Focusing in on 3 Industries Feeling the Laser Tech TransformationOct4

Autos (S)

Electric Utilities (L)

TIPS (L)

Long-Dated UST (S)

Defense  (L)

Industrials (L)

Materials (L)

U.S. Financials & Regional Banks (L)

ASEAN Markets (L)

Oil & U.S. Energy (L)

Palladium (L)

U.S. Pharmaceuticals (S)

Gold & Gold Miners (L)

Robotics & Automation (L)

Video Gaming (L)

Lithium (L)

Steel (L)

Value Over Growth (L)

Solar (L)

CRISPR (L)

Obesity (L)

U.S. Housing (S)

Finance

Fintech: How Digital Disruptors Serve The Unbanked In Southeast Asia

Just last week, DHL launched a new service to allow the unbanked in Southeast Asia to buy online through its Cross Border Cash-on-Delivery (COD) service. This follows other new-age players like Grab/Go-Jek aggressively launching initiatives of their own to provide financial services to people who don’t have banking accounts.

Banking services are synonymous with convenience. In modern society, making transfers, paying bills and making loans have all been enabled by banks and they have continued to innovate as we increasingly embraced technology. Many regional banks in Southeast Asia have created mobile applications, a solution seemingly tailor-made to the young population who access the mobile internet more than anybody else in the world.

However, banking penetration remains low in the region, with only 47% of the population in Southeast Asia having a bank account despite these new initiatives. This gap is highlighted particularly in the Philippies, where a staggering 77% of the population is unbanked. A similar magnitude of people are afflicted with the same problem in Vietnam and Indonesia at rates of 65% and 52% respectively. Forbes

Fintech: Banks are fighting back against fintechs with new services

As fintechs continue to challenge incumbents with their digital solutions, legacy players are being forced to roll out their own tech-focused services in order to keep up. Last week 70 banks connected to a blockchain network to make cross-border transfers quicker to challenge the likes of TransferWise. Now, two players are looking for ways they can improve their day-to-day interactions with customers.

Slovakia-based Tatra Banka has introduced a fully automated and digital customer authentication and onboarding process, with the help of biometrics solution provider Innovatrics’ Digital Onboarding Toolkit (DOT). Customers can now open a Tatra Banka account by taking a picture of their ID card, which is then verified with the help of a selfie.

Chase has rolled out a new personal finance management (PFM) feature aimed at adding convenience for customers. The new feature enables users to lock their credit card if they have misplaced it via the banks mobile app or website. Once the card has been relocated, a user can unlock the credit card again, or if it remains lost, they can order a new card. This enables customers to wait a bit for a lost card to turn up, without worrying about fraud, and potentially avoid the hassle of ordering a new card. BI

Banks: Fed Rethinks How to Define a Big Bank

The Federal Reserve could broaden the number of banks receiving regulatory relief under an initiative that changes how it defines a big bank. As part of a series of rule changes still under development, the Fed is preparing to revise asset-size and other thresholds in its capital and liquidity rules.

The changes could lead to lower regulatory costs for some large U.S. banks, including Capital One Financial Corp. , PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and U.S. Bancorp.  It is less clear the changes will help gigantic firms the Fed considers “systemically important” to the global financial system, such as Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Likely candidates for the rule changes include the liquidity coverage ratio, which requires banks to hold assets they can easily convert to cash in a pinch, and “advanced approaches” rules, one of several capital regulations that limit banks’ borrowing.

Fed Vice Chairman for Supervision Randal Quarles, a Trump-appointed official set to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, has previously said those rules are worth revisiting. “It is clear that there is more that can and should be done to align the nature of our regulations with the nature of the firms being regulated,” Mr. Quarles said in testimony prepared for the hearing. WSJ

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Services

Cannabis: This Pot Stock Mania Isn’t Even Close to Dying Out

A lot of people wrote off the pot stocks the second Tilray set off volatility halt after volatility halt in a downward spiral that occurred on Wednesday, September 19, just seconds after the stock top-ticked at $300.

