BUSINESS

A survey by consulting firm Hay Group forecasts that Australian workers could expect a 4 per cent salary increase in the next 12 months. The estimated is based on its analysis of salary data from over 440 organisations and 270,000 jobs in the past year to February.

News about Xbox 720 and its pending release has been going around in the Internet ever since leaked documents about the Xbox 720 was revealed. The latest prediction about Xbox 720 is that it will go on sale for only US$99 with a monthly TV subscription fee.

What we have at the moment is a cash rate lower than what is deemed appropriate by the central bank, according to Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Deputy Governor Philip Lowe.

Australians should brace for the not-so-favourable business trends to remain in place for a longer period of time, a Treasury official warned on Tuesday.

By Greg PeelExchange traded funds (ETF) have now been the fastest growing investment product globally in the past decade and continue to be so.

The arena for a price war is no longer limited to grocery shelves between supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths. It has gone up 30,000 feet into the Australian sky as Qantas and Virgin Australia battle for corporate travelers.

Volvo has lifted the lid on its next generation of vehicle safety systems designed to protect drivers from stray animals and red-light runners, and take full control of the car in congested city traffic.

The industrial action at the Coles warehouse in Melbourne entered its third day on Wednesday with Toll Holdings, the operator of the facility, threatening striking workers with legal action.

China's consumer prices rose 2.2% in June from the year before, according to data published yesterday. That rate is a 29-month low. More importantly, it has some people excited that China's authorities have free reign to promote growth through more stimulus. They can spend, spend, spend without fear of igniting socially destabilising inflation in consumer prices.

A tell-tale sign that we're at the logical frontier of monetary policy in a fiat money system is that central bank rate cuts no longer produce stock market rallies. For example, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) cut interest rates for the second time in a month last week. And stocks? Nothing.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 83 points or 0.7% while the S&P fell 0.8% to 1341 and the Nasdaq lost 1.

Microsoft has officially set a date for the release of their newest OS version which is Windows 8. The official release date for Windows 8 is set to be in October, 2012.

The Facebook App Center is now officially released in Australia, a month after the Facebook App Center was launched in the U.S.

The announcement of Nokia 808 Pureview was a shock for many people because of its 41-megapixel camera. The usual MP for a smartphone tends to be around 5-8MP but this figure is certainly the first for any type of smartphones.

Apple's newest Mac OS X called Mountain Lion is now at "Golden Master" status which means that the official release of this OS is drawing near.

According to various news reports, Amazon is now working on a new Amazon Kindle Fire tablet aptly called Amazon Kindle Fire 2. This new tablet from Amazon would supposedly rivals Google's new 7-inch tablet called Google Nexus 7.

Darrel Lea, Australia’s largest comfort food retailer, was placed Monday in voluntary administration, putting 700 jobs at risk in the process.

European Finance Ministers have this morning agreed on a new bailout deal for Spain, which will see the country receive €30 billion in aid by the end of the month. The deal is expected to bring great relief for investors and comes after Spanish debts, or borrowing costs, climbed to dangerous highs overnight. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 6.4pts or 0.2pct to 4166.2.

Australian workers are blaming their jobs for their weight problems. A study by Weight Watchers released on Tuesday said the employees particularly cited the job monotony and culture of drinking as the main culprits for their expanding girths.

Boeing said on Monday that it is poised to eat up on the seven-year lead of its European rival, Airbus, with the full unleash of two premier offerings - the fuel efficient 737-MAX and the elegant 787 Dreamliner.

A British court was far from convinced that Samsung's Galaxy product lines derived too much of their looks from the iPad and iPhone, as claimed by tech titan Apple, rejecting the latter's arguments that the South Korean company was deliberately capitalising on Apple's incredible success with its products.

Western Australia opened its first 24/7 post office in Perth on Tuesday in response to the growing demand for parcel delivery services from items ordered online.

FNArena has added another video to its Investors Education section on the website. This week, ATW's Jerry Simmons takes a new look at the EUR/USD, noting it has completed a five wave move, taking out a pivot low in the process.

A healthcare crisis looms over Australia in the next 10 years since a new survey released on Tuesday warned that half of nurses in the country plan to quit their jobs in that period.

HTC has just unveiled its HTC Desire C smartphone which is the company's entry-level smartphone with Android 4.0 ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich). In order to find out if HTC Desire C is one of the best Android-based smartphones in the market, it would be best to compare it with the latest offering from Samsung which is Samsung Galaxy S3.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has warned that China faces serious "downward pressures" and added that China will have to adopt aggressive stimulus measures to achieve its 2012 growth target.

Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) investors have joined the growing global trend against excessive executive bonuses and compensation. A new Rio director has started a comprehensive review of the miner's executive pay system and is likely targeting the firm's performance share plan (PSP).

News about Samsung and HP's plans of releasing Windows RT tablets are circulating the web. If this plan would push through, this would certainly have a great effect in the tablet market that is currently dominated by Apple and Google's Android.

Hundreds of Coles warehouse employees in Somerton, Melbourne went on strike on Monday over work conditions. The striking workers, who initially numbered 300, are protesting the unequal treatment compared to other Coles warehouse facilities from the firm that manages the warehouse.