BUSINESS

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 42 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P gained 0.1% to 1541, but the Nasdaq slipped slightly.

The last 24 hours for global markets have been defined by positive news. One of the headline grabbing outcomes has been the Dow Jones closing at a new record high over night. Supporting news included European manufacturing reports which didn't disappoint investors, the Chinese administration announcing that the 2nd biggest economy in the world will grow at 7.5% this year and a better than expected read on activity in the US services sector. As a result the volatility which gripped the markets...

A few years ago, pre-teens had to lie about their real age just to open an account at the very popular social networking site Facebook. After a couple of years, these same young people have reached 13 and are legally allowed to open an FB account, however, some of them find the portal now uncool.

Production lines for both the iPhone 5S and its budget version has commenced humming, a new report said, supporting an earlier story that Apple is set to release the two handsets on June at the earliest.

A fusion of the Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy Note 8.0 – that’s how the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 came out in a new image render.

It is now Day 3 of the pre-conclave talks by the cardinals who are being holed up at Vatican City. And from today, there are only 18 days left for the cardinals to be able to come up with a new 266th pope in time for the Roman Catholic church’s Palm Sunday rites, which heralds the start of its Lenten season. Yet despite the decreasing number of days, the College of Cardinals seem not wont to succumb to outside pressure to immediately start the ball rolling on this year’s anticipated papal concl...

After a great run here at home yesterday where the ASX 200 index closed 1.3% or 64points higher, European and UK markets rallied. Regained confidence in the US markets pushed the UK FSTE index to a 5 year high at the close of trade.

While Australia's farmers face bright prospects in the long term as global demand for food is project to go up by 75 per cent in 2050, they have to contend with short-term dip in prices.

After a debilitating horsemeat scandal, Ikea is again on the hot seat, this time after Chinese authorities discovered excessive levels of faecal or coliform bacteria in its chocolate almond cake products that were imported by the furniture and accessories store to China from Sweden. An equivalent two tonnes (1,872 kilos or 4,100 pounds) of the chocolate almond cake were immediately destroyed.

Samsung was rumoured to preview the Galaxy Note 3 via the 2013 MWC in Barcelona but all the talks proved untrue. The Asian tech giant only allowed a glimpse of the Galaxy Note 8.0.

By Andrew NelsonAnalysts from JP Morgan recently attended an analyst forum; the draw card was a presentation by Vivek Tulpule, Rio Tinto's ((RIO)) Head of Economics and Markets.

April looms as the likely launch schedule for the iPad Mini 2, that’s the good news. The bad news is Apple is unable to include Retina display for its small tablet refresh, a new report said.

It will be a June launch for the new iPhone and the likelihood is Apple has set a double-punch, in which both the rumoured iPhone 5S and the budget iPhone version will be unveiled simultaneously.

By Andrew NelsonThe Week from the 20th and 27th of February was another subdued one for shorting and short covering activity on the Australian share market.

The Australian Dollar has mostly held its ground against the US Dollar, getting support from decent economic indicators here and abroad and also from yesterday's RBA interest rate announcement.

China has provisionally overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest net importer of oil, said the Financial Times on Tuesday, after the U.S. posted its lowest import figures since 1992 on the back of booming domestic oil production.

It was not an impressive start to the week for the Australian share market. But life is full of second chances. And today, the Reserve Bank of Australia meets to fix the price of money. Perhaps the RBA will say something about lowering interest rates that will lift investor's spirits.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has warned the West that it needs to change its "colonial" approach towards Africa or risk losing to competition from China and other developing nations.

Europe and the US trotted out more strong data overnight, this time in the non-manufacturing sectors.

China has just surpassed the US as the world's largest oil importer. This is the story of rising Chinese demand. But it's also the story of rising US oil production. And THAT's the story of shale gas, which we'll return to later this week. Here's how the Financial Times reports it.

The Sequester: True or Not True?

The US ISM services index rose from 55.2 to 56.0 in February, the highest level in a year and above forecasts centred on result near 55.0. The exports sub-component of the index hit the highest level in almost six years. The Redbook chain store sales index was up 2.2pct in the latest week on a year ago.

Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover informed that it would scale up investments at its UK engine plant by more than 40 percent as demand for the SUVs increased in China and other emerging markets as well. In addition, Jaguar Land Rover plans to double the head count by creating additional 700 jobs and invest £500 million at its i54 business park.

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.