RIM shares drop on patent complaint December 4, 2009
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Shares in Research In Motion Ltd. fell more than two per cent Thursday on reports that Nebraska-based Prism Technologies LLC has filed a patent infringement complaint against the BlackBerry maker.
Prism’s complaint against the Waterloo, Ont.-based company could eventually result in its BlackBerry smartphones being banned from the American market.
Research I Motion’s 3-month chart
RIM shares in the BlackBerry maker closed down $1.35 at $61.53 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Prism filed the complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington.
Prism claimed RIM’s BlackBerry devices, software and servers violate its patent for a technology that controls access to protected, electronically stored data by a device using the internet. The claim singles out the BlackBerry Curve 8330, a top-selling consumer smartphone.
RIM is already fighting a lawsuit launched by Prism in a federal court in Nebraska.
Lyle Vander Schaaff, a patent lawyer with Bryan Cave in Washington, told Bloomberg that Prism may be trying to force RIM into settling the lawsuit by raising the threat of an import ban, which is within the commission’s powers.
Last month, rival companies Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices reached an agreement over various patent disputes, which includes a five-year patent sharing arrangement.
Earlier this year, RIM settled a patent dispute with California-based Visto Corp., now renamed Good Technology, and agreed to pay the company $267.5 million US.
With files from The Canadian Press (more…)
U.S. jobless claims drop November 5, 2009
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The number of people filing initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 512,000, the U.S. Labour Department said Thursday.
Jobs brochures are seen on display at a state unemployment office in Sunnyvale, Calif. The number of people filing initial U.S. jobless claims has now stayed about the key 500,000 level for 51 weeks.(Paul Sakuma/Associated Press)
That’s the lowest level recorded since January, but they have now remained above 500,000 for 51 consecutive weeks.
The figure was in line with economist expectations.
Continuing claims fell by 68,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.75 million, the lowest level since March.
It’s not clear to what extent the decrease in jobless claims was due to the unemployed finding new jobs, and how much can be attributed to still-jobless Americans simply running out of benefits.
Most states offer 26 weeks of benefits, but earlier this year, Congress approved federally funded extensions of up to 53 weeks in some cases.
As of the week ended Oct. 17, 38 states and the District of Columbia were offering extended unemployment benefits, the Labour Department said in a release.
TSX off triple digits after GDP drop November 3, 2009
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The volatility on markets continued Friday with the Toronto stock exchange selling off after a report showing the Canadian economy contracted slightly in August.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 164.5 points to 10,910.8.
TSX telecomms sub-index 3-month chart
The drop followed a 270-point rise Thursday on news the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.5 per cent in the third quarter, fuelled mainly by government spending.
The energy sub-index was off two per cent as December crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $2.87 to close at $77 US.
However, the telecom sector rose 1.3 per cent a day after the federal broadcast regulator ruled Toronto-based Globalive doesn’t meet Canadian ownership requirements and denied it a licence to compete with Canada’s three existing cellphone networks.
Gold and the Canadian dollar also fell.
The December bullion contract on the Nymex finished off $6.70 to $1039.70 US an ounce. The loonie ended down 1.29 cents to 92.43 cents US.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average settled 249.85 points lower to 9,712.73 after running up 200 points on Thursday.
The Nasdaq composite index ended down 52.44 points to 2,045.11 while the S&P 500 index finished 29.92 points to 1,036.19.
U.S. home sales take surprise drop October 28, 2009
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Sales of new U.S. homes dropped by an unexpected 3.6 per cent last month, government data shows.
A sign indicates a cut price for a home in East Palo Alto, Calif., last year. After troughing in January, U.S. home sales have revived in recent months.(Paul Sakuma/Associated Press)
The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday that sales fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 402,000 from a downwardly revised 417,000 in August. August’s sales had been initially tallied at 429,000.
Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a pace of 440,000 sales for September.
It was the first decline since March. The September sales total was off 7.8 per cent from a year ago, although it was up 22 per cent from the market’s January bottom.
It is still down more than 70 per cent from the peak of July 2005.
