BUSINESS

The performance of Australia's services sector declined further in March, as both the retail and transport industries slackened for the fifth consecutive month.

As overseas sale of coal remained blocked by severe floods in Queensland, Australia announced a first monthly trade deficit since March 2010 in February.

By Greg Peel“The recent disaster in Japan will have a noticeable effect on Japanese production in the near term, although the impact on the broader Asian region is expected to be limited”.That was it – that was the RBA's entire summation of the world events occurring between the release of the previous monetary policy statement on March 1 and today's release, and their impact on ...

A majority of large Australian organisations are still not reaping productivity rewards according to research launched today by telco giant Telstra (ASX: TLS).

- Australian services sector conditions remain tough- AIG-CBA PSI fell 2.2 points in March- Reading shows consumers remain cautious on outlookBy Chris ShawTimes remain tough for the Australian services sector, the March reading of the Australian Industry Group – Commonwealth Bank Australian Performance of Services Index (Australian PSI) showing a decline of 2.2 points to 46.5. Any reading be...

Woolworths Ltd (ASX: WOW) has nominated its former shelf stacker and account executive to replace CEO and Managing Director Michael Luscombe on September 30, 2011.

The allure of online retailing has befallen Australian billionaire James Packer as he reportedly made investments in DealsDirect.com.

By Greg PeelAs at the end of March, industry consultant TradeTech's spot uranium price indicator sat at US$58.50/lb, down US$1.50 from the previous week and down US$11.00 from end-February. The big drop reflects the panic surrounding the disaster at Fukushima and its potential longer term impact on uranium demand.In the thinly traded spot market, panic selling has been driven by speculators caught...

Stock markets were fairly quiet overnight despite more M&A activity. The AUD/USD remains just under the 1.0400 level this morning as the market awaits comments from the RBA’s meeting this afternoon.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 23 points or 0.2% while the S&P was steady at 1332 and the Nasdaq was also steady.Volume on Wall Street was very light last night but it is noteworthy the Dow's close at 12,400 means the first close above the February high of 12,391. The S&P 500 is meeting technical resistance at 1333, being the 100% move up from the March 2009 bottom, and is still short of its Februa...

The Australian Dollar opens marginally lower today against the greenback at 1.0360.

There were more signs of recovery in the German economy on Monday with new car registrations up 11pct over the year to March to 328,000 vehicles.

National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) today backed comments made by former Westpac CEO and Citigroup director Bob Joss in the Australian Financial Review on the need for Australia to address its structural reliance on offshore funding.

Coles Group's fierce price cutting counter attack in the past year seems to have resulted in Woolworths' CEO Michael Luscombe retiring.The news, which didn't come as a surprise to the market with the change tipped in two media reports yesterday, was conveyed in a statement to the ASX.Mr Lucombe will retire at the end of September after five years as CEO and will be replaced by Grant...

Another strong month for job ads according to the ANZ's survey for March, but the reality is that it was a solid month for jobs advertised on the net.Newspaper ads were soft, rising 0.2% and continuing the less than solid trend seen for most of the past couple of years.Internet job ads rose 1.4% in March and were the main driver behind the 1.3% overall rise in job ads to 195,913.That was up f...

Wesfarmers' resources division has won a 53% price rise for its coking coal exports for the June quarter.The company told the ASX yesterday that the price for the June quarter will be $US328 a tonne, compared to the $US221 a tonne for the previous quarter.Wesfarmers said that "weighted average US$FOB for new contract prices of Curragh metallurgical coal (hard coking, semi-hard coking and PCI)...

Japanese officials said they failed on Sunday in repeated attempts to seal a crack they had identified as one source of radioactive water leak into the Pacific.

Atlas Iron (ASX:AGO) says it shipped a record 547,404 tonnes of DSO in the month of March 2011, beating the previous record of 541,000 tonnes recorded in October 2010.

QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) has reached an agreement to acquire Cellestis Ltd (CST: AU) for approximately A$341 million (US$355 million) in cash, providing QIAGEN with access to a novel"pre-molecular" technology that offers a new dimension in disease detection not currently possible with other diagnostic methods.

Banks now face the need to rebuild customer loyalty as a new survey shows over half of regional and rural Australians have lost faith in their bank and many believe change is necessary.

(This story was originally published on March 25, 2011. It has now been re-published to make it in full available to non-paying members at FNArena and to readers elsewhere).- Japan has an immediate need for LNG- Japan, and the world, may now turn away from nuclear and toward LNG- Australian producers will not benefit in the short term, but should in the long term- US shale gas looms as a possible ...

Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:VBA) says its new Airbus A330 Sydney-Perth service will commence operation on 26 May 2011, subject to regulatory approvals.

The Australian Dollar touched another post-float high this morning above 1.0400 after a stronger than anticipated jobs number from the US on Friday evening.

- NAB's retail banking operations are improving, notes DJ Carmichael- NAB is gaining retail market share and the stockbroker believes NAB is attractive relative to peers- NAB and WBC outperformed CBA and ANZ, which throws up a question mark about relative valuationsBy Chris Shaw and Rudi Filapek-VandyckThe FNArena database shows a Sentiment Indicator reading for National Australia Bank ((NAB)) of ...

The Australian Dollar hit fresh 29-year highs on Friday night after US employers added more jobs than forecast last month fuelling another session of risk appetite.

US non-farm payrolls rose by 216,000 in March - the largest increase in ten months. The private sector accounted for all the jobs, adding 230,000 positions.

Commodities finished the week in a fairly convincing fashion, except for gold and copper, and look like having another reasonable week with the US dollar expected to be weak ahead of the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday that is seen as putting up rates for the first time in several years.That meeting is considered highly likely to boost the ECB's main rate of 0.25% to 1.25% in a sign...

Another big fall in dwelling approvals in February illustrates the tentative nature of the residential building recovery and highlights the need for government action to remove supply-side impediments affecting housing affordability, according to Master Builders Australia, the peak body for the building and construction industry.

Australian logistics firm Brambles Ltd (ASX: BXB) took majority control of IFCO Systems N.V. through completion of its sale and purchase agreements with Apax Partners and another IFCO shareholder on 31 March 2011, Central European Time.