BUSINESS

It looks likely that the Australian share market will finish weaker for the second straight day with the S&P/ASX 200 index off by 0.6pct or 25.5pts to 4498.6.

With Australia's largest investment bank, Macquarie Group, announcing profit warning for some sections of its business, the local market opened lower and stayed on the red for most of the morning trade. The pull from the oil and gas sector also proved a weight on the market today.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released today the results of the first national Patient Experience Survey examining health care for Australians in the last 12 months.

Diverse-business operations firm Programmed Maintenance Services Ltd announced on Friday that projected earnings for fiscal 2010 would reach $58.9 million while net profit is expected to gain by ten percent in 2011 from figures posted in the previous year.

Australian businesses spent $75.4 billion on energy during 2008-09, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, which represents small and medium-sized miners, is planning to relaunch an advertising blitz against the 30 per cent minerals resource rent tax.

Grain retailers GrainCorp Ltd (ASX: GNC) and AWB Ltd (ASX: AWB) issued a joint statement on Friday announcing that the two companies are poised to merge their operations and end up as one of Australia’s biggest agribusiness operators.

In the latest indication of struggling with vehicle problems despite works to overhaul quality control, Toyota is recalling nearly half a million cars for problems that can cause the steering wheel to lock up.

Observers fear that there are reasons other than uncertainty which are making Wall Street stock markets a lot more volatile than they should be.

Victoria issued a total of 113,670 building permits in the past financial year reaching a total worth of $23.9 billion and according to the latest figures published by the Building Commission on Thursday, loan grants for the state’s first home buyers spiked up by 30 percent to $13.1 billion in 2009/10.

US stocks fell for a third day as investors were left disappointed after poor earnings from technology and consumer-related companies. Whilst there was quite choppy trade the S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 1101, whilst the Dow Jones Industrial average closed down 30 points or 0.3%.

US jobless claims fell by 11,000 to 457,000 in the latest week - broadly in line with economist forecasts. The four-week average level of claims also fell from 457,000 to 452,500. The Kansas City production index rose from +3 to +14 in July.

U.S. stocks finished lower Thursday for a second consecutive day, as disappointing revenue from utilities and consumer companies pushed aside a handful of strong earnings reports Thursday, though the market remained on track to close out the best month since July 2009.

The Aussie dollar staged a remarkable recovery over the last 24 hours rallying from a post inflation report low of 0.8904 to trade at a high of 0.9040 overnight.

The Australian Dollar has opened around USD0.9000 this morning after trending higher in the early part of the European session.

Uranium producer Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ERA) (ASX: ERA) said on Friday that its first half profit suffered declines as the company saw sliding production, spiralling maintenance costs and a better performing Australian dollar all conspiring in pulling down its revenues.

Peabody Energy, the world's biggest listed coal group, has shown us just how profitable the Australian coal industry is ...

Home prices and superannuation, are contenders for top of the chat charts around dining tables, water coolers and bbq's....

Australia's biggest investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX; MQG) expects its advisory, securities, fixed income and commodities divisions to post lower earnings as global markets stumble and deals wane.

Neither the buyers or the sellers can gain the upper hand in this market as a rollercoaster ride ends with the Dow down 30.

Internet service provider iiNet is set to acquire a division of AAPT from Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Ltd and according to a report by The Australian on Friday, about $60 million would change hands, with Telecom NZ also gearing to sell down 17.4 percent of its iiNet holdings to institutional investors.

The Australian share market is likely to start weaker this morning after a fall on Wall Street overnight, although resource and energy stocks may gain after the price of metals and oil increased.

A rebound seems to be underway in the Chinese sharemarket after the big fall this year.That's because, as the AMP's chie...

Harold Mitchell has sold Mitchell Communication Group (ASX: MCU), which he founded 34 years ago, to British media company Aegis Group for $363 million. The Australian media mogul will, however, continue to lead the expanded company.

Suddenly Australia is a one off in the booming Asian region, instead of being ahead of the pack.After rate rises startin...

The US Federal Reserve meets early next month and already we know what we can expect from the meeting.No change on rates...

Increased competition is making attracting subscribers more difficult for Pay-TV group Austar, so brokers are trimming expectations for the stock.

Experts have warned that retail may take years to recover with continual sales over the past year having trained consumers to expect and only accept reduced prices.The warnings come as research group TNS' Discount Retailing Study found that 65% of Australians perceive retailers to constantly have sa...

Speaking in Orange today Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown called for a national register of foreign purchases of land or water in rural Australia."In the coming century food and fibre production will be a huge issue as the world population soars to 10 billion people or more," said Senator Brown."I...