The Australian jobs market remains solid across the economy, with the weaker bits in retailing and manufacturing more than offset by the rapidly growing sectors such as resources, healthcare and education.
It's the peak week in the December 31 profit reporting season with over 100 major companies due to report interim or full year figures in the next five days.
The focus is likely to remain firmly profits (see the top story) and on interest rates with the Reserve Bank front and centre this week, led by Governor, Glenn Stevens.
The candidate who wanted Detroit to go bankrupt is now trying to win votes in Michigan — as the auto industry's recovery is front-page news. Santorum? He's got the same problem.
By Eswar Prasad and Lei YeIs China's currency destined to become the dominant global reserve currency? This column argues that despite not yet having a flexible exchange rate or open capital account, China's government is pursuing 'liberalisation with Chinese characteristics'.
By Richard (Rick) MillsAs a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best informationSometime between 1500 and 1565 a large graphite deposit was discovered in Cumbria, England.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said in Friday that she will lobby with Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce not to shed 500 aircraft engineering and catering jobs in the flag carrier. She made the statement a day after Mr Joyce announced a review that would lead to the axing of jobs after Qantas posted an 83 per cent decline in profit due to the labor dispute and fleet grounding.
Australia's jobless rate improved a bit last month, supporting the country's steady economic gains but drawing mixed reactions from economists.
The Fair Labor Association has given an initial assessment of the working conditions on Apple's Foxconn manufacturing plants and found that the working conditions are far better than other manufacturing plants in the region.
Low-cost carrier Air Australia has been placed into administration Friday morning, a development so sudden that thousands of passengers previously booked with the budget airline were left scrambling for alternative flights.
Handheld gaming is facing an uncertain future right now. Casual gamers are flocking to smartphones and tablets for simple touchscreen games foregoing traditional portable devices for the more versatile phones and tables. Sony and Nintendo have been feeling the brunt of this new attitude when their portable game devices have failed to make a mark in the market. Nintendo's 3DS had slow sales that forced the company to slash prices just to move units.
HTC is reportedly launching its own music streaming service with Beats Electronics in an effort to turn the company's flagging fortunes around.
U.S. equities rose after positive news from the labor and housing markets, then drifted higher on reports of progress toward a second bailout for Greece.
New claims for unemployment insurance in the US fell by 13,000 to 348,000 in the latest week - the lowest level since March 2008.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics recently released an update regarding the labour force status of Australia for Jan. 2012. According to the report, the number of people who are employed increased to around 11 million while the figures for unemployment decreased to 623,700. In terms of unemployment rate, it is still considered as "steady" with 5.2%.
By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 123 points or 1.0% while the S&P gained 1.1% and the Nasdaq leapt 1.5%.As the sun set on the Asian zone and began to rise in Europe last night the mood was very sombre on heightened expectations that Greek default was now nigh.
by Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportWith the market having the biggest down day for some time, it is timely to ask what the year ahead looks like.
Another large company in Australia may axe hundreds of jobs. Employees of the two Caltex refineries at Kurnell in Sydney and Lytton in Brisbane have expressed fear of losing work after the oil firm wrote down $1.5 billion value of its refining assets as it continues to conduct a review of refining future in Australia.
Mining activities on seven Queensland coal mine sites owned and operated by BHP Billiton virtually ground to a halt on Wednesday as workers stopped toiling to commence what could become the nation's biggest industrial disruption in years.
A busy day for retail-related companies yesterday with Westfield Group leading the way in revealing a US joint venture and asset sales, with asset sales in the UK as well, plus reasonable 12 month results.
Dairy Australia's latest forecast, released today, shows that Australia's milk production is continuing to climb, with total output for 2011-12 forecast to be between 9.4 and 9.5 billion litres, up on last season's total of 9.1 billion litres.
One of the world's largest fast food chains, McDonald's Corporation, has announced that it will require its U.S. pork suppliers to outline their plans to phase out the use of sow gestation stalls.
Despite hundreds of jobs axed since the start of 2012 as large Australian firm reported lower profits, the country's unemployment rate actually went down to 5.1 per cent in January from 5.2 per cent in December 2011.
A chronicle news reporter recently featured a behind-the-scenes look in MetalDetector.com, the first online retailer of Metal Detectors. MetalDetector.com is located at Southborough, Massachusetts and has been around for 30 years. It is currently being managed by brothers Michael and Daniel Berznweig.
Networking specialist Cisco has decided to mount a challenge on Microsoft's takeover of Skype, lodging an appeal before the European Commission earlier this week.
Westpac reported on Thursday unaudited quarterly profit of $1.5 billion, which is 3 per cent lower compared to the same quarter a year ago of $1.55 billion.
Australian reaps more benefits from the ongoing resources boom despite its two-speed effect on the domestic economy.
The Commonwealth Bank says it won't be joining rivals Westpac and ANZ, in cutting jobs as it met guidance yesterday with a cash net profit of $3.567 billion for the six months to December 31, up 7% on the same period of 2010-11.
Initial assessment by the chief of the independent labour group reviewing Apple contractors' factories in China portrayed a serene and sane working environment for thousands of Chinese workers tasked to assemble Apple gadgets.
The labor dispute that has plagued Qantas for months has taken its toll on the air carrier's bottomline. The flag carrier reported on Thursday an 83 per cent decline on its half year net profit which plummeted to $42 million compared to a year ago.