The median sales price of $204,800 US was off 9.1 per cent from $225,200 a year earlier. However, the median price ? half of homes sold for more, half for less ? was up 2.5 per cent from August’s $199,900.
The decline in the number of sales was driven by drops of nearly 11 per cent in the West and 10 per cent in the South. Sales rose 35 per cent in the Midwest and were unchanged in the Northeast, the Commerce Department said.
“Even though today?s report on new home sales disappointed expectations of continued improvement, the level of sales remains well above the trough of 329,000 set in January of this year,” RBC economist Josh Heller said.
The year-over-year decline does not alter the bank’s view that residential real estate will make a positive contribution to third-quarter economic growth, he said.
Tax credit expiring
The report reflects contracts to buy homes, not completed sales. Would-be buyers have had a harder time obtaining mortgages and getting properties appraised since last year’s credit crunch, which has made transaction closings take longer.
If deals are not completed before a Nov. 30 deadline, buyers are unable to take advantage of a tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers. That’s playing a role in the figures, economists suggest.
‘The pullback could be quite significant’?Brad Hunter, Metrostudy economist
The report “demonstrates the power of the first-time homebuyers tax credit,” said Bernard Markstein, senior economist with the National Association of Home Builders, which has been lobbying Congress to extend and expand the tax incentive. “We just haven’t gotten the economy back to the point where we can step back and say the housing market doesn’t need any more support.”
Congress is considering extending the tax credit through March 31 and gradually phasing it out over the rest of next year. “If they don’t extend it, then I think the pullback could be quite significant,” said Brad Hunter, chief economist with Metrostudy, a real estate research firm.
Critics, however, say many buyers would have entered the market anyway and call the credit a subsidy for people who don’t need it.
Low mortgage rates, the tax credit and more affordably priced homes have provided a lift to the housing market this year. Sales of previously occupied homes jumped more than nine per cent in September. That report measures completed sales rather than sales agreements.
The government counted 251,000 new homes for sale at the end of September, down almost four per cent from August and the lowest inventory in nearly 27 years. At the current sales pace, that represents 7.5 months of supply, flat for the second straight month.
With files from The Associated Press (more…)
EI claimants drop 2.4% in August October 28, 2009
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The number of people receiving employment insurance benefits fell 2.4 per cent in August, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
The drop of 19,100 people was the second consecutive monthly decrease, following a 3.8 per cent decline in July.
People looking for work search on computers at a Worksource office in Portland, Ore., in August. The number of Canadians receiving jobless benefits declined in August. As well, the average number of weeks spent collecting benefits is lower in Canada than in the U.S.(Don Ryan/Associated Press)
Regionally, the trend was broad-based, with declines coming in almost all provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba had the largest overall decreases. Quebec and New Brunswick posted monthly increases.
There were 763,200 total beneficiaries in August, up much 52.5 per cent from October 2008, when Canadian employment peaked. In some places, such as Vancouver, Victoria, and the Ontario metropolitan areas of Sudbury and Kitchener, the number of people receiving EI benefits has doubled in the past year.
It’s not clear whether the August decline represents people returning to paid employment and thus no longer being entitled to EI, or how much of the trend can be explained by people simply running out of benefits but still remaining unemployed.
“People seem to be running in and out of unemployment as opposed to stuck in it forever.”? Avery Shenfeld, CIBC economist
Statistics Canada does not track such data nationally, but there are other ways of digging below the surface of the jobs picture.
“Not from this data, no, but by looking at the Labour Force Survey [due out later this month], you can disaggregate, on average, how many weeks people have been unemployed,” CIBC economist Avery Shenfeld told CBC News.
In that regard, Canada is doing fairly well. People typically spend 15 to 17 weeks on unemployment in this country. In the U.S., the figure is closer to 25 weeks, he said.
“People in Canada seem to be running in and out of unemployment as opposed to just stuck in it forever,” Shenfeld said.
The news is not all positive. The number of initial and renewal claims for benefits increased 8.2 per cent in August, to 298,300, after two months of declines.
The downturn in the labour market has affected young people the most.
