BUSINESS

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest private employer, has been ordered to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages to more than 4,500 of their employees across the United States.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 10 points or 0.1% while the S&P lost 0.3% to 1402 but the Nasdaq gained 0.

More tourists will hopefully flock to Australian destinations as industry officials announced on Wednesday a long-range tourism blueprint designed to lure more visitors into the country.

- One stockbroker has gone contrarian on prospects for Australian wine producers- BA-ML is predicting a long lasting upcycle- Change in industry dynamics should benefit Treasury Wine EstatesBy Greg PeelWe recall that the Australian wine industry underwent a significant boom beginning from around the...

The Reserve Bank dominates the coming week in Australia. But the April jobs report and a host of other data is out in the US will keep us interested.

It's going to be a great week for interest rate fetishists. The Reserve Bank of Australia meets on Tuesday to decide what to fix the price of money at in Australia.

The paper dollar is now the single most important source of systemic risk to the financial system, the world economy, and the security of the American people.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 65 points or 0.5% while the S&P gained 0.6% to 1405 and the Nasdaq added 0.

Prices of homes in Australia's key cities plummeted in April, reversing the gains that the housing sector saw at the start of the current year, according to the latest figures released on Tuesday by property analysts.

Australia's manufacturing sector again suffered a retreat in April, posting activity declines of 5.6 points to 43.9 in the month and underlining two months of successive contractions in an industry already reeling from the so-called downside of the country's resource boom.

Unite, the union of finance sector employees in Britain, criticised on Tuesday a plan by the National Australia Bank (NAB) to shed 1,400 jobs in the lender's operations in the United Kingdom.

More Australians are going on international cruises. Data from the International Cruise Council of Australiasia (ICCA) released on Tuesday said 623,000 Aussies went on cruise holidays in 2011. It is a 34 per cent hike compared to the 466,000 who went on cruises in2010.

The Australian share market closed higher yesterday, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 33 points to 4,462 points. Overnight global markets closed lower after concerns mounted about how Spain could turn around its economy and create job growth. After news the Spanish economy had fallen back into recession in the first quarter of 2012. It was a very mixed market by lunch time today with investors awaiting the outcome of The Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) board meeting and interest rat...

Woodside Petroleum agreed on Tuesday to sell its 14.7 per cent stake in the Browse gas fields to its Japanese partners for $2 billion. However, the sale to Mitsubishi and Mitsui would likely place a question mark if Mitsubishi and Mitsui would build the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at James Price Point.

By Greg PeelEither something has to give shortly or perhaps the spot uranium market will fade in importance once more as a price indicator, as was the case before the big uranium bubble of the mid noughties.

The American markets finished higher on Friday and last week, thanks to better than expected earnings and despite weaker than expected first quarter economic growth.

We can expect to see more earnings downgrades this week with two of the major banks, the ANZ and Westpac, centre stage.

Mark Zuckerberg remains the only Facebook originals involve in the day-to-day operations of the social networking giant - all the others have gone setting up their own tech babies following the attachment of numerous zeroes on their names.

FNArena has added another video to its Investors Education section on the website. In this latest video, Jerry Simmons explains why copper may well be showing the way forward for other risk assets.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 14 points or 0.1% while the S&P lost 0.4% to 1397 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.7%.

By Greg PeelWell I stand corrected, given I was in the "only 25" school. My thinking was that a one-hit 50 basis point cut in the RBA cash rate would tend to suggest an "emergency" situation and risked the RBA board looking foolish for not having delivered incremental cuts earlier.

Samsung finally confirmed some of the rumored specifications about the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S III. So far, the company has remained silent regarding the countless number of rumors about this smartphone but for the past weeks, Samsung has taken time to confirm some of the details about the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Outside of the vast Apple universe, an Asian tech firm known as Samsung Electronics continue to make significant headways, reporting on Friday that it made more than $US5 billion in operating profit for the first three months of 2012.

An Australian Federal Court of Appeal, ruling en banc, found on Friday Optus liable in violating the exclusive rights of Telstra Corporation in broadcasting the near-live games of Australia's premier football and rugby leagues.

Macquarie Group reported on Friday profit shortfalls of 24 percent in fiscal 2012, underscoring cost-cutting measures that have so far resulted in the separation of more than a thousand workers from the company.

Despite positive moves on US and European markets overnight, the Australian share market is showing no great signs of momentum at lunchtime in the East. Profit downgrades and a fall in earnings from Macquarie Group (MQG) has weighed on investor sentiment, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) flat at 4444.1.

Swedish house prices have fallen slightly since the peak in Q1 2010. During 2011 they fell by 2.7% (4.89% in real terms) to an average price of SEK 1,969,000 (€221,316), according to Statistics Sweden.

The strike of West Australian farmers against Coles' pricing policy of a $1 reduction per litre of milk was averted by a meeting of the producers with the supermarket giant this week.

Retirement was something you were supposed to have sorted out by now. Superannuation was something that was going to help you do it. And the age you tell your boss, or your employees, 'I quit' was something you were supposed to have your eye on.