iPhone

Global stocks have started Friday the 13th on the wrong foot, with not only Hong Kong GDP unexpectedly tumbling by 0.4%, the worst print in years while retail sales fell for a thirteenth straight month in March, the longest stretch since 1999 as the Chinese hard landing spreads to the wealthy enclave, but also following a predicted collapse in Chinese new loan creation, which will reverberate not only in China but around the globe in the coming weeks.

Gboard is Google’s new cool keyboard for iOS devices. A noteworthy app that is not yet available for Android. Tech Insider reports: Keyboards are increasingly seen as a critical part of mobile operating systems, because they can work across multiple apps, and can collect some of the most personal user data. The key feature for Google’s iPhone keyboard is that it integrates Google Search into the keyboard — one example Google provides is that you can search for an address right from the keyboard, so you don’t have to copy and paste from a separate app.

Apple share are tumbling (as are the entire complex of suppliers) following a report from Nikkei that Taiwan Seminconductor's shipments of iPhone 6s, iPhone 7 chips for June-Dec. period will likely shrink 70%-80% vs year earlier. As one anayst noted, a decline of more than 20-30% is not in consensus estimates. As Bloomberg reports, of particular interest is that this cut to orders is about upcoming iPhone 7, not about the well-publicized iPhone 6 slowdown. 

You might recall from a few months ago my linking to this great essay about “A Message From Trump’s America” by Michael Cooper, a liberal Democrat and a lawyer in rural North Carolina. Excerpt:

My Republican friends are for Trump. My state representative is for Trump. People who haven’t voted in years are for Trump. He’ll win the primary here on March 15 and he will carry this county in the general.

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,