BUSINESS

Currently, when materials are up, financials reverse and vice versa; for Australia today, it appears that the banks will be up, and materials down.

In US economic data, the economy grew at a 0.1% annual pace in the year to March, short of forecasts for a gain of 1.2%. The ADP survey showed that 220,000 private sector jobs were created in April, above forecasts for a gain of 210,000. Employment costs rose by 0.3% in the March quarter, below forecasts for a gain of 0.5%.

The New South Wales government announced on Wednesday the sale of the Newcastle Port, the world's biggest coal export terminal, for $1.62 billion to joint venture partners Hastings Fund Management and China Merchants.

The Australian share market finished only marginally higher on Wednesday, despite good gains offshore. US market sentiment was buoyed by earnings news with the Dow Jones Index up 0.5 per cent.

Apple Inc has issued $12 billion dollars in bonds in an effort to reward shareholders locked in a cheaper alternative than overseas cash subject to tax. Apple Inc has said in its recent Q2 FY 2014 earnings call on April 23 that out of $151 billion worth of cash and marketable securities, 88 per cent of the amount is being held offshore.

New Zealand exports reached record-breaking heights due to strong demand for the country's various agricultural products. While New Zealand continues to enjoy high demand of all things dairy in China, meat, fruits and wood are also surging.

There are no doubts over where the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 jet could have possibly crashed, even as a pilot and an Australian company claim the ill-fated Flight 370 with 239 people on board is in the Bay of Bengal.

Microsoft's Windows XP announced its Service Support has ended and users will no longer receive updates for the operating system. Microsoft Office 2003 shares the same fate.

When Atlassian Founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar have appeared in the upper strata of BRW Rich 2000, this pair of 34-year-old software makers becomes so admired in the start-up industry.

Apparently, for the 130 billion repurchase program and the seven-for-one stock split to take place, Apple will use 17 billion borrowed funds

Apple Inc. decreased in market share according to a report from Strategy Analytics

Despite a firmer start this morning and a strong lead from Wall Street, the Australian sharemarket commenced its descent after just 20 minutes of trade. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down for the second day and remains below 5500pts. Weakness from the consumer staples and financial industries are holding the market back most.

Too tired to drive your car on around busy metropolitan streets after a hectic day at work? How about just letting Google Self-Driving car take you home as you rest comfortably on your seat?

With Japan on holidays for Showa Day yesterday, the reverse in the ASX was rather strong, but not unexpected.

In US economic data, the Redbook chain store sales index was up 3.8% on a year ago, compared with a 3.7% annual gain in the previous week. Consumer confidence fell from 83.9 to 82.3 in April, short of forecasts near 83.0. And the CaseShiller home price index rose 0.8% in February to stand 12.9% on a year ago.

The fierce tornado that hit Arkansas killed more than a dozen people and left survivors in shock and others in despair. Below survivors recount their ordeal in-order to escape the devastation caused by the tornado.

On April 28, 2014 a massive tornado slammed the state of Arkansas. Mayflower and Vilonia were among the cities badly damaged.

Microsoft issued an advisory to all users using Internet Explorer (IE) versions 6 to 11 of a major security flaw on the browser. The advisory dated April 26, 2014 seriously warned consumers on the vulnerability of remote code execution wherein computer hackers could obtain access to the user's computer and operate it remotely.

The selling that featured in the first half of the session continued this afternoon with the ASX 200 continuing to make new lows over the course of the afternoon. Every sector ended in the red with the consumer, materials and utilities sub-indices all shedding more than 1% over the course of the session.

Business confidence in Australia went down in March 2.7 points compared to the December quarter, according to the business index prepared by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).

The computer software company Microsoft has released its first promo video on Nokia devices following the complete takeover of the legendary Finnish mobile phone company.

Food markets around the world are being strongly advised to conduct the necessary preparations as the "boy child' weather phenomenon El Niño has been predicted to highly likely occur this year.

Who would have thought that a seemingly simple domestic violence would cost the job even for a CEO?

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground for the first time in eight trading sessions despite a firmer start. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down by 0.2 per cent; however is still hovering around a near six-year high.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) grows market share in crucial markets

On 24th April, Samsung released a 60 seconds advertisement dubbed 'The Next Big Thing Is Here' flaunting the Galaxy S5's camera by comparing it to iPhone 5S's camera unit. Alas, the next day, the company was put in a situation to admit that Samsung shipped a limited number of Galaxy S5 smartphones with "inoperable" cameras and that it has taken necessary steps to make sure the issue does not reoccur in future shipments.

Google Chrome Web browser, which accounts for 24.67% of entire desktop browser market share across the world, has become one of the most powerful Web browsers when it comes to fighting spam. It also offers users astounding speed in handling data.

After surprising investors with its better-than-expected revenues for Q2 FY 2014, Apple Inc has set aside an additional $30 billion for stock buybacks through 2015. The latest stock repurchase announcement will make the company's total buyback to $90 billion. The stock split will be completed on June 9 and Apple's stock price is expected to fall dramatically. According to analysts, if the stock split happened last April 23 with a closing price of $524.75, Apple stock would be trading at $7...

The futures markets are forecasting positive prints for the Asian region as Europe and US reversed Friday's negative prints to see green on screens by putting the Ukraine fears and a slide in commodities to one side.