BUSINESS

By Greg PeelConstruction company Leighton Holdings ((LEI)) has been stuck with two disastrous legacy projects in the form of the Victorian desal plant and the Brisbane airport link, not to mention Middle East projects that remain a constant risk.

The Australian retail sector registered flat movements in February, paving the way for miniscule growth that analysts said were reflective of market's expectations but not as ominous as the figures showed.

Jetstar officials insisted on Tuesday that it violated no Australian laws in contracting pilots that were meant in the first place to be deployed outside of Australia.

Grocery wholesaler Metcash Ltd has revealed fresh consolidation moves that it said would prepare the company for the future but would unfortunately lead to hundreds of job losses.

The Fair Work Ombudsman fined $1,200 the Sandringham branch of Buxton, a real estate agent, over the firing of a 23-year-old woman whom the agent found too young-looking and short for the job.

The best that can be said from the latest Tankan survey of sentiment among medium and large Japanese companies is that it didn't fall.

This should be a testing week for Australian stock prices, not for any technical levels of support and resistance (that we know of...although we leave that stuff to Murray). But because two of Australia's large Asian trading partners - China and Japan - are showing weak trade activity.

Commodities: Dollar’s Fall Halts Slide In RBA Index

Where do you get your latest stock tips from? Scouring through balance sheets, poring over profit and loss statements and scrutinising cash-flow statements? Or do you listen to the latest punt your mate Joe is boasting about at a cocktail party?

From virtually no chance a week or so ago, the odds of a cut at today's Reserve Bank board meeting have tightened, but the May meeting remains the favourite among RBA watchers.

A study by weight loss company Jenny Craig found that waiters take 23,000 steps a day, more than double the recommended 10,000 steps a day to keep fit.

By Greg PeelNo one is much interested in buying the quantity of UF6 on offer in the US and while demand remains for U3O8 the only supply of note is in Europe and genuine buyers are looking for supply contracts a little longer dated than spot.

About half of companies in Sydney have changed their business hours due to the heavy traffic in the city. Over 30 per cent also extended delivery hours to meet deadlines.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 52 points or 0.4% while the S&P gained 0.8% to 1419 and the Nasdaq added 0.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP), the world's biggest miner, has declared on Monday a force majeure at its Bowen Basin coal mines in Australia due to the strikes and heavy rain.

By Greg PeelFew economists expected the RBA to cut its cash rate today and consensus was correct. The general feeling was that there may now be scope for the central bank to ease policy further from a domestic, rather than just a macro (Europe) standpoint, but that such a decision would be unlikely ...

Apple's success with the new iPad has many people speculating about the next Apple product to be released. In line with that, many people are now anticipating the release of Apple's iPhone 5 which is rumored to be released before the year ends.

Florida-based multi-strategy alternative investment manager, Stonehenge Asset Management, LLC is set to launch its third multi-strategy hedge fund, Stonehenge Diversified III, in April this year. The new fund will be domiciled in the U.S. and has appointed NAV Consulting Inc., as administrator.

Facebook has kept people waiting for months for its shares to finally go public. There are many others who have been trying to get a few shares in the secondary markets hoping for Facebook shares to pop out of the gate.

Now for a spot of considerable confusion from the two monthly surveys of China's huge manufacturing sector.

Yes, on the whole global financial markets have had a fabulous quarter with winners outweighing losers, but the question now for investors to consider is, can it go on?

US jobs, the Australian Reserve Bank's monthly interest rate decision, Chinese manufacturing and Japanese business sentiment will dominate a trading week shortened for the great Easter bun and chocolate festival.

Qantas Airways and Jetstar will increase their ticket prices because of their higher aviation fuel bill.

The local share market has started the new trading week, month and quarter on a positive note thanks to strong gains offshore on Friday night and better than expected Chinese manufacturing data. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) hit a high of 4460.7pts in early trade but has come off that slightly at lunchtime in the East and at 12.15pm AEST is firmer by 18.1pts or 0.4pct to 4438.1.

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.

Overall sentiment among investors in Australia has improved markedly since January. While short term caution still reigns, a majority is now anticipating 2012 will generate a positive return with equities likely to be higher on a six to twelve month horizon.

China is slowing gaining a foothold into the US and Canada oil and natural gas industry

State-owned Chinese oil company PetroChina announced this Thursday that it pumped 2.4 million barrels of oil per day last year - overtaking Exxon Mobil's 2.3 million bpd to be the world's largest publicly traded producer of oil.

Sony recently announced that users of Sony Xperia Play can now update their device's OS to the latest Android version which is Android 4.0 or better known as Android ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich).