BUSINESS

You have to give it to those Japanese. They know how to put on a show. The Nikkei 225 had a lazy 636 point gain on Monday while most Australians enjoyed a public holiday. The gain was good enough for a 4.94% rise in the index. It just goes to show you that those who are determined to ruin the world's financial system have a nearly inexhaustible arsenal of bad ideas.

How about that? The Dow rose 207 points on Friday. Gold down $32 per ounce.

Fidelity analyst Heather Hagerty says a lower Australian dollar is beneficial but the speed of the currency's decline 'is the real problem'. Translation: the lower dollar will be good for mining businesses, industrial stocks, and exporters. But if the currency falls too far too fast, it could accelerate the flight of foreign capital from the country.

At midday, the ASX 200 Index is down by around 0.7 per cent. Gains from the telcos are not enough to offset the much more substantial falls elsewhere. Losses from the banks and the miners are contributing most to the falls.

Geelong suffers another blow as Target announces 260 job cuts in the region. The Target decision follows Ford's earlier announcement of business shut down in Australia, resulting to hundreds of displaced Geelong workers. Also, 450 workers in the region are facing uncertain future as Shell Refinery is said to be planning to sell by next year.

Computex brought tech’s most innovative and anticipated gadgets for the year and coming year. A quick look at the event featured Sony and Acer devices running on Intel’s new Haswell processors, a tablet that joins a computer, laptop and notebook in one and many new information about phone manufacturers like Blackberry, HTC and Nokia. The event also featured the latest tablets from Samsung.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportSo what gives with the US stock market, and how do we play it to get our investments in our market right?In my perfect world the US economic recovery starts producing over 200,000 jobs a month and that means the Federal Reserve starts to taper its $85 billion qu...

Ultrabooks are not only changing the game for computing but they are also evolving just as quickly. At the recent Computex Taipei, computer manufacturers unveiled the newest generation of these computing devices – convertible laptops.

Apple recently unleashed iOS 7 but it is not the only thing the company has been working on. More than just its line of products, Apple is also looking into the automobile industry. The software update also allows people to use their cars and Apple products like iPhone simultaneously.

Volkswagen Australia announced on Tuesday night that it is recalling almost 26,000 of its units across the Golf, Jetta, Polo, Passat and Caddy models manufactured between January 2008 and September 2011. The recall is being enforced following customers' uproar on safety issues involving the vehicles' DSG transmission.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 116 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P lost 1.0% to 1626 and the Nasdaq fell 1.

Toyota Australia reported on Tuesday after tax profit of $149 million for financial year that ended March 31. It ended a three-year losing streak for the Japanese carmaker.

Australian flag carrier Qantas and 10 other air carriers got the 7-star rating for safety and product quality in a new airline ratings Web site, AirlineRatings.com.

The local index was a conspicuous improver in the region on Tuesday for the fact that almost all other bourses ended lower. Investors dodged a bullet at the weekend with the release of some reasonable US jobs data. The figures were able to reassure the markets that the US economy is still creating jobs at a reasonable pace without escalating concerns about the Feds QE retreat.

Acer’s newest smartphone will inherit the legacy of not netbooks and personal computers. There are news already that Lenovo Group, Ltd. Is eyeing the mobile phones market and they are pushing through in 2014.

South Australia recorded the highest growth in the number of housing loans for the month of April. Overall, the country enjoyed a slightly adjusted increase of 0.8 percent compared to March.

Mr. Bernanke's price-fixing scheme ran over a speed bump. The Dow dropped 216 points. Just a jolt, for now. The brick wall is still ahead.

Several large shipments of genetically-modified (GM) corn and corn seeds originating from the U.S. have been destroyed by the Chinese government after being discovered by import officials at numerous locations across the country.

It seems that after all US households are getting stronger as newest findings indicated that they got out of the financial crisis woods. As total net worth of US households for the first quarter pleasantly surprised, we should remember that this positive trend was driven by a stronger real estate segment and improving stock market as well. Yet analysts note that many low and middle class households do not feel any improvement at all, facing increasing problems.

West Australian Newspapers, the company publishes the West Australian, Community Newspaper group and 21 other titles, is cutting 110 jobs by the end of this month. This was announced by company chief executive Chris Wharton to the staff today.

The Australian share market is slightly firmer at lunchtime in the East, following a mixed night on offshore markets.

They are light, incredibly thin, compact, portable and functional. Gone are the days when laptops are bulky and burdensome to carry. Now, people can carry the same functionality in a lighter and more battery-efficient version – ultrabooks.

Petitioners for Evasi0n 6.1.3 jailbreak can now heave a sigh of relief. Apple has unveiled iOS 7 to the raves and thrill of many iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users. This means evad3rs are getting ready to jailbreak the latest OS iteration thus far. First, guess what an evad3r has said about the latest design.

Pending an investigation, Newcrest Mining has promised to give its full cooperation and allow authorities to look into its disclosure record. The probe comes after share price of Newcrest Mining plummets to its all-time low in 30 years last week. The share price decreased by 15% as gold prices dropped as well.

A survey by the Center for Social Impact and NAB reveals that almost one in five Australians don't have access to basic financial services. This means they don't have at least two of the following: a basic bank account, a credit card, or basic home and car insurance.

A businessman from Brisbane sues tech giant Google for defamation claims. Jarrod Sierocki, 31, seeks to claim $2.6 million worth of damages for having his reputation destroyed online.

- Uranium spot price falls below US$40/lb- Spot market slow- Activity, but no sales in term markets- Probably more of the same until JulyBy Andrew NelsonStubborn uranium sellers have been holding off speculative buyers for a while now, unwilling to drop prices to get deals done.

American sportswear manufacturer Under Armour aims to double its sales to $4 billion by 2016, and one of its strategies is to expand its overseas market. To achieve that, the retailer would open its first Australian store in 2014 and could expand its strategic relationship with Rebel Sport, said Kevin Plank, founder and chief executive officer of Under Armour.

The Australian mining sector has been warned of iron ore price fall for the next six months. This was expressed by one of China's top steel makers Ansteel, as it also underscored the current struggles of the Chinese steel industry.