BUSINESS

Australia's once-booming car manufacturing industry is now dead with the final blow delivered by Japanese car maker Toyota when it announced it will pull out of the country in 2017. In May 2013, Ford Motors said it would stop manufacturing cars in Australia. In December, Holden by General Motors followed suit. Toyota has sealed the fate of Australia's car industry by closing its assembly plants by the end of 2017. The last announcement has triggered fears of recession in Australia.

A recent household upload index has shown that Canada ranks only as a mere slow-moving 54th among the nations as far as Internet upload speeds is concerned. The country was listed just below Kenya and just above Mexico.

Equities in the US managed to extend their gains despite some disappointing economic data. Retail sales, unemployment claims and business inventories all missed consensus estimates, while Janet Yellen's Senate testimony was postponed due to weather-related issues. Despite all these negative prints, momentum still picked up with Comcast's TWC buyout helping sentiment along. Perhaps some are hoping the disappointing data could result in the Fed diverting/pausing its current tapering path, bu...

US retail sales fell by a surprising 0.4% in January after a 0.1% fall in December. Core sales (excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials, and food services) fell 0.3%. US initial jobless claims rose by 8,000 to 339,000 last week. US business inventories rose by 0.5% in December after rising by 0.4% in November. Analysts believe that the current level of inventory is unsustainable and it is likely that businesses will ease production to work through current stocks over the March quarte...

Valentine's Day is almost here! In case you don't have any Valentine's Day gift for your loved one yet, why not get him or her some chocolates? It's better than flowers because it's edible and yummy. Plus, it's more affordable than jewelry. And, it's so much easier to buy anywhere because it is available in a lot of stores, whether brick and mortar stores or online shops. The only challenge in getting chocolates as gifts for Valentine's Day is picking the best one. Due to...

Apple's decision to repurchase its stock worth $14 billion did not only get Carl Icahn, a billionaire activist investor, to drop his buyback proposal. It also indicated the company's confidence in hinting the launch of its new product categories.

The Australian share market snapped a healthy five day winning streak today, to close marginally lower on the back of a disappointing jobs report.

An Apple designer disses his dream job of working with Apple

International Data Corporation (IDC) reports that Apple iOS had underperformed in the overall market as compared to Android

The ASX 200 has spent the morning consolidating having risen for 5 consecutive sessions. The absence of catalysts from US and European markets last night a flurry of local companies reporting results meant that the index kept to a narrow trading range for most of the morning.

Air Canada's shares hit turbulence on Wednesday after the company announced an unfavorable fourth quarter 2013 results blaming the weak Canadian dollar and severe weather patterns.

Mexico's Grupo Bimbo SAB has acquired Canada Bread Company Limited for C$1.83 billion ($1.65 billion), the North American company announced on Wednesday.

Choppy US trade has preceded a day of very interesting Chinese data, and the call for an 'orderly' unwind of monetary stimulus from the Fed overnight, suggests the market is in for a bit of a pause over the next two days.

The US Federal Government ran a $10.4 billion budget deficit in January, against expectations of $27.5 billion deficit.

Because of a new federal law in 2013 that banned the sale of alcoholic drinks inside sports stadium and arenas, plus a local ordinance approved in January 2014 that also prohibited sale of alcohol within 50 metres of sports venues, the Sochi Olympics is considered the driest winter games in Olympic history.

The NZX 50 Index added 21.089 points on Wednesday, equivalent to 0.4 per cent, bringing it to 4869.972. The rise in New Zealand stocks came after the SkyCity Entertainment Group met guidance for its first-half earnings despite the strong kiwi dollar.

Higher demand from Chinese buyers led to a record-high importation by China of cooper and iron ore from major sources such as Australia and Chile. Bloomberg reports that besides using these commodities for construction, it also serves as collateral to secure credit.

Apple Inc's investors may have overlooked something that might ease their doubts regarding the company's future growth. Asymco's Horace Dediu stacked and compared revenue categories of Google's core business and Apple's iTunes division.

The Australian share market made it five wins in a row today, closing at its highest level since mid -January on the back of positive gains on Wall Street, positive Chinese economic data and solid earnings results.

New Zealand is expected to have a bigger growth rate in 2014 as Westpac bank raises its growth forecast to 4.2 per cent from the previous rate of 3.8 per cent. The bank revised its predictions following New Zealand's strong trade performance. In Westpac's recent economic review, the bank expects the Kiwi dollar to trade above $80 U.S. cents against the U.S. dollar and over 90 cents against the Australian dollar all the way to 2015.

Tokyo has a new governor, Yoichi Masuzoe. And with his election, observers believed it won't be long before some, if not all, of Japan's idling nuclear power plants get to restart again.

Analysts say that Apple Inc (NASDAQ AAPL) is cheap and it is the best time to own the stock now

Fishing communities near the Earth's equator, particularly those in Southeast Asia, are at risk of losing their source of food and livelihood. An Australian-led study has found that the burgeoning climate change will make ocean waters to go warmer, pushing marine species to seek comfortable conditions elsewhere.

The Australian sharemarket is modestly higher at lunch, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 0.4 per cent, taking the gains since last Thursday to 4 per cent. U.S. stocks jumped by 1.2 per cent (only the second time this calendar year the DOW has gained in excess of 1 per cent). U.S. Fed chief Janet Yellen delivered her first testimony before congress and calmed the market. She didn't mince her words and seemed set to continue with the tapering while expressing her concerns relating to the ...

Janet Yellen's maiden testimony to House Financial Services Committee may well have come from her predecessor.

In testimony to the US House of Representatives, US Federal Reserve chair, Janet Yellen, said that she strongly supports the current policy strategy and expects a ´´great deal of continuity´´. Yellen also noted that recovery in the labour market is far from complete.

Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has decided to drop his $50 billion stock buyback proposal to Apple Inc after respected proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) criticised his attempts of micromanagement. Apple Inc's CEO has announced in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the company has recently repurchased $14 billion of its stocks.

The ASX 200 completed its fourth consecutive day of gains on Tuesday. Much like yesterday, the index started the trade at the lows and ended around close to the best levels of the session. The ASX was shut down for 30 minutes this afternoon as a result of market data related issues. Volumes remained at healthy levels with $4.3 billion changing hands.

Despite a slightly weaker start this morning, the Australian sharmarket is managing to maintain some modest gains at lunch. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.4 per cent and has cracked through 5250.0pts.Our second largest trading partner; Japan is closed today for a holiday1.