BUSINESS

We went to our first house auction on the weekend. We wanted to see just how 'hot' this market is. It was a beautiful sunny day in Melbourne, and there was a small crowd gathered around the 'cosy' (read small) two bedroom weatherboard St Kilda home.

On Monday and Tuesday, we visited our youngest son, Edward, a sophomore at the University of Vermont. His roommate joined us for dinner.

It really pays to set up shop in close proximity to a central bank. Australian banks, who have surrounded the Reserve Bank of Australia (the bank in the centre), are raking it in. Yesterday the Commonwealth Bank announced a first quarter profit of $2.1 billion, up 14% on the same quarter last year.

Will the next tablet from Apple sport a large display as big as laptops or about 12 inches? Reports from Foxconn, Apple's Taiwanese manufacturing plant, indicated the next iPad being tested now could have a screen between 11.4 inches and 12.9 inches in length, said Apple Insider.

The Australian share market closed in negative territory today, although off its earlier lows, weighed down by a number of big name financial stocks which traded without rights to their dividends. It was a different story on Wall Street, where solid buying in blue chip stocks lifted the Dow Jones Index to a record high.

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd targets to topple Apple Inc. in the mobile devices marketshare.

Apple Inc. remains the World’s Most Valuable Brand according to Forbes

The two female premiers of western Canadian provinces agreed on Wednesday to a framework that would push through with major oil pipeline projects worth $12 billion being proposed by Enbridge and Kinder Morgan.

The Australian share market is modestly weaker at lunchtime in the East, despite US blue chip stocks recording solid performances overnight. The US Dow Jones Index closed at record highs, although weaker than expected earnings from electric car maker Tesla weighed on the NASDAQ.

Based on a new survey citing the world's most polluted places, the lives of at least 200 million people are at risk. These areas are believed severely hazardous to man's health spanning Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Analysts forecast that Australia's mining boom is approaching its end would likely be questioned again as the country's iron ore sector just added $65 billion to the current financial year due to higher commodity prices.

Oprah Winfrey has unveiled her favorite things in 2013. Each year, the Queen of Talk Shows makes a list of her favorite things and shares it with her viewers, even giving away some of these amazing products to lucky fans. Are you wondering what made her fabulous list this time around? Listed below are 10 of Oprah Winfrey's favorite things in 2013.

About 13 million Filipinos stand to get affected by the possible ill effects of Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), which has morphed into a Category 5 super typhoon, the world's strongest so far in 2013.

By Jonathan BarrattGold looks to be suffering, as we mentioned last week. The move have not been aggressive, regardless of ongoing stimulus.

Global equities managed to push higher despite some key event risk approaching. Some positive data prints from Europe and more taper talk were at the forefront of the equity price moves. Fed member Williams said he wants to see a fairly convincing case that the economy can grow faster than recent trend before reducing asset purchases. Meanwhile Pianalto hopes the recovery will accelerate to allow the Fed to taper. This is probably the most dovish we've heard Fed members since the meeting and ...

In US economic news, the leading index rose by 0.7pct in September, just above forecasts. Planned layoffs by companies lifted by 40,289 to 45,730 in October according to Challenger. And the mortgage market index fell by 7pct in the latest week with purchases down 5.2pct and refinancing down 7.9pct.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 128 points or 0.8% while the S&P gained 0.4% to 1770 and the Nasdaq fell 0.1%.

It goes without saying that the oil industry has brought in gainful revenue for companies engaging in shale oil production.

Eight States pledge for Zero-Emission Vehicles. Governors of eight states announced a groundbreaking initiative to put 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) on the roads by 2025.

Approximately 6.6 billion euros ($8.9 billion) in European Union funds were misallocated or lost to inefficient expenditure schemes last year, according to the bloc's official auditors on Tuesday, marking a 0.9 percentage point rise from the previous year and the third year in a row that inefficient spending have rose.

China's economy must continue growing by at least 7.2 percent per year in order to sustain the unemployment rate from rising, said Premier Li Keqiang in remarks published on Monday.

US Consumer Watchdog Seek To Crack Down On Aggressive Debt Collectors

Samsung continues to offer consumers innovation which explains why the South Korean tech giant handily beats rival Apple in securing the largest slice in the smartphone pie.

A reasonable performance from local stocks to end flat after the early deficit seen in the first ten minutes of trade. The ASX200 was at its best levels around the open when it was up by 1.5 points. Not long thereafter the lows were put in place when the index was down by 26 points. The market spent the remainder of the session trading higher, and by the final bell it just crossed the line into positive territory.

Apple Inc. admitted handling its user’s data to the government but requests for U.S. to allow more customer transparency

The largest natural gas production company of Canada, Encana, declared that it would cut around 20 per cent of the workforce of the company

An 8-year-old girl from China's Jiangsu Province has developed lung cancer, a fine testament to the seriousness of the country's smog pollution problem. The alarming PM2.5 and smog have been blamed as the underlying causes of her condition. Apart from the growing health hazard, the smog has likewise been identified as a threat to national security.

Australian shares are lower for the fourth time in five trading sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down by 0.3 per cent. Despite low volumes yesterday (generally around 30% quieter than usual on Melbourne Cup day), local stocks rose by 0.75 per cent, which is still keeping the market positive this week.

The sudden change in BlackBerry's plan to sell the financially challenged company should have aroused suspicion that there's more to the about face than the ability of interim BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen to turnaround a floundering company like he did before for Sybase.