Canadian Tire executives uncertain about the future of its paper money.

In a world of digital wallets, virtual currency and polymer bills can there still be a place for the coupons handed out by Canadian Tire?While the retailer has alluded to its desire to end the 50-year-old tradition of rewarding cash or debit purchases with Canadian Tire money, in favour of a card-based loyalty program, the prospect has reportedly met some internal corporate resistance.

"How to Fix Canadian Tire," a feature published in the July/August issue of Report on Business magazine, has focused on its recent efforts to overcome the stubbornness long associated with the stores.

A recent $771 million acquisition of the Foranzi Group, the Calgary-based owner of a dozen different sporting goods store banners across the country, was seen as one way to update Canadian Tire's homegrown image. A decade earlier, it acquired Mark's Work Wearhouse for $116 million.

With new retail competition arriving from the U.S., diversification is expected to help the bottom line, although chief executive Stephen Wetmore has also sought to refresh the core stores.

The first priority involved restoring the original story behind the Canadian Tire name. Where auto parts depots were once removed in favour of more general merchandise, they have now reappeared with products displayed at eye level.

Yet, the acquisition of the Foranzi Group is expected to help the company reach a new generation, which is unlikely to grasp the antiquated appeal of currency mascot Sandy McTire. There's only so much sentimental value attached to a 5-cent bill.

Curiously, debates over whether to keep or kill Canadian Tire money have come at the same time new approaches to the monetary system have reached a tipping point. Digital wallets, which eliminate the need for a bulging collection of cards, are expected to transform consumer spending.

Bitcoin, a digital currency that has stirred curiosity in the past few weeks, has also shed light on how our relationship with dollars issued by a central bank could change.

With the Bank of Canada's announcement this week of its new polymer notes, though, Sandy McTire's bills might end up being the country's last valuable form of paper money.

read more...

US stock futures sag on European debt worries

U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening Monday as worries about Europe's debt problems continue to fester.Euro-area finance ministers failed to agree to release more bailout money to Greece, which needs cash to avoid defaulting on its debt. In order to get it, Greece must first agree to further cut its deficit. Such moves have been unpopular in Greece, and its government faces a vote of confidence on Tuesday.

A Greek default would trigger losses for the banks that hold Greek bonds, and economists worry it could shake the European economy.

Greece has been at the center of Europe's debt worries, but other countries are also facing troubles. Moody's warned on Friday that it may cut Italy's credit rating because of its mounting debt and sluggish growth prospects.

The worries dragged down markets across Europe Monday: Italy's FTSE MIB index sank 2.7 percent, France's CAC 40 index dropped 1.3 percent and Germany's DAX index fell 1.2 percent.

European debt problems, combined with weakening economic data, have dragged the S&P 500 index of U.S. stocks down 6.7 percent since April 29. Crude oil's price has also tumbled on worries about lower global demand. It dropped below $92 per barrel to its lowest point since February.

Strong corporate earnings have helped drive stocks higher over the last two years, and analysts expect more growth for the April-through-June quarter. But Nabors Industries Ltd., a driller for oil and gas, warned that its international and pressure pumping businesses have been weaker than expected during the quarter. Its stock lost 3.2 percent in pre-market trading.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. fell 0.9 percent in pre-market trading after it said it will buy the U.S. retail operations of Royal Bank of Canada for $3.45 billion. The deal will make PNC the fifth biggest U.S. bank with 2,870 branches. It follows Capital One Financial Corp.'s $9 billion purchase last week of ING's U.S. online bank.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.92 percent as investors sought out the relative safety of U.S. debt. A bond's yield falls when its price rises. The 10-year yield had been as high as 3.74 percent in February.

Ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 50 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,888. S&P 500 futures fell 6, or 0.5 percent, to 1,260. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 9.25, or 0.4 percent, to 2,181.

Stock futures do not always accurately predict how prices will change once the market opens.

read more...

Facebook hires former White House press secretary,

Facebook has nabbed a former White House press secretary, but it isn't Robert Gibbs. Joe Lockhart, who served as press secretary under former President Bill Clinton, has been hired as the social-networking site's new vice president of global communications.

Lockhart will run Facebook's corporate, policy, and international communications teams. His first day is July 15, and he will relocate from Washington, D.C. to California for the job "as soon as family commitments allow," Facebook said.

He and Marne Levine, vice president of global public policy, will report to Elliot Schrage, vice president of global communications, marketing, and public policy at Facebook.

