Justin Sullivan
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Huffington Post touts Canada
There's a fluttering Maple Leaf on the homepage today of the Huffington Post, a site popular for its news and celebrity blogs.
The accompanying headline says: Need A Job? Try Canada, Where Hiring Is Booming And Home Prices Are Rising.
That article comes amid news that Canada's economy added a whopping 93,200 new jobs last month; the U.S., meanwhile, continues to struggle with unemployment woes.
The bottom of the HuffPost article carries a poll, asking people whether they would be willing to move to Canada for work.
The early results of that poll - which is by no means scientific: Fifty-five per cent said they'd move to Canada if that's where the jobs are, while 19 per cent said they'd stay in the States.
The article tells readers: "Stubbornly high unemployment rates got you down? Not sold on the economic recovery? Look no further than America's polite neighbor to the north, where jobs numbers are surging and home prices have been rising steadily for nearly a year.
"Last month, Canada, a nation with roughly one tenth of our population, created about 10,000 more new jobs than America."
Canada pumps out the jobs
The Canadian jobs numbers today were far better than expected. Economists had been predicting between 15,000 and 20,000 would have been added last month. And most were feeling the jobless rate of 8.1 per cent was going to remain the same on move only slightly.
Instead, employment rose by 93,000 in June, pushing the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.9 per cent. It is the first time the rate has been below the 8 per cent mark since January 2009.
The Canadian dollar rose sharply after the Statistics Canada report. A few minutes before the release, the loonie was trading overseas just below 96 cents (U.S.) and jumped more than half a cent after the jobs report came out.
"The Canadian employment numbers were strong across all measures," said Camilla Sutton, Scotia Capital currency strategist. "It increases the expectation that interest rates will rise in July. And that's good for the Canadian dollar."
Canada's dollar was at 96.77 cents shortly before the official open of trading Friday, up about a cent from the previous close of 95.79 cents
"There's no arguing with this strong report," says economist Benjamin Reitzes of BMO Nesbitt Burns. "The jobs picture clearly shows that the Canadian recovery hasn't stalled yet, despite signs of slowing momentum in the U.S. and other economies.
"The handoff from public to private spending looks to be going smoothly, this strong report solidifies our call for the Bank of Canada to raise rates 25 basis points on July 20."
Mobilicity takes shot at Rogers
Mobilicity chairman John Bitove says he will file a complaint with the Competition Bureau if Rogers Communications Inc. launches a new discount brand.
"They're trying to destroy our success," Mr. Bitove said.
Mobilicity is one of several new wireless entrants that have launched cellphone service recently.
Rogers announced last week that it was bringing out a discount brand, chatr, to complement its existing two brands, Fido and Rogers Wireless.
Mr. Bitove said he has already retained legal counsel and was exploring additional legal avenues beyond the Competition Bureau. He said that the government licensed new competitors to bring lower prices for consumers, but that Rogers was working to destroy his company by mimicking his cellphone pricing plans and only launching the chatr brand in urban markets where Rogers is facing renewed competition.
MSG shares drop after LeBron spurns Knicks
Shares of Madison Square Garden Inc., which owns the New York Knicks, dropped nearly 4 per cent on Friday, the day after superstar LeBron James spurned the basketball team to sign with the Miami Heat.
Mr. James announced on Thursday evening that he would join the Heat in his quest to win a National Basketball Association title, leaving his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers. However, the Knicks had cleared salary-cap space on its roster in the hopes of attracting James, who has twice won the most valuable player award.
There had been reports that the Knicks, in the team's presentation to James, had said the player could earn $100 million in the New York market through marketing opportunities.
After the free-agent signing period opened on July 1, MSG shares rose as much as 11 per cent as investors speculated "King James," as LeBron is nicknamed, would be attracted to the big stage of the New York market.
However, as reports centered on the Heat late on Thursday ahead of the announcement special on Walt Disney Co's ESPN sports network, shares of MSG, which also owns the National Hockey League's New York Rangers, fell back to $19.64 on the Nasdaq market.
