BUSINESS

U.S. stocks fell for the fourth of five sessions Thursday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke deflated investors' stimulus hopes and a thawing of Washington's frozen debt negotiations failed to draw more bullish traders into the market.

Caltex Australia MD has firmed up fuel storage and expansion plans in South Australia in the next 25 years, the company has announced on Friday.

Google Inc. told analysts that its new social networking service now has 10 million users, just two weeks into its soft release. Although top social network Facebook has more than 750 million users worldwide, the figures still represent overwhelming growth, given that Google+ is still in its beta and trial version and is in invite-only mode.

The broad adoption of HR outsourcing across Asia-Pacific has emerged as the main finding of regional research conducted by Talent2.

Business frugality is funding Australian mortgage lending, a new report has indicated.

Fifty-two year old Sandra Rowline has sued former Texas employer Capital Title for unfair dismissal, after being asked to dye her hair and wear "younger fancier suits".

House prices have continued to soften in the June quarter, with rental growth slowing as well.

HR project consultants, HR advisors, IR and ER specialists top the list of skills in demand in Australia's HR sector in the first quarter of the new financial year, according to Hays.

Rio Tinto is on the way to a higher first half profit after it shook off the bad weather-induced first quarter production weakness to report a ringer of a second quarter.

There were a lot of interesting trends in the June monthly and half yearly economic figures, beyond the headline grabbing data on growth, trade and inflation.

There have been three major disasters in the first three months of this year in the Pacific region: the Japanese quake and tsunami ranks the highest for the human and financial costs, followed by the Christchurch quakes in New Zealand and then the Queensland (and Brisbane) floods and cyclone.

A fall in residential land sales augurs poorly for home building, the HIA has said.

A last minute rally wasn't enough to lift Australian stocks back into the green at the close of trade on Thursday.

US business inventories rose by a larger than expected 1pct to $1.51 trillion - the highest level since October 2008. Business sales fell 0.1pct in May.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEST)In Australia, data on inflation expectations is released together with detailed labour market data. In the US, data on producer prices, retail sales and weekly jobless claims are released.The US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee that more stimulus could be provided to the economy if needed: ´´The possibility remains that the recent economic weakness may prove more persistent than expected and .....

On Wall Street overnight, US stocks snapped their three day losing streak to finish moderately higher, albeit well off session highs as little progress was made in talks over the raising of the debt ceiling and a Fed official said he is against providing further stimulus to the economy, opposing earlier comments from Ben Bernanke.

U.S. stocks snapped a three day slide Wednesday as investors saw hope for further economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve.

US export prices rose by 0.1pct in June with import prices down 0.5pct. Both results were near market forecasts. And the Federal budget deficit narrowed from US$57.64 billion to US$43.00 billion in June.

Apple has introduced new prices for its App Store content for international App Stores. Prices in some countries have been increased while in other countries, like Australia prices have been slashed.

Qantas Group has announced that it would be providing service to Beijing through its low-cost subsidiary Jetstar. The new service which will link Beijing to Melbourne via Singapore is another move to capture as much of the growing Melbourne-Beijing tourism market.

Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) branches opening on 1 August can only be staffed by employees who volunteer to work on the Bank Holiday, and those bankers must be paid penalty rates due to trading hours permit restrictions won by the Finance Sector Union.

Millionaires Jan Cameron and Graeme Wood both conservation-minded entrepreneurs have achieved a stunning coup over loggers by buying the Triabunna woodchip mill right from a logging company.

- Beach Energy's initial shale gas testing is positive- Costs are potentially overwhelming- Most analysts doubt commercial viabilityBy Greg PeelShale is hot.

- Oil market tighter than previously projected- Helps explain IEA release of strategic reserves- Market to stay tight, global stocks expected to fall through 2012By Chris ShawWhile the recent strategic stock release by the International Energy Agency (IEA) was questioned in some quarters, Barclays C...

In spite the lowered residential property prices, affordability is still a major concern among residents in Australia, the National Australia Bank's latest survey indicated.

Australia's interest rate futures have attracted the interest of most investors, who have considered them a safe haven from the European debt crisis.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 44 points or 0.4% while the S&P gained 0.3% to 1317 and the Nasdaq added 0.

In Washington, online retail giant Amazon plans to unveil a tablet computer before October in a bid to carve out a slice of a growing market dominated by Apple's iPad, the Wall Street Journal and the AFP reported on Wednesday.

Digital payment company PayPal on Wednesday debuted its person-to-person payment technology that utilizes Near Field Communications (NFC) embedded in Android smartphones.