BUSINESS

The Australian sharemarket kicked the session off in the red for the third time this week, however is managing to recover at lunch. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up by 0.1 per cent or 3.9 pts to 4944.4. A number of the largest companies on the local market have issued their profit numbers this morning.

British Petroleum Plc posted a 72 percent slump in the fourth fiscal quarter profits as the company had to pay a heavy fine and restructuring charges regarding the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Also a fall in the production of oil and gas led to weak fourth quarter profits.

Never was working-class Baltimore happier with its lot in life. Neighbors greeted each other with a smile. Co-workers exchanged stories...laughed...and slapped each other on the backs.

Expect no major facelift in the upcoming iPhone 5S following reports that Apple is dialling down its budget allocation for component purchases in Q1 2013.

Want the LG Nexus 4 for roughly $US77? For those able to access T-Mobile’s network the Google handset is up for grabs courtesy of online retailer Let’s Talk, which offers the deal to new and existing subscribers of the U.S. telco.

Australian investors have turned decidedly bullish over the past few months, right along with the improvement in global equity markets.

In today's Daily Reckoning we revisit an old friend: China. That is, we revisit the importance of China to Australia's economic, political, and demographic future. And we'll take a look at China's large influence on Australia's present. And since we're talking Pacific Powers in the Asian Century, Japan will make a cameo appearance.

Android Authority celebrates having 100,000 YouTube subscribers by giving away Google Nexus 4 to its loyal fans. The procedure to get a giveaway is relative easy. It only requires a name and email address in a widget located at the bottom of the promo page.

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 will be introduced a bit earlier, likely on March 15 then the commercial release will follow on the first week of April, according to new reports by Samsung-centric blog site SamMobile.

Dell is taking a tough road this year as it goes private with a $24.4 billion deal. The founder of the computer company, Michael Dell, in partnership with Silver Lake, made a striking deal to take back Dell in the biggest buyback in history since the 2008 global financial crisis.

The tech world is beginning to shift from desktop computer units to notebooks which can be used as a computer and a tablet featuring Windows 8 and touchscreen capabilities.

By Jonathan BarrattGold looks to be in tight range; it feels as if it is been torn between those looking for the inflation hedge and continuing CB activity against those expecting it to come under pressure as a result of "risk" coming off the table.

Instead of expanding its Olympic Dam project, BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP), the world's biggest miner, is on a contracting mode. On Wednesday, the miner announced job cuts at its copper-uranium-gold project.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 7 points, while the S&P was flat at 1512 and the Nasdaq lost 0.1%.It was interesting to note the market reaction on Bridge Street to yesterday's weak December retail sales number (down 0.

The Australian share market rallied today, fighting back after two days of losses and in response to a stellar session on US and European markets. The Dow Jones Index climbed back above 14,000pts overnight while all 10 S&P sectors were higher.

With the purchasing power of the Australian dollar going strong, Aussie folks may want to pause and plan where to do their overseas travel to experience their money's worth. They may actually be surprised that they can already afford to travel to Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia and Argentina.

Telstra is launching the LG Optimus G on March 13 in Sydney, giving Aussies the chance to have a different taste of the popular but hard to get Nexus 4.

Latest data released by the Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday showed Australia's tourism industry peaked in the last decade, all thanks to the growing number of Chinese and Indians touring the country Down Under.

The Galaxy Pop will be powered by the same quad-core CPU that Samsung had deployed with its top-selling Galaxy S3 – the Exynos 4412 that clocks at maximum speed of 1.4GHz.

The name Lynsi Torres suddenly popped up on the social media sites identified as the youngest female billionaire in the United States. With little information known on Lynsi Torres, people are now curious and dying to find out who is this successful businesswoman.

Instead of getting relief from painful varicose veins, dozens of people in Liaoning, a province of China, are now confined in hospitals after getting contaminated with the infectious hepatitis C.

The Australian sharemarket is back in the black following two straight sessions of weakness. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.8 per cent or 40.6 pts to 4943.2. This is the 12th time in 15 sessions that local shares are improving.

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 has been generating so much buzz and one fan thought that while waiting why not make a mock up. The result is a sleek-looking S4 built mainly on metallic material.

Verizon is re-launching the HTC Droid DNA, its second coming leaked out following strong indications that the Taiwan-based device manufacturer will unwrap the HTC M7 on Feb 19.

On the 4th of February, Japan Airlines informed that it raised the operating profit forecast to 163 billion yen from analysts' expectations of around 140 billion yen. Despite sluggish fourth quarter earnings, the airline the airline decided to raise the forecast slightly more than 15 percent as demand for the European and American routes climbed.

The Nokia Lumia 920 has been recognised as one of the most innovative smartphones in 2012 and included to that recognition is the camera capability installed on the device. While it may be a great when it comes to snapshots and video recording, Nokia Lumia 920 will not suffice aspiring photographers due to its low megapixel rate.

Early reports said supply channels in the United Kingdom have shown a good start for sales of BlackBerry Z10 and most of the shops selling the device end up with "limited stocks remaining."

The phablet segment is rising and analysts believe Apple should join the bandwagon and let out the ‘iPhablet’ or ‘iPhone Plus’ from its arsenal soon.

By George Magnus, economic advisor to UBS Investment BankIn 2013, China is at an important crossroads in its economic development.