But if you thought the pot stocks craze was going to go away that easily, you’re probably wrong. For one, these companies seem to have much more obvious (and seemingly legitimate) ties to the underlying product than say, some of the bitcoin/blockchain hanger-ons from 2017. Also cannabis is much more easily understood by Wall Street and the masses than crypto, whose uses are still misunderstood by the general public.

But I think all you have to do is go to the videotape to see that the mania isn’t dying down. Just look at Tilray’s chart — the stock did have a $200 per-share reversal from its September intraday peak, but it hasn’t fallen further, and hasn’t even consolidated. It’s actually recovered by a lot — shares are up 66% in the past five sessions and the market cap is back to a hefty $15.4 billion, which is higher than that of MGM Resorts, Nasdaq, and the second-largest publicly traded homebuilder, Lennar. B

Cannabis: The DEA’s surprising shift on marijuana could keep a booming $1 billion industry in check, experts say

After being greenlit over the summer as the first federally approved marijuana-based medication, an epilepsy drug called Epidiolex triggered the nation’s top drug enforcer to change how it regulates CBD, the compound in marijuana not responsible for a high. It’s the first time in 46 years that the agency has shifted its stance on the marijuana compound.

The move was somewhat unexpected. Barbara Carreno, a representative from Drug Enforcement Administration, initially told Business Insider that she expected the agency to reschedule CBD entirely — not just federally-approved drugs made with CBD.  Carreno added that the move would unleash what she called a “sea change” for CBD manufacturers and the industry as a whole, which up until this point has existed in a legal grey area. But it appears that sea change may not occur after all. Only drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration will now be considered Schedule 5, the agency announced last Thursday.

Still, researchers, advocates, and entrepreneurs told Business Insider they thought the move was good news overall for patients and for the CBD industry as a whole, which has been pegged as a roughly $1 billion business. BI

Video Games: Chinese console and TV-based game market projected to reach $736m in 2018

The console and TV-based game market in China shows continued promise since the government overturned its console ban in 2014, but the grey market still plays a considerable role. Although PC and mobile dominate the region, the console and TV-based game market is expected to reach $736 million value this year, according to Niko Partners.

Data from the market intelligence firm estimated the entire console and TV-based games market to increase by 14.6 per cent year-on-year as rising software sales offset a slight hardware decline.

In terms of software, Niko Partners estimate the annual revenue from Chinese console and TV-based games to increase by 32 per cent year-on-year, reaching $471 million; this is projected to reach $897 million by 2022. Hardware revenue is projected to suffer a seven per cent decline year-on-year, down to $265 million, including legitimate and grey market unit sales.

By 2022, Niko Partners expects the number of console and TV-based gamers to have essentially doubled to 24.37 million. “Growth is driven in part by China’s 2014 reversal of the console ban, lower console prices, strong international game brands, the introduction of online gaming and distribution on consoles rendering piracy virtually non-existent on current gen consoles, and localization of international games for China,” said Niko Partners. GI

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Manufacturing & Logistics

Lasers: MedTech: Optical Tweezers and Tools Used for Laser Eye Surgery Snag Physics Nobel

Optical physicists Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland have won this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics for “groundbreaking inventions in the field of laser physics.” Half of this year’s nine-million-kronor (about $1-million) prize goes to American physicist Arthur Ashkin for his invention of “optical tweezers,” lasers that can probe the machinery of life without causing damage. The other half will be split jointly between French physicist Gérard Mourou and Canadian physicist Donna Strickland for their development of “chirped pulse amplification” (CPA)—a method for making ultrashort, high-intensity laser pulses now routinely used in corrective eye surgery and precision machining. SciAm

Lasers: Fiber Laser Welding as a Change Agent

Fiber laser welding is gaining attention in aerospace manufacturing. Manufacturers are looking for ways to automate manual arc-welding processes and to upgrade CO2 and lamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser welding processes to ensure greater consistency and to improve their productivity.

Candidates for fiber laser welding include components made of nickel and titanium-based aerospace alloys requiring control of the weld geometry and weld microstructure, particularly minimizing porosity and oxidation of the weld microstructure.

