BUSINESS

While the rest of the tech world is buzzing about the rumored Galaxy S III model that is reportedly being revealed at next month's Mobile World Congress, Samsung went ahead and revealed a new model of the Galaxy S called the Galaxy S Advance.

Starbucks Corp., the world's biggest coffee-shop chain, which proved the world that there's nothing as paying too much for a cup of coffee, is planning to experiment with wine and beer, the two elixirs that Americans love.

The Conference Board consumer confidence reading dipped unexpectedly in January, slipping from 64.8 to 61.1. Consensus expectation had been for a further gain up to 68.0.

Australia's stock market had not moved in pace with the rest of the Asia-Pacific markets on Tuesday and is seen to remain flat on Wednesday's trading, but some action will push media-related stocks led by Fairfax Ltd.

The Australian Dollar rallied off opening levels yesterday as Australian business confidence rose to its highest level in seven months, a survey by National Australia Bank showed.

The Dow was in line for a fourth straight decline after a weaker than expected reading on consumer confidence erased early gains prompted by agreements designed to address Europe's sovereign-debt issues.

The mixed nature of the Australian economy was on display yesterday in reports from the monthly National Australia Bank business survey and the Reserve Bank's credit data for December and 2011.

In one respect it was a clever bit of marketing by Woolworths yesterday to announce the restructuring and sale of its Dick Smith consumer electronics chain at the same time as it revealed weak sales figures, especially from its core Australian supermarkets and liquor business in the December quarter and half year.

Previous reports have confirmed a continuing slowdown in exports and the first yearly trade deficit for years, and yesterday we had a sharper improvement in industrial output in December, but a small rise in unemployment, offset by a rise in consumer spending.

The Dow was in line for a fourth straight decline after a weaker than expected reading on consumer confidence erased early gains prompted by agreements designed to address Europe's sovereign-debt issues.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 20 points or 0.2% while the S&P was flat at 1312 and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.The US broad market S&P 500 has marked a 4.

Exports of milk powder, butter and cheese reached record high in December 2011, leading to a trade surplus.

Megaupload users may never be able to re-access their files following the U.S. government's announcement late Monday that digital storage firms contracted by the shuttered company will begin deleting files Thursday this week.

Australian consumers are expected to benefit again from the renewed price war between supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths with price cuts of up to 50 per cent on certain fruits and vegetables.

Australia's retail sector will witness more shopping activities in the first quarter of the current year, according to the latest indicators summing up the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) CHEP Retail Index.

As countries in Asia develop, there are more reasons and opportunities for both investors and offshore companies to pour their millions into offshore banks and even more reason for off shore banking to flourish in Asia.

Now that Fitch and Moody have upgraded Indonesia's credit rating to an investment grade economy, the future is looking up for economic growth for Southeast Asia's largest economy.

Ratings agency Fitch will likely release the credit rating of the big four Australian banks in April. Fitch placed on Monday the AA ratings of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), Westpac, National Australia Bank (NAB) and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on ratings watch negative which is a hint the four could be downgraded by one notch.

Thanks to India’s new “Look East” policy aimed at expanding the country’s investment and influence to the east, and a 100-kilometer pot holed land bridge to Southeast Asia, trade between India and Myanmar—also known as Burma—is booming and the US government is interested.

Apple has been identified as the biggest buyer of semiconductors in 2011.

By Greg PeelThere's a reasonable amount of demand around for uranium at present, according to industry consultant TradeTech, but not in the spot market.

FNArena has added another video to its Investors Education section on the website. For this latest video presentation, ATW's Jerry Simmons has dedicated extra time on market movements and technical insights for crude oil futures.

By James Stanley, Trading Instructor, FXCMCentral bankers are tasked with the role of governing an economy in an attempt to ensure financial stability.

Ahead: In Australia, private sector credit, RP data house price index and the NAB business survey are released. In the US, the S&P CaseShiller home price index is released.

Lacklustre trading is expected in Australian markets following the subdued overnight trading results in the U.S. and European markets still deeply embroiled in the debt crisis.

US oil major Chevron has booked its first reserves for the Wheatstone LNG project offshore WA which started being developed late last year.

BKI Investment Company Ltd (the old Brickworks Investment Co) yesterday revealed a 5.2% lift thanks to higher dividends from its half a billion or so dollars of listed investments.

On the eve of releasing what are expected to be average second quarter and first half sales figures, Woolworths Ltd has revealed three new directors, two of whom have considerable retailing success stories, though from different sides of the aisles.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 6 points while the S&P lost 0.3% to 1313 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.2%.Well blow me down.