Although both Australian retailers David Jones and Myer registered sales slump in the last quarter, the two are bent on recovering lost ground by offering hefty discounts for their mid-season clearance sale which begin Wednesday or a day ahead of the sale opening by department stores.
The newly appointed chief executive of Qantas's international operations has a lot of work cut out for him following the warning of by Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce of an expected net loss of $330 million for the financial year that ends this June.
Abu Dhabi's flagship carrier, Etihad Airways, in support of its expansion plans, announced on Tuesday it has acquired a 4 per cent controlling stake in Virgin Australia Holdings.
China Airlines Ltd. and EVA Airways Corp., top two air passenger carriers of Taiwan, expect second quarter profits to recover on the prevailing inexpensive prices of aircraft turbine fuel.
Australian parents are protesting the rising cost of child care in the country. Reports said that the cost of child care went up 11 per cent in the past 12 months.
Australia's borrowing costs could again be slashed on Tuesday as a new survey had indicated that companies were holding off on their hiring plans notwithstanding the vaunted mining boom relied on by the federal government as the country's economic backbone.
Unnerved by a slowing Chinese economic growth, Germany's Volkswagen AG over the weekend announced a massive shakeup of its top level honchos to realise ambitious growth plans in the second-largest economy.
Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) remains positive on its business outlook despite the softening market price for iron ore, the premier raw material that has been fuelling China's incredible industrialisation pace.
Economists warned of a triple disaster that is looming over the global economy following release over the weekend of jobs data in the U.S. and weak factory output in China. They identified the disaster as chaos in Europe, recession in the United States and slowdown of the Chinese economy.
Major Australia's retailers such as David Jones and Myer continued to suffer from the weak consumer confidence. David Jones reported on Thursday a 2.9 per cent dip in sales to $399.8 million for the three months to April 28. Myer last week registered a 2.1 per cent decline in third quarter like-for-like sales.
To address global financial concerns over the European situation as well as weakening consumer confidence in Australia, Westpac chief economist Bill Evans forecast four more overnight cash rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in 2012.
A new earthquake hits Italy which brought more destruction and death to the country. According to reports, 17 deaths were already accounted for due to this new earthquake.
Amidst perception that domestic growth has stalled and key industries outside of the mining arena were struggling, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) unfurled on Thursday some glimmer of hope as it reported a considerable spike in investment flow during the first quarter this year.
Wesfarmers is optimistic for the current financial year that the company plans to open 19 Coles stores and refurbish 400 outlets in the coming months.
More bad news wait Australian workers as another round of job cuts loom over employees of an insurer and the country's Foreign Affairs Department.
A regional carrier has blamed the carbon tax for its decision to axe two routes, but no less than Prime Minister Julia Gillard belied the claim.
Coles and Woolworths's battle with global food giant Heinz may have subsided, but the two Australian supermarket giants are facing another war this time. Not another price war between the two competitors, but public perception which at this time is not kind towards the use of cheap, foreign labour.
The latest NAB Online Retail Index released on Tuesday showed that in the year to April demand for products such as household appliances and electronic device dipped 5 per cent. However, for the same period, housewives online spending grew by 20 per cent.
Home sales in the country saw an uptick in April, as shown in the new Homes Sales Report issued on Tuesday by the Housing Industry Association (HIA), but the surge could prove insufficient to ward off creeping threats of recession in the sector.
The fears of hundreds of layoffs as a result of the financial collapse of the Hastie Group moved a step closer as the company stood down on Tuesday morning 2,700 workers.
Technological breakthroughs have vastly improved man's life expectancy but in the manufacturing sector the introduction of automation appears to have pushed down thousands of workers into brink of unhealthy condition.
The Australian share market is moving to recover some lost ground on the first day of the last trading week of May. The catchphrase "Sell in May and go away" appears to have rung true for investors so far this month, however solid buying is helping to support the main All Ordinaries Index (XAO) today on hopes Greece will approve its latest bail-out conditions. At lunchtime in the East, the XAO is up 21.4pts or 0.5pct to 4102.6.
An Ernst & Young study has estimated the cost of underproductivity of Australian workers at over $41 billion a year in salaries alone.
Unexpected gains in Australia's employment figures in April could be reversed as hundreds of workers may become jobless with the collapse of the Hastie Group and Games.
This could mean another round of iron ore shipment surge for Australia as China announced on Friday its approval of the $US11-billon steel project proposal submitted by Shanghai-based Baosteel Group.
Italian fashion brand label Prada SpA is about to embark on an ambitious expansion rollout in the next three years mainly to pursue the promising income from the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as well as from countries in the Persian Gulf.
The flight of China's first commercial plane has been delayed owing to the rescheduling done by Chinese authorities of its final airworthiness test certification.
Rio Tinto remains on track to expand its iron ore operations despite earlier indications from the mining giant's CEO, Tom Albanese, that at a certain period the company will temporarily slow down on its output plans.
Besides Qantas aircraft maintenance engineers who were at the receiving end this week of Chief Executive Alan Joyce's ax, another victim to the announced revamp of the flag carrier would be the tourism sector in the Northern Territory.
The World Bank has picked on Australia for its over-dependence on its resource exports to China, which could eventually hamper growth in the Asia-Pacific Region to 7.6% this year.
