BUSINESS

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.

The patent wars raging between tech firms dominating the mobile device market could spill over in the equally lucrative social networking sphere as Yahoo reportedly sent notice to Facebook this week demanding for licence payments.

The Cattle Council of Australia (CCA) has expressed its opposition to halt live meat exports to Indonesia following the release of a new video of animal cruelty in the south east Asian nation. CCA Vice President Peter Hall said in lieu of a blanket ban which would be bad for the cattle industry, new procedures could identify the erring slaughterhouse.

More Australian jobs would likely be placed on the chopping block because of the difficult business environment across the country. This development may reverse the small gains made in January when the country's unemployment rate slightly went down to 5.1 per cent from 5.2 per cent in December 2011.

Korean-based firm Samsung recently revealed their newest smartphone in the market called the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 and the Galaxy Mini 2. Samsung revealed this new smartphone model during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012.

China, along with many other Asian countries, is buying. This is because, unlike more developed countries whose economies are faltering, China has an economy that is booming.

The world's housing downturn is gathering momentum, according to the latest world-wide survey of house price indices prepared by the Global Property Guide.

Singapore-based palm oil producer Wilmar International has emerged as the latest company to get excited about one of the least attractive companies on the ASX, Goodman Fielder.

On the surface, building products maker Boral had a better December half year than it has in the last couple of years.

For Australia's largest insurer, QBE, 2011 is a year to forget with a 45% fall in full-year profit and a sharply lower dividend.

The debate over out-of-cycle interest rate increases by major Australian banks would likely be revived again when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) releases a report of Friday which would show the widening gap between standard home loan rates and the RBA overnight cash rate.

Ireland's economy is now slowly recovering, but its residential property market is still in deep trouble. In 2011, the national residential property price index plunged by 16.7% (-18.7% inflation-adjusted), based on data released by the Central Statistics Office.

With Europe in meltdown, is Poland an exception?

The Australian share market has started the day's trade on a positive note, after the US Dow Jones Index closed above the 13,000 point level overnight for the first time since May 2008. In early trade, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 27.7pts or 0.6pct to 4378.9.

Commonwealth Bank has restored the services of its ATMS and EFTPOS facilities after an outage at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday that affected its system across Australia. The cash machines and payment facilities were back online at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday although some cards continue to experience problems.

Sony Mobile Communications is now planning a new approach in hopes that they would once again be dominant in this new battlefield for smartphones. Their new approach involves marketing a suite of devices instead of focusing on one "big" product. The company already started working on this strategy in the on-going Mobile World Congress 2012.