BUSINESS

U.S. stocks were on pace for their steepest fall of the year, as questions about the latest Greek bailout added to concerns about industrial stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 111 points, or 0.9%, to 12768, in late Wednesday afternoon, after rising for five out of the past six days.

There's no stopping the Apple Inc. express. Apple, the world's top tech company by market value, passed by nemesis and supplier Samsung Electronics to become the world's biggest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of 2011.

A recent report done by Janus Corporate Solutions revealed that Singapore was placed first as the "easiest place to do business in the world". This is in contrary to the results published by Forbes Magazine in their "2011 Best Countries for Business" feature. Despite the difference in results, Janus Corporate Solutions stands firm in their report stating that Singapore is much more superior as compared to Denmark in terms of doing business.

Demand among Australian businesses for credit has plummeted to a four-year low, a survey by the National Australia Bank (NAB) showed. Enterprises that required no credit went up to 67 per cent from 64 per cent.

Fresh from the hold on cash rate implemented by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) last week, consumer confidence appeared to have gained in the past two months, according to the latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ordered on Tuesday giant telco Telstra Corporation to reduce the wholesale pricing of its asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) service.

The Adani Group, an Indian conglomerate, is planning to build a new open-cut and underground mine in Queensland. The Carmichael Coal Mine, touted to be the largest in the Australian state, would be mostly on the Moray Downs cattle station about 100 kilometres north of Emerald.

Australian cities are some of the most expensive places in the world, according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living 2012 report. The roster, released on Wednesday, ranked Sydney as the 7th and Melbourne the 8 th most expensive global cities.

The Australian share market is trading flat at midday in the East, following a steady finish on US share markets overnight. European stocks slumped in response to ratings downgrades from agency Moody's and while US stocks had been lower in early trade, they rallied into the close to finish relatively unchanged. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 2.3pts to 4316.6 at lunchtime.

After hiking its interest rate by 10 basis points on Monday, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) reported on Wednesday a 19 per cent increase in profit compared to a year ago. CBA registered a record profit of $3.624 billion for the December half.

Kia Motors has released official sketches of its all-new luxury sedan, which the carmaker says will define new standards for design and flair in the large car segment.

Upbeat news yesterday from the economy with business conditions and confidence improving and good weather conditions in the past month or so helping rural areas and boosting the size of the 2011-12 wheat crop to an all time high.

The downside of the domestic economy and the minerals sector were seen yesterday in the results of midcap building products group GWA and nickel miner Western Areas.

A week after reporting massive profits and more spending on expanding their huge WA iron ore operations, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto yesterday revealed they would spend around $US4 billion ($A3.75 billion) on the huge Escondida copper mine in Chile which accounts for around 8% of total annual global production.

The Australian stock market on Wednesday will try to put away the lacklustre sentiments generated by the U.S. and European indices overnight with a focus on a few earnings reports due to be released today.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is definitely one of this season's phones to watch and to help you with the gamut of news articles and rumors circulating the Internet here are some of the more prevalent speculation about the Galaxy S3

From MORRISON SECURITIES PTY. LTD: U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as investors considered weaker-than-expected retail sales data and watched for progress in Europe over Greece's debt.

By Rudi Filapek-VandyckThe Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to add 4.2 points, or 0.03%, to 12,878.

There are so much opportunity offered by Chinese reverse mergers or "reverse takeovers (RTOs)," MR Capital Management founder and fund director Mohannad Al-Rashoudi says in a statement.

Global top-class brands such as Hermes, Gucci and Louis Vuitton may well heave a sigh of relax because China's appetite for luxury brand items will linger on a little longer despite a projected massive economic slowdown.

As Apple shares zoomed up and breached the $500 mark on Monday, company officials revealed at the same time that independent inspectors from the Fair Labor Association (FLA) have begun their probe on Apple assembly facilities in China.

Nickel miner Western Areas reported on Tuesday a 64 per cent decline in its first half net profit due to lower prices of the commodity. From July to December 2011, the firm logged a $24.1 million net profit, down from $67.2 million compared to the same period a year ago.

Google inches closer on its quest to formally acquire Motorola Mobility with two clearances it received Monday from government regulators in the United States and the European Union.

While hundreds of jobs continue to be shed across Australia since the start of February as businesses complain of the strong currency and weak consumer confidence, workers in Holden would enjoy up to a 22 per cent wage increase spread over the next three years.

Apple's set-top box is running out of stock in multiple stores, which could signal that Apple is about to replace it with Apple TV 3.1.

Well, JB Hi-Fi survived a tough Christmas trading period, not to mention a "challenging" six months and lived to tell the tale, despite what some alarmists have been writing about the state of the consumer electronics sector.

Barbara Fredrickson is a social psychologist who has conducted extensive research into emotions and positive psychology.

Commodity and stock markets across Asia and Europe and the US are on alert as Greece moves back to centre stage with a vital week for the stricken country to either accept sweeping cuts and a huge new round of debt, or head for default.

To read some of the reports of the January economic data from China, you'd be excused for thinking that a crisis is on the way as imports and exports growth slowed sharply in January and inflation rose.