Many forms of criminal activity generate significant amounts of money. To avoid attracting the attention of law enforcement, criminals must find a way to disguise the source of their ill-gotten funds. That’s the goal of money laundering, which involves criminals engaging in a series of transactions to conceal the criminal origins of their money.

Money laundering involves three stages:

1. A criminal (or those under their direction) introduces funds earned through criminal activity to the financial system.
2. A money launderer (or the criminal themselves) engages in a series of transactions to create layers between the illegal source of the cash they control.
3. The criminal moves laundered money back into the financial system.

The layering process

During the layering stage, the goal is to disconnect the money from the illegal activity that generated it. Generally, the more layers money passes through, the harder it becomes to connect the funds to criminal activity.

The goal of layering is to make the process of tracking money through each layer more difficult to accomplish. Layering can include changing the nature of the assets, i.e. cash, gold, casino chips, real-estate, etc.

Complex layering schemes involve sending the money around the globe using a series of transactions. The more countries the money enters and leaves, the harder it is to uncover the “dirty” source of the money.

Layering and AML

A complex layering scheme makes anti-money laundering (AML) operations challenging. Since they lack jurisdiction overseas, law enforcement must coordinate with their foreign counterparts, which can delay the tracking of the funds while complicating the document trail associated with the funds.

To complicate matters further, criminals often use shell companies, which engage in fraudulent transactions, such as the creation of fake invoices. Once the company receives payment for the fake invoice, those who control the shell company can return the proceeds or send them to another shell company as payment for a subsequent fake invoice.

Layering can involve electronic transactions such as wires and ACHs, paper transactions, and/or manual movement of the funds between countries using covert means. Those laundering the funds may also decide to use non-traditional financial systems, such as Hawala (Middle East), Hundi (India), or Hui Kuan (Hong Kong), which are alternative remittance systems that allow for the movement of money without doing so physically.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), a Software—Infrastructure corporation, was a bullish stock in the prior market session. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) shares opened the day for trading at $179.50 and closed the day at $178.60 with momentum of +0.88%. The increase move in Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) lagged the move in the DOW for the day which gained +2.99% in prior market day.

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is focused on the Software—Infrastructure sector. This market sector has seen some action from day traders in recent months. Bullish day traders of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) will be looking for positive upcoming earnings whereas bearish day traders of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) will be looking for negative earnings. The last time Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) had an earnings surprise was on Qtr Ending 12/19 when they reported $1.51 compared to an estimate of $1.32 which was a difference of $+0.19 resulting in a change of +14.39%. Current earnings estimates are to be released for Current Qtr 03/2020 on Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and out of 13 Wall Street estimates the average is saying $1.28. The high estimate is saying $1.33 whereas the low estimate is saying $1.17 and the prior year Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) announced earnings at $1.14 a growth rate est. (year over year) of +12.28%.

The market performance of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) has varied recently. Year to date Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)’s shares are up 13.25%. Over the past 12 weeks Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is up 7.13% and over the last 4 weeks Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is up 25.15%. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) current income statement shows revenue (ttm) of $134.25B. Gross Profit is $82.93B. This puts the current EBITDA of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) at $61.26B.

Wall street day traders might also notice recent changes to stock analyst estimates for Microsoft Corporation (MSFT). The stock is trading with an RSI (relative strength index) of 60.47 indicating Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is neither overbought nor oversold. Technically, MSFT’s short term support levels are around $12.14, $174.19 and $165.30 on the downside. MSFTs short term resistance levels are $23.72, $23.12 and $22.49 on the upside. The market cap of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is $1.358T and institutions hold 74.22% of the stock. The outstanding share count stands at 7.62B while the short float (shares short) stands at 0.78%.

Research shows that these estimate changes look to be directly correlated with short-term shares prices. The day traders can look to capitalize on the basis of ranking. Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) has short term rating of Bullish (0.31), Intermediate rating of Bullish (0.31) and long-term rating of Neutral (0.22) giving Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) an overall rating of Bullish (0.28).

The EPS growth this year on Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is increased 22.20% and is expected to increase 10.27% next year. However, quarterly earnings (EPS) growth year over year on Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) has increased by 37.20% and quarterly revenue (Sales) growth year over year stands at 13.70%. Gross margin is detected at 67.70% that represents the percent of total sales revenue that the company retains after direct cost of goods sold. Net profit margin (ttm) is 33.00% while return on equity (ttm) is 42.90%.

