A Reuters/University of Michigan survey showed consumer confidence fell to its lowest in four months in August on worries over high unemployment and dismal personal finances, though the mood improved from earlier this month.

The Nasdaq was buoyed after Intel Corp raised its outlook for third-quarter revenue and Dell Inc , the world’s No. 2 personal computer maker behind Hewlett-Packard Co , posted a strong quarterly performance and several brokerages raised their price target on the stock.

The PHLX semiconductor index <.SOXX> rose 2.2 percent, while Dell shot up 4 percent to $16.29, and Intel increased 4.6 percent to $20.36.

“You would think after the Intel blowout numbers the market would have really picked up a lot of steam,” said Angel Mata, managing director of listed equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets in Baltimore.

“It’s just telling you that this market has about as much good news baked into as it can take. We’re at that point now where there is no more good news that could come out that can really juice this market.”

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 30.39 points, or 0.32 percent, to 9,550.24. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.SPX> shed 0.77 points, or 0.07 percent, to 1,030.21. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 6.39 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,034.12.

The Dow industrials were weighed down by declines in consumer companies like McDonald’s Corp , off 1.2 percent to $56.

Shares of Apple Inc rose 0.5 percent to $170.26 after China Unicom <0762.HK>, China’s No. 2 mobile carrier, agreed to sell the iPhone in China, giving Apple access to the world’s largest mobile market. China Unicom’s U.S.-listed shares gained 4.1 percent to $14.66.

Earlier Friday, the government said U.S. consumer spending rose as expected in July, lifted by the “cash-for-clunkers” program that fueled demand for autos.

After the market open, the S&P 500 rose to 1,039.47, its highest intraday reading since Oct. 14, 2008.

Aug 28 (Reuters)

• FedEx Corp. (FDX) mixed bad news with good in its latest quarterly report. After posting a profit for its second fiscal quarter, the package delivery giant also said it’s suspending pension contributions, freezing new hires, cutting its CEO’s pay by 20% in order to cut $800 million by the end of its fiscal 2010, Reuters reported.

• Wal-Mart Inc. (WMT) store representatives told Bloomberg that the world’s largest retailer would begin selling Apple Inc.’s (APPL) iPhones by the end of the year. The move is seen as positive for both companies, as it gives Wal-Mart a hot new item and Apple a gigantic new sales outlook.

• General Motors Corp. (GM) denied a report yesterday (Thursday) that the company reopened merger talks with Chrysler LLC. The report first appeared in The Wall Street Journal. “We have had no talks with them since we announced during our third-quarter earnings call that the talks had been suspended,” GM spokesman Tony Cervone said, Reuters reported.

• Credit card firm Discovery Financial Services (DFS) added itself to the list of companies applying to become a bank holding company, thus making it eligible for federal TARP money. The company also reported a $432 million profit in its fiscal fourth-quarter, up from a $56 million loss the previous year, MarketWatch reported.

• The Labor Department said yesterday (Thursday) that the number of filings for initial jobless benefits fell to a seasonally adjusted 554,000 from an upwardly revised figure of 575,000 the previous week. Still, claims remain near the highest level since 1982.

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) has agreed to share its 29% in Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. (OTC: SANYY) to Panasonic Corp. (ADR: PC) for at least $6.4 billion, Reuters reported. The purchase will make Panasonic Japan’s No. 2 electronics manufacturer after Hitachi Ltd with $120 billion in annual sales. Goldman had previously rejected two other offers from Panasonic.

• The U.S. economy will begin to rebound late next year or early in 2010, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told Spanish newspaper Expansion. He based this view on the likelihood that the housing market will soon bottom and demand will follow the recent wave of fiscal stimuli. Though he added: “We recognize, however that the possibility of a recovery is plagued with uncertainty.”

• Carnival Corp. (CCL), the world’s largest cruise operator, reported a 4% rise in fourth-quarter earnings yesterday (Thursday), but lowered its 2009 outlook as consumers will likely cancel or delay vacations for the next year. The company’s quarterly revenue rose 6% to $3.3 billion.

Source: Global Investing Roundups Friday, December 19th, 2008

The global wireless industry has been exploding — over 250 million subscribers in the U.S., over 500 million in China, there are more people on this planet that own a mobile phone than those that own a computer — bottom line, this is the place to be for the long haul.

But we can’t talk about wireless without addressing the hottest company in the sector right now: Apple (AAPL: NASDAQ) and its headline-making iPhone…and we can’t talk about the hottest company without discussing the hottest market: China!

So a TickerHound member asked:

Why isn’t the iPhone in China?

Good question! But I think the better question is, why isn’t the iPhone in China YET?

After months of failed negotiations between Apple and China Mobile (CHL: NYSE) — the largest mobile service provider in the world in terms of subscribers — the companies were unable to reach an agreement.

But after Apple’s announcement on Monday, I think it’s clear that while negotiations between the two companies may be at a standstill, they won’t stay that way for long…

The Chinese wireless market is by far, one of the most desired mobile markets on the planet. This is a country with roughly 1.4 billion citizens and not even half of them have a mobile phone…yet…

There’s a tremendous opportunity for growth in China and Apple knows it.

Although a deal hasn’t been reached to bring the (genuine) iPhone to China yet, Apple is definitely gearing up for it.

Apple just recently presented the world with the “iPhone 2.0”.

Aside from the widely covered feature additions like 3G wireless technology, GPS, reduced price point, etc., Apple unveiled a feature that I personally jumped out of my seat for…and it’s geared directly for the Chinese market.

Texting and E-mailing in China

Having lived in China for a period of time, I can attest to the difficulty in sending Chinese text messages and e-mails from a mobile phone. Typically you’ll have to type the message using a spelling system known as pin-yin.

Pin-yin is the transliteration of Chinese words into westernized spelling. So if I wanted to type “hello” in a text message, I’d have to type “ni hao” using a western keyboard and that would then be translated into the appropriate Chinese characters.

Obviously the use of a stylus would make things much easier. In fact, that’s exactly what Motorola (MOT: NYSE) had in mind when they launched the Motorola Ming in China two years ago.

That’s precisely what Apple had in mind when they launched their Chinese character recognition software on Monday.

With the latest version of the iPhone, you can use your finger to write out Chinese characters directly on the screen. This will make writing text messages and e-mails much faster and easier.

So the real question becomes, what would it mean for Apple’s business if it secured a significant share of the Chinese handset market?

Well, let’s look to the Motorola Ming for an indication of what may be in store for Apple…

The Ming and Market Share

Motorola Ming had roughly 1% of the entire Chinese handset market at the beginning of 2007. Given that China has a mobile subscriber base of 583.5 million people now, that would mean 5.8 million phones by today’s numbers.

It would be easy to make the argument that the iPhone has much more hype, demand, functionality, etc. built around it and therefore could reasonably capture more of the market than the Ming. But let’s be conservative here. Let’s assume Apple is able to sell 5.8 million iPhones in China…

If Apple sticks to their $200 price point for the 8 GB model — which is certainly realistic considering the Ming’s price point was in the upper $400’s — that would be roughly $1.16 billion in additional top-line revenue for Apple.

Also, if you consider the “halo” effect Apple’s products tend to have (sell one product, you sell more of the others), then it’s easy to see how substantial adoption of the iPhone could turn China into an increasingly important source of revenue for Apple overall.

Regards,
Wayne Mulligan

P.S.: As hot as China’s market is, there’s another market out there that’s a lot more profitable, a lot more secret, and a lot less risk. We’ll give you a sneak peak to find out how to make easy millions. To find out what his hot market it… Click here…

Source: A is for Apple, B is for Billions, C is for China