BUSINESS

With the four overnight cash rate cuts made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in 2012, Australian borrowers saved more than $21 billion in extra interest payments, data from Treasury said.

With the end-of-the-world scenario now over, Australians would likely be able to concentrate on the Christmas and New Year celebrations, which would mean a lot of food preparations. It also means a lot of wasted food. Throughout the year, Aussies waste $8 billion worth of food, said a study by Do Something!, released on Sunday. Based on an estimated volume of four million tonnes of food thrown away yearly, Do Something! founder John Dee reckoned the value of per capita wastage at $1,036.

For more than a year now, Cyprus has been shut out of international capital markets after its banks suffered huge losses from their exposure to Greece

Europe's largest bank by market value will pay $1.9 billion in fines to settle money laundering allegations by US regulators, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Last week saw big moves in the Aussie as we reached highs above 1.0570 earlier in the week on hopes a deal would be done early to solve the fiscal cliff, as the week wore on and hopes dropped so too did the risk correlated AUD.

Mobile costumers of Telstra who were ripped off with excessive global roaming charges are set to receive refunds from the telecoms carrier.

Nokia, the world's leader in mobile phones for over 10 years, has been beaten by Korea's Samsung to become the preferred mobile phone for 2012.

Fiscal cliff negotiations dominated investor sentiment today, sending local stocks off recent 18 month highs and into the red.

Facebook, after losing millions in its failed IPO, has started to implement in the United States the $1 trial run of its paid messaging system scheme, where non-friends who want to contact you must pay in order for their messages land in your Inbox folder rather than in the Other folder.

Google set the stage via the Nexus 7, prompting Acer to jump into the cheap tablet segment with the new Iconia B1 slate, which reports said will carry a sticker price of around $US100 and will hit store shelves within Q1 2013.

Google and Asus are reportedly collaborating anew to deliver another version of the hit quad-core tablet Nexus 7, this time to be priced at a starting point of $US99 and set for unveiling in the initial months of 2013.

The Australian sharemarket continues its formidable run, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up by 0.4 per cent or 19.2 pts to 4665.8. This makes it the Aussie market's fourth consecutive session of gains. Volume has been heavy over the past few days due to equity and index options expiry yesterday. Today marks the end of the final full week of trade for 2012. The market will be closing early on Monday and will not trade next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Risk assets reversed losses once again driven by headlines regarding the fiscal cliff negotiations. House Speaker John Boehner's pledge to work with President Obama was enough to help improve sentiment. There were also plenty of positive economic releases in the US including a better-than-expected GDP print and existing home sales data.

The overnight market focus was all on the US, and its unresolved talks to avert the so-called fiscal cliff which is doing a good job influencing the market at the moment. This has kept risk appetite low and seen to a slight weakening in the AUD.

The Conference Board leading index eased by 0.2pct as expected. Hurricane Sandy had an influence on the result. US September quarter GDP expanded by 3.1pct, up from the 2.7pct reported last month. US jobless claims rose by 17,000 to 361,000 last week.

Apple’s iOS 6 experienced significant surge in adoption in the past weeks not only on fresh sales numbers chalked up by the iPhone 5 but also on OS upgrades downloaded by iPhone 4S owners.

By Greg Peel"We think this could be the beginning of a fresh reflation cycle for the global system," BNY Mellon's Simon Derrick told the London Daily Telegraph, "combining with the US recovery to mark a turning point in the crisis".

By Andrew NelsonDespite the twists and turns and a few kicks in the pants, 2012 was a pretty good year for equities.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportThere are two investment rules you cannot break if you are to run your own investments inside a self-managed super fund.

Australia's mining sector would likely be in a gloomy mood on Friday, Dec 21, 2012. However, the cause of the downcast outlook is not because the miners believe in the Mayan forecast that the world would end that day, but over the pull out of a major Chinese investor in a resource project in Western Australia.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 59 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P gained 0.6% to 1443 and the Nasdaq added 0.

Despite a flat start on the back of falls on Wall Street, local stocks rose to fresh 17 month highs today as the Federal Government scrapped its commitment for a budget surplus in FY 2013.

How lucky for those new students entering the University of Western Sydney in 2013 as the school had committed to issue iPads to support the school's IT-related teaching curriculum.

Local stocks are trading flat at lunchtime in the East, slightly down from fresh 2012 and 17 month highs reached yesterday.

The Australian Dollar has dipped back below 1.0500 against the Greenback as a lack of development in US budget negotiations drives markets. The US Dollar firmed as risk sentiment turned negative on what appears to be a stalemate between US President Obama and the House of Representatives.

After having had a strong run in recent sessions, risk assets finally retreated in US trade as cracks appeared in the fiscal cliff negotiations. Equities were firmer in European trade as markets continued to ride on fiscal cliff optimism and on the back of a better-than-expected German Ifo business climate reading.

US homebuilding permits increased by 3.6pct in November to a seasonally adjusted rate of 899,000 units - the highest level in nearly 4½-years. In contrast housing starts fell 3pct in November but followed three straight months of solid gains.

The gender asymmetry in British boardrooms has scaled down substantially since 2007, according to the findings of a survey conducted by Experian.

There's some considerable carnage in DR headquarters this week. A Christmas flu has not only taken out your regular editor Dan Denning but a good chunk of the staff as well.