BUSINESS

There is some link between a surge in Google searches for political and business topics to stock market crashes, according to a study by Warwick Business School.

Yesterday Russia imposed sanctions on the EU and US around agricultural products, and overnight it has widened its reach to include Canada, Norway and Australia.

In US economic data, consumer credit rose by a less than expected $17.26 billion to $3.21 trillion in June. Revolving credit, which mostly measures credit-card use, increased only $941.54 million after a downwardly revised $1.74 billion in May- it was still the fourth consecutive monthly increase. US jobless claims fell by 14,000 to 289,000 last week.

Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) reported on Thursday first half underlying profit of $5.1 billion despite falling iron ore prices by about 30 per cent. It is up 21 per cent compared to the same period in 2013. The boost in profit was the result of cost-cutting measures applied on capital projects and operating cost.

The Australian sharemarket fell for the fifth day; its longest losing streak in eight months. Weaker than expected employment figures and falls in European markets overnight were drivers. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) fell by 0.1 per cent; however managed to close just above a key level at 5500.7.

Spurred by the Ebola outbreak in Africa, the political tensions gripping the Middle East plus the looming trade war with Russia, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Wednesday said it expects global air travel demand to get impacted this year.

A Milwaukee-based private security company on Tuesday has announced the discovery of an Internet hacking ring syndicate that has amassed a whopping 1.2 billion global usernames and passwords as well as 500 million email addresses.

A study by data provider Greenwich Associates concludes that regulators are unlikely to achieve their goal of creating a fixed-income market that is less dependent on a few massive banks. The findings were made after Greenwich interviewed 1,067 institutional investors from North America.

U.S. President Barack Obama has quashed calls of health experts to send to Africa the experimental ZMapp serum that was given to two Ebola-inflicted American health workers. The president thumbed down the proposal saying the drug still needs further testing if it indeed is working as it should.

Risks of an impending housing bubble are threatening Switzerland's real estate market following mortgage and property price jumps during the second quarter that surpassed economic growth, Bloomberg said in a report.

Another tough day for the Aussie markets, we saw the ASX 200 started only slightly weaker off 2pts. But by 11.25am the markets had fallen back by 14 points and just after the release of the weaker than expected July Jobs numbers the market lost more ground now down 18.6 points.

A child abuser who had been convicted and served a 20-year jail time has been slapped with fresh offences after Google scanned his Gmail account and found it contained indecent images of children.

It was one of Australia's finest display of people power ever. Commuters aboard a Perth-bound train, majority surely strangers than friends, all went out of their way, literally, by going out of the train just to collectively tilt it so as to release a man's trapped leg.

New Zealand's unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in more than five tears at 5.6 per cent in the second quarter. According to Statistics New Zealand's Household Labour Force Survey released on August 6, the country's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was below Wall Street Journal's 5.8 per cent poll prediction by 14 economists. The 5.6 per cent unemployment rate is the lowest since March 2009.

Authorities from North Korea's Catholic association had rejected an invitation to attend a mass led by Pope Francis next week, as families of Sewol ferry victims in the South refused to de-tent Gwanghwamun Square, the venue of the pope's mass. Pope Francis is expected in South Korea from August 14th to the 18th.

Sellers continued to apply pressure to the ASX 200 over the course of the afternoon on Wednesday. So far this week the index has shed just over 0.8 per cent having lost half a per cent last week.

Russia has responded to EU and US sanctions by placing heavy restrictions on food imports from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia over the past few months.

The world is now going fearful over the spread of the deadly Ebola virus among four west African nations, plus two Americans and now one Spanish priest. But while this year's outbreak is its worst, experts highlighted passing on the virus from one person to another is highly preventable through the time and tested soap and water solution.

In an attempt to convince former customers to return as well as existing clients to keep their accounts, telecom giant Vodafone has spent close to $1 billion investment in the past 12 months on 4G for its Australian market.

In US economic data, the trade deficit narrowed by 7% to $41.5 billion in June. The smaller deficit was driven by a fall in petroleum imports to a 3 year low. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen.

Top 10 Sports Illustrated First-Ever Fittest 50 Athletes; Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Georges St-Pierre Also Make the Cut

Temperatures continue to rise in Oakland's already hot real estate market due to cash buyers, the Oakland Local reported. According to the report, real estate practitioners saw a great deal of cash transactions in the market, compared with similar activities more than a decade earlier during the U.S. housing bubble.

The weakness continues this month, with the Australian market slipping for the fourth day following softer American shares overnight. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO), which is a measure of local market performance is down by 0.3 per cent and is trading below 5500pts for the first time in three weeks. Geopolitical risks in Ukraine and Russia continue to keep investors on edge, with reports of an increase in Russian troops on Ukraine's border.

Your style of management and employee discipline can determine the success or failure of the whole company.

More than the disease itself, global health experts are on their toes monitoring the spread of the Ebola virus because it has already managed to infiltrate urban areas. This year's outbreak has been dubbed the worst outbreak yet since it was first identified in the 1970s. But hope remains in the experimental serum administered to two infected American patients.

What should managers do to ensure that staff are working with their best efforts without looking like a slave driver?

Markets overnight were moving along in a fairly routine fashion, after having seen slightly positive data from Europe and the US. This lead to Europe recovering from four days of losses and the US market moving slightly in the red after having rallied on Monday.

Microsoft sued Samsung as it demanded a royalty for each smartphone the South Korean company sells.

Transport operators would often downplay accidents involving their vessels, coaches or jets, especially near misses, but in the case of a Singapore Airlines Flight SQ351, it was Singaporean Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew himself who admitted it was only minutes away from suffering the same fate as Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 which was hit by a missile and crashed with all 298 people on board.