BUSINESS

The Australian share market is continuing to add to Tuesday's gains in the early session on Wednesday, after US markets rode out a volatile session on a high note.

Australia has launched its first Bitcoin ATM in Sydney despite troubles and a threat from the National Australia Bank (NAB) that it will close the accounts of businesses trading in crypto-currencies, including Bitcoin.

Global equities were mixed with US markets continuing their recovery, while European and emerging markets struggled. US markets struggled early as China growth fears and Ukraine concerns weighed on equities, but they managed to reverse on earnings optimism. Earnings from Johnson & Johnson and Coca Cola impressed, while Intel came in mildly better than expected.

In US economic data, the headline and core measures of consumer prices (the latter excludes food and energy) both rose 0.2% in March, above forecasts for a 0.1% gain. The New York Federal Reserve manufacturing index eased from +5.61 to +1.29 in April. And overall capital flows into the US lifted from US$83 billion in January to US$167.7 billion in February.

Is it a case of lost in translation or a deliberate marketing gimmick to be talked about? Such questions would likely pop in the mind of fast food lovers when they read a particular item on the menu of a Burger King branch in China - the PooPoo Smoothie.

Thousands of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) customers were angry at the lender on Tuesday because a network hardware failure caused an outage that made it impossible to withdraw money. The clients vented their ire on social media.

The Australian sharemarket partly made up for the substantial losses recorded on Monday. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose by 0.5 per cent after recording its worst performance in four weeks yesterday. The index failed to finish above the key 5400pt level. It was a quiet session on the volume front, with only $3.9 billion worth of shares changing hands leading up to a number of public holidays.

Facebook is planning to diversify its horizon beyond social networking.

Australia is the 13th cheapest place for purchasing the latest iPad

A Piper Jaffray survey has found the number of American teens using iPhones is rising based on the previous year's 48 percent to 61 percent this 2014.

China is still definitely on the lookout for commodities. Chinese consortium MMG has just bought from Glencore Xstrata the latter's Las Bambas copper mine in Peru for AU$6.22 billion in cash.

The local share market is trading higher in the early session, rebounding from Friday and Monday's hefty losses thanks to strong gains on Wall Street overnight.

Bus drivers of privately owned SouthLink have agreed to hold a 24-hour work stoppage over unsettled pay and conditions claims either Tuesday or Wednesday after the Holy Week.

Among the agenda lined up for Tuesday's federal government cabinet meeting is the long-standing proposed second airport for Sydney at Badgerys Creek. Already endorsed by Australian PM Tony Abbott, the cabinet is expected to approve it on the same day.

Surprise earnings from Citigroup have certainly managed to snap the S&P out of its downward trend. The S&P registered its worst week since January last week, but snapped back on Citi earnings and better-than-expected retails sale.

In US economic data, retail sales rose by 1.1% in March, ahead of forecasts for an increase in sales of 0.7%. It was the biggest gain in sales since September 2012. Excluding autos, sales rose by 0.7%, ahead of forecasts for a gain of 0.5%. Business inventories rose by 0.4% in February, largely in line with forecasts.

Hollywood actors such as Eva Longoria, Gwyneth Paltrow and Amy Adams have been caught on camera show their bush or tush or allow other private body parts to peek intentionally or unintentionally at the front and back bumpers or crotch areas. Rather than imitate these celebrities, Kerry O'Brien decided instead to make her own underwear line for women using materials and design that shows no visible panty lines when wearing figure-hugging bottoms or cuts through the skin because of the tight ga...

While spin doctors of the Abbott government would probably use last week's data from the Australian Bureau Statistics' unemployment rate to boast of the government's economic management style, a look at youth unemployment figures is cause for alarm.

Apple Inc. is sitting on twice as much cash at its disposal compared to the U.S. government.

Samsung Galaxy S5, the latest flagship from Samsung bundle offering, has many interesting features. It is definitely one of the most anticipated handsets ever.

The losses worsened throughout the day, with local shares finishing around intra-day lows (and 3-week low). The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) slumped 1.29 per cent; finishing below 5400 points for the first time in two weeks and recording its biggest daily tumble in a month. Investors are likely to remain a little quiet this week due to the shortened Easter trading week.

Even large US credit rating agency rejects God into its system.

Many people consider taking a tour around the world when their pockets and time permits. But how about cruising around from North Pole to South pole with the ultimate camper with a just Daddy and four-year old kid together?

Capital Markets Co-operative Research Centre (CMCRC) claims that fund managers are manipulating the Australian sharemarket

The Australian share market has started the trading week in the red, following more selling on Wall Street on Friday. Investors continued to book profits in technology, biotech and pharmaceutical stocks sending the NASDAQ Index lower by more than three per cent over the course of the week.

Insurance companies are already expecting that damage bill claims from Cyclone Ita could reach $1 billion in North Queensland after it ravaged sugarcane and banana plantations over the weekend. More than 6000 homes and businesses still have yet to get reconnected to the power supply as of Monday.

Sentiment is little changed from Friday's US close, when most major markets continued to lose ground. Once again focus remains on the upcoming reporting season after JP Morgan's results disappointed. Investors will always be concerned that earnings will not match valuations, and at the moment tech stocks and major banks are enduring the brunt of the selling. Regardless of the equity sell-off, it hasn't been a dominant risk-off theme as most major FX pairs remain fairly mixed.

In US economic data, producer prices rose by 0.5% in March (forecast +0.1%) with core prices (excludes food and energy) up 0.6% (forecast +0.2%). It was the biggest lift in prices in nine months. Consumer sentiment rose from 80.0 to a 9-month high of 82.6 in April, above forecasts centred near 81.0.

Deutche Bank has declared a "Buy" rating for Apple Inc shares due to the company's dominance in the smartphone and tablet market. The bank is also optimistic about Apple's launch of a bigger iPhone expected in the second half of 2014. According to the Deutche Bank analyst, Apple Inc products are the “gold standard” in the growing market of smartphones and tablets.