Another bid for West 49?
West 49 Inc. has a new suitor who is challenging an $83-million friendly takeover of the Canadian activewear retailer by Billabong International.
West 49 says it has been advised by Zumiez Inc. (Nasdaq:ZUMZ) that it would be "prepared to make an offer" if it gets a chance to due a due diligence review.
Zumiez says it would be prepared to offer C$1.30 per share for West 49 if the review is satisfactory.
That would be the same price per share that Billabong has offered but without a financing condition attached to the Australian company's friendly agreement.
West 49 says the new offer would be superior to Billabong's but it's concerned about opening its books to a potential competitor like Zumiez.
All three companies compete in the youth and young-adult segment of the sporting goods retail sector.
Beijing renews Google's China licence
Google says Beijing has renewed the licence it needs to continue operating a website in China, securing the search giant's foothold in the world's biggest Internet market despite tensions over censorship.
The renewal of the license to provide Internet content was in doubt due to the rocky relations between Google and Chinese authorities over hacking of Gmail accounts and censorship of Google search results. Google last week stopped automatically redirecting users in China to its uncensored Hong Kong site after Beijing threatened to withdraw its license.
"We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ... license and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China," said an e-mailed statement by Google's top lawyer, David Drummond.
The statement, which gave no other details, also was posted on Google's blog. There was no immediate statement posted on the website of China's ministry of industry and information technology.
Gumming it up
A non-stick chewing gum that can be easily removed from pavements, shoes and clothes has been cleared for sale in the United States, its British maker said Friday.
Startup company Revolymer expects the gum, which was pioneered by polymer researchers at the University of Bristol, to be on shop shelves on both sides of the Atlantic in 2011.
Traditional chewing gums are made from synthetic latex, which degrades very slowly and is strongly adhesive. The new gum adds a special polymer to modify its properties, making it far less sticky and removable from many surfaces with water.
Revolymer chief executive officer Roger Pettman said European food approval was expected shortly.
The company's backers include IP Group PLC, which holds 24.5 per cent directly and through venture capital funds that it manages.
A respite from slowdown fears
World stock markets mostly rose Friday on hopes that global economic growth will prove resilient, with investors viewing a surprise interest rate hike in South Korea as a sign of confidence in the recovery.
After a fall in U.S. unemployment benefit claims the previous day, the Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate from a record low - following rate hikes by Taiwan, India and Malaysia in the last two weeks - amid prospects for faster economic growth.
Along with some cautiously upbeat comments from the European Central Bank the day before, the news encouraged traders to bid up on stocks.
After broad gains across Asia, Germany's DAX was 0.2 per cent higher at 6,049.14 and Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.2 per cent at 5,115.87. France's CAC-40 was 0.2 per cent higher at 3.544.85.
Wall Street, however, showed less momentum on the open after robust gains earlier this week - the Dow industrials average was 0.1 per cent lower at 10,126.58 and the Standard & Poor's 500 was down 0.1 per cent at 1,069.61.
"The rate hikes are a loud vote of confidence from Asia's central banks that growth will continue, despite weakness in Europe," analysts at DBS bank wrote in a report to investors.
European stocks have also been helped by speculation that the results from stress tests on banks, to be published later this month, will show the financial sector is in better health than some feared.
Geithner warns U.S. will 'dismember' failing banks
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, sounding at times like a TV show wrestler, promises the government won't give ailing banks "a second chance" when they falter. In an interview to be broadcast today on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Mr. Geithner says U.S. financial reform expected to pass this summer will give the government power to reduce risks in the sector. "We will dismember them, put them out of existence," the treasury secretary said of failing financial companies, according to an excerpt posted on NPR's website yesterday.
He added that financial crises occur when banks "are allowed to take on too much leverage," and that the new regulations will help his government "constration leverage and risk-taking by forcing all financial institutions to operate with much more capital."
From today's Report on Business
Regulators steps up scrutiny of insurers
Canadian Research takes hit as Merck cuts back