BUSINESS

Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaI joined Twitter. Not because I am curious what this celebrity has to say about her kids, or to read that another one is waiting for a connecting flight, impatiently.

Ahead: In Australia, data on export and import prices is released. In the US, data on existing home sales is released.

Financial stocks led major indexes higher early Thursday afternoon as investors digested stronger bank earnings as well as a rush of U.S. economic data and a pair of well-received European bond auctions.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 46 points or 0.4% while the S&P gained 0.5% to 1314 and the Nasdaq added 0.7%.

In Fonterra’s latest online auction, where the average price increased and the winning price also hiked at US$3701 a tonne, the results bolstered the optimism of NZ economists.

Apple is credited for introducing the tablet computers to the world, but Samsung gave the world a choice. By comparing the iPad with the Galaxy Tab 7.0, it is easy to narrow down the similarities and differences between the two remarkable devices.

If 2011 was a bad year for Australian retailers, their losing streak would likely continue through 2012.

Think Tank Property Finance expects 2012 to yield more positive conditions for commercial property.

Aggregator Vow Financial has kicked off the year by launching a series of webinars that will be open to all brokers via their Facebook pages - not only its member brokers.

The HIA has claimed the gloom hanging over home building looks set to continue, and has called for a "three pronged attack" to address the sector's woes.

Acting Treasurer Bill Shorten criticised on Thursday the planned manpower cuts in Australia's banking industry estimated to result in the loss of 7,000 jobs. He accused the lenders of putting profits ahead of jobs.

Specialty Fashion Group got publicity yesterday for its weak Christmas performance as sales, revenue and earnings fell for a second December half year period in a row.

The World Bank's warning of a possible new global recession much deeper and longer lasting that the 2008-09 slowdown certainly got attention yesterday.

The black market is one of the biggest and fastest growing economies in the world

The World Bank warned nations on Wednesday to brace for chaos as a new global financial crisis worse than 2008 looms ahead. To indicate how bad the situation would be, the bank cut by half its previous 2012 growth forecast for high-income countries.

By Greg PeelThe theory is simple. Customers placing orders to buy seaborne dry goods, such as iron ore, coal and grains, have to book an ocean-going bulk carrier well in advance.

In Australia, monthly employment data is released. In the US, consumer prices, housing start, weekly jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed business index are all released.

By Greg PeelAs we all so frustrating know, 2011 was the year of the financial headline. Market fundamentals took very much a back seat as we bungled through months of Europe fixed, Europe not fixed, Europe fixed, oh God will Europe ever be fixed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 96 points or 0.8% while the S&P conquered 1300 for the first time since August, rising 1.

Research in Motion Ltd. will release the updated Playbook operating system in February that would include a new native calendar and contact applications, as well as better integration for E-mail, LinkedIn and Twitter. RIM is hoping the new update will lure developers and consumers to support its Playbook OS 2.0 but this update could be too late to reverse the Playbook's fortune.

Ford Motor Company, the second largest automaker company in the U.S. recently announced a recall of at least 539,000 vehicles worldwide in order to repair certain errors in the affected car models.

Global miner BHP Billiton is all set to achieve a record full-year following its incredible iron ore output jump in the first half of the current financial year, the latest production report issued by BHP on Wednesday showed.

While its competitors either hold off or cut back new investments, Samsung Group boldly announced on Tuesday plans for more investments this year, estimated to reach more than $41 billion, reports said.

Jerry Yang built-up his name by transforming a start-up tech firm into a multi-billion dollar global company, becoming the toast of the tech world in so short a time, which lasted until Yahoo's gradual and eventual decline.

Australia's mining industry will continue to enjoy a boom in 2012 based on production reports that resource companies released this week. Output was particularly higher for iron ore and gold resources.

Australian travelers are expected to benefit from the drop in plane fares as more competition heats in the aviation industry with the offer of AirAsiaX daily trips from Sydney beginning April 2.

A day after UBS came out with a report that 7,000 jobs would be cut from Australia's banking industry in the next two years, ANZ Bank started the opening salvo by confirming on Wednesday that 130 positions would be declared redundant.

Is Rio Tinto really that bullish about the outlook for 2012?

The surge in Chinese iron ore imports last November and December also helped Fortescue Metals shipped a record 14.77 million tonnes of ore in the December quarter, beating its own guidance.