BUSINESS

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 21 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P was basically flat at 1517 and the Nasdaq was similarly little changed.

Several factors came converged on Monday to ensure a quiet start to the trading week. The trading week on Wall St closed with small gains and weather related issues ensured that volumes remained low. The regional experience was marked by lunar new celebrations which will see most centres closed for the early part of the week whilst the Chinese market will be offline for the entire week.

Attractive discounts on Samsung’s Galaxy S3 are now being offered by global distributors, probably to clear out stocks as the rumoured April commercial release of is more powerful replacement, the Galaxy S4, nears.

Members of Australian parliament have summoned for questioning IT giants Apple, Microsoft and Adobe to explain why their products are sold for much higher in Australia compared to other parts of the globe.

Two Nokia handsets are likely to hit store shelves this year as reports pointed to the introduction of the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720 via the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

So we will not be seeing the HTC M7 after all, at least the branding, as new reports suggested that the Taiwan-based mobile phone maker is unleashing the powerful handset with a different label – the HTC One.

Effective 2014, parents residing in Victoria, Australia, could be slapped with a $70 fine for the unexplained or habitual absences of their children from school, in a proposed law where parents become more the targets of their children's poor schooling attendance behaviour.

Speculations are all fired up that apart from the quad-core Galaxy Note 8.0, Samsung will spring a giant surprise via the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and unleash the behemoth of a smartphone called the Galaxy Note 3.

The Australian sharemarket kicked off the session and the week largely flat, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down just a few points. At lunch however, the XAO is managing to edge higher by 0.10 per cent or 6.9 pts to 4996.3. It will be interesting to see if the ASX 200 Index (XJO) and the XAO can crack through the 5000.0 mark and remain above that level for the first time in years.

Australians who have travel plans to China are advised to take precautionary measures as the country's health ministry announced two people have been inflicted with the H5N1 bird flu virus.

-Royal Wolf attracts Buy rating-Strength in spread of exposure-Leveraged to construction recovery-Resource sector demand still growsBy Eva BrocklehurstRoyal Wolf ((RWH)), a provider of portable containers with a curious name, has received a Buy recommendation with the initiation of coverage by Deuts...

To date, Apple has kept under wraps its plans for the next iPhone iteration but the tech giant’s numerous suppliers seem unable to contain their excitement over the upcoming Apple handsets – the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 6.

Over two months into global circulation, Nexus 4 has already passed the one million mark in overall shipments, based on the estimates provided by one forum member at XDA Developers.

Apple is planning to welcome the Facial Recognition tool as part of iOS device unlocking system. Currently, iPhones use passcodes to protect unwanted individuals to access the device. But Apple is concerned that thieves have easy ways to get around these codes.

by Alexander Green, Investment U Chief Investment StrategistWell, it had to happen eventually. The average punter is finally returning to the stock market.

With Valentine's Day just four days away, couples from different parts of the world are surely preparing ways how to spend love day in a romantic way.

Diamonds Are Forever….Extremely Expensive

European Union leaders are on the edge of agreeing to the terms of cutting costs after David Cameron proposed cuts by approximately €30 billion in the seven-year budget package. The European cuts will be briefed and decided over all-night talks in Brussels.

With the economic recovery of China on the horizon, analysts are forecasting higher earnings for Australian miners if iron ore's current price of $150 per tonne would be sustained for the next few months.

Local stocks ended the week on a sound footing as investors continued to push the index towards the 5000 mark. The re-emergence of European political risk has been one of the main themes for investors globally this week. The local experience suggested that investors were willing to support the market in the face of the modest amount of weakness that was on offer in recent days.Some of the main points of the day included, The stock market hitting a 22-month high, miner Newcrest reporting half yea...