MARKETS

With the exception of the first half hour of trade, sellers dominated the session on Wednesday. The news pulse in corporate and economic terms provided further encouragement.

After it had allowed its girls to engage in sports in their private schools, oil-rich nation Saudi Arabia is now divided whether to extend such empowerment privilege to allow its women to watch sports in a stadium due to be completed in 2014.

The Australian share market is trading slightly lower in the early session, despite record highs being reached on Wall Street overnight. The US Dow Jones Index made it 19 consecutive Tuesday wins, while the broader share market and NASDAQ Indices were higher for the 9th consecutive Tuesday.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportBy Peter Switzer founder and publisher of the Switzer Super ReportFor those caught in a "will I or won't I go long BHP Billiton" at these levels, the tennis tournament between Roger Montgomery and my fanatical BHP Billiton supporter, who I nicknamed the BHP...

FNArena is surveying investor sentiment in Australia in an effort to generate, over time, a guage similar to the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey in the US.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 52 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P gained 0.2% to 1669 and the Nasdaq added 0.

The selling that marked the early part of the session subsided in the early afternoon and the ASX200 was able to finish off the lows of the day. Although profit warnings from a number of companies saw investors reflect on the broader earnings picture at present.

Local stocks have come under selling pressure in early trade on Tuesday, despite predictions of a flat session.

By Kathleen Brooks, Research Director UK EMEA, FOREX.comIt's been pretty slow-going today as economic data has been thin on the ground.

By Andrew NelsonLast week was a slow, if not somewhat significant week on the uranium spot market. Slow because only three deals were done, with just 300,000 pounds U3O8 changing hands.

Canada glories in many titles. Similar to Canada, Toronto is frequently and constantly ranked at the top of rankings. In some rankings, the country was ranked as one of the best places to do business.

Bad money drives out good money. That's the short version of Gresham's Law. What it really means is that people interested in self-preservation don't follow trends. When inflation runs amok in financial markets or in the economy, prudent people tend to hoard what's valuable. They spend what's less valuable before it becomes even more devalued (paper money).

Gold experts continue to see bleaker days ahead for the yellow metal, once considered a safe haven. Ric Deverall of Credit Suisse forecast the price of gold would further dip to $1,100 in 2013 and even plunge more to $1,000 in the next five years.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 19 points, or 0.1%, while the S&P lost 0.1% to 1666 and the Nasdaq lost 0.

The afternoon session saw the local index retreat from its best levels of the session when it was seeing gains of more than 1%. The main event of the week sees the US Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke delivering a testimony to the Joint Economic Committee in Washington on Wednesday night local time. Whilst the purpose of the Mr Bernanke's chat is to update the politicians on the state of the economy, the key focus will be on Quantitative Easing.

The Australian share market has hit five year highs in early trade on Monday, following a strong lead from Wall Street and a weaker Australian dollar.

Until recently, it was only Amazon, one of the most profitable online stores in world, that was in the public eye for irregularities in its UK tax payments. May 15 saw another tech major - Google Inc. - added to the list of high-profile companies with business operations in the UK, which despite earning huge profits continue to circumvent local tax guidelines and get away with paying low tax.

The Australian market not only held onto its gains but extended them further this afternoon. The ASX200 Index jumped by 0.3 per cent, making it three stronger sessions this week. Despite the rise, local shares slipped by 0.5 per cent over the past five sessions. This makes it the first week of losses in a month.

Finally, after two straight days of losses the Aussie market is creeping higher. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.2 per cent or 8.8pts to 5,153.3. The gains are being recorded despite weakness in US markets, which slipped by 0.3 per cent however are still around all-time highs.

FNArena is surveying investor sentiment in Australia in an effort to generate, over time, a guage similar to the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey in the US.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaI joined Twitter. Not because I am curious what this celebrity has to say about her kids, or to read that another one is waiting for a connecting flight, impatiently.

By Michael Lombardi, MBA for Profit ConfidentialSomething is starting to smell in the bond market...Since their peak in July of 2012, 30-year U.

Gold continued to lost its luster as prices of spot gold futures for June delivery dropped 0.7 per cent and closed on Thursday at $1.386.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York. It is the sixth consecutive prices that the price went down, and the longest slump for the precious metal once considered a safe haven.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 42 points, or 0.3%, while the S&P lost 0.5% to 1650 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.

The Australian share market was sold off for a second consecutive session today, despite new record highs on Wall Street and European shares closing at five year highs.

Despite record highs on Wall Street overnight and a positive start to the day's trade, local stocks are back in the red at lunchtime in the East, weighed down by mining players and weakness in the healthcare stocks.

Dairy Australia said on Thursday that there would likely be a 10 to 15 per cent increase in milk prices in 2013. The announcement spells good news for Australian farmers, but represents bad news for consumers.

When I hear news reports about consumer spending being soft and businesses struggling, frankly I think it's all rubbish. From my perspective, no other time in history has been so promising for people with a great idea (some call them entrepreneurs) to go from zero dollars to a million overnight.

Not much action following the new Dow high. Not much follow-through. But not a big breakdown either.