BUSINESS

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 109 points or 0.7% to 16,009 while the S&P gained 0.8% to 1795 and the Nasdaq jumped 1.

Apple (AAPL) has been experimenting with sensors starting with the TouchID. Following its fingerprint venture, it appears Apple wants to put Xbox’s Kinect technology to its line of products. The tech giant has acquired 3-D chip producer PrimeSense. The company was behind Xbox’s Kinect and it seems Apple wants to put the same feature on its iPhone, iPad and MacBook products, too.

There was a continuation of US dollar strength as unemployment claims and the US flash manufacturing PMI readings came in ahead of consensus. Unemployment claims fell to 323,000 and this reading was also well below analysts' estimates of 333,000. Effectively this brought the 4-week average claims down 7,000 to 339,000. This saw the continuation of the tapering talk theme and resulted in the dollar index holding its ground above 81. At the same time US 10-year yields traded at the highest leve...

In US economic news, new claims for unemployment insurance fell from 344,000 to 323,000 in the latest week, below forecasts for a result near 335,000. Producer prices fell 0.2pct in October, in line with forecasts. Excluding food and energy, prices rose by 0.2pct, ahead of forecasts for a 0.1pct gain. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve index eased from 19.8 to 6.5 in November. And the Markit flash manufacturing gauge rose from 51.8 to 54.3 in November.

With the holidays fast approaching, the search for the best toys continues. Considering the number of iPod touch or iPad owners, it is interesting to find the multitude of toys people can control and play with. Below are the coolest iPad and iPhone-controlled toys people can buy for Christmas.

The Australian sharemarket fell once again, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) ending 0.4 per cent lower by the close. This makes it the longest losing streak for local stocks in five months. Minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting were issued overnight and showed that the US central bank hasn't ruled out the possibility of a reduction in stimulus in the 'coming months'. This together with a weaker than expected reading on the health of China's manufacturing sector this aftern...

Apple Inc. failed to trademark the term “startup” in Australia

Apple Inc, Samsung and Microsoft's idea of putting a "kill switch" in smartphones to deter theft has been rejected by mobile phone carriers. According to San Francisco Attorney General George Gascon in his Twitter account, wireless carriers discarded the kill-switch proposal. Mr Gascon also suggested that carriers are thinking of income first before security of smartphones.

Optus starts trial for 4G home wireless broadband for home business owners

Optus, which is also known as SingTel Optus Pty Limited, has reportedly started its fixed wireless broadband trial in four Australian capital cities namely, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. This move was done in order to check if a reliable 4G signal can indeed replace fixed broadband connections in several urban areas.

Nowadays we all know it as term for mad discounts and shopping craziness, but above all, when it comes to business, as billions worth Black Friday deals.

The Australian share market is in the red for the fourth time this week, despite hopes we would see a rebound today.

Africa will have to spend between $200-350 billion a year in climate adaptation costs by 2070, if the current global temperature rises by more than two degrees Celsius, according to a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report on Tuesday.

Latest news could lead you to one conclusion: Seems like Elon Musk is having fire trouble in last six weeks.

As H.L. Mencken opined, 'The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.'

It is the task of today's Weekend Daily Reckoning to speculate on a profitable trade for 2014. But before we get there it helps not to forget that the whole financial system is rigged.

The OECD (Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation) is out with its latest global outlook, warning Australia about the blindingly obvious. That is, labour costs and house prices are too high, which threatens our competitiveness on the global stage.

The central banks of Japan and the US are killing the private market for government debt. The massive and unprecedented bond-buying programs for Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) and Treasuries have driven yields so low that investors are now simply stepping aside from involvement in that market entirely.

Yesterday we promised to take a look at the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory (WCB) takeover. It's one of Australia's largest listed dairy companies and it's the subject of a bidding war between Canadian, New Zealand and Australian dairy interests. (Nick Hubble's Money for Life Letter did quite nicely out of a pre-bidding war WCB tip.)

BlackBerry officials seem not to have learned the lessons of the past by continuing to push for their unpopular smartphones. The latest was the unveiling on Tuesday of the ultra high-end version of the Z10, which caused the share price of the embattled Waterloo, Ontario-based firm to go down below $6 at one point.

Blurred language out of the Fed has again poured cold water on the markets understanding of where it stands on the monetary stimulus component of its quantitative easing policy.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 66 points or 0.4% while the S&P lost 0.4% to 1781 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.3%.

In US economic news, advance retail sales rose by 0.4pct in October, ex autos, gas & building materials sales lifted by 0.5pct. Headline CPI inflation dipped 0.1pct in October to be up just 1.0pct over the year - the smallest rise in four years. Core CPI inflation held steady at 1.7pct over the year. Existing home sales fell by 3.2pct in October, weighed down by higher mortgage rates and tight supply. But the median price of a previously owned home was up 12.8pct on a year ago.

Unlike in the U.S., German companies have a two-tier board structure, with a management board around the chief executive that runs the day-to-day operations and a supervisory board that is similar to a U.S. board of directors.

British Petroleum (BP) is firing up to 300 employees from its office in Melbourne, Australia. The sacked workers comprise about 24 per cent of the total 1,250 staff in Melbourne, although across Australia, BP has 7,500 workers.

Guide:The Short Report draws upon data provided by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) to highlight significant weekly and monthly moves in short positions registered on stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

Novelty online shop KlearGear has gone into social media hiding after being bombarded with criticisms online. The whole fiasco started when it charged a customer USD3,500 for leaving them a negative feedback.

Apple has reportedly acquired PrimeSense, the Israeli fabless semiconductor company behind Microsoft Xbox Kinect Sensor, for $345 million. Israeli financial news Web site Calcalist reported that Apple has already finalized the acquisition, with plans for an announcement within the next two weeks.

The Australian sharemarket lost ground once again, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) easing by 0.8 per cent. This takes the losses for the week so far to 1.7 per cent. The OECD cut its growth forecasts for the Australian economy from 3.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent for 2014. The DOW fell back from 16,000 points, after cracking through on Monday.