BUSINESS

By Greg PeelIt had appeared for some time, after the first anniversary of Fukushima had passed (being the tsunami, not the ongoing "fallout") that US$50/lb was pretty much a floor in the spot uranium price.

With her three-day visit to India beginning Monday, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has signaled the start of negotiations to sell uranium to the Asian nation. The Howard government had favoured the idea, but former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd cancelled talks on selling uranium.

In spite of an online sales campaign patterned after the successful Click Monday in the U.S., a survey released on Monday said that it will still be a bleak Christmas season for Australia's retail sector.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 95 points, or 0.7%, while the S&P gained 0.8% to 1440 and the Nasdaq added 0.

The Australian share market closed flat today, with a battle between the banks - which were higher, and the miners, which were lower, playing out. Volume was very low, in fact it was the slowest trading day since the 3rd January when many people were still on Summer holidays. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed down 4.6pts or 0.1pct to 4505.5.

Skiing aficionados who often go to Australia to experience the resource-rich nation's ski resorts and alpine regions may be forced to scout other locations in the coming years as the worsening global climate change could kill the Australian ski industry by year 2020.

Zune is dead, Microsoft declared on Monday, and in its stead, the software giant will offer the Xbox Music, which owners of the hardcore gaming console will start enjoying Tuesday this week.

HTC will be coming up with the latest smartphone called as HTC Desire SV aka Magni, which supports dual-SIM function. This device is a mid-range device and has the model detail as T326e.

The HTC Sensation XL is a larger version of the HTC Sensation XE, which by itself is an upgrade to the original HTC Sensation. HTC Sensation XL is branded as one of the costliest Android smartphones in the world. On the other hand, the LG Optimus EX is one of the powerful devices from LG which packs a dual core processor in it as well.

Goldman Sachs reckons the Australian dollar is in deep trouble. 'One of the best long term trades out there at the moment is long euro versus short Aussie,' said Thomas Stolper, chief currency strategist at the investment bank. In other words, he expects the Australian dollar to fall in Euro terms.

Oracle Corp.'s Larry Ellison, who is well known for his rich taste in some of the finest things in life, is now set to take over the empire of a fellow billionaire in the Anschutz Entertainment Group auction.

The Australian sharemarket has kicked off the day in the red, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) easing by 0.1 per cent or 4.1 pts to 4506. Most sectors are improving modestly; however not sufficiently to tip markets into positive territory. The mining companies are down by 1 per cent, being weighed down most by gold producer, Newcrest Mining (NCM) and iron ore company, Fortescue Metals (FMG).

Ahead of their scheduled financial reports this week, giant miners are expected to flag serious concerns over softening demands for commodities, which analysts said will be compounded by tumbling global market prices for Australia’s chief export products.

Some of Australian retailers will reduce their online prices for 24 hours on Nov 20 in a sales promotion called Click Frenzy. The promo is patterned after the U.S.'s Cyber Monday shopping holiday.

The Indonesian government is set to omit the English language as a subject from primary school education as part of a curriculum overhaul to come into effect next year, reported the Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The Cities of Opportunity survey conducted by accountancy firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) named Tokyo as the most expensive in 27 global cities, followed by Sydney.

Germany, the eurozone's largest economy, is in "great danger" of falling into recession, warned the country's leading economic think-tanks.

Local stocks managed a slight win today, with mining stocks leading the gains. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) added 5pts or 0.1pct by close to 4510.1, to finish the trading week relatively flat (XAO closed at 4513 last week). However local stocks remain near 14 month highs.

ANZ Bank joined the rest of the big four on Friday by announcing a 20 basis points rate cut for its standard variable rates. With the decision, ANZ pockets 5 basis points out of the 25 basis points cut made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last week.

Google's partnership with Samsung for a tablet computer is expected to yield some cutting-edge component tech, one of which is the pixel-packing display.

The Foxconn factory accident, that caused brain damage to a worker in Foxconn southern China plant, has thrown a harsh light on the labor rights in the country of China. Incidentally, the Apple Inc.'s largest contract manufacturer has been pushing the Chinese worker to be removed from the hospital.

The share market on the 9th of October saw an Asian shares rise, but was still topped by the concerns over the prospects of global growth. These concerns were based mainly on the expectedly weak U.S. corporate earnings and a slump in China's economic growth, which is the second largest in the world.

As requested, I have undertaken an extensive examination of Mr. Global Economy, both physical and psychological.

Dow down. Gold steady. And the ten-year T-note at 1.73%... about 20% higher than earlier this year.

The first words we heard Tuesday morning were: '...starting to think Super is not the solution to...' Then we hit the snooze button for another 9 minutes of peace and quiet.

If you think we've been too hysterical on the China debate, have a read of this. It's the bearded one, Ross Gittins, telling us to chill out...the China/Asia/commodity boom has only just started.

Mobile phone users thinking of getting the newly announced Galaxy S III mini because it has 8GBs of RAM may need to look again. The official specifications on the Samsung Web site lists the model as having 8Gb of RAM, which could misleading because that actually stands for gigabits, and not gigabytes. Eight gigabits is equivalent to 1 gigabyte, or 1GB.

Apple has become so arrogant that it deliberately ignores glaring consumer preferences, according to the tech giant’s co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Local stocks are trading modestly higher at lunchtime in the East, shrugging off a lacklustre finish on Wall Street. European markets were well supported thanks to solid moves from retail stocks; however US markets closed largely flat. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 7.6pts or 0.2pct to 4512.8.