BUSINESS

Energy Online makes UFO Sighting an advertising campaign for cheaper electricity services.

The Australian sharemarket is off to its worst start to a week in almost a month and a half, with a slump in iron ore pushing miners substantially lower. At lunch, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.9 per cent, with mining and energy stocks down by at least 1.5 per cent.

At least 44 have died from the worst floods that hit Serbia and Bosnia in more than a century over the weekend. Four days of heavy rainfall had triggered landslides forcing thousands to flee their homes as mud covered villages and roads. Rising flood waters are likewise threatening the power plants in the region.

There is an eerie quiet around markets currently; intraday equities moves are trending back to the value average mean price (VWAP) and currencies are treading water suggesting that fair value is globally priced in, barring the moves seen in the EUR.

In US economic data, housing starts rose by 13.2% in April to an annual rate of 1.072 million - well above expectations. Building permits hit 6-year highs. But consumer sentiment eased from 84.1 to 81.8 in May, short of expectations centred on a reading of 84.5.

Apple and Google have agreed to drop the lawsuits the two technology giants have filed against each other, but it only applies to legal cases involving Google's Motorola Mobility.

EU court judges have ruled out that personal details of individuals maintained by Google must be removed or deleted upon request.

Local stocks were under sustained pressure on Friday with the ASX 200 ending the session at the lows of the day. One small consolation was the low level of participation with just over $ 3.8bln shares changing hands.

TMZ has acquired the controversial Solange Knowles-Jay Z attack video for $250,000, a source told The New York Post.

New Zealand will welcome the newly-released budget focusing on the family. Finance Minister Bill English has delivered a budget with a bigger-than-expected forecast, tax cuts and free doctor visits to over 400,000 children under the age of 13.

Air Canada has suspended a planned purchase of Bombardier's CSeries and announced it will keep its 25 Embraer SA planes instead of replacing them with the new narrow-body aircraft.

Thousands of investors are considering filing a $200-million class action suit against Financial Wisdom, owned by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) because of alleged bad financial advice that cost them to lose their life savings.

Carl Icahn increases stakes on shares of Apple Inc. by 2.8 million shares

The future of bendable smartphones may come sooner than expected as Samsung and Apple race for patents

The worst trading session in five weeks on Wall Street overnight has given the local sharemarket a negative lead this morning. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.5 per cent, with only the defensive utilities managing to remain modestly firmer.

General Motors has recalled 2.7 million vehicles for safety issues like faulty brake lights.

After three years on the pending list of patent application, Apple Inc. (AAPL) is finally granted a new patent by the USPTO. If the patented sidewall display will be integrated by Apple in its iPhone 6, this is surely a “new” for the device’s line that can make the model more interesting.

With the rumoured bigger-screened iPhones to be released soon within the year, Apple Inc may soon overtake Samsung as the world leader in smartphone market share. According to recent data released regarding smartphone sales during the first quarter of 2014, about 279.4 million smartphones were shipped worldwide.

The much-awaited Windows Phone 8.1 for mobile devices will be released in June and the support for this OS will be provided for the next three years, says Microsoft.

Equities extended their losses overnight with sentiment remaining subdued as European concerns resurfaced. Peripheral bond yields spiked in Europe with investors going defensive and favouring German bunds. US 10-year treasuries rallied to 2.5% as investors continued to flee risk. The carnage in the small cap space also continued with the Russell index extending its losses to contractionary territory. Even a drop below 300,000 for the first time since mid-2007 in unemployment claims to 297,000 wa...

n US economic data, consumer prices rose by 0.3% in May. Food prices lifted for the fourth consecutive months, coupled with a lift in gasoline prices. Prices were up 2% over the year. Excluding volatile food and energy, cosnumer prices increased by 0.2% in April to be up 1.8% over the year. US initial jobless claims fell by 24,000 to 297,000 - a seven year low. US industrial production fell 0.6% after lifting by 0.9% in March.

Despite a $30-billion forecast budget deficit for 2014-15, rating agency Moody's kept Australia's AAA credit rating this week. It also said that compared to other nations with the same tripe A rating, Canberra's growth outlook is still favourable.

The ASX 200 saw a day of consolidation on Thursday ending the session higher by 14 points having seen a 25 point deficit at the lows of the day. There is little on the calendar that is likely to have a lasting impact on the markets until Fed Chair Yellen speaks later tonight local time. Ms Yellen is expected to stick to the recent script which has described, the ongoing slack in the labour market that will require monetary policy to remain accommodative even as the US economic recovery gathers m...

The search for the missing MH370 might be forgotten soon as companies are now more interested to market new plane tracking services and MAS now focusing in winning customers back in flying with them again

Flappy Bird Developer Dong Nguyen has announced plans of relaunching a sequel to the game on Apple's iOS App Store in August.

Beer drinkers have another drink to toast with the revelation of the fan-selected "Game of Thrones" inspired beer named Valar Morghullis. Meaning "all men must die" in the fictional language of Valyrian, the beer will come in 25.4 ounces draft and corked bottles come fall at the price of $8.50.

Android fans may not have to wait too long for the much awaited update, Android 4.4.3 KitKat. The OS update seems imminent after the new evidence emerged, hinting at the possibility of its release in near future. Google is now dropping slight hints and some keen observers and enthusiasts have been quick in picking up those clues. Recently released promo video of a new Motorola device, Moto E cites a reference of the Android upgrade.

The Australian sharemarket is a touch softer at lunch, with the mining and energy sectors helping minimise losses. Weakness in U.S. markets for the first time in six sessions and a pullback from six-year highs in Europe have given us a negative lead locally.

Apple Inc's rumoured $3.2 billion deal with Beats Electronics has analysts speculating about what it would mean for the Cupertino-based company's future products. Although nothing has been confirmed yet, reports have surfaced that Apple is wooing Beats to add to both of the companies' retail and streaming music services.