BUSINESS

By Evan Lucas, Market Strategist IG MarketsGood MorningDovish taper hawkish surprise from the FedThe market finally got its wish from September for a dovish token taper of $10 billion split evenly over mortgage-backed securities and treasuries.

Australian stocks finished slightly weaker today, as investors elected to remain on the sidelines until the US Federal Reserve delivers the outcome of its two day policy meeting.

Twitter Alerts was launched in Australia on Dec 17, 2013

Scoopon is paying 1 million for misleading businesses and consumers

The All Ordinaries Index opened higher by 4 points but quickly fell away and by lunch time the All Ords had recovered lost ground. The volumes on the market have been light as investors prepare for what will be a long wait ahead of tomorrow's outcome from the Fed's 2 day policy meeting. By 6am AEDT tomorrow we will know the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting. Tomorrow could see trading volumes back to normal levels. So far today trading levels are around 60% of the average rate. Overni...

Trade in the US remains very cautious, and so quiet you can hear the wind blowing through the trader stalls as tomorrow morning's announcement from the FOMC inches closer.

In US economic news, consumer prices were flat in November but the core rate (excludes food and energy) rose by 0.2%, just ahead of forecasts of a 0.1% gain. The current account deficit narrowed from US$96.61 billion to a 4-year low of US$94.84 billion. Chain store sales were up 2.9% in the latest week on a year ago, compared with 2.6% in the previous week. And the NAHB housing market index rose from 54 to 58 in December.

About 17,000 New Zealand customers of the ANZ Bank joined a class action suit against the lender over excessive bank fees. The legal action was initiated by Fair Play on Fees Group.

Apple Inc. announces on Dec 16 that BEYONCE’ shatters iTunes Store records with 828,773 albums sold in three days

Google Inc., the world's largest Internet search engine, has just acquired the Boston Dynamics Robotics Company. Part of Google's acquisition are several robots made by Boston Dynamics including Big Dog, a four-legged robot dog that can climb hills and Cheetah, a really fast robot that can outrun Usain Bolt, who is believed to be the fastest human today.

Local stocks closed higher today for only the third time this month, although the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished off the day's highs.

Apple Inc. shares may have regained its momentum after climbing to its new 52-week high. Analysts are expecting the company to sustain its strong stock performance given Apple's massive gains from its iPhone and iPad sales across the globe. Analysts at Jefferies have agreed with others in increasing their long-term predictions and price targets for Apple Inc.

Google Inc. has been slapped with a legal motion by Canada's Competition Bureau, alleging the former that it has abused its dominant search position.

Elsewhere around the world, Dec 18 might just mean another regular, ordinary day. But for the telecom sector, most especially China's telecom sector, it could mean a historic day. Reports are rife that China Mobile may announce on Wednesday its long anticipated deal with Apple Inc. (AAPL).

The economy of New Zealand is expected to grow even stronger in the next two years, according to the Institute of Economic Research. A survey of economic forecasts based from various economic and financial agencies said that New Zealand is expected to have a broad-based annual growth rate of 2.8 per cent by March 2014 and 3 per cent in the 2014.

December hasn't been very kind for investors so far, however local stocks are moving higher at lunchtime in the East, following a positive offshore lead.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck"Extremely quiet" is the operative label that stands out from industry consultant TradeTech's weekly update on the spot uranium market.

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.