BUSINESS

By Chris Weston, IG MarketsThe talking point on the floor today has been firmly around the outperformance of the Australian market, despite a slightly weaker lead from the S&P, a flat day's trade in China and a softer Nikkei.

The Australian share market ended in the red for a third consecutive session on Tuesday, weighed down by mining stocks and ongoing confusion over the US Central Bank's expected tapering policy.

Apple has reportedly refunded the credits on iTunes to customers, who had bought the pass to download the episodes from season 5, of the hit TV show “Breaking Bad.” The decision comes after there was some confusion following AMC’s decision to split the season into two.

There seem to be no respite for troubled Indian drug manufacturers Ranbaxy. Reports say that, after facing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) action last week for manufacturing lapses, the company, acquired by Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo in 2008, now faces regulators agencies in Australia and Europe who are also assessing if drugs manufactured and exported by the Indian firm to their regions are affected.

Apple iOS 7 release paves way to a new craze – the Japan Porn Craze

The Federal Reserve's surprising decision to keep QE going at its current rate is still front page news. While the US fiddles with monetary policy to meddle with house prices, the Australian government is set to interfere with banks in order to manipulate mortgage lending. If you've been reading the Daily Reckoning for a while, you know we are sceptical that government action like this produces the intended outcome.

The Australian share market is in the red for a third consecutive session, after US stocks closed lower and most commodity prices were sold down.

Authorities in China arrested a 16-year-old youth to strike a message and elicit fear to those who commit online rumour mongering. But the outcry of the public, manifested also through online furor, wilted the officials' convictions enough for them to release the youth they had alleged as troublemaker. Epic fail.

Ultrabooks improve by the day. HP’s latest Envy Leap Motion challenges products like MacBook Pro especially with their latest sensors and apps. Now, people can control their programs or interface elements just by waving over the notebook. MacBook Pro, on the other hand, features better display through the Retina Display technology. Which ultrabook should people go for?

Good thing Qantas Airways staff discovered the 20-centimeter (8-inch) snake way even before passengers boarded its plane bound for Tokyo. Otherwise it would have been chaos equivalent to the 2006 American action thriller film 'Snakes on a Plane.' Imagine combining aerophobia, the fear of flying, and ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes.

Australia is one of the cheapest places in the world to buy an iPad

By Greg PeelIn July last year, Japan restarted its Ohi 3 and 4 reactors and so brought to an end the post-Fukushima period of zero nuclear energy production in the country.

Microsoft unboxed on Monday the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 in New York. However, tech experts appear not impressed by the two devices, whose predecessors bombed at the cash register.

Fisher & Paykel, a brand identified with quality kitchen appliance, is also into healthcare. The company's Healthcare unit rolled out a new product, the Pilairo Q nasal pillows mask, to treat obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

CN Rail proposed in March to Natural Resources Canada for the government body to allow it to move Alberta's bitumen to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, by train, instead of transporting the tar oil through pipelines.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 49 points or 0.3% while the S&P lost 0.5% to 1701 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.2%.

Apple Inc. fans have been lining up outside Apple stores around the world on Sept. 20 to be one of the first consumers to get their hands on the latest iPhone models, the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S. Despite the release of the two new iPhone models in the company retail stores, Apple Inc’s share price decreased slightly as Apple investors hold off and wait for the new iPhones’ initial sales data which will be released about a week after.

Sellers had the market in a headlock in early trade although the balance shifted following the release of the HSBC flash reading on Chinese manufacturing. The only release of note in regional trade today saw sellers pause as they considered the bigger picture. The Chinese HSBC Flash PMI came in at 51.2 in August, above a consensus forecast of 50.9 and the prior reading of 50.1. Chinese figures released most recently point to the Chinese economy turning a corner which could have positive ramifica...

Analysts reaffirmed Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) as positive stock buy

ZYL Limited (ZYL), an ASX-listed metallurgical coal exploration and development company, has paid a total penalty of $66,000 after the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) served two infringement notices on the company for failing to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations. The infringement notices pertain to an ASIC investigation into ZYL announcements on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).

In the post-war era, there is the strong relationship between economic and electoral success. Despite having steered the nation through the 2007/8 crisis, Australia's left of centre Labour Party was defeated at the 7 September election 2013, primarily for other political reasons.

These ominous words hit the finance sphere this week. If you've tuned in to the Daily Reckoning lately, you might think it was Family Wealth editor Vern Gowdie repeating his warning of a 90% stock crash. But these words actually belong to William White.

The stock market isn't just about how much money the Federal Reserve is printing. US earnings season is less than three weeks away. And expectations aren't pretty, reports our sister publication in the US, the 5 Minute Forecast.

Apple iOS 7 comes with security related bugs and more

The obstacle of Fed tapering appears to be out of the way for the time being and at face value it seems as though the markets finally have some clear air. Although the price action of the markets most recently suggests that in the absence of any Fed temperance in relation to Q.E, investors are erring on the side of caution and calculating that tapering is a matter of when rather that if.

New Zealanders work longer hours but have low productivity levels when compared with other workers in other developed nations. According to report from the Productivity Commission, the output of New Zealand workers is a fifth less than their counterparts in other countries.

Recently adjudged as China's richest billionaire by the Hurun Report, Wang Jianlin is set to embark on an ambitious goal to build what could become the world's biggest film studio in China.

Even if an unreleased version of the BlackBerry Messenger mobile social messaging service posted online had 1.1 million active users during the first 8 hours, BlackBerry placed on hold on Saturday the rollout of those apps for iPhone and Android.

U.S. Airways is currently in the hot seat after it allegedly lost a very precious baggage - that of the ashes of a cremated person.