on GDP data from Germany, France and Spain. In the US, GDP grew by 6.9% last quarter. Meanwhile, China's GDP grew by 4%. A seaport in Germany - a country whose economy is heavily dependent on exports. Photo: AP A seaport in Germany - a country whose economy...

 The 10 richest people all lost money at the beginning of the year, except for Warren Buffett The world's richest people saw their net worth decline in the first weeks of 2022 but Warren Buffett did not. The recent plunge in technology stocks has reduced the fortune of the world's richest man, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, by $54 billion year-to-date. Meanwhile, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lost $27.8 billion. The fortune of two Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin also lost more than 12 billion USD while Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg decreased by 15.2 billion USD. Out of the 10 richest people in the world, only one person whose net worth increased is Warren Buffett, when he earned an additional $2.4 billion, bringing his total fortune to $111 billion. Last week, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway overtook Zuckerberg to return to sixth place in the global rich list, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. "Decade after decade, the legend of Omaha (Warren Buffett...

 Gold price may decrease in the first week of the Year of the Tiger The Fed's early push to raise interest rates has woken up the bears in the gold market and raised concerns among analysts about the possibility of a market correction. The cautious sentiment of Wall Street analysts comes as gold prices have fallen nearly 3% last week since the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) monetary policy meeting, setting the stage for a move in the future. interest rate hike in March. This week, of 14 Wall Street analysts who participated in Kitco's gold survey, only 4 (29%) forecast gold prices to rise. 50% of the experts surveyed think the precious metal will fall, while three analysts forecast the market to be flat. Meanwhile, 55% of the total of nearly 500 retail investors surveyed forecast that the gold price will regain the green color, 32% forecast the precious metal's price will drop to 14%, keeping a neutral view. While retail investors remain bullish on gold, the number of parti...

 Chinese billionaires are about to transfer nearly $1.1 trillion to their heirs Entering retirement age, China's first class of businessmen is planning to soon pass on wealth to their descendants. Zhang Shiping was one of 16 million young Chinese sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Decades later, he took full advantage of market reforms to build two world-class businesses, a garment company and an aluminum smelter. In 2019, after Zhang passed away at the age of 73, his son Zhang Bo, 52, became the chairman of China Hongqiao Group Ltd. and Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group Co., a privately held company that owns Weiqiao Textile Co. The younger sister, Zhang Hongxia, 50, serves as the chairman of Weiqiao Textile and is the general manager of the private group. The total fortune they inherited is $14 billion. In 2021, the Zhang family's fortune skyrocketed as profits and corporate stock prices both increased. The Zhang family also became the first mainland Chin...

 Sony spends $3.6 billion to buy video game maker Halo Sony Interactive Entertainment announced the acquisition of Bungie Inc, the makers of Halo and Destiny games in a deal worth $3.6 billion. The information was announced by Sony shortly after two major deals including: Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, the maker of Call of Duty games for $ 69 million and Take Two Interactive reached an agreement worth $ 11 billion to buy Zynga, a single Farmville game producer. Following the acquisition agreement, Bungie will operate as a unit under Sony. However, Bungie operates independently and has full rights to publish games on any platform they want. In a press release, Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (a subsidiary of Sony Group Corp, the developer of PlayStation) said, this is an important step in the strategy to expand the scope. PlayStation's micro-reach to a wider audience. Sony and Bungie did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Washingt...

 India plans to launch its own cryptocurrency India is scheduled to issue an electronic version of the rupee in the fiscal year 2022-2023, which starts on April 1. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the issuance of a central bank cryptocurrency will give a boost to the digital economy. Besides, this currency will also help create an efficient money management system with a cheaper cost. Ms. Sitharaman did not give details on how the electronic rupee will work or look. Instead, she said, the coin uses blockchain and other technologies. Blockchain is the underlying technology that helps create bitcoins. But to date, the definition of blockchain has expanded to include applications beyond cryptocurrencies. If the above plan of India goes as planned, the country will be one of the largest economies in the world to issue a central bank cryptocurrency (CBDC). In 2014, China began implementing a digital version of the renminbi. Over the past two years, the People's Bank ...

 How does Omicron affect the global recovery? The data show that the impact of the Omicron mutation on the global economic recovery may be short-lived and not as bad as people think. By the end of November 2021, the world began to feel a repeat of the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Global stock markets fell as news of the Omicron mutation was announced. Investors fear another round of travel restrictions or people will respond by shutting themselves down. Two months later, the effects of Omicron were gradually being noticed. But so far, much of the information is better than scary. Stock markets still have their volatile times, but because of the prospect of higher interest rates, not because of Covid-19. According to Goldman Sachs, stock price indexes of European companies, such as airlines and hotels, have thrived when people are able and willing to be present in public spaces. Some other data also reflects cautiously optimistic signals. Nicolas Woloszko, OECD Economist, re...

 The US economy may lose its growth momentum Last year, the US economy grew at its fastest pace since 1984, but the momentum is not expected to continue this year. CNBC assessed, the US started 2022 with little sign of growth. The outbreak of the Omicron strain in late 2021, combined with tightening fiscal policy measures, led economists on Wall Street to reduce their GDP forecasts. In addition, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) has pivoted, from the most accommodative policy in history to strong anti-inflation measures. This makes the US economic picture change significantly. GDP growth in the first quarter is being forecasted by 0.1% according to the Atlanta Fed branch. "The economy is slowing and going down. This is not a recession," said Joseph LaVorgna, chief economist for the Americas at Natixis and former chief economist for the National Economic Council under President Trump. , however, it will happen if the Fed is too aggressive." US GDP grew impressively at 6.9% in ...