MARKETS

The “troika” composed of the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank have been engaged in discussions since last week regarding the rescue package for Greece but no final decisions have been consummated until now.

By Greg PeelThe number of times gold has suddenly accelerated well above its underlying trend line over the past few years, and "gone parabolic" as they say, and then sharply fallen back again are becoming too many to count.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 183 points or 1.7% while the S&P gained 1.8% to 1164 and the Nasdaq added 1.9%.

Australian shares leapt the most in almost three years as investor sentiment improved on renewed optimism a solution is near at hand for the Eurozone debt crisis. The local market opened more than one per cent stronger after Wall Street surged for its second straight day, then eased slightly after midday but soared in the last hour of trading. By the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had reached its highest level since September 21, rising 143.4 points, or 3.65 per cent to 4,069.9 and the br...

And shares in mining services and rail group Bradken Ltd finished up 3c yesterday at $6.24 after the company's AGM in Sydney was told earnings in the 2012 were on track.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has taken further steps in implementing a reduction in interest rates even as presumptions increased that interest rates will remain unchanged at 1.5 percent.

Retailers all over the world are not so upbeat about forecasts for the holidays although sales in November and December are expected to go up by at least 3 percent.

Shares of coal miner New Hope soared yesterday after the company said it had received several takeover proposals and revealed it will launch a formal process to assess the offers.

- Russell Investments releases September quarter fund manager survey- Survey shows fund mangers continue to prefer defensive assets- Australian equities seen as undervalued- Interest cuts seen as most likely catalyst for domestic non-mining growthBy Chris ShawIn the September quarter investors have ...

More evidence the Australian economy is better placed than all the business and consumer sentiment surveys have been suggesting.

Shares of coal miner New Hope Corp. spiked on Monday by as much as 14.6 percent after it announced it had received "a number of preliminary and incomplete proposals from third parties" interested on a prospective takeover of the company.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 131 points or 1.2% while the S&P gained 1.8% to 1144 and the Nasdaq added 2.3%.

A sharp rally on Wall Street has halted the three day sell off around the world.

Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi project with Rio Tinto PLC and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. could end up in the pits after both miners flatly rejected the government's request to reopen the deal to boost Mongolia's stake from 34 percent to 50 percent.

Molycorp (MCP) on Tuesday announced the discovery of a heavy rare earth ore deposit in southern California.

The threat of escalating mass actions looms as more Greek workers are joining work stoppages to declare their vehement objection against the 6.6 billion euro austerity plan of Prime Minister George Papandreou.

By Greg PeelInsurance companies collect premiums on policies and invest those proceeds in various financial markets.

By Greg PeelAt the close of trade last Friday, the CME Group announced it was raising the margins required for trading in gold, silver and copper futures contracts on Comex.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 153 points or 1.4% while the S&P jumped up 2.2% and the Nasdaq a full 3.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEDT)US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has pledged to take further steps to support an economy that was ´´close to faltering´´. Bernanke was providing testimony to the Joint Economic Committee.

U.S. stocks staged a fierce comeback in the final minutes of trading on a report that European Union finance ministers are examining ways of co-ordinating recapitalizations of financial institutions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently up 22 points, or 0.2%, at 10678, after earlier falling as much as 251 points.

Stand by for the mother of all speculative binges about whether the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates at next month's board meeting.

No wonder China is buying all the coal it could get its hands on. According to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2011, China is now the world's largest consumer of energy.

China has accused the United States of provoking a confrontation that is both costly and unnecessary as Chinese officials called on the U.S. Congress to reconsider its plan of passing a legislation that would dictate on Beijing to allow the appreciation of Yuan.

European and Asian stockmarkets fell sharply yesterday on rising concerns of a Greek sovereign default, and additional worries over China's financial health.

The global stockmarket continues to have a bad case of multiple personality, worrying about Greece and the eurozone imploding one day, and then reversing those fears the next.

Japan is buying stakes in coal mining firms in a bid to shift to coal-fired power following the March 11 tsunami and nuclear disaster.

Thanks to coal and ore, Australia's trade surplus in August improved remarkably and showed signs of continued recovery amid the summer floods that forced many mines to close and massive concerns of a global slowdown.

By Greg PeelThe minutes of the September RBA monetary policy meeting told us that the current setting "left the board well placed to respond to evolving global and domestic economic conditions".