Apple stock loses $55 billion on China slowdown www.cnn.com

New York (CNN Business)Apple has a big China problem, and it's making investors very nervous.

Apple (AAPL) warned investors to expect lower sales from the holiday quarter due primarily to "lower than anticipated" iPhone sales in China amid an ongoing trade war with the United States, as well as other factors like the company offering cheaper iPhone battery replacements, according to a letter from CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday.
After decades of expansion, the Chinese economy is slowing down. Growth in 2018 is set to be the weakest since 1990. And 2019 looks even worse. The world's second largest economy, China is feeling the effects of a darkening trade outlook and government attempts to rein in risky lending after a rapid rise in debt levels.
China is a huge market for Apple, making up about 15% of its revenues globally.
"While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China," Cook wrote in the letter. He pointed in part to "rising trade tensions" with the United States.
Apple now expects revenue for the three months ending in December to be about $84 billion, down from an earlier estimated range of between $89 billion and $93 billion.
The iPhone has been Apple's chief moneymaker for years, accounting for nearly 60% of Apple's total sales in the three months ending in September.
The company's shares were briefly halted after hours before Cook's letter was made public, and fell as much as 8% when trading resumed. That wiped up to $55 billion off of the company's stock market value.
While Cook focused on the impact of China, he did note in the letter that the number of people upgrading to new iPhones was "not as strong" as the company had hoped in other more developed markets.
In particular, he pointed to fewer carrier subsidies, a stronger U.S. dollar making devices more expensive abroad, and Apple's decision to offer $29 battery replacements for the iPhone. The latter policy was introduced to ease an outcry after it was discovered that Apple was slowing down older iPhones.
But this admission about upgrades could fuel investor concerns about weaker demand for the new lineup of pricier IPhones introduced in the fall. Multiple iPhone parts suppliers cut their sales outlooks in November.
With Apple's iPhone unit sales flatlining, Apple has shifted to trying to get consumers to pay more for each device. In October, Apple shocked investors by saying it planned to stop disclosing the number of iPhones sold each quarter.
In his letter to investors, Cook touted continued traction in Apple's "non-iPhone businesses," including wearable devices and supplementary services, like iCloud, Apple Pay and the App Store. But he admitted that the downward revision of its sales forecast is "disappointing."
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the day Tim Cook released a letter to investors.

Mongolia’s transgender beauty queen who refuses to stay hidden despite backlash on social media www.scmp.com

Make-up artist Solongo Batsukh braves Mongolia’s below-freezing temperatures in just a skimpy black dress and light pastel pink coat – the country’s trailblazing transgender beauty queen wants to look good in any weather.

“I don’t like to look puffy,” the 25-year-old says as she drives to a beauty salon that hired her to promote its products and services via Facebook live videos.

It’s with this typical bluntness, confidence and attitude that taboo-breaking Batsukh strutted into the country’s first ever Miss Universe Mongolia competition in October.

Although she fell short of representing her country at the Miss Universe contest in Thailand on December 17, her participation shed light on a group living on the edges of a deeply patriarchal country with conservative views about sexual orientation. Had she won, she would have joined Miss Spain’s Angela Ponce as the first transgender contestants in Miss Universe’s 66-year history.

“I wanted to inspire as many women as possible,” Batsukh says. “But I’m still proud that I got the chance to compete in this contest, and the ‘Solongo’ I created was a true winner in my heart.”

Her participation did not please everyone, provoking some negative reactions on social media.

“The world would have a negative image of our country if a man represents us while there are thousands of beautiful and real women in our country,” one person wrote on the Facebook page of Miss Universe Mongolia. But Batsukh isn’t deterred by such abuse.

Born Bilguun Batsukh, she grew up as a boy in the semi-arid central province of Dundgovi. She could not pinpoint her gender identity until she learned about different gender orientations as a university student in her early 20s.

It was when she started working as a programme officer at Youth for Health, a non-governmental organisation that provides safe-sex education for LGBT people, that she realised she was a woman born in a man’s body. She started wearing wigs, putting on dresses and taking hormone therapy.

Batsukh is among the few LGBT people who have dared to come out in Mongolia, where some 80 per cent of the community remain in the closet, according to a UN survey.

“It is extremely difficult for transgender people to be employed,” said Baldangombo Altangerel, legal programme manager at the LGBT Centre.

A video of a young transgender woman who had repeatedly been beaten in the streets went viral in Mongolia last year, highlighting the prejudices LGBT people face.

Batsukh wants to dispel the image that transgender women can only be sex workers or strippers living on the fringes of society. She flaunts her wealth, regularly travels abroad and is a celebrity in her country of 3 million people.

Batsukh found fame in 2014, when she represented Mongolia in Miss International Queen, finishing in the top 10 of the international transgender beauty pageant organised in Thailand. She pursued a modelling career and became a make-up artist.

“I had to reveal myself [as transgender] so I could correct the misunderstandings in society. If we keep hidden, society will keep on hating us. They don’t know us,” she says.

Batsukh has used her public image to speak up on television and social media, fighting against perceptions that transgender people are suffering from mental illness. But she has tough words for Mongolia’s transgender community, too, complaining that they should focus on working rather than talking about human rights.

“Instead of saying ‘We’re human like everyone else’, we need to prove ourselves through our actions. Just show others that we’re making a living like ordinary people,” she says.

