On the 5th of February, the survey by the British Retail Consortium indicated that the UK retail sales increased in February at the fastest rate in about three years. The latest figures suggested that consumer confidence was boosted as UK customers went out to buy clothes, home furnishings and electronics goods.
On the 4th of March, HSBC Holdings reported a fall in its full year preliminary profit for the year ended December 2012. The bank cited debt revaluation and the US related money-laundering fine as some of the major determinants which led to declining profits.
By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 125 points, or 0.9%, while the S&P gained 1.0% to 1539 and the Nasdaq added 1.
On the 5th of February, Wen Jiabao informed that the growth target for 2013 was left unchanged at 7.5 percent. While the leaders did not decide to change growth target, they modified inflation goal establishing it at the level of 3.5 percent.
Tuesday saw a generally positive session for regional stocks in the aftermath of Monday's selling. Investors continue to keep a wary eye on the Shanghai Composite index. From a technical perspective the Chinese index appears vulnerable given its 3.7% decline on Monday.
Working people tired of spending their whole day in front of the computer or assembling parts in a factory could try their options in getting a dream job. That dream may come true for young workers who would join Tourism Australia's Best Job in the World contest launched on Monday. The agency will award very alluring jobs to six winners of the competition in its bid to attract more younger tourists to the land down under.
Kim Dotcom, the owner of the shuttered Megaupload file sharing site, has plans to launch an initial public offering for his new site, Mega, in the next 18 months. The IPO is seen as an effort to gain more legality in his operations which has been shut down by police over charges of copyright violations.
If there is anybody or any entity more than prepared to welcome the new 266th pope of the Roman Catholic church, that must be the family-owned Gammarelli tailor shop which has dressed the papacy ever since the 18th century.
While Australia's business community was not surprised by the expected decision of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to hold on Tuesday the current overnight cash rate at 3 per cent, borrowers may be in for a surprise.
Thomson Reuters has released on Tuesday its latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-2013 where six Australian institutions made it to the list of the global top 100.
Android Key Lime Pie 5.0 is the much-awaited major iteration to the Android OS. The rumour mill suggests two smartphones will be unveiled by Google in its I/O event in May. Which device between Nexus 5 and Motorola X Phone will carry the new power OS?
It’s clear out time for U.S. telco T-Mobile as it offers the once scant Nexus 4 for only $US50 with contract. The deal is up only for a very limited time, said the U.S. company.
Majority of the cardinal electors are already present in Vatican, hobnobbing with each other in and outside private meetings. But this majority chose not to determine yet a date for the start of the papal conclave as they wait for the arrival of 12 more fellow cardinals. In the meantime, talks on corruption and sex issues hounded the first day of pre-conclave meetings on Monday.
Hancock Prospecting owner Gina Rinehart must be on a roll this week after scoring two back-to-back victories. After losing her shares in the Rhodes project last week to Wright Prospecting, she accepted the flag of surrender from recalcitrant daughter Hope Welker over the weekend and retained the richest person in Australia title.
Although he is not an Apple shareholder, investment guru Warren Buffett has some unsolicited advice to the giant tech company amid a hedge fund manager call for Apple to issue preferred shares to deal with the excess cash hoard of the company.
Windfall of specs (can be read too as speculations) greeted Samsung fans this week, most of them anxiously waiting to have a peek on the upcoming Galaxy S4. Now a new image of the Android handset is in the air.
Smaller footprint but bigger and wider screen – that’s how the rumoured iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S are rendered in a fresh set of images that showed the alleged Apple phablet without the familiar Home physical button.
Had he researched much better and prepared enough, self-proclaimed Bishop Ralph Napierski may have been able to penetrate, witness and even mingle in this year's highly guarded and secluded papal conclave up to the very end. But the black fedora hat, when it should have been a red skullcap, and the glaring purple or magenta scarf, when it should have been a red sash, gave him away.
The local share market is performing very strongly at lunchtime in the East, clawing back from yesterday's heavy losses which were exacerbated by concerns out of China and the fact 22 listed companies traded without rights to their dividends.
HTC One has been drawing a lot of attention since it was announced last month and unveiled last week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It is frequently being compared to iPhone 5 in many tech sites. The new flagship smartphone of the Taiwanese tech player even won "Best Device in Show" at the MWC. Considering very good mobile specs, those who have been holding out for the iPhone 5s or iPhone 6 are being pulled in by the "One."
A new security hole is discovered on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, allowing hackers to briefly access the handset’s home screen and do as they please in that short window time.
By Andrew NelsonFebruary might not have been a busy month as far as uranium volumes go, but it sure was an eventful month.
Australian dollar makes a tepid recovery ahead of the RBA board meeting this afternoon.
Samsung’s unpacking event on March 14 will unleash a Galaxy S4 that flashes the most advanced camera features to date plus a host of other specs that we mostly heard about, new reports said.
- Dun & Bradstreet report negative jobs growth- High operating costs keeping Oz Business at bay- Capital spending lowest level since September 2011- Cash flow seen as a major issue By Andrew NelsonAustralian businesses are increasingly putting off investments as the cost of doing business continues ...
China's official purchasing manager's index expanded in February. It read 50.1, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Planning, and anything over 50 indicates an expansion. It's also a fact that the February reading was lower than the January reading. Cue the nerves about the strength of China's expansion.
The Dow Jones Industrials are again trading at over 14000. The S&P 500 is prepared to make an attack run on 1600. Weary cash, tired of sitting on the sidelines waiting for something of value to come along, is off the bench and into the game. And the game itself is at an interesting turning point.
No major data was released in the US overnight, with most investors were watching Vice Chairman Yellen's speech to the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). She reiterated Chairman Bernanke's view that a hasty end to easing could backfire. This added additional weight to the earlier comments and alleviated 'liquidly dependant' fears sparked on February 21. Professor Yellen's speech helped all three major US indices finish in the green as they did on Friday after Bern...
More details about the release date of the Samsung Galaxy S4's release date and specs have come out. In a specs video leak, AnTuTu benchmark said the device will be announced in New York on March 14.
It seems that the UK government is in need of working out an alternative energy "plan B" provided that new nuclear power plants are not constructed by 2013, according to the Energy and Climate Change Committee. It was underlined in a statement that a failure to build them in 10 years would make it undeniably hard to meet goals, including reduction of carbon emissions.
