BUSINESS

Hewlett-Packard has come up with slick design that could give the iPad a jolt.

LG will produce a smartphone, while Samsung will make a high-end tablet. Also to debut will be an upgraded version of the Nexus 7, indicating the rash of tech firms to roll out new devices.

The Australian share market is modestly lower at lunchtime in the East, following Wall Street's lead. The US Dow Jones Index closed down 0.1pct while technology shares saw the NASDAQ fall by 1pct. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 7.8pts or 0.2pct to 4573.1.

Surprise, surprise. China's GDP growth for the third quarter came in bang on the consensus estimate of 7.4%, the slowest rate of growth in years. But the market liked it because on a quarter-on-quarter basis growth was 2.2%, up from 2% in the prior quarter. So on an annualised basis, the Chinese economy grew at a fast 8.8%.

The verdict is out. After weeks of laboratory tests and court injunctions, Pakistani authorities finally decided to cull the remaining 11,500 Australian sheep beginning Friday in Karachi.

The first thing to know about them is that they always use a net. In fact, trapeze artists will practice a trick by repeatedly landing in the net, until they get it right. Only then will the catcher bother to make a trip up the rope ladder to hang in the catch trapeze and pluck the swinging flyer out of the air.

Sony Corp. informed on the 19th of October it would cut approximately 2,000 jobs in Japan in the year to March 2013 as a part of the restructuring plan. The company also announced the closure of a camera lens factory in Japan as well. The job cuts in Japan are a part of Sony Corp.'s global plan to downsize the global headcount by about 10,000 by March 2013.

Canada has blocked Petroliam Nasional Berhad's takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp. The $5.23 billion bid was rejected as it would not advance national interests of Canada, according to the government.

Newsweek, considered one of America’s publishing icon, is closing down its print edition as current owners of the newsweekly magazine disclosed on Thursday that final issue will come out end of December 2012.

Google just announced the release of the Samsung Chromebook along with new ambitions to spread its browser-based, cloud-focused Chrome OS laptop. Google envisions it to be as an extra machine in the house or as a laptop for students.

China is slowing down but that may not necessarily be a bad thing. China's economic transformation could probably mean better quality growth, according to Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill.

The federal government of Australia has granted a total of $652 million in National Health and Medical Research Council grants to boost and help build a progressive and healthier Australia.

Sony just added another phone to its collecti0oon of the Xperia family that is within the low to middle range insofar as price tag is concerned. In a world full of phones people wish they could afford, the Sony Xperia Miro is one that they don't have to wish too hard for.

European leaders are scheduled to meet in Brussels today for a two-day summit, but early reports have revealed deep and uncomfortable divisions over a proposed banking union that is intended to underpin the eurozone.

The Australian share market is modestly lower at lunchtime in the East, following Wall Street's lead. The US Dow Jones Index closed down 0.1pct while technology shares saw the NASDAQ fall by 1pct. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 7.8pts or 0.2pct to 4573.1.

An antiquated gaming console in Xbox 360 and diminishing consumer interest on its slew of Windows-related products appeared to have conspired in Microsoft’s shrinking financial hauls as shown by the software giant’s latest quarterly report.

Samsung’s tablet lines were not as cool as the iPad, made by Apple, a UK appellate court said on Thursday, in the process affirming that the South Korean consumer electronic giant did not violate its U.S. rival’s intellectual property.

Speculations are rising in the market that Nokia will report yet another quarterly loss and diminishing cash reserves prior to Nokia's upcoming smartphone launches next month. Nokia is struggling hard to regain grounds that it has lost to its arch rivals in the smartphone sector Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc.

Agora's own globetrotting value investor, Chris Mayer, recently returned from a fact-finding expedition to the mysterious land of Myanmar, cut off to western investors for the past half century.

Just as there is capitulation selling to the downside, there is capitulation buying to the upside. That is, people just give in to their emotions and sell or buy, depending on the prevailing mood. There's no real rational analysis involved, just a tremendous urge to join the herd. Humans have an innate desire to 'herd'.

Just kidding. The world's financial system is still on track for a reckoning. We just don't know if it will be another 10 years of Japan-like zombie land...or something more sinister and sudden.

Investors are betting on the Fed... they're betting on the 'central bank put', the idea that central banks have their backs, and will make sure the downside is protected. How? With as much cash as it takes.

It just goes to show how confused things are on the ground when property developers and recent homebuyers are struggling while the economic talking heads babble about a renewed Australian property boom. Welcome to a world full of monetary distortions.

Seafish Tasmania, the operator of 142-foot long supertrawler Abel Tasman, offered on Thursday to reduce its freezing capacity in a bid lift the ban on the fishing vessel imposed by the federal government.

Traders suspect manipulation when the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) started trading on Thursday morning. The suspicion was triggered by a surge in share prices of a number of major ASX200 stocks, including that of ANZ Bank which logged a 6.5 per cent one-day rise.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportThere are two big issues super trustees should be tossing over. The first is whether interest rates come down again, which will be of particular interest to those who are playing it safe.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 8 points, while the S&P fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq plunged 1.0%.Google, like Apple, is one of the America's largest stocks by market cap and should thus be in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, but isn't given a per share face value that exceeds Dow criteria.

Local stocks closed at their highest levels since July 2011 today, with investor sentiment boosted by the fact today's Chinese economic data contained no nasty surprises. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) added 30pts by close or 0.7pct to 4580.9, after hitting an intra-day high of 4602.5.

Residential property prices in New Zealand have continued to rise in the third quarter of 2012. The national housing median price rose by 6% to NZ$371,000 (US$304,168) during the year to September 2012, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).