BUSINESS

By Rudi Filapek-VandyckUS equities closed lower on Monday (US time), with the DJIA losing 52.35 points to close at 13,254.

By Richard Krivo, Trading Instructor, FXCMFirst and foremost a trader should determine the direction that the market has been taking the pair over time.

Local stocks closed slightly higher today, rebounding from a mid-session slump in response to disappointing Chinese import figures. US and European markets posted modest gains on Friday in response to the bond buying program announced by the European Central Bank late last week and hopes the US Federal Reserve would provide more economic stimulus in the wake of a disappointing jobs report released on Friday. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed up 9.2pts or 0.2pct to 4358 after hitting an intra...

Everyone’s waiting for the next iPhone version but Aussie telcos may not be overly excited that Apple’s new smartphone will be rolled out this week, a new report said.

Majority of Xstrata investors would vote against the revised merger term with commodities trader Glencore International, which raised its offer by nine per cent to $36 billion Friday last week.

The Australian market closed stronger on Friday helped by the news out just before the close that China has approved 60 new infrastructure projects valued at $157 billion. In response to this new project news iron ore price jumped 2.2% back to US$89/a dry tonne, gold surged over US$34 an ounce and metal prices rallied on the London metals exchange (LME). European market moved higher still excited by the new European Central Bank (ECB) bond buying program, designed to restrain borrowing costs for...

The gold production of Australia improved by 4 per cent in the second quarter of 2012 to 65 metric tonnes from 62.5 tonnes in the first quarter. However, total first half production went down 4 per cent to 261 tonnes partly due to wet weather.

Several years ago, drug giant Pfizer Inc. tried to pull a fast one in Jamaica where several local companies were legally distributing generic versions of Pfizer's formerly-patented blood pressure drug Norvasc (Amlodipine). Though the drug was already off-patent elsewhere, Pfizer still tried to sue the distributors in Jamaica for patent infringement, and is now being summoned to fork over about $1 billion.

It's a bit shocking that until the last year or so, Australia managed to run a trade deficit during a resource boom. The tables below from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade show that from May 2004 to June 2008 - a period during which the All Ordinaries went up 98%, from 3,401 to a high of 6,760 - Australia recorded a trade deficit in 51 consecutive months. We even wrote about a longer streak of 75 consecutive months of trade deficits at the time.

Christian Louboutin, the world-known French shoemaker, won a trademark protection for its women's shoes with red soles and different colored tops.

It is not only Australia that has been negatively affected by the slowdown in the Chinese economy which resulted in a drop in iron ore prices in the world market.

Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce said on Sunday that he is expecting the Australian air carrier would break even on its international operations by 2015 with help from the agreement it signed last week with Middle East carrier Emirates.

Unidentified bandits have snatched millions of dollars' worth of maple syrup from the global strategic maple reserve near Montreal, Quebec, according to new reports.

What happened since we left you, Fellow Reckoner? Ah, yes. The Fed concluded its back-slapping fête in Jackson Hole on Friday, with The Bernank going way out on a thin limb:

It is estimated that 85 percent of buying decisions are influenced by visual perception, specifically color. As a merchant, you can use color to increase sales and improve your customers' levels of satisfaction.

Home prices in China are seen stabilising amidst the beginning of traditional peak season which begins this month pushing forward the month of October.

Target Australia Pty Ltd, an Australian department store chain owned by Wesfarmers, is now the target of a legal action after a US cosmetics and fragrance giant found the retailer has been selling fake M·A·C Cosmetics at its stores.

The Australian sharemarket improved for the third time this week, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rising by 0.4 pct or 17.2 pts to 4348.8. The gains over the last few days have helped the local market break a two week losing streak.

The next iPhone version, set to be unwrapped on Sept 12, will have less Samsung imprints compared to the previous editions, with reports indicating that Apple has rolled out a program that would slowly wean away its products from components manufactured by its South Korean rival.

Mexico has been forced to reduce supplies of natural gas to several of its biggest consumers by almost as much as 45 percent in order to keep up with the increasing demand from steelmakers like Arcelor Mittal and Ternium SA to households.

Baidu Inc., which is China's dominant search engine, has informed that it plans to invest approximately 10 billion yuan, or $1.6 billion, in a cloud computing centre. In addition, the company is creating a Baidu's mobile browser to help secure its share in a mobile Internet market.

The fresh Qantas-Emirates code-sharing deal could spell the end of the national carrier’s international career, analysts said, in return for strong semblance of profitability on the domestic front.

Local stocks are moving higher for a second consecutive session in early trade, on the back of positive offshore moves after the European Central Bank announced plans to tackle the Eurozone crisis head on. The ECB agreed to launch a new bond buying program, designed to restrain borrowing costs for embattled nations. The move saw investors willing to take on more risk overnight, sending European shares higher and Wall Street finish at a four year high. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries...

The three-week strike that has stopped construction activities at different Grollo sites has just ended. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) lifted its blockade at the Myer Emporium job site, prompting Grocon Chief Executive Daniel Grollo to agree to resume negotiations with the union.

eMedia Asia Limited, the joint venture subsidiary of Global Sources, has come up with a unique application called eeWeibo that is able to sort through millions of Sina Weibo posts to provide significant and real-time mobile content to professionals employed in mainland China's electronics sector.

- Fortescue's expansion deferral impacts on NRW's revenue forecasts- Brokers do not see guidance reduction as material- NRW offers service diversification and a very good yieldBy Greg PeelMining and energy services provider NRW Holdings ((NWH)) has completed discussion with Fortescue Metal...

U.S.-based China Labor Watch (CLW) has upgraded this week its scathing review on Samsung’s labour practices, highlighting what the activist group called as “illegal and inhumane treatment,” of young Chinese workers tasked to assemble a host of Samsung products.

Bank customers scored a major victory on Thursday after the High Court overturned a Federal Court decision and ruled that bank fees they questioned in a class action suit could be considered penalties.

A report released Friday by Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia pointed to single males in the age bracket 40 to 44 as those at the highest risk of declaring bankruptcy.