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RIM stock surges on PlayBook Research In Motion Ltd. stock surged for a second day today after the BlackBerry maker showed off just how far along it was in development of its PlayBook tablet.
There had been concerns, analysts said, that RIM's rival to the iPad from Apple Inc. AAPL-Q could be delayed.
But yesterday, RIM showed a functioning version of the tablet at an Adobe conference, sparking a runup in its stock price.
"Prior to yesterday, they didn't really say anything or show anything, so people were very cautious in terms of where they were in their development," money manager Mathieu Roy of Louisbourg Investments Inc. in Moncton, N.B., told Bloomberg News. "When they presented yesterday, it was a big surprise in terms of how far along the product was."
The demonstration at the Adobe conference in Los Angeles showed the PlayBook "is real, powerful," RBC Dominion Securities analyst Mike Abramsky said, according to the news agency.
Was silver market manipulated? A commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission says he believes there have been many attempts to manipulate silver prices.
At the beginning of a public meeting in Washington today, Bart Chilton said the public deserves answers, citing the fact that the CFTC has been investigating the market amid numberous complaints.
"I believe that there have been repeated attempts to influence prices in the silver markets," Mr. Chilton said in prepared remarks posted on the CFTC's website.
"There have been fraudulent efforts to persuade and deviously control that price. Based on what I have been told by members of the public, and reviewed in publicly available documents, I believe violations to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) have taken place in silver markets and that any such violation of the law in this regard should be prosecuted."
Pay increases to be moderate Pay increases among Canadian employers will be moderate next year, but still above the rate of inflation, The Conference Board of Canada projects in a new study.
Average increases of 2.8 per cent among salaried employees will lag the 4.2 per cent in 2008, the organization forecast, but will be slightly higher than those of this year and last.
"Things are not quite back to business as usual for compensation planners; the economic recovery is still unsteady and burdened by risks from abroad," the group said in its study of 384 respondents. "The next year will require patience on the part of workers (who cannot yet expect strong wage gains), and businesses (which have been slow to see improvements in corporate balance sheets."
Among the highlights:
- 2.5 per cent of organizations plan a pay freeze.
- Projected increases are highest in the oil and gas sector, at 3.6 per cent, and construction and natural resources excluding energy, at 3.5 per cent.
- Projected average increases are lowest in education and health, at 1.4 per cent.
- Increases in the private sector will top those in the public sector, at 2.9 per cent versus 2.3 per cent.
- Pay increases will be highest in Saskatchewan, at 3.6 per cent, followed by Alberta at 3.1 per cent.
- Pay hikes are expected to be lowest in Ontario, at 2.6 per cent.
- For unionized employees, pay increases are forecast at 1.8 per cent, or 1.4 per cent in the public sector and 2.1 per cent in private industry.
Rogers posts lower profit Intense competition in the wireless industry is showing up in quarterly results. Rogers Communications Inc. today posted a 24-per-cent decline in third-quarter profit and a hefty decrease in new subscribers that didn't match what analysts had expected.
The country's biggest wireless outfit earned $370-million or 64 cents a share, compared to $485-million or 79 cents a year earlier.
Revenue increased 3 per cent to $3.1-billion but net additions of new subscribers for wireless fell 42 per cent.
Rogers, like the other incumbent carriers, are facing heightened competition from several new players in the market.
"The modest year-over-year increase in net subscriber additions for the quarter primarily reflects increased prepaid subscriber additions offset by an increase in the level of postpaid churn associated with heightened competitive intensity," Rogers said in a statement.
It is also, in a sense, competing with itself as it meets the new entrants with its own discount offering, Chatr Wireless, that has seen some higher-paying customers trading down.
Earnings generally positive The latest earnings season is going generally well, with a strong majority of S&P 500 companies beating expectations. Canadian companies begin reporting in force this week, and, noted Peter Buchanan of CIBC World Markets, "the earnings beat goes on, but not as loudly."
The S&P/TSX composite has climbed by an average of 4 per cent in recent quarterly reporting periods, Mr. Buchanan noted in a report, and analysts are expecting a 7-per-cent year-over-year increase this time out.
"While trailing the latest expectations for S&P 500 members, the growth of TSX earnings in [the third quarter]is expected to be modestly above the 5-per-cent average annual rate of the last 25 years," he said. "Given reduced expectations for both the domestic and U.S. economies and a more challenging exchange rate environment, expectations for earnings growth in the quarter have not surprisingly eased by about 3 percentage points since the middle of September.
"Even with that downshift, [the third quarter]performance means earnings for TSX companies will have regained about half of the ground lost in the recession, which saw profits slide by 30 per cent as the reeling global economy battered Canada's resource exports."
Ford profit surges Ford Motor Co. continues to gain on its American rivals, boosting its share of the U.S. market and posting 68-per-cent gain in third-quarter profit.
Posting its sixth consecutive quarterly profit, the only Detroit auto maker to escape bankruptcy protection earned $1.7-billion (U.S.) or 43 cents a share in the quarter, up from $1-billion or 26 cents a year earlier and above analysts' estimates.
Ford's share of the U.S. market for light vehicles climbed to 15.1 per cent, up 1.3 percentage points. In Canada, Ford said it notched up an increase in market share of 2.3 percentage points.
"The key drivers for improvement in 2011 will be our growing product strength, a gradually strengthening economy and an unrelenting focus on improving the competitiveness of all our operations," chief executive officer Alan Mulally said in a statement.
Britain's readings buoy hopes Fresh economic readings from Britain are buoying hopes for the country's outlook. The economy expanded by 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, about double the pace that had been expected.
At the same time, Standard & Poor's upgraded the country's debt to stable and held its Triple-A rating on long-term credit.
The latest measure could take some pressure off the Bank of England to boost its quantitative easing when it meets next week.
Hobbit leads New Zealand to study labour laws There's labour trouble in Middle Earth.
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key met today with officials of Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema after Peter Jackson, director of The Hobbit, warned the studios could move production out of the country.
The studios not only want tax breaks, but also changes in labour law in what has become a raging controversy in New Zealand - there have been rallies across the country - given the huge tourist draw after Mr. Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Bickering over collective bargaining, Mr. Key said government lawyers are studying labour laws to dampen the threat of labour disruptions to the $500-million project. A major union, New Zealand's Actors Equity, wants the film's producers to bargain with the actors.
From today's Report on Business
- Car makers' leasing unity shows cracks
- Saskatchewan Premier puts heat on Harper over Potash deal
- What Canadian retailers taught tired U.S. chain
- Bernanke treads fine line with dollar
And, read our Streetwise blog and Your Business section.