BUSINESS

Friday the 13th saw the eurozone crisis dragged back to confront investors larger and small around the world.

Europe's 2011 woes returned from their Christmas holidays earlier than expected thanks by the Standard & Poor's ratings downgrades and investors here and offshore will have to be very careful.

The Consumer Electronics Show is over and the only thing left to do is mop up the losers of the biggest electronics trade show of the year. Here are some gadgets and companies that made a poor showing at CES 2012.

Well, after a month off, nothing much has changed.

Some of our most vital export markets are facing a worsening in growth prospects for 2012.

It's not 'new' news, given the damage done to share portfolios over the past six months or so, but we had further confirmation yesterday that the poor performance of equities is going to be bad for the country's listed investment companies and broking firms.

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

European stock markets rose Monday, as the French government successfully sold Treasury bills and investors shrugged off last week's news that Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro-zone nations, including France, Italy and Spain.

By Greg PeelI would have loved to have been writing something new and interesting in my first Overnight Report for 2012, but I'm not.

Apple Inc.'s next generation iPad 3 is already in full production in China and is expected to go on sale on March.

Australian oil and gas producer Santos (ASX: STO) gave the approval to develop the $490-million Fletcher Finucane project off the northwest coast of Western Australia (WA).

Tech titan Apple has reported marked improvements on working environments of employees hired by the company's mostly Asian contractors to assemble its bestselling electronic devices. Nevertheless, there is still much needed to be done.

Higher consumer prices last month of 2011 proved the Australian central bank's contention that inflation worries could dominate the initial months of 2012, latest economic indicators showed.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportThe first trading days into 2012 look positive but unconvincing and some big call merchants still have a lot of us spooked.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaYour team at FNArena has returned from a well-deserved annual break, ready to take on whatever lies ahead for the next twelve months.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaFor reasons I will explain in the weeks ahead, my attention during the annual year-end break has turned towards the principle of mean reversion.

Apple Inc. suspended its sale of its new iPhone 4S in China Friday after irate shoppers pelted Apple's flagship Beijing store with eggs and fought with security guards in a desperate bid to get their hands on the new device.

Retailers from all over the country are looking through rose colored glass despite many online competitors threatening to lower sales this year. Sales expectations plummeted by 26 points (index of nine) as compared with the same time frame for the past year.

The iOS has obtained exclusivity of the virtual assistant SIRI and gained remarkable scores and comments from users and critics. It has made iOS smartphones unique against the Android devices by defining the meaning of intelligence. However, the virtual assistant is still in development for best usage in a lot of countries.

In 2012 the world of smartphones is expected to be excited anew with the release of Samsung Galaxy S3 on February. But two of its challengers, Sony and LG, have already given a sneak peek even as S3's release approaches fast. Both of their devices are high-end and Android-powered as well.

ANZ Bank made Australian banking history on Friday the 13th by making good its previous announcement to set its interest rates independent from the overnight cash rates made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Despite the continuous rise of aviation fuel prices, Australian airlines are not inclined to collect a surcharge on overweight air passengers.

Are consumers benefitting from their banks, or are they really ripped off by hidden bank charges?

Google has it. Microsoft, too, has it. Virgin, eBay and many other successful companies, they all have it. Corporate values, that is.

The plant unrest at a Foxconn Technology Group plant at Wuhan, China has been resolved and a majority of the workers have returned to work late Wednesday, according to Microsoft Corp.

While the mining boom has generally benefited Australia's economy in general, certain groups reaped more than others did. One of the groups that thrived on the boom more than others is that of immigrant workers.

Wall Street Journal reported that camera manufacturer Eastman Kodak Company was preparing to file for bankruptcy in the next few weeks.

Property confidence is down in Australia’s biggest states as investors look to resource-rich areas in 2012.

Although forecasts say global aluminium prices may go up for the first quarter of 2012, prospects are bleak for the aluminium sector in Australia.