BUSINESS

There are many news reports that are circulating around the web regarding the pending release of Apple's iPad 3. Ever since the "official invitation" has been sent out to the press, several news reports indicate that the target release date will be a go while other news reports are saying that a delay in the release date should be expected.

This week's Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 impressed tablet aficionados -- quad core processors, superb displays even when exposed to sunlight, tablets that are as compact as smartphones, stylus that enhances the devices' functionality.

The Malaysian bank CIMB signed on Thursday night a memorandum of agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for the purchase of the RBS's Australian equity market operations. The operations cover 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region including Australia, Japan and Korea.

Forget the rate cut talk ahead of next Tuesday's March Reserve Bank Board meeting, this week's flow of data shows the economy is right where the RBA wants it to be, warm, but not too hot.

AMP Capital investors Chief Economist, Dr Shane Oliver assesses the return of high oil and petrol prices.

As expected, Woolworths' interim profit was hit by the $300 million charge to cover the cost of restructuring and selling the Dick Smith chain of consumer electrical stores, but the trading result wasn't too hot either.

Recently we were talking to someone who wishes to remain anonymous who say they invested more than $250,000 in their commercial aquaponics business and it wasn’t working to plan.

Stocks rebounded from the biggest decline in two weeks, rising after a strong reading on weekly U.S. jobless claims. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 32 points, or 0.3%, to 13032, in Thursday afternoon trading.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 23 points or 0.2% while the S&P gained 0.6% to 1374 and the Nasdaq added 0.

The federal government of Australia announced on Tuesday night the sudden end to the $320-million solar hot water programme. The decision was part of the Gillard government's major revamp of its subsidy programmes.

Engineering firm WolreyParsons complained Thursday on the slow payment by large Australian mining and energy firms despite the resources boom in the country. WorleyParsons Chief Executive John Grill said the situation is squeezing its margin and delaying projects.

Apple's market capitalization traded past $500 billion yesterday, and its cult products like the iPad or iPhone sell for almost a thousand a pop. In shocking comparison, do you know how much an average Apple factory worker earns?

Stealing company money is the top white collar crime in Australian companies, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) survey released on Thursday said. Almost 50 per cent of Aussie firms reported at least one incident of white collar crime in the past 12 months.

Volkswagen in the UK has for the first time, released photographs of the Golf GTI Cabriolet that will be unveiled next week at the Geneva Motor Show.

A week before its expected launch of the very much anticipated iPad 3, Apple fuelled enough investors' excitement and saw its shares soaring thereby pushing its total market capitalisation beyond the $500 billion mark.

The Australian manufacturing industry appears to be stabilising in the past two months despite the lingering effects of a rising local currency in the sector, according to the latest Australian Industry Group/PriceWaterhouseCoopers Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI).

The local share market is experiencing a heavy sell-down today, losing all of yesterday's gains in the first few minutes of trade. US and European markets fell overnight after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke failed to mention another round of economic stimulus, or QE3. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 31.9pts or 0.7pct to 4356.2.

Woolworths reported on Thursday a 17 per cent drop in its first half net profit mainly due to the $300 million charge for the restructuring of its Dick Smith consumer electronics division.

Google Inc. celebrated the leap year and composer Giochino Rossini's 220th birthday with a two for one Google Doodle. The Doodle features frogs performing Rossini's opera "The Barber of Seville".

One of the much-anticipated smartphones to be released this year is the Samsung Galaxy S3. There are reports speculating that the Samsung Galaxy S3 will be revealed around May, 2012 and it could grab the title as the world's thinnest smartphone.

Apple finally released an official invitation to the press regarding the much-anticipated launch of their newest iPad dubbed as iPad 3 on March 7.

Finland-based firm Nokia recently made headlines during the Mobile World Congress 2012 as it unveiled its latest smartphone offering, the Nokia 808 PureView.

By Greg PeelInvestors stilled shocked at the sudden big move down in gold last night might be able to point the finger at a very large US Treasury futures sell-order which hit the market shortly after Fed chairman Ben Bernanke began his testimony to the House Financial Services Committee.

Significant increases across the clothing and footwear and transport equipment sub-sectors together with a lift in new orders were leading contributors to another month of expansion in the manufacturing sector, according to the latest Australian Industry Group - PwC Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI®).

Engineering company WorleyParsons yesterday reported an 18% jump in first half profit as the resources sectors in Australia, Canada and the US continue to expand.

No wonder Gerry Harvey spent 2011 moaning and groaning about the slow retailing sector, and it's also no wonder that he's gone silent in recent weeks.

"It's like Thailand was 50 years ago," Alexandre de Lesseps told me. We were talking about the next big emerging market to bloom in Asia.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 53 points or 0.4% while the S&P lost 0.5% to 1365 and the Nasdaq lost 0.7%.It was one of those upside-down sessions on Wall Street last night ? the sort of thing we've often experienced since the GFC ? in which good news is bad.

The ball is now on Microsoft's hands as the company scrambled to eke out a place in a mobile computing world increasingly dominated by Apple and Google.