Best Buy Co. and AT&T Inc. cut the price for BlackBerry’s new touchscreen device to $49 (U.S.) with a two-year contract, while Verizon Communications Inc.’s wireless arm is selling the smartphone for $99, also with a two-year agreement. But in the absence of a contract, the Z10 costs $700.
Discounting isn’t unusual, but the Z10 has only been on sale since March. However, as Bloomberg News notes today, BlackBerry’s even more recent keyboard-equipped Q10 would appeal to the Canadian company’s traditional users.
When it last reported quarterly results, the first to include full sales of the new BB10 devices, shipments for the Z10 were far below what analysts had been expecting.
Scotiabank ends deal
Bank of Nova Scotia is pulling out of a deal to buy a chunk of Bank of Guangzhou, saying conditions have changed.
Scotiabank had planned to acquire 19.99 per cent of the bank, originally announcing details last September, The Globe and Mail's Tim Kiladze reports.
Today, however, the Canadian bank said it and the municipality involved have “re-evalued the proposed partnership in light of changing conditions.”
It did not spell out those conditions, however, and said it still plans to push ahead in the country.
“Scotiabank will continue to consider future opportunities for investment in China that are in line with our strategy and footprint in the region,” said Dieter Jentsch, Scotiabank’s chief of international banking.
“The bank also remains focused on our existing operations in the country including the recently announced Bank of Beijing Scotia Asset Management Joint Venture and 19-per-cent stake in Bank of Xi’an.”
JPMorgan beats estimates
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. kicked off second-quarter earnings among the big U.S. banks with better-than-expected results.
JPMorgan profit climbed 31 per cent to $6.5-billion (U.S.) or $1.60 a share in the quarter, from $4.96-billion or $1.21 a year earlier. That included a gain on reduced loan loss reserves.
Revenue increased by 13 per cent.
“Loan growth across the industry continued to be soft, reflecting a cautious stance by consumers, many small businesses and corporations,” said chief executive officer Jamie Dimon.
“However, we continue to see broad-based signs that the U.S. economy is improving and we are hopeful that, as jobs are added and confidence builds, the U.S. economy will strengthen over time.”
Wells Fargo also topped estimates with a profit of $5.52-billion or 98 cents a shares, compared to $4.62-billion or 82 cents a year earlier.
Markets hold gains
Global markets are generally holding onto their strong gains, though at something of a slower pace after yesterday’s record-smashing performance in the United States.
Or, as Royal Bank of Canada put it today, a “wild week ends with a whimper.”
That’s not to suggest there’s no action, only that it’s muted compared to the jubilation that drove the S&P 500 and Dow Jones industrial average to closing highs yesterday in a rally inspired by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
Playing into the markets are stronger-than-expected quarterly results from two major U.S. banks and comments from China’s finance minister that appeared to suggest Beijing would accept an annual pace of economic growth of 7 per cent.
“In some respects the lack of momentum to the upside tends to give credence to the theory that much of the advancement yesterday was less about sentiment and more about short covering,” said senior market strategist Brenda Kelly of IG in London.
“An element of profit-taking, along with the remarks from China’s finance ministry which are attempting to temper expectations in respect of the country’s global growth, is putting some pressure on the mining sector.”
Asian and European markets were mixed, while U.S. stocks were up and the Toronto exchange was down.
Yesterday’s global rally was sparked by Mr. Bernanke’s comments late Wednesday, when he reassured markets that the central bank would not pull back from its huge asset-buying program, known as quantitative easing or QE, before the economy is ready.
For all intents and purposes, that set the record straight after he’d send markets tumbling in June with the suggestion that the Fed could start to ease the monthly purchases worth $85-billion (U.S.) later this year.
Observers believed the central bank would begin to “taper” the program in the fall, and quit altogether sometime next year.
Mr. Bernanke didn’t give a timeline, but calmed investors nonetheless, suggesting, as well, that they not confuse the end of QE with the end of emergency-level interest rates.
The Fed’s benchmark rate is now effectively at zero, and the Fed plans to keep it there until unemployment eases to 6.5 per cent.
“It appears bullish equity traders are once again happy to rely on the ‘free insurance’ offered by Fed intervention and push risk assets higher – despite the general panic we saw in June when tapering appeared imminent,” said Matt Basi of CMC Markets in London.
“The marked decline in U.S. treasury yields and the spike higher in equity markets since chairman Bernanke’s statement are signs of a market re-positioning itself for medium-term QE support and with the U.S. gearing up for earnings season, any significant upside surprises could easily push the indices to fresh all-time highs.”
Title: BlackBerry shares dip amid reports of U.S. discounting
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