news blog from Emiko

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RIM unveils software system for BlackBerry, PlayBook

"We're giving developers the tools they need to build richer applications, and we're providing direction on how to best develop their smartphone and tablet apps as the BlackBerry and QNX platforms converge into our next generation BBX platform," RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said in a speech opening the four-day event.

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UPDATE 1-Canada to downsize Wheat Board, change directors

* Board has 4 years to draft business planOTTAWA, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Canada's government will give the Canadian Wheat Board certain financial guarantees, but will not give it seed capital or regulated access to grain handlers after the board loses its grain marketing monopoly next year, according to draft legislation unveiled on Tuesday.The Conservative government has long promised to end the board's 69-year-old monopoly to market Western Canada's wheat and barley for export or milling.The change would allow farmers to sell directly to grain handlers, instead of marketing those crops only through the Wheat Board.The draft legislation said Ottawa would continue to guarantee Wheat Board borrowing for a five-year period, guarantee the board's initial payments to farmers and help with downsizing costs. But it will not provide seed capital or regulated access to grain handlersThe assistance falls well short of requests by the CWB as it moves to become a voluntary marketer of grain in an open market system. The Wheat Board, which had revenues of C$5.8 billion ($5.7 billion) in 2010-11, has no retained earnings or grain-handling facilities of its own.Viterra Inc , Richardson International Ltd and Cargill Incown the largest networks of grain-handling elevators and port terminals in Western Canada.The Conservative government aims to pass its legislation by the end of 2011. The CWB's monopoly would end as of Aug. 1, 2012, the start of the 2012-13 crop marketing year.Canada is the biggest exporter of spring wheat, durum and malting barley, mostly through the Wheat Board.The Wheat Board's elected chairman, Allen Oberg, vowed on Monday to fight the government's bid to end the monopoly. But once the House of Commons passes the new legislation, Ottawa will remove all 10 farmer-elected directors of the board, including Oberg, leaving in place Chief Executive Ian White and four other federal appointees.The new board has four years, likely starting early in 2012 after the legislation is approved, to draft a sustainable business plan, which it would implement in the fifth year.

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PREVIEW-Online brokerage profits get fleeting boost

* Short-term outlook seen weak, long-term outlook improves* Firms begin reporting next weekBy John McCrankOct 14 (Reuters) - As U.S. stock markets plunged this summer, one group of companies made hay: retail brokerages.With trading volumes soaring, per-share earnings for companies such as TD Ameritrade Holding Corp could rise 55 percent, according to the average forecast from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.The companies that should perform best are those that rely most on trading revenue, said Michael Wong, an analyst at Morningstar in Chicago.TD Ameritrade, where last quarter trading revenue made up around 40 percent over overall revenue, would likely fare better than a company such as Charles Schwab Corp , where trading revenue is around 20 percent, Wong said.E*Trade Financial Corp , like TD Ameritrade, is also likely to turn in a strong performance because of its heavy exposure to trading, said Joel Jeffrey, analyst Keefe, Bruyette & Woods in New York.Schwab kicks off the earnings period for the retail brokerages on Monday, followed by E*Trade and Raymond James Financial Inc on Wednesday. TD Ameritrade reports the following week, while Stifel has yet to announce a date for its earnings release.Strong results for brokers would stand in stark contrast to institutional broker-dealers such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc , whose results were likely hurt by market drops. JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Thursday investment banking fees fell 31 percent. Its trading revenue rose because of an accounting quirk.Markets were riled in the quarter ended Sept. 30. Political gridlock over raising the U.S. borrowing limit pushed the United States to the brink of a debt default, the U.S. credit rating was downgraded and the sovereign debt crisis in Europe threatened to send the global economy back into recession.In August, that turmoil prompted TD Ameritrade's clients to make an average of 484,000 trades per day, well above the usual 380,000 to 400,000 range for that time of year."Four of our top five trading days in our history were in that month," TD Ameritrade Chief Executive Fred Tomczyk said at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in New York in early October. "One day we were just under 900,000 trades."SHORT-TERM PAIN, LONG-TERM GAINWhile trade volume was strong over the course of the third quarter, the two other main revenue sources for retail brokers -- fees on assets and interest revenue on client cash -- likely suffered as interest rates and markets fell, said Ed Ditmire, an analyst at Macquarie Research in New York."Overall, two of the three important revenue generators for the brokers were working against them and continue to do so into the fourth quarter," he said.The near-zero interest rate environment has led some retail brokerages to waive fees on money market funds, which has cost hundreds of millions of dollars.It has also put a big dent in their share prices. A 14 percent drop in U.S. equities in the third quarter, as measured by the S&P 500 index, added to the pain.Schwab's stock fell over 31 percent in the quarter, while TD Ameritrade was down nearly 25 percent, E*Trade around 34 percent. Raymond James and Stifel, full-service firms with large retail brokerage units, were down around 19 percent and 26 percent, respectively.A meaningful increase in interest rates, not expected any time soon, would be a boon to retail brokerages, especially asset managers such as Schwab, Wong said.As of Oct. 14, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were expecting Schwab to have earned 19 cents a share, up from 10 cents a share a year earlier.TD Ameritrade is expected to earn 31 cents a share in its fiscal fourth quarter, compared with 20 cents, and E*Trade is forecast to earn 18 cents a share, compared with 3 cents.Raymond James and Stifel are forecast to earn 55 cents a share and 43 cents a share, compared with 55 cents and 48 cents, respectively.

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U.S. cannot abandon Pakistan relationship -Clinton

The head of the ISI, Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, has denied the U.S. accusation.The United States and Pakistan have bickered publicly since the former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, told Congress last month that he regarded the militant Haqqani network as a "veritable arm" of the ISI.Answering questions after a speech sponsored by the Center for American Progress in Washington, Clinton said the United States had no choice but to work with Pakistan in trying to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan."This is a very difficult relationship but I believe strongly it is not one we can walk away from and expect that anything will turn out better," she said."Pakistan has to be part of the solution or they will continue to be part of the problem," she added. "And therefore, as frustrating as it is, we just keep every day going at it and I think we make very slow, sometimes barely discernible progress, but we're moving in the right direction."Despite mounting exasperation in official Washington, dramatic change in U.S. policy looks unlikely in the short term toward Pakistan, an unstable, unpredictable nation that has nuclear weapons and controls a key supply route needed to keep U.S. troops fed and fighting in Afghanistan.

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Liz Claiborne sheds brands, will change own name

Penney had the exclusive right to the Liz Claiborne brand since August 2010. The department store chain expects to become the exclusive store with Monet by August 2012.The company also ended its licensing deal for DKNY Jeans with designer Donna Karan. Claiborne said the transactions will raise $328 million, which it will use to pay down its debt.Liz Claiborne expects net debt at the end of fiscal 2011 to be between $270 million and $290 million.