BUSINESS

As the global markets continue to look towards Thursday morning's announcement from the FOMC, Australian investors will be watching two very interesting public policy papers that are released today.

In US economic news, industrial production rose by 1.1% in November ahead of market forecasts centred on a 0.5% gain. The Markit ´´flash´´ manufacturing gauge eased from 54.7 to 54.4 in December, short of the 55.0 forecast. The Empire State manufacturing index lifted from minus 2.21 to +0.98 in December, but this was short of the +4.75 forecast. And overall net capital inflows to the US totalled US$194.9 billion in October compared with outflows of US$106.8 billion in September.

By Evan Lucas, Market Strategist IG MarketsGood MorningThe meaning is in the detail for the AUDAs the global markets continue to look towards Thursday morning's announcement from the FOMC, Australian investors will be watching two very interesting public policy papers that are released today.

Like Australia which has benefitted from the mining boom, Canada is also going heavily into the resources sector, but similar to the situation of the Land Down Under, Canada too is suffering from skilled labour shortage.

The Santa Claus rally is looking like more and more of a dream, with the Australian share market back in the red today despite Friday's gains.

Despite being almost a year old, the game-changing HTC One smartphone continues to impress the world of technology, prompting ZDNet's Matthew Miller to name the device the top smartphone of 2013.

Ward's AutoWorld Magazine has just named its 2014 10 Best Automobile Engines including the Audi S5, the BMS 535d and the Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. Ward's 10 Best Engines is an annual list of the ten best automobile engines available in the U.S. automobile market that are available in regular-production vehicles and are on sale in the U.S. no later than the first quarter of the year. Check out the winners below:

British customers have noticed something different from Anchor, their preferred butter brand. The famous butter brand is no longer produced in New Zealand. Arla, a European dairy company, has used the popular Kiwi brand for years until it decided to cut its ties with New Zealand.

Sellers had a breather on Friday. Although they have returned refreshed an invigorated on Monday. The Market sank by 39 points in early trade, a harbinger of the volatility that could be in store ahead of the Fed's FOMC mid week.

Sprint is considering a potential merging bid with rival telecom carrier T-Mobile.

Fashionistas and beauty junkies need to celebrate the holidays too, especially since it is at this time of the year that a lot of people get dolled up and dressed to the nines for the various Christmas parties that they need to attend. There are a lot of new beauty collections that are debuted during the holidays. These would be perfect as gifts to beauty junkies. For fashionistas, there are a myriad of trendy options to choose from.

With eight days to Christmas and only six and a half trading days left of 2013, you would hope trade would be settling down as investors set and forget, and put their feet up and enjoy a summer holiday. However, this looks to be wishful thinking; the week ahead is packed full with market-moving material.

In US economic news, producer prices fell by 0.1% in November with the core rate (excludes food and energy) up 0.1%. The core rate was in line with expectations.

Greg Peel is on a well-deserved break until Monday, 13th January. This week, which is FNArena's final week before we all start enjoying a well-deserved break, we will borrow the Overnight Report from third party content providers.

If men had been enjoying Viagra and other male erection enhancement drugs for almost 20 years, flibanserin, the equivalent of the sex enhancement drug for women, has suffered from another impasse with the regulator, the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).

The weekly closed last week on a downtrend for a fourth week. The market had another volatile week with a range of 178 points just below the previous week's 200 point range.

The Australian share market snapped its longest losing streak in 17 months today, rising for the first time in seven sessions despite a weak offshore lead.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lite might have a 5.68-inch display with a Liquid-crystal display (LCD) screen? Rumours are swirling about the tech industry that Samsung is planning to launch a new gadget with these particular specs. According to ETN News, a Korean site, this new Samsung device is aimed as a low-cost alternative to its other higher priced gadgets.

Apple Inc's iPhone 5 and the iPhone 5S have finally outwit Samsung Galaxy S4 based on global sales in October, according to Counterpoint's report.

The Fed meeting next week looms as the last market catalyst for 2013. The better economic news from the US has improved the odds, in the markets eyes at least, that the US central bank will taper Q.E this year. As A result bond yields have risen and stocks have fallen in the last 24 hours. At lunchtime on Friday an uneasy equilibrium was in place after sellers attempted to further their argument for a 7th consecutive session in early trade. At its worst levels the ASX 200 was at a 15 point defic...

Virgin Australia's foreign shareholders Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways and Air New Zealand will increase their stakes in Australia's second-biggest carrier. This after only a measly 25.3 per cent of retail shareholders showed interest in Virgin's $350 million capital raising efforts.

Boeing has outwon competitor Airbus when it secured a $6.5 billion order placement from Air Canada for 61 narrow-body aircraft.

Growth in New Zealand's manufacturing sector continued to expand for the 14th consecutive month in November.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaI joined Twitter. Not because I am curious what this celebrity has to say about her kids, or to read that another one is waiting for a connecting flight, impatiently.

With the prospect of tapering only days to weeks away the effect on the global is starting to ramp up.

In US economic news, retail sales rose by 0.7%, ahead of forecasts for a gain of 0.6%. Excluding gasoline and autos, sales rose 0.6%. Import prices fell 0.6% in November while export prices rose 0.1%. And claims for unemployment benefits rose by 68,000 to 368,000, well ahead of forecasts for a rise to 320,000. The Labor Department said that a late Thanksgiving affected seasonal adjustment of the data.

Economic forecaster Deloitte is not limited to projecting GNPs and inflation and unemployment rates, but has also forayed into technology predictions.

With Australia rejecting same-sex marriage and India banning consensual gay sex, nobody needs more gay jokes. Thus, a dollar store in Manitoba, Canada, had to pull out a gag gift that claims to cure homosexuality.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) rolled out on Thursday its tap-and-go service for mobile phone that would deliver users a next-generation shopping experience and makes paying for everyday goods and services simpler, making signatures or PINs unnecessary.