"Joe's arrival brings new skills and greater depth to our incredibly busy team. His experience building and running a press office at the White House gives him particular appreciation for the demands of a global 24-hour news cycle and the challenges of responding effectively to intense scrutiny," Schrage said in a statement. "His experience launching and scaling a communications firm will help us as we seek to build our team and continue to offer great opportunities for growth and professional development."

After leaving the White House, Lockhart founded the Glover Park Group PR firm in 2001, which represented firms like Yahoo and Microsoft.

In late March, there were reports that Robert Gibbs, who served as President Obama's press secretary, would be joining Facebook. The New York Times said the talks were at an early stage, and no formal deal had been signed, but no announcements regarding Gibbs were ever made. Gibbs announced his resignation from the White House in January after serving Obama's administration for two years. At the time, he said he would initially "step back a little bit, recharge some."

Levine joined Facebook last year after serving as special assistant to the president for economic policy and chief of staff for the National Economic Council at the White House.

read more...

OPEC mulls oil supply target hike to calm prices.

OPEC is considering raising crude supply next week for the first time since 2007 in a move that could weaken $100 oil prices and lessen the drag of high energy costs on global economic growth.The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps more than a third of the world's oil, may raise supply targets by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) when ministers meet on June 8, a delegate said on Thursday.

"There is a need for an increase to replace the loss from Libya," the delegate said. "Oil prices are too high. $100 oil is scaring people."

The most likely outcome of the meeting would be for a rise of 1 million bpd, the delegate added.

"That would be calming for prices," the delegate said.

A target rise of 1 million bpd would result in only a small increase in actual oil supply from the group, the delegate said. That was because part of the rise would simply absorb above-target supply that some members of the group in OPEC were already pumping, the delegate added.

The 11 members of the group bound by OPEC production targets pumped 26.23 million bpd in May, nearly 1.4 million bpd above their 24.84 million bpd target.

Raising formal output targets would force OPEC to confront tough issues aside from overproduction. Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia holds most of the group's spare capacity so is likely produce most of any extra oil supply.

Other members would be reluctant to cede their theoretical share of any supply target increase, even if they are already at full capacity.

OPEC members Iran, Libya and Venezuela could resist any rise in targets, industry publication Energy Intelligence reported on Wednesday, citing an OPEC insider.

Iranian OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi declined to comment on Thursday on whether the group would agree a production increase in Vienna next week.

"We will discuss it in the next meeting," Khatibi said at a gas exporters group meeting in Cairo when asked whether OPEC would increase supply. "We should see all fundamentals ... all indicators."

Libya, whose top oil official recently defected amid continued bloodshed there, would not want other OPEC members to officially divide its share of the targets, the delegate said. Civil war has cut its exports.

With so many complications, another delegate saw no need for a formal change and said OPEC members could simply flout official targets to meet demand.

"Why bother?" he said. "Everybody is pumping what they want anyway and getting the money they want and more."

A rise in targets would go against analyst expectations in a Reuters poll for the producer group to leave output unchanged at the meeting.

Brent crude fell 38 cents to trade at $114.15 a barrel at 10:05 a.m. British time on Thursday. U.S. crude traded just below $100.

Brent has traded above $100 since early February, prompting consuming governments to warn of the impact of high oil prices on economies still fragile after the global financial crisis.

The West's energy watchdog, the International Energy Agency, last month urged producers to boost supplies to help lower fuel costs and protect the economic recovery.

Data this week from top oil consumer United States has exacerbated concerns that the recovery in the world's largest economy is running out of steam. U.S. companies hired fewer workers than expected in May and output in manufacturing slowed to its lowest levels since 2009.

China, the engine of global oil demand growth for more than a decade, is also slowing down. Chinese factories expanded in May at their slowest pace in at least nine months.

But fuel costs were only part of a wide list of factors impacting economic expansion, the delegate said.

"Some of it is the oil price, but that is not the whole story," the delegate said.

Even if a target increase results in few additional barrels of oil on the market, it could soothe Libyan supply concerns and worries about high fuel costs, JP Morgan oil analyst Lawrence Eagles said.

"This would be a positive policy step as far as consuming countries are concerned," Eagles said.

"Higher output is clearly good news for a global economy that is going through a soft spot," JP Morgan analysts led by Eagles said in a report on Wednesday.

"But it is not clear yet if it is enough to prevent oil prices from moving higher in the third quarter."