Recent Developments:

2020-03-27 – Microsoft To Divest Its Shareholding In AnyVision.
2020-03-20 – Adaptive Biotechnologies And Microsoft Expand Partnership To Decode Covid-19 Immune Response And Provide Open Data Access.
2020-03-13 – U.S. Govt Lawyers Ask Federal Judge For Permission To Reconsider Pentagon’s Decision To Award Microsoft $10 Bln Cloud Contract – Bloomberg.
2020-03-10 – Microsoft Sets Quarterly Dividend Of $0.51 Per Share.
2020-03-03 – Microsoft Says Halo The Master Chief Collection Bundle Including Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary & Halo Reach Available For $39.99.

About Company:

Redmond, WA-based Microsoft Corporation is one of the largest broad-based technology providers in the world. The company dominates the PC software market with more than 80% of the market share for operating systems. The company’s Office 365 application suite is one of the most popular productivity softwares globally.

Apple Inc. (AAPL), a Consumer Electronics organization, was a bullish stock in the prior trading session. Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares opened at $284.69 and closed the day at $282.80 with declining move of -1.36%. This decrease move lagged the Dow’s +2.99% gain for the prior trading session.

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is focused on the Consumer Electronics sector. This stock market sector has seen some volatility from day traders in recent days. Bullish day traders of Apple Inc. (AAPL) will be looking for positive upcoming earnings whereas bearish day traders of Apple Inc. (AAPL) will be looking for negative earnings. The last time Apple Inc. (AAPL) had an earnings surprise was on Qtr Ending 12/19 when they reported $4.99 compared to an estimate of $4.54 which was a difference of $+0.45 resulting in a change of +9.91%. Current earnings estimates are to be released for Current Qtr 03/2020 on Apple Inc. (AAPL) and out of 9 Wall Street estimates the average is saying $2.10. The high estimate is saying $2.53 whereas the low estimate is saying $1.73 and the prior year Apple Inc. (AAPL) announced earnings at $2.46 a growth rate est. (year over year) of -14.63%.

The market performance of Apple Inc. (AAPL) has varied recently. Year to date Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s shares are down -3.69%. Over the past 12 weeks Apple Inc. (AAPL) is down -11.41% and over the last 4 weeks Apple Inc. (AAPL) is up 15.53%. Apple Inc. (AAPL) current income statement shows revenue (ttm) of $267.68B. Gross Profit is $98.39B. This puts the current EBITDA of Apple Inc. (AAPL) at $78.12B.

Wall street day traders might also notice recent changes to stock analyst estimates for Apple Inc. (AAPL). The stock is trading with an RSI (relative strength index) of 55.23 indicating Apple Inc. (AAPL) is neither overbought nor oversold. Technically, AAPL’s short term support levels are around $12.14, $174.19 and $165.30 on the downside. AAPLs short term resistance levels are $23.72, $23.12 and $22.49 on the upside. The market cap of Apple Inc. (AAPL) is $1.237T and institutions hold 61.69% of the stock. The outstanding share count stands at 4.42B while the short float (shares short) stands at 0.89%.

Research shows that these financial estimate changes look to be directly correlated with short-term shares prices. The day traders can look to capitalize on the basis of ranking. Apple Inc. (AAPL) has short term rating of Bullish (0.25), Intermediate rating of Neutral (0.01) and long-term rating of Neutral (-0.11) giving Apple Inc. (AAPL) an overall rating of Neutral (0.05).

The EPS growth this year on Apple Inc. (AAPL) is decreased -2.60% and is expected to increase 19.86% next year. However, quarterly earnings (EPS) growth year over year on Apple Inc. (AAPL) has increased by 19.30% and quarterly revenue (Sales) growth year over year stands at 8.90%. Gross margin is detected at 37.90% that represents the percent of total sales revenue that the company retains after direct cost of goods sold. Net profit margin (ttm) is 21.50% while return on equity (ttm) is 60.20%.

Recent Developments:

2020-04-15 – Goldman Sachs Says Activated Global Business Continuity Plan, With About 98% Of Global Employees Working Remotely.
2020-04-14 – Apple Releases Mobility Data Trends Tool From Apple Maps To Help Mitigate Covid-19 Spread.
2020-04-13 – IDC Says Traditional PC Shipments Saw Sharp Decline In Q1.
2020-03-25 – Apple Weighs Delaying Launch Of 5G iPhone By Months – Nikkei, Citing Sources.
2020-03-19 – STMicro: agreement signed with unions to cut production on French sites til April 2.

About Company:

Apple’s business primarily runs around its flagship iPhone. However, the Services portfolio that includes revenues from cloud services, App store, Apple Music, AppleCare, Apple Pay, and licensing and other services now became the cash cow. Moreover, non-iPhone devices like Apple Watch and AirPod gained significant traction.