BUSINESS

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.

The Philippines has placed nine regions, including recently quake-devastated Bohol province, under blue alert as it braces for the wrath of Typhoon Haiyan, which is expected to develop into a Category 4 hurricane even before it makes landfall on the country on Friday morning.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportOne of the greatest mistakes you can make in this finance and investing caper is to fall for the old defence of an improbable explanation or argument that "this time it is different.

Taiwanese tech firm HTC does not want to follow the footsteps of embattled Canadian phonemaker BlackBerry is making expensive, but unsellable phones. That means its flagship HTC One would probably the last premium handset from the company for some time.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 20 points or 0.1% while the S&P lost 0.3% to 1762 and the Nasdaq rose 0.

We continue to see a cautious tone in global equities, with the bulls sceptical about adding to longs as the tapering debate ramps up. A better-than-expected ISM non-manufacturing PMI (55.4 versus 54.2 expected) set the tone for the tapering argument.

In US economic news, the ISM services index rose from 54.4 to 55.4 in October, ahead of forecasts centred on a reading near 54.0. The employment component rose from 52.7 to 56.2. And weekly chain store sales, as monitored by Redbook, were up 3.8pct on a year ago, ahead of the 3.6pct gain in the previous week.

Apple Inc has released the iPad Air in its stores in Nov. 1 and is expected to show strong opening weekend sales. Investors who are concerned with the sales performance of Apple's latest tablet may be happy to know that the iPad Air has a higher adoption rate than the previous iPad. Mobile analytics company Fiksu reported that the iPad Air had five times the adoption rate of the iPad 4 during the first three days of sale.

The Australian sharemarket rose for the first time in four trading days, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) gaining by 0.8 per cent or 41pts to 5425.7. Most of the key data globally is out on Thursday, Friday and Saturday; namely Chinese and American economic data.

South Korea may have produced two tech giants in Samsung and LG, but North Korea appears to be playing catch up in this department.

Mining giant BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) will no longer be a part of the expansion of the Abbot Point coal terminal project after it announced on Monday its withdrawal of a $3-billion port proposal.