The Australian Dollar has mostly held its ground against the US Dollar, getting support from decent economic indicators here and abroad and also from yesterday's RBA interest rate announcement.
China has provisionally overtaken the U.S. as the world's largest net importer of oil, said the Financial Times on Tuesday, after the U.S. posted its lowest import figures since 1992 on the back of booming domestic oil production.
It was not an impressive start to the week for the Australian share market. But life is full of second chances. And today, the Reserve Bank of Australia meets to fix the price of money. Perhaps the RBA will say something about lowering interest rates that will lift investor's spirits.
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has warned the West that it needs to change its "colonial" approach towards Africa or risk losing to competition from China and other developing nations.
Europe and the US trotted out more strong data overnight, this time in the non-manufacturing sectors.
China has just surpassed the US as the world's largest oil importer. This is the story of rising Chinese demand. But it's also the story of rising US oil production. And THAT's the story of shale gas, which we'll return to later this week. Here's how the Financial Times reports it.
The Sequester: True or Not True?
The US ISM services index rose from 55.2 to 56.0 in February, the highest level in a year and above forecasts centred on result near 55.0. The exports sub-component of the index hit the highest level in almost six years. The Redbook chain store sales index was up 2.2pct in the latest week on a year ago.
Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover informed that it would scale up investments at its UK engine plant by more than 40 percent as demand for the SUVs increased in China and other emerging markets as well. In addition, Jaguar Land Rover plans to double the head count by creating additional 700 jobs and invest £500 million at its i54 business park.
On the 5th of February, the survey by the British Retail Consortium indicated that the UK retail sales increased in February at the fastest rate in about three years. The latest figures suggested that consumer confidence was boosted as UK customers went out to buy clothes, home furnishings and electronics goods.
On the 4th of March, HSBC Holdings reported a fall in its full year preliminary profit for the year ended December 2012. The bank cited debt revaluation and the US related money-laundering fine as some of the major determinants which led to declining profits.
By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 125 points, or 0.9%, while the S&P gained 1.0% to 1539 and the Nasdaq added 1.
On the 5th of February, Wen Jiabao informed that the growth target for 2013 was left unchanged at 7.5 percent. While the leaders did not decide to change growth target, they modified inflation goal establishing it at the level of 3.5 percent.
Tuesday saw a generally positive session for regional stocks in the aftermath of Monday's selling. Investors continue to keep a wary eye on the Shanghai Composite index. From a technical perspective the Chinese index appears vulnerable given its 3.7% decline on Monday.
Working people tired of spending their whole day in front of the computer or assembling parts in a factory could try their options in getting a dream job. That dream may come true for young workers who would join Tourism Australia's Best Job in the World contest launched on Monday. The agency will award very alluring jobs to six winners of the competition in its bid to attract more younger tourists to the land down under.
Kim Dotcom, the owner of the shuttered Megaupload file sharing site, has plans to launch an initial public offering for his new site, Mega, in the next 18 months. The IPO is seen as an effort to gain more legality in his operations which has been shut down by police over charges of copyright violations.
If there is anybody or any entity more than prepared to welcome the new 266th pope of the Roman Catholic church, that must be the family-owned Gammarelli tailor shop which has dressed the papacy ever since the 18th century.
While Australia's business community was not surprised by the expected decision of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to hold on Tuesday the current overnight cash rate at 3 per cent, borrowers may be in for a surprise.
Thomson Reuters has released on Tuesday its latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2012-2013 where six Australian institutions made it to the list of the global top 100.
Android Key Lime Pie 5.0 is the much-awaited major iteration to the Android OS. The rumour mill suggests two smartphones will be unveiled by Google in its I/O event in May. Which device between Nexus 5 and Motorola X Phone will carry the new power OS?
It’s clear out time for U.S. telco T-Mobile as it offers the once scant Nexus 4 for only $US50 with contract. The deal is up only for a very limited time, said the U.S. company.
Majority of the cardinal electors are already present in Vatican, hobnobbing with each other in and outside private meetings. But this majority chose not to determine yet a date for the start of the papal conclave as they wait for the arrival of 12 more fellow cardinals. In the meantime, talks on corruption and sex issues hounded the first day of pre-conclave meetings on Monday.
Hancock Prospecting owner Gina Rinehart must be on a roll this week after scoring two back-to-back victories. After losing her shares in the Rhodes project last week to Wright Prospecting, she accepted the flag of surrender from recalcitrant daughter Hope Welker over the weekend and retained the richest person in Australia title.
Although he is not an Apple shareholder, investment guru Warren Buffett has some unsolicited advice to the giant tech company amid a hedge fund manager call for Apple to issue preferred shares to deal with the excess cash hoard of the company.
Windfall of specs (can be read too as speculations) greeted Samsung fans this week, most of them anxiously waiting to have a peek on the upcoming Galaxy S4. Now a new image of the Android handset is in the air.
Smaller footprint but bigger and wider screen – that’s how the rumoured iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S are rendered in a fresh set of images that showed the alleged Apple phablet without the familiar Home physical button.
Had he researched much better and prepared enough, self-proclaimed Bishop Ralph Napierski may have been able to penetrate, witness and even mingle in this year's highly guarded and secluded papal conclave up to the very end. But the black fedora hat, when it should have been a red skullcap, and the glaring purple or magenta scarf, when it should have been a red sash, gave him away.
The local share market is performing very strongly at lunchtime in the East, clawing back from yesterday's heavy losses which were exacerbated by concerns out of China and the fact 22 listed companies traded without rights to their dividends.
HTC One has been drawing a lot of attention since it was announced last month and unveiled last week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It is frequently being compared to iPhone 5 in many tech sites. The new flagship smartphone of the Taiwanese tech player even won "Best Device in Show" at the MWC. Considering very good mobile specs, those who have been holding out for the iPhone 5s or iPhone 6 are being pulled in by the "One."
A new security hole is discovered on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, allowing hackers to briefly access the handset’s home screen and do as they please in that short window time.