In aerospace applications, fiber laser welding has potential to significantly add to this growth rate because of its many advantages over Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) and Electron Beam (EB) welding processes for welding exotic aerospace alloys. Due to stringent quality and strength requirements of aerospace components, the demands of welds made of titanium and nickel-based alloys are greater. To meet these challenges, today’s laser welding technology provides superior control of the weld geometry and weld strength essential in welded aerospace assemblies.

The growth rate of fiber laser welding is second only to additive manufacturing among the many applications for high-power laser materials processing. AM

Lasers: Marines Consider Compact Laser Weapon

This summer, the U.S. Marine Corps accepted delivery of five compact laser weapon systems, and is now considering many aspects of the weapon’s functionality. The service is looking for reliable, cost effective protection against the growing threat of unmanned aerial vehicles.

For ground-based applications, the weapon can be placed on a tripod and on top of its corresponding military container, which houses the electric power and cooling subsystems. The Marines will consider how to employ it at static locations as well as evaluating the possibility of vehicle-based use. The Boeing Company manufactured the compact laser weapon systems, known as CLWS, for the Marines under an initial production contract signed in 2017 and is offering the CLWS in 2-kW, 5-kW and 10-kW configurations.

Boeing touts CLWS as an affordable, modular, high-energy laser weapons system that can stand alone or be integrated onto a variety of platforms. CLWS is light enough to be carried by a couple of Marines, a company official said. And the system employs a commercial off-the-shelf laser, the same laser used in automobile manufacturing to cut out hoods. The weapon can be placed on an adjustable tripod for static ground applications or mounted onto a vehicle for mobile use, Ron Dauk, program manager for Boeing’s laser and electro-optical systems, explained to SIGNAL Magazine in a recent telephone interview. SIGNAL

Lasers: Lockheed Martin Enters $5.8 Million Contract with US Navy to Accelerate 3D Printing Automation

Lockheed Martin, a Maryland-based aerospace and defense company, and the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) executive branch, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) have partnered to accelerate the automation of industrial additive manufacturing systems. In a two-year, $5.8 million contract, the partners, led by Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center, will apply software and sensor modifications to multi-axis 3D printing robots, to develop artificially intelligent additive manufacturing machinery.

Industrial additive manufacturing processes may rely on technicians to monitor production and post-production. Complex 3D printed parts must also meet industry requirements, which can involve hours of build quality testing. Through this partnership, researchers intend to reduce such manual operations by applying machine learning techniques to create smart robotic additive manufacturing systems.

Prior to this, exploring the innovations of additive manufacturing software, Lockheed Martin invested $100 million into the New York-based AM software company nToplology to help streamline its design and manufacturing processes.

Moreover, last year, the company invested $350 million in a state-of-the-art aerospace production facility, complete with industrial grade 3D printers and “virtual immersion environments.” 3DPI

Steel: Contradictory views on China’s steel output. But only time will tell if production will rise or fall

Reports by the Australian government and other economic analysts that Chinese steel production has peaked are at odds with the expectations by local observers that the government’s infrastructure push will underpin demand.

A new Australian government report predicting China’s steel production will peak this year and start to decline over the next two years is at odds with expectations in the mainland that output will actually increase because of the government’s renewed focus on infrastructure investments to stabilise economic growth.

Steel output in China, by far the world’s largest steel producer, is “forecast to peak” at 886 million tonnes this year, but will shrink over the period to 2020 to 842 million tonnes, according to a quarterly report on resources and energy released by Australia’s Department of Industry, Innovation and Science on Tuesday. The department also estimated Chinese steel consumption would slump by 1.9 per cent in 2019 and 2.3 per cent in 2020 after increasing 2.8 per cent this year. The report said the reversal of the mainland production trend will be driven by a series of government policies, including stricter environmental regulation, reforms that will shutter some loss-making production capacity, and reduction in debt at state-owned enterprises.

Canberra’s forecast matched predictions by other organisations, most notably Morgan Stanley and S&P Global Ratings. SCMP

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