Have a fantastic year filled with peace and health,
With lots of love and loads of wealth,
Wishing you a happy new year!
With lots of love and loads of wealth,
Wishing you a happy new year!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
RIM dives more than 20% on fee changes
Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion plunged more than 20 per cent on fears that a new fee structure for its high-margin services segment could put pressure on the business that has set the company apart from its competitors.
It was the stock's biggest, single-day, percentage price drop since September 2008. But shares were still nearly 80 per cent above the year's low, which was reached in September. They started to rally in November as investors began to bet that RIM's long-awaited new BlackBerry 10 phones, which will be unveiled in January, would turn the company around.
The services segment has long been RIM's most profitable and accounts for about a third of total revenue. Some analysts said there was a risk that the fee changes could endanger its service ecosystem and leave the Canadian company as just another handset maker.
The fee changes, which RIM announced on Thursday after market close, overshadowed stronger-than-expected quarterly results. The company said the new pricing structure would be introduced with the BlackBerry 10 launch, expected on January 30.
RIM said some subscribers would continue to pay for enhanced services such as advanced security. But under the new structure, some other services would account for less revenue, or even none at all.
Chief Executive Thorsten Heins tried to reassure investors in a television interview with CNBC on Friday, saying RIM's "service revenue isn't going away".
He added: "We're not stopping. We're not halting. We're transitioning."
Since taking over at RIM in January, Heins has focused on shrinking the company and getting it ready to introduce its new BB10 devices, which RIM says will help it claw back ground it has lost to competitors such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.
But the new services pricing strategy came as a shock to markets, and some analysts cut their price targets on RIM stock.
RIM will not be able to sustain profitability by relying on its hardware business alone, said National Bank Financial analyst Kris Thompson, whom Thomson Reuters StarMine has rated the top RIM analyst based on the accuracy of his estimates of the company's earnings.
Thompson downgraded RIM's stock to "underperform" from "sector perform" and cut his price target to $10 from $15.
Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin said the move was likely about stabilizing market share: "At the moment, they need to stem the bleeding."
He said the tiered pricing might line up better with RIM's subscriber base as it expands in emerging economies.
RIM's Nasdaq-listed shares closed down 22.7 per cent at $10.91 on Friday. The stock fell 22.2 percent to C$10.86 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Coutdown to launch
The success of the BB10 will be crucial to the future of RIM, which on Thursday posted its first-ever decline in total subscribers. Heins said on CNBC that the company expected to ship millions of the new devices.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Newtown, Connecticut Shooting
My heart goes out to all the families who lost loved ones in the shooting.
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In one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States, at least 26 people, including 20 children, have been killed at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, about 60 miles northeast of New York on Friday.
The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School appeared to be the US’ second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, in which 32 people, including two Indians, were killed and 17 others wounded.
The gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the school. The 20-year-old killer, carrying at least two handguns, committed suicide at the school, bringing the death toll to 28, authorities said.
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In one of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States, at least 26 people, including 20 children, have been killed at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, about 60 miles northeast of New York on Friday.
The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School appeared to be the US’ second-deadliest school shooting, exceeded only by the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, in which 32 people, including two Indians, were killed and 17 others wounded.
The gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, killed his mother at their home and then opened fire inside the school. The 20-year-old killer, carrying at least two handguns, committed suicide at the school, bringing the death toll to 28, authorities said.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
December 12, 2012 (12-12-12)
December 12, 2012 (12-12-12) will it be significant? I hope so, I hope the economy recovers!
Saturday, December 8, 2012
US 'unemployment rate' drops to 4-year low of 7.7 percent as 'people stop looking for jobs'
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to its lowest since December 2008 at 7.7 percent, primarily because more people stopped looking for work.
US Labor Department said that hiring remained steady during the storm Sandy and in the face of looming tax increases. But the government said employers added 49,000 fewer jobs in October and September than it initially estimated.
Latino jobless numbers held steady at 10 percent, after dropping slightly in September, from 11.4 to 9.9 percent.
It said that the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low in November from 7.9 percent in October mostly because more people stopped looking for work and weren't counted as unemployed, the New York Daily News reports.
The report "is something of a mixed bag but, on balance, it's a positive," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.
According to the report, Sandy's effect on the figures was much smaller many analysts had predicted. The government noted that as long as employees worked at least one day during a pay period - two weeks for most people - its survey would have counted them as employed.
Still, there were signs that the storm disrupted economic activity. Construction employment dropped 20,000. And weather prevented 369,000 people from getting to work, the report said.
Ashworth also said that while there is "no obvious impact from the looming fiscal cliff yet, it could still have a greater effect on December's figures."
US Labor Department said that hiring remained steady during the storm Sandy and in the face of looming tax increases. But the government said employers added 49,000 fewer jobs in October and September than it initially estimated.
Latino jobless numbers held steady at 10 percent, after dropping slightly in September, from 11.4 to 9.9 percent.
It said that the unemployment rate fell to a four-year low in November from 7.9 percent in October mostly because more people stopped looking for work and weren't counted as unemployed, the New York Daily News reports.
The report "is something of a mixed bag but, on balance, it's a positive," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics.
According to the report, Sandy's effect on the figures was much smaller many analysts had predicted. The government noted that as long as employees worked at least one day during a pay period - two weeks for most people - its survey would have counted them as employed.
Still, there were signs that the storm disrupted economic activity. Construction employment dropped 20,000. And weather prevented 369,000 people from getting to work, the report said.
Ashworth also said that while there is "no obvious impact from the looming fiscal cliff yet, it could still have a greater effect on December's figures."
Asian Growth ‘On Track’ in 2013 ADB
Asian Development Bank says lagging Asian economies should pick up in the coming year.
Asian Development Outlook Supplement predicts that Asian economies will post growth of 6.0 percent in 2012 and 6.6 percent in 2013, about a tenth of a percentage point lower than anticipated in October.
The report also said upbeat private consumption in Southeast Asia and a mild economic recovery in China nearly balance out the weaknesses in India's economy.
The ADB report also said economic weakness in Europe and the looming fiscal cliff in the U.S. remain very real threats to developing Asia next year.
VOA
Asian Development Outlook Supplement predicts that Asian economies will post growth of 6.0 percent in 2012 and 6.6 percent in 2013, about a tenth of a percentage point lower than anticipated in October.
The report also said upbeat private consumption in Southeast Asia and a mild economic recovery in China nearly balance out the weaknesses in India's economy.
The ADB report also said economic weakness in Europe and the looming fiscal cliff in the U.S. remain very real threats to developing Asia next year.
VOA
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