Current Affairs

Mapping The Biggest Companies By Market Cap in 60 Countries

Posted by By Omri Wallach Article/Editing: Raul Amoros Graphics/Design: Rosey Eason, visualcapitalist.com

on Friday, 17 September 2021 9:55

Tech giants are increasingly making up more of the Fortune 500, but the world’s biggest companies by market cap aren’t so cut and dry.

Despite accounting for the largest market caps worldwide—with trillion-dollar companies like Apple and contenders including Tencent and Samsung—tech wealth is largely concentrated in just a handful of countries.

So what are the biggest companies in each country? We mapped the largest company by market cap across 60 countries in August 2021 using market data from CompaniesMarketCap, TradingView, and MarketScreener…read more.

Homes listed for sale in Metro Vancouver have fallen to lows not seen since 2016

Posted by Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

on Friday, 17 September 2021 9:44

VANCOUVER — The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says home sales have plateaued after reaching record highs in March.

In its third-quarter housing overview for 2021, it said the number of homes listed for sale in Metro Vancouver has fallen to lows not seen since 2016.

The increasing correlation between sales and new listings over the pandemic is consistent with more buyers selling their homes and purchasing other, typically larger ones, it said. First-time homebuyers or those who moved into bigger houses made up a large proportion of house sales, it said.

Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, said the earlier rise in sales could be attributed to seasonality where home sales see a surge in the summer as well as people spending the money they had saved up during the pandemic on buying a house…read more.

At end of the day, if bitcoin is successful governments will ‘kill it,’ says Ray Dalio

Posted by Mark DeCambre, marketwatch.com

on Thursday, 16 September 2021 12:13

Ray Dalio, billionaire investor and founder of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, said that the more successful that bitcoin becomes, the more likely that it will get neutralized by governments and regulators supporting traditional monetary systems.

In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Dalio reiterated comments that he has made in the past, repeating that governments have the power to undercut the growth of the nascent cryptocurrency market, including bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.92% and Ether ETHUSD, 0.54% on the Ethereum blockchain, which may pose a threat to conventional finance and global central banks.

Dalio said that bitcoin may not “have intrinsic value” but said that it could still be useful in a diversified portfolio. The hedge-fund manager said that he thinks it’s worth considering all the alternatives to cash and all the alternatives to some of the financial assets…read more.

Alberta introduces new rules, passport amid COVID crisis

Posted by Dean Bennett, thecanadianpress.com

on Thursday, 16 September 2021 9:50

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, facing a COVID-19 crisis that is threatening to collapse its health system in just over a week, has reintroduced limits on gatherings along with elements of a vaccine passport system.

Alberta is also asking for help from other provinces to use their intensive care beds and staff while prepping its triage protocols, which would see doctors forced to choose who gets life-saving treatment and who does not.

The United Conservative government declared Wednesday a state of public health emergency.

“We may run out of staff and intensive care beds within the next 10 days,” Kenney said…read more.

 

Dishwashing robots are ‘better for the environment,’ Dishcraft CEO says

Posted by Grace O'Donnell, ca.finance.yahoo.com/

on Thursday, 16 September 2021 9:42

With climate change pushing companies to evaluate their sustainability practices, one startup wants to help food-service operators make washing dishes more environmentally friendly — by using robots and artificial intelligence (AI).

“When you automate, you can create much better efficiencies,” Linda Pouliot, CEO and co-founder of Dishcraft, told Yahoo Finance (video above). “We use only a quarter of the water and a tenth of the power that a traditional dish room would use. And so, it’s better for the environment. And it’s certainly better for the dining experience. And it’s also better for the operator.”

The Bay Area-based startup has received over $45 million in funding so far. Pouliot said that the service works “very much like a linen service.” Dishcraft delivers sanitized dishes each day to kitchens and picks up used ones, which are brought to a centralized hub where they are washed by robotic dishwashers…read more.