BUSINESS

The housing market retreated again in the first month of 2012 following its strong showing in December though economists have been upbeat that the rest of the year would witness some form of recovery as investors' confidence regain enough traction.

Australian stocks are once again posting solid gains, on the back of positive gains in the US and Europe overnight. Retail sales in the US came in higher than expected overnight boosting investor sentiment, while encouraging comments from the US Federal Reserve about moderate expansion in the American economy also helped. Results of the US Bank Stress tests were also revealed overnight, with only four of the 19 banks tested failing, although one of them was Citi. The overall banking sector rose ...

The Toyota 86 is enjoying unprecedented attention (for a Toyota) before it goes on sale in Australia in June.

By Greg PeelI suspect the US Federal Reserve is a little bit peeved with Jamie Dimond, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, even if JPM is the Fed's poster child.

By Andrew NelsonNew data from the Commonwealth Bank show an ever increasing amount of Australian exporters are curbing their borrowing intentions because of the continued strength of the Australian dollar.

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

It's been a rough start to the day. It took us a record amount of time to get to Sydney Airport this morning. The rain was torrential. Roads were cut off. As a result, Sydney's already clogged main arteries got worse as the morning wore on.

Last Friday's strong jobs report for February and the revisions to December and January (producing nearly 290,000 new jobs in total) will mean the US Federal Reserve sits on its hands for another six weeks at least.

Business conditions improved a little in February, according to the latest monthly survey from the National Australia Bank, while business confidence fell.

Days after being rejected by a Kiwi billionaire, is there a new saviour on the horizon for embattled Tasmanian wood products group Gunns and its pulp mill project?

Despite losing billions in 2011, bailed-out British banks, including Lloyds and RBS, continued to pay out millions in bonuses to its top executives.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 217 points or 1.7% to 13,177 while the S&P gained 1.8% to 1395 and the Nasdaq added 1.

The new ATM withdrawal fee is now $2.50 from $2, comparison Web site Mozo said, which would boost the income of ATM operators by $600 million.

Internet giant Yahoo! filed an overblown lawsuit against popular social network Facebook. The claims puzzled the latter.

A man from New York filed a class action lawsuit against tech giant Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) claiming that the company’s Siri ads are deceptive and misleading.

Out of the $60 billion annual cost of workplace injuries across Australia, about half are due to overwork and stress.

Yahoo followed through on its earlier threats of lawsuits against popular social media site Facebook as the online search firm filed on Monday patent violations before the San Jose Federal Court in California.

China looks to Australia not only as a major source of its commodities needs but also as a key destination for thousands of Chinese tourists increasingly gravitating towards Australian cities as preferred leisure sites.

Behind China's surprise $US31 billion trade surplus was a surge in demand for key commodities from Chinese industry, a development that will upset plenty of preconceived notions about the strength of Chinese industry and demand.

Sydney-based building products group, Alesco, continues to slim itself with another asset sale.

The Warehouse is inspired by a significant increase in online sales during the first half of its financial year, the New Zealand Herald reports. The Auckland-based company says internet revenue rose 60 per cent during the six months to January 29 this year.

The move on Canadian grain group Viterra sent shares in Graincorp, our last independent grain group, up sharply yesterday.

A sense that the US economic rebound seems to be strengthening and the Chinese economy has survived its inflationary scare, look like helping the 'risk on' rally to continue on global markets.

The local share market is posting solid gains in early trade, despite a subdued night on global share markets after China posted its largest trade deficit in more than two decades. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 40.8pts or 1pct to 4329.

Saudi Arabia's property market is hot. Other places may worry, but the oil Kingdom is rolling in money. Result - a property boom.

China had its biggest monthly trade deficit 22 years in February: a massive $US31.5 billion as imports soared.

A quieter, less hectic week is ahead of us here and offshore after the flood of data and the triple treat on Friday of the good US jobs data, the successful Greek bond swap and some good inflation figures from China which then reported a huge trade deficit for February on Saturday.

Fitch downgraded on Tuesday the credit rating of the Macquarie Group by two notches to A- from A. The cut was part of the rating agency's review of the largest financial institutions in the world.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEDT - Due to the change in daylight saving hours in the US - Wall street now closes at 7am AEDT)The US employment trends index rose from 106.0 to 107.5 in February. The US federal budget deficit totalled $232 billion in February, above forecasts near $229 billion and above the $223 billion deficit in February 2011. The widening of the deficit in February was blamed on an additional day this year compared with a year ago. In the fiscal year to date the deficit is $581bn,...