In August, the number of people under 25 receiving EI benefits nearly doubled, up 94 per cent compared with August 2008. The increase was most pronounced for young men (up 114.5 per cent), while among young women the increase was relatively slower, at 61.9 per cent.
Microsoft shares soar despite profit drop October 23, 2009
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Software maker Microsoft reported a drop in net income of 18 per cent in the latest quarter.
Profit dropped to $3.6 billion US, or 40 cents per share, compared to $4.4 billion, or 48 cents per share, in the same period in 2008.
Revenue sank 14 per cent to $12.9 billion US, but most of that resulted from an accounting decision. Microsoft recorded only half the revenue from sales of its Windows operating system sales for the period.
3-month chart for Microsoft
It has been running a promotional offer that lets new PC buyers load Vista and then install its new Windows 7 system, which it launched Thursday, for free later. It’ll record the other half of the revenue from those sales by January as the buyers upgrade.
Investors ignored that, knowing that otherwise, earnings would have been up eight per cent.
Microsoft shares hit a one-year high of $29.23 US in morning trading on the NASDAQ, before falling back. They were up $1.95 US, or seven per cent, at $28.54 US.
Luxury retailer rents drop globally September 22, 2009
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Customers enter the Vuitton store on the Avenue des Champs Elysée in Paris on March 15, 2009. Rents on the shopping district are the third most expensive in the world, Cushman Wakefield said Tuesday.(Christophe Ena/Associated Press)?
The average price to rent space in some of the world’s most exclusive shopping districts dropped by the largest amount on record last year, a global survey has found.
Some 54 per cent of the 274 luxury retail strips covered under real estate consultancy Cushman Wakefield’s annual survey of retail rents dropped during the past year. Only in 18 places did rents increase this year.
The Main Streets Across the World report is a barometer of high-level retail activity in 60 countries across the globe.
“The last 12 months have been one of the most difficult periods ever for the retail sector,” said John Strachan, head of Cushman’s retail unit. “There will undoubtedly be some markets which will continue to be affected over the next year but we expect to see a greater number move back into positive territory.?
Topping the list for the eighth straight year, New York?s Fifth Avenue remains the world?s most expensive street where retailers can expect to pay $1,700 US per square foot per year, a decline of 8.1 per cent from 2008 levels.
The average price of a single square foot of retail space on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue cost $1,700 this year, real estate consultancy Cushman Wakefield said Tuesday. That’s an 8.1 per cent decline from 2008.(Mark Lennihan/Associated Press)
Hong Kong?s Causeway Bay and Paris?s Avenue des Champs Elysée maintain their positions at second and third respectively.
Munich’s Kaufingerstrasse was the biggest riser toward the top of the list, moving from 12th to ninth with a 7.1 per cent increase in rents. German consumer spending has been surprisingly resilient and sentiment has improved since early spring, the report noted.
Ireland?s Grafton Street was the biggest faller in the top 10, moving from fifth to eighth with prime rents falling 22.5 per cent. The tony Dublin shopping district entered the top five for the first time last year.
Globally, the biggest increase in rents was in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with rents at Alameda Lorena and Iguatemi Shopping rising 111 per cent and 79.3 per cent, respectively.
In Asia, at 50 per cent Ho Chi Minh City?s CBD had the biggest increase, and in Europe, Rue St. Catherine in Bordeaux, France, had the biggest increase, at 17.6 per cent.
On the flip side, the biggest fall in rents was in Mumbai with Colaba Causeway falling 63.5 per cent. In the Americas, rents in Rio de Janeiro?s Sao Conrado Fashion Mall fell 53.4 per cent while in Europe, Bucharest?s Calea Victoriei fell 48.1 per cent from 2008 levels.
Gas industry profits predicted to drop by 60% September 20, 2009
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? Natural gas profits this year will fall to less than half what they were last year, says a report released Friday by the Conference Board of Canada.
Industry-wide, profits will fall by more than 60 per cent, according to the Conference Board’s report Canadian Industrial Outlook: Canada’s Gas Extraction Industry, Summer 2009. The report predicts profits will total $2.3 billion this year, the lowest for the gas industry since 1999. Profits should start growing again starting in 2010 as prices for natural gas improve.
