These are stories Report on Business is following Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014.
Follow Michael Babad and The Globe's Business Briefing on Twitter.
BlackBerry climbsIn case you missed it, shares of BlackBerry Ltd. have been staging something of an awesome comeback.
Short sellers haven't missed it, seemingly sensing a change in the wind.
Japan's central bank says it will go all-out to achieve its inflation target, but some economists now believe it may not need to unleash more stimulus this year to get there. Yonggi Kang reports. Reuters
Economy Video: Bank of Japan set to hang up its 'bazooka'?
How to sustain the world's recovery from financial crisis is the focus as delegates gather for this year's World Economic Forum in Davos. As Joanna Partridge reports there's an air of confidence around the Swiss ski resort this year. Reuters
Global economy Video: Davos dilemma: help not harm recovery
The stock has gained about 30 per cent this year, and is up again in premarket action to retake $10 (U.S.).
BlackBerry shares are still far below where they stood a year ago, by some 37 per cent, but clearly the smartphone maker's new chief executive, John Chen, is making his mark.
Of late, BlackBerry stock has surged on brighter analyst reports, and a vote of confidence from the U.S. Defense Department.
And, as The Globe and Mail's Sean Silcoff reports, the company unveiled plans late yesterday to sell the bulk of its Canadian real estate holdings, which analysts say could be worth more than $500-million.
Also, according to new numbers from Markit, the short positions in BlackBerry have fallen to 12 per cent of its stock from more than 20 per cent, Reuters reports.
BlackBerry shares are up by about 1 per cent within about two hours of the Nasdaq open.
Wink wink, nudge nudgeGovernor Stephen Poloz and his colleagues at the Bank of Canada won't actually do much of anything this morning. But watch for a wink wink, nudge nudge that could in turn nudge down the dollar.
Mr. Poloz and his policy-setting panel release their decision and monetary policy report at 10 a.m. ET, and are expected to set a very easy-going, or 'dovish' tone where the economic outlook and stubbornly low inflation are concerned.
They won't, of course, change the benchmark overnight rate from its current 1 per cent.
But it's that dovish sense, coupled with soft economic readings, that have whacked the currency over the past several months, particularly this month alone. And the markets smell blood in the water.
While some observers believe Canadian policy makers are deliberately trying to hold down the loonie, as the country's dollar coin is known, the Bank of Canada denies doing that.
That doesn't mean that Mr. Poloz isn't happy about a devalued currency that means a boost to exporters, however.
Nor should one expect that he's going to say anything this morning that could send it higher.
'To reiterate our base case scenario, we anticipate a 'dovish' outcome today, with the BoC stopping short of formally adopting any sort of easing bias,' said Stephen Gallo, Bank of Montreal's European chief of foreign exchange strategy.
'Under the base case, we expect a knee-jerk reaction higher in USDCAD,' Mr. Gallo added, meaning a sinking Canadian currency against the U.S. dollar.
'This would be before some fairly sizeable profit-taking sets in.'
Really big blueShares of IBM Corp. are slumping in the premarket hours in the wake of its disappointing fourth-quarter report after markets closed yesterday.
Revenue slipped 5 per cent in the quarter to $27.7-billion (U.S.), falling shy of what analysts had projected, while sales in its hardware business took it on the chin.
IBM profit rose to $6.2-billion or $5.73 a share, which included a tax-related gain, from $5.8-billion or $5.13 a year earlier.
What's that mean for chief Ginni Rometty and her top managers?
'While we made solid progress in businesses that are powering our future, in view of the company's overall full year results, my senior team and I have recommended that we forgo our personal annual incentive payments for 2013,' Ms. Rometty said.
Shares of IBM are down 3.6 per cent within about two hours of the New York open.
Markets sourInvestors are in something of a sour mood this morning as the IBM results help drive sentiment.
Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.2 per cent, as did Hong Kong's Hang Seng.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were down by between 0.1 per cent and 0.2 per cent by about 7:15 a.m. ET.
Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 futures were little changed, though down.
'Corporate earnings are going to be a key driver in the financial markets again on Wednesday, as investors continue to look for evidence that the economic recovery will continue this year,' said market analyst Craig Erlam of Alpari in London.
'So far the fourth quarter earnings season has been very similar to the last few, but with one key difference. The period of ultralow interest rates appears to be coming to an end as the Fed winds down its quantitative easing program and passes the baton to U.S. companies to carry on the recovery,' he added.
'We're seeing little evidence of this so far, with companies continuing to report higher earnings driven largely by cost-cutting. While it is important for companies to improve productivity at times like these in order to ensure they remain profitable, we also need to see improvements to the top line in order for this earnings growth to be sustainable. At the same time, we need to see companies investing in order to drive this future earnings growth, which is something we're not seeing enough of at the moment.'
0 comments:
Post a Comment