BUSINESS

The Houston-based Apache Corporation, the oil and natural gas producer, has agreed to acquire closely held Cordillera Energy Partners III LLC for $2.85 billion in cash and stock, adding oil reserves in Oklahoma and Texas that can be exploited using hydraulic fracturing.

The Australian Dollar enjoyed some considerable upside movement yesterday, soaring above $US1.05 to a 12 week high against its US Counterpart.

Ahead: In Australia, Newcrest and Oil Search release production figures and GUD Holdings releases its half yearly result. In the US, the Federal Reserve meets and the Richmond Fed index is scheduled.

By Richard (Rick) Mills, Ahead of the HerdAs a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best informationOur agriculture system is concentrated on producing a very few staple crops - there is a very serious lack of crop diversity.

By Greg PeelRBC Dominion Securities notes that global uranium mining stocks rallied 13% on average last week, spurring investors into believing that a uranium bull market will shortly be upon us once more.

From Morrison Securities Pty. Ltd.: U.S. stocks edged lower, jeopardizing the Dow's four-session climb, as investors mulled the sustainability of this year's rally and watched Europe for developments connected to the region's ongoing debt issues.The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 18.21 points, or 0.1%, to 12702 in afternoon trading.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 11 points or 0.1% while the S&P was flat at 1316 and the Nasdaq lost 0.

Three large Japanese banks are reportedly eyeing a share of the Australian home loan market by offering lower interest rates while Aussie lenders refuse to pass to borrowers made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

PayPal and Office Depot are reportedly testing the former's new payment method, called by experts as 'wallet in the cloud', that allows consumers with PayPal account to actually make in-store purchases, reports said.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued advisories to a number of airlines around the world to immediately implement check ups on their Airbus A380 fleets after the reported detection of cracks on the wings of some of the passenger plane.

An analysis by CommSec of Australia's states and territories' performance for the fourth quarter of 2011 showed that Western Australia is the strongest state in terms of economic performance.

American household name Kraft Foods said it would cut off 1600 jobs in the U.S. and Canada this year before it moves forward to splitting its giant business into two separate entities, the company announced in a statement.

A survey made by Balance Recruitment in December showed that 30 per cent of workers in Australia's IT and finance sectors experienced racism. The discrimination was particularly felt by migrant workers from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and China.

FNArena is surveying investor sentiment in Australia in an effort to generate, over time, a similarly leading gauge as the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey in the US.

The New Zealand dollar is performing well while investors are strategizing and leaving the euro, with Greek and European Union officials meeting to study the decisions made between private bondholders on how to lower Greece's borrowing costs.

Deloitte Access Economics has upgraded its 2012 gross domestic product outlook for Australia on Monday. The research firm projected that the country would expand by 3.6 per cent this year, up from 2 per cent in 2011.

Most brokers would assume new clients who walk through the door are coming to them purely to service their finance needs - but not so Nicole Seagren of Vision Finance, based in Melbourne.

Sydney has been unseated as the second costliest city in the world in a new survey of housing affordability.

Consolidation of mortgage aggregators is expected to continue apace in 2012, forcing the industry to assess the future viability of aggregation models.

Australia's multi-speed economy has again been highlighted in a report showing Western Australia far ahead of the pack in output.

Brokers are being warned they may lose business amid the growing number of online white label products - so how can mortgage advisers keep pace with changing consumer trends?

Samsung has denied rumors about a potential buyout of Blackberry maker, Research in Motion after a technology blog reported the South Korean firm was interested in buying RIM.

By Greg PeelAluminium is the costliest of the standard base metals to produce, with final smelting requiring significant inputs of water and power.

By Christopher Vecchio, Currency Analyst FXCMFundamental Forecast for Gold: NeutralGold posted a modest 1.

A significant increase in first homebuyers may have been inflated by a last-minute rush to beat stamp duty changes.

So where will markets head now after the post Christmas rebound continued last week, defying the gloomy forecasts from the World Bank and other gloomy prognosticators?

Australian inflation data for the December quarter dominates the coming week.

Fears about a surge in prices of beef and orange juice in the US, plus rising fears about the health of soybean corn crops on Brazil and Argentina, are starting to dominate commodity markets.

Strong earnings from International Business Machines (IBM) powered blue-chip stocks higher for the fourth-straight session, even as discouraging quarterly reports from other bellwethers kept the broader market flat.