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia boosted oil supply in February to plug the gap left by Libya, where civil war cut output. But it reduced supply again in March, citing a lack of demand. OPEC has taken no formal decision to supply more oil to compensate for Libya's supply disruption or to ease prices.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf producers are wary of the impact high oil prices might have on the economy and on demand. As recently as February, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi had said a price of $70-$80 per barrel was fair to both producers and consumers.

A slightly wider range of $70-$90 per barrel would still be good for both, an OPEC delegate said on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia's oil price needs have risen as it has offered $130 billion in handouts to stave of grievances that could stoke unrest similar to that rocking much of the Arab world.

OPEC has kept formal supply policy unchanged since late 2008, when the group agreed record cuts to match the sharp fall in demand as the financial crisis engulfed the economy.

read more...

In reminder of '90s, LinkedIn has big first day.

There was an unmistakable echo of the dot-com boom Thursday on Wall Street.LinkedIn, a trailblazer in the online networking craze, went public with a roaring stock offering. Within minutes, shares were trading at twice the value set by the company.

Buyers crowded the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and financial news networks flashed LinkedIn's stock price urgently all day. By the closing bell, the company had a market value of $9 billion, the highest for any Internet company since Google had its initial public offering seven years ago. Millionaires and even one billionaire were made, at least on paper.

The stock, issued at $45, went as high as $122.70 just before noon and closed at $94.25 on a trading volume of 30 million shares. All this for a company that skeptics say amounts to an online Rolodex, a place on the Internet for professionals to post resumes and connect with one another and potential employers.

It was enough to remind some people on Wall Street of the heady late 1990s and the debuts of companies like Netscape Communications — and, more infamously, long-forgotten names like Pets.com and Webvan. Investors wondered whether LinkedIn will be a precursor to another financial frenzy in Silicon Valley.

"I definitely think this will be a catalyst," said longtime technology investor and analyst Michael Moe, CEO of Global Silicon Valley Asset Management. "Investors who like growth stocks have been stuck in a desert for a long time, and now it's like they have found this great pitcher of water."

LinkedIn is already worth $9 billion, or 18 times its projected revenue this year. Major Internet companies, including Google, trade at an average of about five times projected revenue, according to an analysis by Capital IQ.

Using another measure, price-to-earnings ratio, which compares a company's market value with its profit, LinkedIn finished the day at a staggering 554 — a number reminiscent of the late 1990s tech bubble. By comparison, the average P/E ratio of technology companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index like Google and Apple is 15.

Two-thirds of LinkedIn's revenue comes from the fees it charges to help companies find and hire workers. Francis Gaskins, president of IPOdesktop.com, said that makes the company more like Monster, an employment firm where business depends a lot on the health of the job market.

"Can we stop asking if we are in a bubble now?" venture capitalist Mitchell Kertzman said after hearing that LinkedIn stock was trading above $100. "We are clearly in a valuation bubble."

If the stock market is thirsty for more businesses that connect people on the Internet, there's a backlog of privately held companies that might one day satisfy it.

The short list includes Twitter, the 140-characters-or-fewer messaging service; Zynga, which makes online games like FarmVille; Groupon, the coupon site; and, of course, Facebook, the social network with more than 500 million users.

None of those companies has revealed specific plans for going public. Facebook has at least dangled the possibility of filing for an IPO before May 2012. A private investment led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. valued Facebook at $50 billion in January.

"If people are this excited about a professional networking service like LinkedIn, you can imagine what kind of frenzy there is going to be when Facebook goes public," said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

The 109 percent first-day gain for LinkedIn, based in Mountain View, Calif., nearly mirrored Netscape's first day when it went public on Aug. 9, 1995. Netscape rose that day from $28 to a close of $58.25, or 108 percent.

Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, has invested in Twitter, Groupon, Zynga and Facebook.

As an individual, Andreessen was also an early investor in LinkedIn and is among the more than 102 million people who have posted their resumes and profiles on its website, a buttoned-down version of Facebook's online playground.

It may be as much fun as playing games, chatting and posting pictures on Facebook, but LinkedIn has steadily grown since it started in 2003 and it's now adding about a million accounts a week.

In a key distinction from the dot-com days, it also makes money — $3.4 million last year on revenue of $243 million. Its revenue more than doubled during the first three months of this year, putting it on pace to bring in about $500 million in 2011 from advertising and fees.

Kertzman, managing director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, was CEO of Liberate Technologies, a maker of software for TV set-top boxes, during the height of the dot-com boom. In 2000, its market value soared to $12 billion.

