BUSINESS

MarketsThe Dow industrials' decline came as most major market indexes around the world finished with gains. Even so, the blue-chip index finished with a strong weekly advance after several days dominated by concerns over debt negotiations in Washington and Brussels. The Dow added 1.6% during the week, and is up 2.2% for July, falling just short of a multiyear high. Hurting stocks on Friday was a belief that U.S. debt talks would fail to come to a quick conclusion.

Search giant Google Inc. had this entrance strategy for its new social network -- launch the service without fireworks, release a beta version of the service to select individuals, and have others join via a by-invitation scheme. So far, the technique, the same done for Google's gmail, appears to be working as Google+ has already gained 20 million unique visitors just three weeks into its release, according to estimates by Web-traffic watcher comScore Inc.

Dr. Charlie Miller, Accuvant LABS principal research consultant, will demonstrate at the Black Hat USA 2011 security conference next week that the batteries of Apple's Macbooks, Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs are vulnerable to hacking attacks. Yes, the batteries!

Microsoft Corp.'s Windows continues to be the world's most popular operating system for personal computers. The problem is that laptop and desktop sales have been slowing down while the demand of tablets has skyrocketed.

The Japanese manufacturer did not imagine sales to be this brisk but because of the power crisis now being experienced throughout Japan, sales had been up this month.

The success of American retail giant Costco in the suburbs of Sydney's Auburn has prompted the warehouse store chain to explore opening a second shop in Canberra.

Costco opened its new store in Canberra today and the line of customers outside the store has led other retailers to question what the US members' only retailer has done to get such a reception.

U.S. stocks surged closer to multi-year highs Thursday, as hopes for a major budget deal in Washington and efforts to contain Europe's sovereign-debt crisis whetted investors' risk appetite.

AFTERNOON REPORT (4.30pm AEST)Local stocks rallied once again today, after Eurozone leaders agreed on a second bailout package for Greece, sending markets around the globe higher. Hopes are also rising that a deal to lift the US government's maximum borrowing power, or so-called "debt ceiling" will also be reached by the August 2nd deadline.

The largest union representing Telstra (ASX: TLS) employees has come out swinging regarding the offshoring of Telstra jobs and customers’ personal information to India.

Solar peak bodies in Australia are growing more concerned that there has been no progress or policy announcement and that their Solar Solution and expert industry advice has been sidelined.

Do not be spooked by gloomy economic forecasts: right now there are great bargains to be had for the canny property investor. A slowing of the Australian economy and a decrease in demand for housing has created a once in a lifetime opportunity for buying solid investments in areas with strong growth drivers.

Qantas pilots have today commenced in-flight announcements over the PA system as part of their industrial campaign for a Qantas flight/Qantas pilot clause included in a new enterprise agreement.

FNArena has added another video to its Investors Education section on the website. ATW's Jerry Simmons latest analysis comes with seemingly opposing observations.

By Rudi Filapek-VandyckThe Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 152.50 points, or 1.21%, at 12724.41 for its highest level in six weeks and the second triple digit gain in three sessions.

Ralph Norris will step down as CEO of Australia's key financial institutions Commonwealth Bank in November and he will be replaced by Ian Narev.

Perth properties have experienced 15 consecutive months of price decline, the REIWA has said.

Global steel production, an important indicator for the Australian economy and resources sector in particular, continues to grow with an 8% rise in June from June 2010.

Big global and regional fund managers continued to dump European shares in July, but were more optimistic about Japan and Chinese growth.

The Australian Dollar rallied above USD 1.0800 overnight as equity markets rallied after EU leaders agreed on a bail-out package for Greece

Significant Scheduled Events For 22 July, 2011:(AU) - trade price index, Q2 (EZ) - new industrial orders, May (EZ) - Germany IFO survey, Jul (GOT) - EGM (HST) - EGM (INQ) - EGM (ISK) - Annual General Meeting (MDV) - EGM (RRI) - EGM FN Arena is building the future of financial news reporting at www.

- Woolies delivers solid quarterly sales result- Guidance reiterated, so only minor changes to earnings estimates- Brokers attracted to defensive earnings growth- BA-ML the only negative view following upgrade by MacquarieBy Chris ShawWhile a tough operating environment has forced the likes of David...

The Philadelphia Fed business activity index rose from -7.7 to +3.2 in June. The increase was the first since March. Encouragingly across the sub-indices, new orders, hiring and shipments recorded a healthy improvement.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEST)The Philadelphia Fed business activity index rose from -7.7 to +3.2 in June. The increase was the first since March. Encouragingly across the sub-indices, new orders, hiring and shipments recorded a healthy improvement. While prices paid by manufacturers was the lowest in nine months. US jobless claims rose by 10,000 to 418,000 last week. The Conference Board leading index rose by 0.3pct in June.

On Wall Street overnight, it was a very strong session as a number of positives combined to send stocks higher. Outside of the jobless claims number, economic data was stronger-than-anticipated and earnings from giants Microsoft and Morgan Stanley topped estimates. The big news, however was an agreement from the EU emergency summit on a final bailout package for Greece worth EUR160 billion; they also empowered their bailout fund to buy debt of stressed nations and offer emergency credit lines. ...

An American in Kunming, southern Yunnan province in China said in her BirdAbroad blog at Wordpress that she found three shops masquerading as bona fide Apple stores in the city.

Google is winding down Google Labs, the site where users explore prototypes to aid development of new projects.

The MacBook Air features the latest generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors. With a processor of speeds up to 1.8GHz and faster memory, the new MacBook Air gains 2.5x faster processing performance over the previous generation. It also has the Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor, which includes an on-chip engine for video encoding and decoding.

AFTERNOON REPORT (4.30pm AEST)Local stocks posted a slight win today, but importantly managed to hold onto yesterday's impressive gains, despite slight falls on Wall Street overnight. Sentiment was boosted by hopes European leaders will agree on a second bail-out package for Greece, while a disappointing flash read on China's manufacturing sector limited gains as markets around the Asian region fell. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 7.8pts or 0.2pct to 4626.2 while the S&P/ASX 200 ...