Vittorio Hernandez

It was an uneventful start to the trading week, with the Australian market closing largely flat. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) eased by just 0.1 per cent or 5.5pts while still remaining above the key 5500pt level. The Independence Day holiday in the U.S. on Friday and the subsequent closure of American markets provided local stocks no lead today.

New real estate social marketing site Nestbuilder.com has surpassed Zillow's total number of listings within half a year of its launch.

The Australian sharemarket is off to a quiet start following a holiday in the U.S on Friday. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down by just a few points with weakness from the miners, energy stocks, industrials and healthcare sector the biggest drags.

Many shock jocks probably think their listeners have grown immune to their strong language and talk teetering on verbal abuse.

With US markets having been closed on Friday, there are very limited leads for the region to work off this morning. Risk currencies have gotten off to a relatively flat start to the week, which is a firm indicator that nothing much has changed sentiment-wise as of Friday. Perhaps something to focus on is the weakness we saw in European trade after a disappointing German factory orders reading. This saw the major European bourses lose ground, apart from the FTSE which was relatively flat for the ...

US financial markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day.

Pope Francis will make history again on Monday, July 7, by being the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to meet with sex victims of paedophile priests. The move represents a big leap forward for the church which had been accused in the past of covering up the sex abuse cases involving clergy by moving those accused to other parishes or dioceses and not cooperating with authorities.

In the continuing saga of theories put forward by investigators tasked to find the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, Australian authorities said a power outage could have hit the Boeing 777 jet.

Whether his opponent inside the ring is Juan Manual Marquez, Amir Khan, Miguel Cotto or Terence Crawford, eight-division title holder Manny Pacquiao will beat them all, wrote Francisco Gurrola of Boxing News 24.

Mining giant BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) said the 31 per cent drop in the price of iron ore in the international market may not be the last. It anticipated further declines in the price of the key steel-making ingredient in the coming months, said BHP Billiton President of Marketing Mike Henry.

Even before Australia's national swim team could fly to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, its members are receiving criticism because of their swimwear for allegedly drawing attention to the crotch area.

Hollywood agent Gina Rodriguez is the person handling the showbiz career of 30-year-old Jeremy Meeks who reportedly landed a £20,000 modeling contract after his mug shot from the Stockton police went viral.

The local sharemarket has just had its best week in four and a half months, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) rising by approximately 1.5 per cent over the past five days. Better than expected employment growth in the U.S. gave local investors an additional push forward today.

The Manhattan spring market posted very activities and generated more sales compared to the same period last year, brokerage firms reported. Douglas Ellman Real Estate said although inventory has been rising since reaching an unprecedented low at the end of 2013, the supply of apartments for sale still remains unusually low.

The Australian sharemarket is rising for the third straight day thanks to better than expected economic news last night. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.6 per cent, is trading above 5500pts for the first time in a month and almost all sectors are higher. If the market can hold onto the gains for the remainder of the session, this is set to be the best week in 4.5 month for local shares.

Freedom from the dictates of a programme director and general manager as well as technical glitches caused by a radio transmitter is how American radio partners Brad Krantz and Britt Whitmire see their shift to podcasting.

A partly built overpass in Belo Horizonte in Brazil collapsed on a public bus, killing at least two persons and injuring 19 people on Thursday.

US equities extended gains on the back of a monster jobs report which essentially reassured investors that the US economy is on track for a Q2 bounce. This saw the S&P close at an all-time high for the 25th time this year. The non-farm employment change reading for June showed a whopping 288,000 jobs added while the unemployment rate dropped to 6.1%. Both readings smashed expectations and this helped push the US dollar higher across the board. Additionally there were also upward revisions for Ap...

In US economic data, non-farm payrolls lifted by 288,000 in June. The unemployment rate fell from 6.3% to 6.1% - the lowest level since September 2008. Data for April and May was revised to show a total of 29,000 more jobs than previously reported. The service sector drove the job gains while manufacturing and construction jobs also recorded a healthy lift. Over the first half of 2014 jobs growth has now averaged 231,000 jobs per month, the best start to a calendar year since 2006.

Before then Prime Minister Julia Gillard stepped down from power, she accused former Opposition leader Tony Abbott a misogynist. Now the PM, Mr Abbott was called by an incoming senator, Jacqui Lambie, a political psychopath.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is blaming the plugging of electronic devices on standby for the wastage of electricity which could power substantially a country's power requirements.

There is a possibility that unbeaten American boxer Floyd Mayweather's Sept 13 rematch with Argentinean boxer Marcos Maidana won't be held in MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The venue could possibly be in New York state as Mayweather Promotions is in the final stage of acquiring a licence from the New York State Athletic Commission.

The Australian sharemarket continued to improve this afternoon, with local shares rising by close to 0.75 per cent. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) jumped by 0.7 per cent with all sectors finishing higher.

Britons' obsession with their royal family came out again amid speculations that Kate Middleton could be pregnant again. The buzz, although unconfirmed, is that the Duchess of Cambridge is with another child, or possibly twins, and she would make the second baby announcement in time for the 1st birthday of Prince George, her first child with Prince William.

The Australian sharemarket is having its best week in two months with shares rising for the second day. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.7 per cent or 37pts to 5477.8. U.S markets ended modestly higher overnight with a better than expected report on private sector employment in North America helping.

It was a busy night on the US economic calendar with the ADP jobs report and comments from Fed chair Janet Yellen hitting the wires. The ADP non-farm employment change came in at a much-better-than-expected 281,000, smashing estimates of 207,000. This saw expectations ramp up as we head into the official non-farm payrolls reading later today. With the July 4thIndependence day holiday on Friday, the data is being released on Thursday instead of the traditional Friday. The market is expecting to s...

Federal Reserve Chair Yellen delivered a speech at an IMF conference in Washington. She believes that raising interest rates to fight asset bubbles would be a bad idea, instead she argued better regulation would mitigate financial risk.

The long-held belief in the athletic world that sportsmen should abstain from sex during completion appears to have been proven false, based on the performance of the teams that are participating in the ongoing World Cup 2014 games in Brazil.

Similar to the situation in many countries, political parties and politicians are the least liked institutions in Australia. Only 13 per cent of Aussies trust the political parties, while the most trusted institution is the High Court,