BUSINESS

Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 4-30-13

Great start for the Aussie market with the ASX 200 index hitting a 52 week high in early trade after getting a real leg up from a strong rally in banking stocks. By lunch The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) stood at 5,145 points up 38points.

iPhone 5 Sold for $700 at Fake Apple Store in Afghanistan

Look out world. It seems not everything fake or imitation just originates from China. Another Asian country, war-torn Afghanistan, has been reportedly selling iPhone 5s for $700 courtesy of a retailer not recognized by the Apple Store hierarchy.
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Australian Deficit: Where Did the Money Go?

Ah. So that's what happens when you spend money you expect to have and then the money fails to show up. You get a $7.5 billion federal deficit that will be around $12 billion by the end of the year. If Standard and Poor's said Australia's AAA credit rating was under threat without a government commitment to reduce the deficit, then aren't bigger government deficits a threat to Australia's credit rating now?

BHP Gets Rid of Pinto Valley for $650m

BHP Billiton informed that it finally got rid of the Pinto Valley copper mine and a railroad in Arizona. The lucky buyer of these assets is Canada's Capstone Mining Corp. which is to pay as much as $650 million to the global mining giant.

Revolution at JPMorgan as It Looses Co-COO Bisignano

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. the financial behemoth, which employees 258,965 people and is considered the largest US Bank with operations across the globe, announced the departure of its Co-Chief Operating Officer Frank Bisignano on the 28th April 2013.

Samsung to Release 4 More Tablets in 2013?

It is not just the new 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3 that South Korean tech giant Samsung will release in 2013. Citing a Samsung tablet plans for 2013 leak, SamMobile claims the tech firm will release four more tablets for the remainder of the year.

Sings of Good Times to Come – Bank Lending Seen Creeping Up in UK

As per the latest Ernst & Young (E&Y) Item Club report the "Bank Lending of loans," UK business is going to see an upward swing by the end of 2013. If it does transpire that banks increase loan lending to UK business, it will be for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis which catapulted the markets and economy in turmoil.

Australian Stock Market Report – Afternoon 4-29-13

It was a solid start to the trading week with financial stocks driving the gains. After rising by 3.2 per cent over the course of the shortened trading week last week, local stocks added 0.5 per cent today. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished the day's trade at 5,108.3pts.

Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 4-29-13

The local market is continuing on its strong run, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up by 0.5 per cent. This follows on from the best weekly performance for Australian shares since December 2011.

Almost 400,000 Aussies Unfriend Facebook Since December 2012

While Facebook, the world's most popular social media site, continues to pervade the lives of its 1 billion members through the newly released Facebook Home, in Australia, the site is becoming less popular as almost 400,000 Aussies unfriended Facebook since December 2012.

The Truth On Gold

By Alexander Green, Investment U Chief Investment StrategistInvestors worldwide have watched gold take a precipitous plunge in recent weeks.

Why Are Central Banks Buying Stocks?

We end the week continuing on the 'bad news is good news' theme. Actually, it's a theme that's been in vogue for a while now, but it's really ramped up in the past week.

Paris – Let the City of Light Seduce Business

Paris... Can Paris be described in few words, one sentence, two sentences? The answer is no. Paris, the City of Light, has this undeniable magic that lures ordinary mortals. But the truth is that Paris is not only the city of love. Indeed, Paris is believed to be the better business destination. The City of Light is simply believed to be a place to do business.

Lloyds Investors Cheer the Collapse of Co-op Bank Deal

The Co-operative Bank, which currently owns one bank branch and three outlets in Scotland, came forward in December 2011 to bid £ 750 million for part of a business owned by Lloyds Banking Group. It entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with "Lloyds Banking Group" to complete the purchase by November 2013.

South Korea Economic Growth Shines as it Beats Estimates

South Korea has reasons to boast as it saw its Q1 GDP climb at the fastest rate in two years. The expansion was above analysts' expectations as growth was driven by an improvement in construction and investment, not to mention strong exports. In spite of optimistic data , it seems that the country will struggle as consumers and exporters are less confident.

MorePhone Bends and Twists When It Receives Text, Call

All eyes are on South Korean tech giants Samsung and LG which one will win the race to produce a smartphone with flexible screens. However, a Canadian laboratory has actually made a prototype that bends and twists when it received a call or short messaging. The model is called MorePhone, made by researchers at the Human Media Lab of Queen's University.

Australian Stock Market Report – Midday 4-26-13

The Australian market is improving for the fifth straight trading session, making it the second longest winning streak of the year. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.1 per cent or 5.00 pts to 5,089.2. As long as the market holds on to the gains, shares would have improved by more than 3.5 per cent this week.

Your Editor On Twitter

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.

Like YouTube April Fools’ Day Hoax, Facebook Hit by Fake Closure News

The month is almost over, but some people are still going back to the first day of April by creating April Fools' Day pranks. A recent joke, similar to YouTube's announcement on March 31 that it will close the popular video sharing site, is a post in Facebook that founder Mark Zuckerberg decided to shutter the most popular social networking site with 1 billion members.

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