MARKETS

Staying away from French fries to avoid weight gain? Not anymore, Burger king launches Satisfry. A low calorie and low fat Fries, which will not let you, avoid your urges for eating out.

While Australia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) is expected to profit when it starts export of the commodity, consumers, however, may be at the losing end with price of LNG expected to triple.

The Australian share market defied the gloomsters today, to notch up a third consecutive session of gains taking stocks to a fresh five year high. It was also the seventh weekly win for the share market.

Friday morning has seen the ASX200 maintain the constructive tone that has been a feature of recent days. The index appears to be accepting prices at higher levels on improving volume. At lunch time on Friday the market remains within sight of the best levels of the last fortnight. Equally significant is the fact that multi year highs are a part of the picture, with the index hitting new 5 year highs this morning. This last point is significant when considering the general back drop which is bei...

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 55 points or 0.4% while the S&P gained 0.4% to 1698 and the Nasdaq added 0.

The uptrend holds for a 15th week. The market is back at peak levels and Monday will be the end of a very good quarter for the markets.

The Maestro, Alan Greenspan, has a new book slated to hit shelves Oct. 22. Its title: The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting.

The Australian share market has managed to finish higher for a second consecutive session, despite another night of selling on Wall Street and generally weaker sentiment across the Asian region. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished the day's trade up 18 points or 0.3 per cent to 5288.2pts.

The resolve of yesterday's buyers has been tested today in early trade on Thursday. Similar circumstances to Wednesday were in place at the open of trade after US stocks ended lower for a 5th day on the trot. The declines for US indices weren't sinister, although the related statistics were less than encouraging, for example the SP 500 finished at the lows of the day; more importantly the index settled below the 1700 mark. As a result the local market saw selling from the outset, at its wo...

The Australian Dollar is higher as the greenback is feeling the pressure over the approaching federal budget.

By Kathleen Brooks, Research Director UK EMEA, FOREX.comThe next four weeks are a critical test for Washington: will they avoid a government shutdown and the first even US credit default or not? First up is the budget tussle.

By Jonathan BarrattIf you told the market in Sept 2010 that stimulus was going to remain in play for the foreseeable future, the gold price would have rocketed head.

We've seen a slight squaring off of risk plays, with equities marginally lower. Despite the minor selling, most asset classes just continue to maintain some fairly tight ranges as global markets remain in a lull phase. US fiscal negotiations are also keeping some investors at bay and prompting some caution in most asset classes. There was limited reaction to a US durable goods report which came in at +0.1% versus 0% expected. New home sales data also came in relatively in line with consensus....

In US economic news, orders for durable goods - goods expected to last more than three years - rose by 0.1pct in August, in line with expectations. Excluding defence and aircraft, orders rose by 1.5pct, just short on the 1.9pct expected rise. New home sales soared by 7.9pct in August to a 421,000 annual rate, in line with forecasts.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 61 points or 0.4% while the S&P lost 0.3% to 1692 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.

Having learnt its lessons from the botulism scare caused by tainted milk products made by Fonterra, New Zealand is not taking any chances this time and immediately halted the export of another major agricultural product.

Apple Inc's shares may just reach $600, following reports that the company sold 9 million units of new iPhones in three days. The speculations over a deal with China Mobile may also fuel Apple's stock surge along with recommendations from some of the most respected market analysts.

The Australian share market closed higher on Wednesday, following three sessions of losses and after a mixed night on global share markets. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) added 40.6pts by close to 5270.1pts, just 7 points lower than the intra-day high.

The ASX200 has started in strong fashion in Wednesday ignoring the weakness seen in the US overnight. The initial setup for local trade was less than optimistic after the Dow closed around the worst levels if its session.

The Australian Dollar is slightly lower amid more signs that the US economic recovery may not be all that strong.

Japan looks east instead of south.

In US economic news, consumer confidence fell from 81.8 to 79.7 in September, short of forecasts for a result near 79.9. The Case Shiller home price index rose 0.6pct in July to be up 12.4pct on a year ago. The FHFA home price index rose 1.0pct in July and8.8pct over the year and the Richmond Fed composite index eased from +14 to zero in September. The Redbook chain store sales index also was 3.6pct up over the year, compared with a 3.4pct gainin the previous week.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportWith the Dow Jones index now in record high territory and the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index also at levels never seen before, the key question for many is ? how long does this bull market run for?Let's face it, if we thought it was, say for only one yea...

South Australia is targeting to increase by eight times its iron ore exports through the development of the $5-billion Braemar Bulk Export Project.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 66 points or 0.4% while the S&P lost 0.3% to 1697 and the Nasdaq was flat.

By Chris Weston, IG MarketsThe talking point on the floor today has been firmly around the outperformance of the Australian market, despite a slightly weaker lead from the S&P, a flat day's trade in China and a softer Nikkei.

The Australian share market ended in the red for a third consecutive session on Tuesday, weighed down by mining stocks and ongoing confusion over the US Central Bank's expected tapering policy.

The Australian share market is in the red for a third consecutive session, after US stocks closed lower and most commodity prices were sold down.

By Greg PeelIn July last year, Japan restarted its Ohi 3 and 4 reactors and so brought to an end the post-Fukushima period of zero nuclear energy production in the country.