Canadian natural gas production will fall for the next four years, the Conference Board of Canada predicts. (CBC)
“Last year, revenues more than doubled over the first six months as gas prices skyrocketed,” says Conference Board economist Todd Crawford in a release. “Now, low prices and the tough credit conditions have created a perfect storm that sent drilling activity in Canada tumbling this year. “
The board says the slump in industry demand for materials such as steel will mean costs will fall 13 per cent this year. However, that will be only temporary. Costs will rise along with the price of oil, and the gas industry competes with oil producers for much of the same labour and materials.
Gas production fell 5.2 per cent last year and the board forecasts a similar drop this year. The report predicts further declines in each of the next four years.
The report comes one day after a National Energy Board forecast that predicted the slowdown in drilling will put a “significant dent” in gas supplies over the next two years.
Prices plummet
Demand for gas has fallen with the recession, and storage facilities across North America are close to full. Prices have fallen from a record high of $13 US per million British Thermal Units in July of 2008 to about $3.50.
Oil prices have rebounded somewhat during the same period, partly on indications of pickup in growth in emerging economies. Gas is different, and unlike oil ? which is a globally traded commodity ? and trades almost entirely only within North America.
S&P/TSX Energy Sub-ndex 3-month chart
Drilling in Canada and the U.S. has slowed with falling prices, and some Canadian producers have turned off production from some of their wells. There were 199 drilling rigs active in Western Canada on Sept.1, compared with 412 on the same date in 2008.
Natural gas drilling accounted for two-thirds of Canada’s oil and gas industry activity last year, according to the Calgary-based Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
Verenex Energy shares drop 18% as dispute with Libya escalates June 22, 2009
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3-month TSX chart for Verenex Energy
Shares of Verenex Energy Inc. plunged more than 18 per cent Monday as its dispute escalated with Libya’s state-run National Oil Corp. over the oil company’s proposed sale to China National Petroleum Corporation International.
Verenex announced Monday it has received two letters from NOC accusing the Calgary-based company of being improperly pre-qualified to bid for a property it acquired in 2005, which gives it about 2.15 billion barrels of crude oil reserves.
Verenex said it considers the allegations to be “without merit and vigorously denies them.”
The letters are the latest indication that NOC intends to scuttle the sale, which would see CNPCI pay $10 a share to acquire Verenex in a deal worth $499 million.
Investors responded to the news by sending Verenex shares down $1.58 to $7 in afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
NOC has said several times that it intends to exercise its pre-emptive right to acquire Verenex on the same terms and conditions offered by CNPCI.
NOC approval is required for any change in control of Verenex under the terms of an exploration and production sharing agreement.
“Investors are cautioned that there can be no assurance that consent to the offer by CNPCI will be received soon from Libyan authorities, or that a sale transaction will be concluded on the terms contemplated, or at all,” Verenex said in a statement.
Verenex said NOC had indicated earlier that the company would have to pay an approval bonus to obtain NOC’s consent to the sale. Verenex estimated the bonus would amount to $46.7 million.
The company said the latest actions by Libyan authorities suggest they are either trying to get a bigger approval bonus or drive down the purchase price for NOC to acquire Verenex.
The company said it was considering all options, including legal action, and that the Canadian government “has expressed its concerns” to the Libyan government over the matter.
Verenex said it has sent a letter to CNPCI extending the outside date under their agreement to Aug. 24.
European Union sees biggest quarterly job drop in 14 years June 15, 2009
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The European Union shed more than 1.9 million jobs during the first quarter of 2009 — the biggest drop since the EU agency Eurostat began compiling statistics in 1995.
The employment decline of 0.8 per cent came on the heels of a 0.2 per cent drop in the fourth quarter of 2008, Eurostat reported Monday.
About 223.8 million people were employed in the 27-member EU as of the end of March, the agency estimated.
BusinessEurope, a business federation representing more than 20 million European companies, forecasts that about 4.5 million workers may lose their jobs this year as company profits plunge.
With files from The Associated Press
