BUSINESS

Australia's December interim reporting season will dominate this week, with a host of major companies revealing their results.

It has been a muted start to the local trading day, following ratings downgrades of several European nations by Moody's. The local share market was tipped to receive a boost, after US and European markets rose overnight in response to the solid vote in the Greek parliament to approve austerity measures. However, after the bell on Wall Street, Moody's downgraded the credit outlooks on Triple A ratings of France, the UK and Austria to negative; and cut the ratings of Italy, Portugal, Spain, ...

By Greg PeelThe mismatch between demand for spot uranium in Europe and supply in the US reached its ultimate conclusion last week when simply no one wanted to play.

To increase the production capability of the Escondida copper mine in Chile, Rio Tinto has approved US$1.4 billion for two projects supporting this move.

By Rudi Filapek-VandyckFNArena has added another video to its Investors Education section on the website.

The Australian stock market is seen heading for a slow but steady start on Tuesday with the positive global markets performance extending limited gains on commodities and other risk-related assets.

By Rudi Filapek-VandyckFNArena has added another video to its Investors Education section on the website.

Stocks added to gains and hit session highs in afternoon trading, buoyed by the adoption of austerity measures by Greece's Parliament. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently ahead 82 points, or 0.6%, at 12884. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index advanced 10 points, or 0.8%, to 1353, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 29 points, or 1%, to 2933.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 72 points or 0.6% while the S&P gained 0.7% to 1351 and the Nasdaq added 1.0%.

Google Inc. is offering web users $25 a year to browse the web so Google can monitor their browsing habits in detail.

Boeing admitted this week that yet another issue hit its Dreamliner production line but one high-ranking executive has assured that no more delays will hamper its delivery calendar in the current year.

Apple has renewed its legal tussles against Samsung with a court filing last week that sought to prevent the South Korean from introducing its new Galaxy products to the American market.

More Australians are expected to be disappointed if not angry at ANZ Bank. The bank announced on Monday a cut - not in interest rates, but in jobs

Another fresh war is brewing between Australia's supermarket giants. From fresh produce, Coles and Woolworths are now battling for the title of being the number one supporter of sustainable fish species.

Despite the labor dispute between Qantas and the unions being under Fair Work Australia for arbitration, a word war erupted between Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce and the pilots union.

All is well with BHP Billiton, this according to BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers despite the 5.5 percent profit slide the mining giant had recorded in the first half of financial year 2011-2012.

The local share market is trading flat in the early session, as investors respond to the passing of a new austerity plan by the Greek parliament. Opponents to the plan have rioted in Athens over the weekend, however the vote, which paves the way for a new bailout package for the stricken Eurozone country, is expected to bring some stability to European markets. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 5.5pts or 0.1pct to 4328.1

Fans of "Farmville" and "Mafia Wars" will soon have physical merchandise from their favorite online games. Hasbro Inc. and Zynga Inc. announced Thursday a deal where the toy company will create games and toys based on Zynga's popular online games including "Farmville" and "Mafia Wars".

What can Americans not live without? A car? A smartphone? Credit cards? Lake Research Partners found out via a survey, and the answer may be a little surprise for some.

Google Inc. is reportedly close to launching its long-rumored cloud storage service, Google Drive that would rival cloud-storage provider, Dropbox.

The Australian High Court ruled in favour of mining workers this week and threw out a Rio Tinto appeal that requests for the reversal of an earlier decision that requires the giant mining firm to honour collective bargaining agreements.

Stocks were dragged down for their worst one-day loss in about six weeks by tumult over the Greek bailout, disappointing readings on the U.S. economy and a downgrade of nearly three dozen Italian banks.

The federal government of Australia launched on Thursday a $340-million energy programme designed to provide energy efficiency to businesses, local government and communities.

More jobs in Australia continue to be placed on the chopping block as the axe moves to the construction industry. Kell & Rigby, one of Australia's oldest building firms, announced on Thursday the loss of 500 jobs.

Australian stocks are trading lower in the early session, as investors focus on the local reporting season rather than positive offshore moves. US and European markets moved higher overnight after Greece reached a new deal to secure additional funding. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 19pts or 0.5pct to 4337.4.

- Telstra interim broadly as expected- Mobiles a driver, Sensis still struggling- Minor changes to broker estimates post the result- Broker opinion remains divided on the stockBy Chris ShawInterim earnings from Telstra ((TLS)) were broadly as the market had expected, the company delivering solid mob...

After several years of strong activity, the property market in Lebanon is declining sharply, mainly due to domestic political bickering and regional unrest.

Walmart Store_ the world's largest retailer

Rio Tinto has taken the opportunity of a peak in its iron ore-driven profits to clean up its books with a massive $US8.9 billion write-down in the value of its aluminium business.