April handset sales in N. America undercut views of Pacific Crest Securities. It said weakness could be due to stricter restrictions on early upgrades and higher upgrade fees. The slump may last all summer, the analysts say, and would be particularly disappointing ahead of a fall Apple (AAPL - News) iPhone 5 launch. They noted HTC's One S at T-Mobile did "reasonably well," Motorola Mobility's (MMI - News) Droid Razr saw improvement via a price cut at Verizon (VZ - News), and AT&T (NYSE:T) and Verizon may have had it harder than Motorola and Sprint (NYSE:S). Shares all rose less than 1%.
Gold prices are looking even more vulnerable after April's price crash, as rampant inflation expected from successive rounds of monetary easing fails to materialise. The idea that record-low interest rates ...