BUSINESS

By Henry Jennings, Private Client Advisor, BBY Ltd• Another day with limited volume and a quiet tone with only the banks showing any signs of confidence.

There was some tooing and froing from the market early in the day. Sellers got traction in the first hour of trade although by lunch time the index had recovered from its lows of the session and left sellers in its wake.

Microsoft reportedly plans to update Skype's features, including its messaging functions, on which users complain about because they miss messages and sometimes get out-of-sync messages from their Skype contacts.

Man sells testicles for Nissan 370Z while Aussies are hot for the Nissan GT-R Nismo

International apparel chain H&M is set to open in Melbourne's GPO building in March 2014. Along with its debut Down Under is the launch of a capsule collection that will be exclusively available in Australia.

The Australian share market is flat at lunchtime in the East, despite another record high from blue chip stocks on Wall Street overnight. The US Dow Jones Index was slightly firmer while the broader share market was slightly lower and the NASDAQ reached above the 4000 point level during trade for the first time since the year 2000.

Canadians can have the newly released Motorola Moto G smartphone for free if they sign a new two-year contract with Telus or Koodo Mobile. Off contract, the phone costs $200.

A popular brand of baby monitors in New Zealand was recalled due to the deaths of two babies in the United States. Two infants have died of strangulation after getting the wires of the baby monitors entangled around their necks. Angelcare baby monitors are now being investigated by the New Zealand Health Ministry.

Apple Inc.’s Australian Web site has confirmed its Apple Inc. Black Friday Sale 2013 event.

Andrew Hales of the Web site Losing All Hope Was Freedom or LAHWF released a video titled "Paying for People's Groceries," and it has gone viral with 2,298,708 views and 47,419 as of this writing. Hales collaborated with GungHo, a company that makes natural focus supplements with ingredients like Ashwaganda (Withania somnifera), Caffeine, Eleuthero, Niacin - Vitamin B3 and Cognizin® Citicoline. According to GungHo, these ingredients are proven to increase focus, memory recall and brain ...

Labatt Breweries of Canada has signed an agreement with the National Organising Committee and FIFA to sponsor the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™.

The holding pattern of the last seven days looks like continuing for the rest of week.

In US economic news, pending home sales dipped by 0.6pct in October. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index slipped from 3.6 to 1.9 in November.

By Greg PeelThe US-Russian HEU agreement has now officially come to an end, which means no more Russian Cold War warheads being dismantled and their fuel being sold through the US.

Upbeat European and U.S. economic data caused a considerable increase in the prices of copper and aluminium at the London Metal Exchange (LME). When the open-outcry trading closed on Friday, three-month copper was up 1.1 per cent from the day's $7,094 per metric tonne.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 7 points while the S&P lost 0.1% to 1802 and the Nasdaq added 0.2%.Bridge Street posted a solid jump from the open yesterday but gradually lost interest as the session wore on.

The Australian share market gained for a second session today, on the back of Wall Street notching up another record high on Friday night. By close of trade, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) was firmer by 15.8pts or 0.3 per cent to 5346.1 points.

Angelina Jolie knows where to put her money’s worth. The A-list star has found the heart-shaped island a perfect birthday gift for her fiancé, Brad Pitt.

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) Chairman Jan du Plessis complained at the Australian British Chamber of Commerce business lunch in Sydney on Friday of the fast rise of cost of doing business in Australia.

The Australian sharemarket is improving following a tough week for local shares. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.5 per cent, with gains in every sector. Thanksgiving in the US this week will result in the closure of the US market on Thursday and its partial closure on Friday. This could keep volumes a little light over the next five sessions. The S&P500 index closed above 1,800 points for the first time on Friday while the DOW index ended over 16,000 points for the second consecutive day ...

The Kmart ad called “Show Your Joe,” featuring a TV commercial for Joe Boxer (with a certain “Dexter” actor) is causing a stir among those who’ve seen it. It starts out innocent but towards the end, some people think it’s too sexy and suggestive for an ad on TV, especially from a family-friendly company. Some people have even claimed that the video is “harmful to society”.

GlaxoSmithKline recalls Children’s Panadol Baby Drops Syringe due to risk of serious liver damage

The Australian dollar is all set to fall below 90 U.S. cents by the Christmas.

PDF file attached.Corporate bonds offer an alternative to equity investment in providing a fixed "coupon", or interest payment, unlike equities which pay (or not) non-fixed dividend payments, and a maturity date, unlike equities which are open-ended.

Risk finished the week off on a positive note, with US markets rallying to fresh record highs with the Down closing above 16,000 and the S&P above 1800. While tapering remains on the cards in coming meetings, perhaps investors are looking at the situation as glass-half-full, given the Fed is likely to remain accommodative for a while. This week will be crucial for some of the interest rate sensitive sectors of the US economy with the holiday shopping season ramping up. Black Friday will be watch...

In US economic news, the Kansas City Federal Reserve manufacturing index eased from 14 to 11 in November but the composite index rose from 6 to 7.

The Australian National Retailers Association (ANRA) forecasts the average Aussie shopper will splurge around $1,280 during the Christmas yearend holiday, boosting the national economy for the last month of 2013 by about $30 billion.

Clash of Clans brings the inner barbarian of people in a battle to protect villages, level up troops and dominate the game. It is a combat strategy that allows people to compete with other players but also work in teams. Players have to make sure their camps are hard to break through and they have the strongest troops to conquer.

The Australian sharemarket managed to benefit from the strength in offshore stocks overnight, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rising by 0.9 per cent and closing back above the 5300pt mark. US shares have more than doubled in value from the lows hit in 2008, closed above 16,000pts for the first time on record overnight and the DOW is 22 per cent firmer this calendar year.