BUSINESS

Samsung latest flagship Galaxy S4 becomes the fastest-selling smartphone ever with four million shipments in 4 days after its release on April 26, 2013. Galaxy S4 breaks the record of Galaxy S3 of selling 3 million units within 21 days.

Despite the global gold demand trade decelerated in the first quarter of 2013 compared from the year ago, the actual exchange of gold among small-time investors in the Middle East, India, and China was very much alive through jewellery in the same period.

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.

For the past ten years, in what could be America's most sensitive health topic to date, a report has disclosed that the number of mental health cases in the world's freest economy is rising.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, topped the Billionaires' List of Bloomberg, released on Friday. He grabbed the title World's Richest Person from Carlos Slim of Mexico.

Experts and researchers working with marine mammals are now being advised to wear protective suits and gear as the dreaded influenza A H1N1 subtype virus has mutated and had been detected present and active in elephant seals off the coast of central California.

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.

Gina Rinehart, the richest person in Australia, is renewing her criticism of the federal government's policies, hitting it for incurring debt levels that are unsustainable and for treating the mining industry like an ATM.

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.

A low-cost diarrhoea vaccine for children has been developed by India, enabling parents all over the world to avail of a cheaper alternative medicine that could cure and save their children from the deadly Rotavirus.

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.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 60 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P gained 0.5% to 1658 and the Nasdaq added 0.

Sellers got the upper hand in the post Federal Budget session on Wednesday. The weaker tone was primarily derived from big picture matters driving global markets at present, rather than a response to the budget. Some have associated the drop in the Aussie dollar in the last day to the larger than expected deficit in the budget.

China now has at least two subtypes of the Influenza A viruses lurking and circulating around its perimeters. And as more members of the poultry and fowls industry get culled, not only food sales get affected but also sales of badminton's shuttlecocks and apparel's down jackets.

The key to blowing up a successful asset bubble is that you must constantly attract new money into the asset class you're trying to inflate. By that standard, yesterday's Australia's housing finance figures were better than expected but worse than required. The numbers were up. But new home buyers have not yet been bullied into the market by lower rates.

If you can't remember the definition of stupidity, events this week will refresh your memory. One popular definition of stupidity is repeating the same behaviour but expecting a different result, like pushing on a door that opens by pulling. A more current and topical one would be cutting interest rates 511 times in six years in order to raise growth and/or lower the unemployment rate.

Despite a stronger start to the session, the Australian market is slipping for the first time in six sessions. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.8 per cent or 44.1 pts to 5,158.4. Investors initially reacted to healthy gains from global sharemarkets overnight rather than Tuesday's federal budget, however the rise was short lived with most sectors turning negative about one hour into the session.

While China continues to wrestle H7N9 which had so far claimed 35 lives, it has succumbed to yet another subtype of the Influenza A viruses, this time the H5N1. The country had reported an outbreak in its southern part Tibet, where a child has died and 64 other children remain infected.

Lakshimi Mittal, owner of the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, has urged Europe to erect trade barriers to protect its manufacturers, claiming the future of the European Union manufacturing depended on politicians helping the industry face what he said was unfair competition from China, reported the Financial Times on Sunday.

After a tragic construction disaster in Bangladesh, European retailers, including H&M and Wal-Mart, signed the Bangladesh safety accord which will introduce measures aimed at boosting safety conditions in garment factories, taking a step to securing lives of workers. Undeniably, unions had a big part in pushing the European retailers to take action in improving workplace safety at Bangladeshi garment facilities.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia added six new cases of the SARS-like novel coronavirus in its Eastern Province, where two of those infected were hospital healthcare workers, immediately creating anxieties that hospitals are no longer even safe places to go to in times of medical distress.

Guide:The Short Report draws upon data provided by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) to highlight significant weekly and monthly moves in short positions registered on stocks listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).