Batsukh has seized on the popularity of her Facebook page, which has more than 120,000 “likes”, to create a reality show featuring women seeking a makeover. The beauty queen will help the women lose weight, change hairstyles and apply make-up.

Sarangoo Sukhbaatar, 25, who works in a cashmere company and was among 25 women competing to be among the five participants, says she trusts Batsukh’s ability and skills to transform her looks.

“Solongo truly understands what women feel,” says Sukhbaatar, who started following Batsukh on social media two years ago. “Her goals and patience inspire me. If a man can be beautiful like her, women can be much more beautiful than we are today.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: She is transgender and a beauty queen taking on prejudice

Stock trades reach all-time high at MNT 210 billion www.zgm.mn

Along with the economic growth of over 6 percent, stock trades at the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE) reached its record high of MNT 210 billion in 2018. Aside from four new IPOs and one seasonal issue, Erdene Resource Development Corporation issued a dual-listing. These five firms raised over MNT 30 billion from the domestic stock market. In specific, primary market trades accounted for 15 percent of total trades. This shows that new IPOs intensified both primary and secondary market trades last year. However, the Cabinet decided to cease the primary market trades of Government securities starting from November 2017, which was also one of the reasons behind active stock trades as investors turned to stocks amid lack of Government securities according to some experts.

MIAT leases two Boeing 737 Max aircraft www.news.mn

In 2017, the leading national carrier MIAT Mongolian Airlines decided to expand its fleet by leasing two 737 Max aircraft from the global leasing company Avolon. The first of the planes is due to arrive on 21 January, 2019.

Renewable energy in Mongolia on the rise www.news.mn

The percent of renewable energy in Mongolia reached a record high in 2018 rising to 16 percent of total electricity production

Mongolia’s meat export reaches 20-year high www.news.mn

Mongolia exported 54,900 tons of meat and meat products in 2018 – a 20-year high.

Mongolia registers 1,100 domestic violence cases ahead of New Year www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A total of 8,158 crime cases were recorded across Mongolia during the New Year's celebrations on Dec. 17 to Jan. 1, of which 1,110 were related to domestic violence, the country's National Police Agency said Wednesday.

Happy New Year, big tech! France starts taxing Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon www.rt.com

Tech giants will now pay more tax in France, after the country decided not to wait for the rest of the EU to introduce the measure. The so-called GAFA tax targeting major digital firms comes into force on January 1.
The French government hopes to raise €500 million ($572 million) with levies specifically aimed at multinational tech firms, including Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said, announcing the move in December. He stressed that “the tax will be introduced whatever happens.”

Hyundai flags tough 2019 as U.S., China demand stays slow www.reuters.com

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group flagged another year of tepid car sales growth on the back of a slow 2018, saying trade protectionism added uncertainty and major markets such as the United States and China remained sluggish.

In his first New Year address to employees, group heir apparent Euisun Chung said Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and Kia Motors Corp (000270.KS) would together launch 13 new or face-lifted models in 2019.

He also promised to complete a restructuring of South Korea’s second-biggest conglomerate, which is expected to pave the way for him to formally succeed his octogenarian father as head of the group.

The complicated succession plans come as Hyundai contends with a bunch of problems that have cost it market share in China and the United States and stalled its rise up the ranks of global automakers.

It missed a boom in sports utility vehicles, faces potential U.S. tariffs and a U.S. investigation over how it handled in vehicle recall, and lost ground in technological advances such as self-driving cars.

“Business uncertainties are heightening as the global economy continues to falter. Walls of protectionism are being constructed around the world,” Chung, 48, told hundreds of employees at the group’s headquarters in Seoul.

“Internally, we face challenging tasks such as stabilizing business in major markets like the U.S. and China, while simultaneously enhancing our responsiveness to drive future growth.”

Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) and Kia Motors Corp (000270.KS) - together the world’s fifth-biggest automaker - set what they called a “conservative target” of 7.6 million vehicle sales in 2019.

This compares with analysts’ estimate of 7.3 million to 7.4 million vehicle sales last year, the auto conglomerate said, or a 2.7 percent to 4 percent increase. It had sold 7.25 million vehicles in 2017.

Morgan Stanley expects global auto production to fall 1 percent in 2019, the first drop in nine years.

Hyundai and Kia will announce 2018 sales results later on Wednesday, likely the fourth consecutive year of missed annual sales targets, analysts said.

“Hyundai will be launching new models, but competitors will be also doing so, making it difficult for Hyundai to increase shares in the sluggish markets in China, U.S. and Europe,” said Sean Kim, an analyst at Dongbu Securities.

Hyundai Motor shares fell 3.8 percent and Kia Motors slumped 3.1 percent, while the wider market .KS11 was down 1.5 percent in afternoon trade.

Tokyo court extends detention of Nissan's Ghosn
The group said it would launch a premium Genesis SUV and the Sonata sedan this year, among other new models.

Hyundai would launch a pilot service of its autonomous taxi in South Korea by 2021 and expand partnerships with leading players in that area, Chung said.

Chung also pledged to “actively communicate with” shareholders, an apparent reference to U.S. hedge fund Elliott which effectively scuttled a previous restructuring plan last year.

Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Ju-min Park; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Stephen Coates

BoM purchases 22 tons of gold www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ As of December 31, 2018 the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) purchased a total of 22 tons of gold. Compared with the same period of the previous year, the amount of purchased gold increased by 9.5 percent.