BUSINESS

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.

The Australia Post reported on Thursday that it registered an overall yearly net profit of A$281 million or a 17 per cent rise compared to a year ago. The significant increase in its income, while its counterparts in the U.S., UK and Canada are suffering due to technology, is mainly due to Australians' growing love for online shopping.

British Airways has indicated in a submission to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that it is considering quitting from the London-Australia route, more popularly called the Kangaroo route. The London-based air carrier cited Qantas recent preference for Emirates as its alliance partner as reason behind its change of plan.

By Ron Bewley, Switzer Super ReportFor the first time in well over a year, we are not anxiously awaiting news each morning from the US and Europe on the state of the economy and bailouts.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 18 points, or 0.1%, while the S&P was flat at 1432 and the Nasdaq lost 0.

Global rating agency Standard & Poor's warned on Wednesday that India still faced a "one-in-three" chance of a credit rating downgrade within the next two years, despite last month's blitz of new economic reforms to boost the sharply-flagging economy.

China will only stand to "lose out" by boycotting this week's global economic meetings in Tokyo, said International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde today.

First Australia then the United States, now China’s Huawei Technologies must contend anew with fresh regulatory hurdle that likely would come from another key market – Canada.

The Australian sharemarket had yet another quiet day with only $3.3 billion worth of shares exchanging hands. The All Ordinaries eased by 0.1 per cent or 6.7 pts to 4505.2, losing ground for the second consecutive session and for the third time this week.

In less than four weeks, Microsoft is set to launch Window 8, which would likely result in the web being flooded with prices of new PCs suited to the latest OS.