BUSINESS

Real estate developer Australand Property Group (ASX: ALZ) said on Tuesday that its half-year net profit has more than doubled, enabling the company to reach its full year earnings guidance for fiscal year 2010.

More than 50 percent of Australian executives are being negatively affected by late payments, according to a survey by Dun & Bradstreet.

Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) has signed a Heads of Agreement to obtain at least a 7.1 per cent stake in British firm Sumatra Copper and Gold Plc.

The local stock market started on a strong footing this morning on the back of better than expected new home sales in the US. This is the second day of positive moves for the local bourse, with base metal prices also lending support.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Monday that Nissan is recalling 46,000 units of the 2009-2010 Cube due to possible problems with fuel spilling during rear end collisions.

The market is up 25. The SFE Futures were up 26 this morning.Wall Street closed up 100 overnight. It was the third strai...

Victoria’s train services suffered chaotic delays on Tuesday morning as power was cut on Metro’s transport system at about 0500 AEST when a train got entangled by overhead broken wires between South Cross station and North Melbourne station.

Number two in our series of book reviews this week.

UK's financial services giant Virgin Money has selected Sydney for its new headquarters in Australia.

Eight out of ten Australians are concerned about a lack of infrastructure and affordable housing amid the expanding and ageing population, according to new research findings.

The data supporting the global economic recovery continues to be mixed - patchy, inconsistent over time, and varying enormously by region - and in no way supporting the idea of a "V-shaped" recovery, the popular view six months ago.

Queensland-based coal mining company Macarthur Coal Ltd (ASX: MCC) has abandoned a $110 million deal to buy out CITIC Resources' interests after some minority interests failed to give up their pre-emptive rights in the project.

Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) expects to post a decrease in annual profit in fiscal 2010. The company said it forecasts better performance next year and has made changes to its executive team.

Overnight we saw the AUD break through USD0.9000 and this morning it is currently trading comfortably above this level.

US new home sales soared by 23.6pct to a 330,000 annual rate in June, well ahead of forecasts centred on a result near 320,000. The stock of unsold homes fell from 9.6 months to 7.6 months.

The Aussie dollar held on to support around 0.8940 during the Asian session despite a lower than expected second quarter Producer Price Index or PPI as its referred to.

Strong guidance from FedEx and better than expected data have taken Wall Street to a critical technical level. Dow up 100.

Top central bankers and regulators around the world said yesterday they had agreed on new standards to ensure the banking system could survive any new financial crisis.

The Australian currency opened higher on Tuesday as a lift in US homes sales bolstered growth assets such as equities and commodity-driven currencies.

The 30% slide in the price of QBE shares this year now has an explanation, at last.An update from the company yesterda...

The Coles retailing business of Wesfarmers is starting to look like one of the standout retailing performers for 2009-10...

And Harvey Norman shares fell more than 3% yesterday afternoon after the group reported a very sharp fall in 4th quart...

Japan's export resurgence continues to lose momentum as shipments to Asia and China slow.The fall is partly due to the ...

Australia's producer price index at the final stage of production rose 0.3% in the June quarter, for an annual rise of 1...

Kraft brings back the iconic 'Happy Little Vegemites' ad to the TV screen, using a reworked version of the original tune and visuals, as part of a new campaign to promote the typically Australian breakfast spread Vegemite.The new television commercial, which launched yesterday, combines the original...

Kirin Holdings has cut its sales and profits forecast for the first half of 2010.Kirin expects net sales to be JPY43bn (US$492m) for the six months to the end of June, 14% lower than previously predicted, the Japanese drinks giant said today (26 July).It added that net profits are expected to be JPY...

The Australian stock market is likely to open stronger after the Dow Jones hit a two-month high overnight.

Coles retail sales growth in the fourth quarter has once more topped Woolworths. ?Total Coles’ food and liquor sales for the fourth quarter were $5.9 billion, up 4.2 per cent, with comparable food and liquor store sales growth of 4.2 per cent.Total Coles’ food and liquor sales for the financia...

Mesoblast has been recording good Phase II trials results in bone marrow transplantation and Southern Cross Equities suggests this could make it a target of Big Pharma.