BUSINESS

The Australian sharemarket steadily worsened this afternoon, with the All Ordinaries (XAO) falling 0.5 per cent by close. Today was extremely quiet on the volume front however, with investors in holiday mode. There were around half as many shares traded as usual. The banks were minimising the losses at lunch; however the gains fell away with the rest of the market later in the session.

Apple Inc has acquired Australian start-up SnappyLabs, creator of rapid-fire iPhone camera SnappyCam. Apple has confirmed the acquisition of the one-man tech company. SnappyLabs is owned by Australian John Papandriopoulus who has a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Melbourne. Apple Inc stocks may have finished low on the first few days of 2014 but that did not stop analysts from thinking the rest of the company's year will be bleak.

No less than anti-gay controversy-laden Russian President Vladimir Putin road tested the various sites erected for the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics by playing a game of ice hockey.

Sydney is the 11th most expensive city in the world, according to the Web site expatistan.com, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. However, compared to London, the costliest city, Sydney is 25 per cent cheaper.

Russia has barred some 132 used Japanese cars from entering the country due to radioactive pollution concerns.

The year 2013 has been recorded as New Zealand's second hottest year, according to Auckland University climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger on Monday.

Despite a better start to the trading session this morning, the Australian sharemarket has slipped into the red with no major events to act as market drivers. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.2 per cent, with some modest gains from the financials helping to limit the losses.

People wanting to travel to Canada have been advised to take necessary precautions as the country is currently beset with a growing number of the deadly H1N1 flu cases.

Today marks the start of the first full trading week of 2014; however, it is unlikely we will see the current low volume trading environment improve. This is likely to return in mid to late January when all managers and investors finally settle back into work.

A number of US Fed members spoke on Friday and Saturday, with timing of stimulus withdrawal being the overarching theme. Philadelphia Fed President Plosser said the Fed could cut QE by larger than $10 billion increments if data improves, floating a hypothetical amount of $25 billion. He also commented that the FOMC is still debating possible rules for taper. Fed Chairman Bernanke said that the Fed was no less committed to accommodative policy despite recent announcements to slow its stimulus pro...

The huge blaze in October that killed seven workers and razed a Bangladeshi textile factory that made materials for known retail outlets found in Australia such a Kmart, Target, Big W and Just Jeans brought to fore not only the sweatshop conditions in these facilities.

Apple Inc shares dropped 1.12 per cent on Jan. 2 after receiving a "Market Perform" rating from a Wells Fargo analyst. Maynard Um downgraded Apple's stocks from an Outperform rating to Market Perform due to market concerns. He maintained the stock's valuation between $536 and $581. Wells Fargo has become skeptical of Apple Inc because of gross margin concerns.

The Australian share market joined Wall Street and other Asian markets to close in the red today, as profit takers moved in following a solid 2013 for investors.

The New Year's Eve Festival that was supposed to take place at the Wet 'n' Wild theme park on Dec. 31, 2013 was cancelled six hours before it was about to start and the theme park's management will reportedly refund tickets that were already sold for the said event.

There are a lot of amazing Android phones out in the market today and it gets better and better every year. In fact, there are a lot of options for Android phones now that are giving the Apple iPhones some stiff competition. Take a look at some of the best Android phones for 2014 including Google Nexus 5, Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One Google Play Editions (GPE).

The Australian share market is being sold off in early trade, after profit takers moved in on Wall Street on the first trading day of the 2014 year.

It was a strange old session on Wall Street and in Europe; however the end result should be weakness in global cyclicals in Asia today.

In US economic news, jobless claims fell for the second consecutive week down by 2,000 to 339,000 last week - suggesting labour market continued to steadily improve. The US Markit PMI lifted from 54.7 to 55.0 in December - the fastest pace in 11 months. Across the subindices a solid increase was recorded in output and employment. US ISM manufacturing factory activity eased marginally from 57.3 to 57.0 in December. US construction spending rose by 1% to a five year high.

Americans and Canadians will soon have liquid Indian milk at their breakfast tables.

Companies have not learnt the lessons of the Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy movements that hit major global cities in 2011. One of the key points of these protests was the income inequality and wealth distribution between the wealthiest 1 per cent and the remaining 99 per cent.

Australian oil and gas firm Woodside Petroleum just lost a lucrative $2-billion supply deal on Thursday to sell 1.5 million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas yearly to a Japanese consortium due to a 2-year delay in Woodside's Browse project.

30 Hurricane Katrina homes that were built by Brad Pitt's Make It Right charity in the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans, Louisiana (LA) are now reportedly rotting from the inside out.

Apple Inc's iOS7 now runs on 78 per cent of iPhones, iPod touch and iPads based on official data on the company's latest mobile OS version. The number of devices running on iOS7 has increased from 74% earlier in Dec. 2012. Apple smart phone owners were hailed the smartest, based on a Test of Wits sponsored by British betting company, Ladbrokes.

The Australian share market has started 2014 on the right note, closing higher by 0.3 per cent, following a 15 per cent annual gain in 2013.

The New Year 2014 seems like a much better time for tech gadgets than 2013. For starters, there are a lot of exciting gadgets planned for release on 2014. Check out the 2014 tech gadget predictions featuring smarter smart watches including the Apple iWatch, wearable television (TV), drones and 3D printers.

The Australian share market is trading higher on the first trading day of 2014, gaining half of one per cent in the early session albeit on low trading volumes.

If history is to be any sort of guide then January, and specifically today, should be a good one to be long on global indices and risk assets in general.

In US economic news, S&P Case Shiller composite house price index rose by 1% in October against expectations of a 0.8% rise. Compared to a year earlier house prices were up 13.6%.

Due to the poor performance of the Apple stock in the 2013 fiscal year, the tech company's board removed almost $4 million in stock vesting restrictions on the pay package of Apple CEO Tim Cook.