In US economic news, the ISM services index rose from 54.4 to 55.4 in October, ahead of forecasts centred on a reading near 54.0. The employment component rose from 52.7 to 56.2. And weekly chain store sales, as monitored by Redbook, were up 3.8pct on a year ago, ahead of the 3.6pct gain in the previous week.
Apple Inc has released the iPad Air in its stores in Nov. 1 and is expected to show strong opening weekend sales. Investors who are concerned with the sales performance of Apple's latest tablet may be happy to know that the iPad Air has a higher adoption rate than the previous iPad. Mobile analytics company Fiksu reported that the iPad Air had five times the adoption rate of the iPad 4 during the first three days of sale.
The Australian sharemarket rose for the first time in four trading days, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) gaining by 0.8 per cent or 41pts to 5425.7. Most of the key data globally is out on Thursday, Friday and Saturday; namely Chinese and American economic data.
South Korea may have produced two tech giants in Samsung and LG, but North Korea appears to be playing catch up in this department.
Mining giant BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) will no longer be a part of the expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal project after it announced on Monday its withdrawal of a $3-billion port proposal.
The Australian share market is reporting solid gains at lunchtime in the East, ahead of this afternoon's interest rate decision where the Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to leave the official cash rate on hold at 2.5 per cent.
Consumption of the precious safe haven yellow metal gold in the world's second-largest economy has been forecast to hit above 1,000 tonnes in 2013. However, the same could not be said for the year 2014.
Despite a sharp rise in food inflation, U.K. families are spending 8.5 percent less on food today than what they did before the financial crisis; but the savings had been mostly due to a switch in consumption to cheaper, less healthy choices, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) on Monday.
Swiss banks could be forced to raise their minimum leverage ratios to as much as 10 percent, reported the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, in a move aimed at improving industry stability - yet could see banks have to cut down on their service offerings.
Johnson & Johnson agrees to pay $2.2 billion to settle illegal drug marketing case against the company
With some of the most useful rare earths feared to be depleted within the next 50 years, scientists are racing against time to develop technologies to maximise their full potential as well as what could remain of them. Scientists are now specifically trying to establish a method to recycle rare earths from wastewater.
Is BlackBerry interim Chief Executive John Chen the Waterloo, Ontario-based company's knight in shining armour? Will he save the embattled phone maker from the fate that has fallen previous number one phone manufacturers Nokia and Motorola the way he did for software maker Sybase in the 1990s?
Current and former staff at Google reveal the worst things about working for Google
In US economic news, factory orders rose by 1.7pct in September, in line with forecasts. Durable goods orders were revised to show a 3.8pct increase in September or a decline of 1.3pct if defence orders and aircraft are excluded.
Canadian pop star Justin Bieber may no longer need to hide under a bedsheet the next time Paparazzis Spot Him Leaving a Brothel if he takes the offer of a U.S. whorehouse owner to be a business partner and perhaps even be a pimp trainee.
By Greg PeelFor a short while it appeared as if the month of October would see some renewed strength in the price of spot uranium.
By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 23 points or 0.2% while the S&P gained 0.4% to 1767 and the Nasdaq rose 0.
Troubled Canadian phonemaker BlackBerry would no longer sell the company. Instead it will raise $1 billion in fresh financing and at the same time replaced Chief Executive Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry announced on Monday.
A music video made by two nurses in the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital’s Cancer Unit featuring the patients singing and dancing to the song “Brave” by Sara Bareilles has reportedly gone viral with 949,243 clicks and 7,3222 likes on YouTube.
A new GTA Online update (Title Update 1.05) on character progress loss and the release of the stimulus package will reportedly happen on the 2nd week of November 2013.
Despite a positive start, the Australian share market ended the trading day on the red, dragged down by a fall in Westpac's (WBC) share price and weakness from the energy and industrial sectors. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished the day's trade at 5384pts, down 22.3pts or 0.4 per cent.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt gave the green light over the weekend for the largest coal mining project in Australia to push through. Kevin's Corner covers an area of 37,380 hectares.
The Australian sharemarket is modestly higher for the first time in three trading sessions. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is 4pts or 0.1 per cent firmer at lunch. Weakness from the energy, consumer staple, healthcare and telco sectors is holding back the gains, while the miners and financials are both supportive.
Japan's financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), is set to investigate the nation's three largest banks for transactions with the Yakuza, according to Reuters on Tuesday.
Germany's persistently high trade surplus and export-led growth model is preventing the eurozone from recovering quickly, harming the wider global economy in the process, said a U.S. Treasury report on Wednesday.
Nearly 40,000 Chinese couples living in Bejing have filed for during the first nine months of this year, according to the China Daily on Tuesday, a year-on-year increase of close to 41 percent - with experts speculating that couples had been deliberately avoiding a property tax imposed earlier this year.
The U.S. government saw a budget deficit of $680.3 billion for fiscal year 2013, showed Treasury Department data on Wednesday, a 37 percent drop from the fiscal 2012 deficit and marking the first time in five years that the figure has been below $1 trillion.
Retail Giants are now determined to embrace the environment. Levi's has come out with designer jeans manufactured out of used plastic bottles. Nike has unveiled knitted sneakers that reduce manufacturing waste by 88 percent.
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.
The fifty million dollar jackpot was won by a couple of players from Western Canada in the massive draw on Friday, according to Loto-Quebec.
