BUSINESS

Cargill's cocoa and chocolate operations at its production facility in Côte d'Ivoire have now resumed. Cocoa bean purchases have also recommenced, and exports of products and beans will also resume in the next few days.

BNY Mellon Alternative Investment Services (AIS), a leading hedge fund service provider, announced that it has topped $400 billion in assets under administration, making it the second largest provider of solutions to hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and private equity investments globally.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 80 points or 0.7% while the S&P gained 0.9% to 1340 and the Nasdaq jumped 1.1%.

U.S. stocks snapped a three-day losing streak Wednesday as the Federal Reserve's minutes showed the central bank officials are in no hurry to tighten monetary policy

Moody's cut their credit rating cut one notch to Aa2 due to their reliance on overseas debt markets.

A weaker reading in both the Westpac Consumer Sentiment (actual -1.3%; previous 1.2%) survey and quarterly Wage Price Index (actual 0.8%; previous 1%) saw the Aussie slip off 30 pips yesterday with the result potentially adding evidence that rates may remain on hold when the RBA meets the first Tuesday of next month.

The Australian share market finished modestly higher after Asian markets rallied and as weaker than expected local wage data buoyed consumer stocks.

The United States and Hong Kong shared the top slots in the IMD 2011 World Competitiveness Rankings, while Australia fell four steps

The release of the FOMC minutes indicated that it is unlikely that the Fed will begin tightening policy this year.

Stocks in Australia and Tokyo close higher Wednesday, reflecting the generally brighter sentiments around Asian markets.

Leighton Holdings Ltd (ASX: LEI) has made a number of organisational changes aimed at simplifying the reporting structure for the Group’s intentional operations.

After a slow start to trade, the Australian sharemarket is managing to gain for the second straight session at lunch. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is up 0.3 pct or 16.1 pts to 4700 thanks in part to the mining and energy sectors creeping into positive territory after opening lower this morning.

Australia has no foreseeable risk to food security, according to Global food security: facts, issues and implications, released today by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences.

As households evaluate their finances due to the interest rate increase the consumer confidence hit rock bottom in May.

The widening social gap between the rich and the poor is clearly emerging in China as plans to make a private elite club comprised of the new rich has been revealed in reports on Chinese dailies in Beijing.

- Mirvac update reiterates full year guidance- Residential sales targets a challenge, nonresidential improving- Uptick in earnings not anticipated until FY14By Chris ShawProperty development group Mirvac ((MGR)) updated the market yesterday and maintained previous guidance for FY11 of a profit in th...

By Tony D’Altorio, Investment U Research Tuesday, May 17, 2011Mark Twain once said: “History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

Managed futures gained 2.55% in April according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year-to-date, the Barclay CTA Index is up 2.07%.

RWC Partners' Head of Absolute Return Bond Strategies, Peter Allwright, believes that investors should be far more concerned about the effects of the "re-profiling" of Greek debt than the inflation numbers.

Hedge fund industry leverage declined in the last 12 months, according to the HFR Leverage Report, released today by Hedge Fund Research, Inc. (HFR). Leverage declined as investor inflows and less volatile performance gains combined to increase global hedge fund industry assets to a record $2.02 trillion.

Global miner Xstrata Mount Isa Mines says it plans to phase out copper smelting at Mount Isa and refining operations in Townsville by the end of 2016 in a bid to sustain the future of its Mount Isa operations through expanded mining and concentrate production.

To compensate for the 24-day long outage of the Playstation Network that occurred as a result of a major security compromise, Sony Computer Entertainment is offering PSN users a "welcome back" package of free content.

French dairy giant Danone, through its joint venture with dairy co-op Murray Goulburn, has announced the Australian launch of its popular yoghurt Activia.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 68 points or 0.6% but the S&P closed down less than one point to 1328 and the Nasdaq closed up less than one point.

The passage of your HR budget through the annual Budget Review process is often a better indicator of the company's real endorsement of strategic HR than any document you could persuade the CEO to sign.

U.S. stocks stumbled for a third day in a row as weak economic data and a negative outlook from Hewlett-Packard heightened fears about a slowdown in the global economic recovery.

Dear Subscriber/Reader,FNArena is surveying investor sentiment in Australia in an effort to generate, over time, a similarly leading gauge as the AAII Investor Sentiment Survey in the US.

The Australian share market drifted higher in quiet trading Tuesday as heavyweight mining stocks led a broad based recovery in the local bourse after it hit an eight week low on Monday.

US industrial output was unchanged in April against expectations of a 0.4pct rise. Capacity utilisation eased from 77.0pct to 76.9pct in April. US housing starts fell by 10.6pct in April. Compared to April last year residential construction was down 23.9pct. New building permits fell 4pct in April.