"I knew something was wrong because I knew we weren't worth that much and it scared the hell out of me," Kertzman said.

Aaron Levie, CEO of an Internet storage service called Box.net, sees things differently. Levie, who is 26 and was in high school during the dot-com boom, thinks it's a good sign that LinkedIn, Facebook and other companies are taking their time to build companies that make money before going public.

"You can tell this is a very different period than the late `90s," Levie said. "Silicon Valley is definitely back, and much healthier."

LinkedIn's CEO, Jeff Weiner, said he doesn't plan to dwell on high investor expectations.

"It's exciting, but it's a point in time," Weiner said a few hours after he rang the opening bell at the stock exchange, where LinkedIn's shares traded under the symbol LNKD. "One day's trading is not going to be too meaningful, and the same holds true for the next few days and the next few months. I know it sounds a little like a cliche, but we are in this for the long haul."

Weiner, a 41-year-old former Yahoo executive who became head of LinkedIn two years ago, still took some time to celebrate the IPO in a meeting that was beamed to all of LinkedIn's roughly 1,300 employees from the company's offices in the Empire State Building.

Many of LinkedIn's employees are now millionaires, at least on paper. The richest is co-founder and executive chairman Reid Hoffman. Already considered one of the smartest and best-connected people in Silicon Valley, Hoffman joined the ranks of the world's billionaires Thursday. Hoffman, 43, owns a 20 percent stake in LinkedIn, good for about $1.8 billion.

That value could wildly fluctuate, based on how other hot technology IPOs have performed through the years.

Until LinkedIn came along, software maker VMware Inc. had boasted Silicon Valley's biggest one-day gain among IPOs completed during the decade after the dot-com bubble burst. VMware stock rose 76 percent on the first day of trading in August 2007. Thirteen months later, it had fallen below its IPO price of $29.

VMware's experience also serves as a reminder that what goes up and comes down can go up again. The company's stock closed Thursday at $93.89.

read more...

Apple says white iPhone to arrive Thursday.

Apple says the long-delayed white iPhone 4 will go on sale Thursday in the United States, United Kingdom and 26 other countries for $199 or $299 depending on the model.

Apple Inc. said Wednesday the prices are for phones purchased with a two-year contract from AT&T Inc. or Verizon Wireless in the U.S.

The black iPhone 4 went on sale last June. Apple had hoped to make the white phones available in July, then in late 2010. But it has said that the gadget was more challenging to produce than expected. In October, Apple said the white phones would be available in the spring.

Separately, Apple says the iPad 2 will go on sale in Japan on Thursday and in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and eight more countries on Friday

read more...

Nintendo's annual profit down 66 percent to $.

Nintendo's annual profit dropped for the second straight year as sales of its gaming devices fell despite a price cut for the DS handheld.

read more...

Seagate to buy Samsung's hard disk drive business.

Seagate is buying the hard disk drive business of Samsung in a $1.38 billion deal that also gives the South Korean electronics manufacturer a nearly 10 percent stake in Seagate.

read more...

Google's rapidly rising expenses crimp 1Q earnings .

Google is helping the economy and hurting its stock. The company is hiring so many employees for projects outside its thriving search advertising business that its expenses are growing much faster than its revenue.

read more...

BlackBerry PlayBook strong, well-priced.

You need three things to compete with Apple's iPad tablet computer: A gorgeous, easy-to-use device that people will love, a bustling app store and an attractive price tag.

read more...

Level 3 to acquire Global Crossing for $2 billion.

Level 3 Communications Inc. said Monday it will acquire another top long-distance Internet carrier, Global Crossing Ltd., in an all-stock transaction valued at about $2 billion.

read more...

Japan releases radioactive seawater.

Japanese engineers were forced on Monday to release radioactive water into the sea while resorting to desperate measures such as using bath salts to try to find the source

read more...

Nasdaq, ICE make $11.3B bid for NYSE Euronext.

Nasdaq is teaming up with IntercontinentalExchange to make an $11.3 billion counteroffer for the parent of the New York Stock Exchange.

read more...

Earnings hope lifts stocks, S&P above key resistance.

U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday as optimism about upcoming earnings and investor buying of the quarter's top performers lifted the S&P 500 above a key technical level.

read more...

World Stocks At High, Euro Jumps On ZEW.

World stocks hit a fresh 28-month high on Tuesday, while the euro climbed on new evidence of robust growth in Germany and signs that policymakers will eventually firm up plans to ease the euro zone's debt crisis.

read more...