National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) today backed comments made by former Westpac CEO and Citigroup director Bob Joss in the Australian Financial Review on the need for Australia to address its structural reliance on offshore funding.
Coles Group's fierce price cutting counter attack in the past year seems to have resulted in Woolworths' CEO Michael Luscombe retiring.The news, which didn't come as a surprise to the market with the change tipped in two media reports yesterday, was conveyed in a statement to the ASX.Mr Lucombe will retire at the end of September after five years as CEO and will be replaced by Grant...
Another strong month for job ads according to the ANZ's survey for March, but the reality is that it was a solid month for jobs advertised on the net.Newspaper ads were soft, rising 0.2% and continuing the less than solid trend seen for most of the past couple of years.Internet job ads rose 1.4% in March and were the main driver behind the 1.3% overall rise in job ads to 195,913.That was up f...
Wesfarmers' resources division has won a 53% price rise for its coking coal exports for the June quarter.The company told the ASX yesterday that the price for the June quarter will be $US328 a tonne, compared to the $US221 a tonne for the previous quarter.Wesfarmers said that "weighted average US$FOB for new contract prices of Curragh metallurgical coal (hard coking, semi-hard coking and PCI)...
Japanese officials said they failed on Sunday in repeated attempts to seal a crack they had identified as one source of radioactive water leak into the Pacific.
Atlas Iron (ASX:AGO) says it shipped a record 547,404 tonnes of DSO in the month of March 2011, beating the previous record of 541,000 tonnes recorded in October 2010.
QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ: QGEN; Frankfurt, Prime Standard: QIA) has reached an agreement to acquire Cellestis Ltd (CST: AU) for approximately A$341 million (US$355 million) in cash, providing QIAGEN with access to a novel"pre-molecular" technology that offers a new dimension in disease detection not currently possible with other diagnostic methods.
Banks now face the need to rebuild customer loyalty as a new survey shows over half of regional and rural Australians have lost faith in their bank and many believe change is necessary.
(This story was originally published on March 25, 2011. It has now been re-published to make it in full available to non-paying members at FNArena and to readers elsewhere).- Japan has an immediate need for LNG- Japan, and the world, may now turn away from nuclear and toward LNG- Australian producers will not benefit in the short term, but should in the long term- US shale gas looms as a possible ...
Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:VBA) says its new Airbus A330 Sydney-Perth service will commence operation on 26 May 2011, subject to regulatory approvals.
The Australian Dollar touched another post-float high this morning above 1.0400 after a stronger than anticipated jobs number from the US on Friday evening.
- NAB's retail banking operations are improving, notes DJ Carmichael- NAB is gaining retail market share and the stockbroker believes NAB is attractive relative to peers- NAB and WBC outperformed CBA and ANZ, which throws up a question mark about relative valuationsBy Chris Shaw and Rudi Filapek-VandyckThe FNArena database shows a Sentiment Indicator reading for National Australia Bank ((NAB)) of ...
The Australian Dollar hit fresh 29-year highs on Friday night after US employers added more jobs than forecast last month fuelling another session of risk appetite.
US non-farm payrolls rose by 216,000 in March - the largest increase in ten months. The private sector accounted for all the jobs, adding 230,000 positions.
Commodities finished the week in a fairly convincing fashion, except for gold and copper, and look like having another reasonable week with the US dollar expected to be weak ahead of the European Central Bank meeting on Thursday that is seen as putting up rates for the first time in several years.That meeting is considered highly likely to boost the ECB's main rate of 0.25% to 1.25% in a sign...
Another big fall in dwelling approvals in February illustrates the tentative nature of the residential building recovery and highlights the need for government action to remove supply-side impediments affecting housing affordability, according to Master Builders Australia, the peak body for the building and construction industry.
Australian logistics firm Brambles Ltd (ASX: BXB) took majority control of IFCO Systems N.V. through completion of its sale and purchase agreements with Apax Partners and another IFCO shareholder on 31 March 2011, Central European Time.
Biota Holdings Ltd (ASX:BTA) says the US government has awarded an estimated US$231 million contract to its wholly owned US subsidiary for the advanced development of Laninamivir, an influenza antiviral, known as a long acting neuraminidase inhibitor (LANI) and a unique treatment for influenza.
The Australian daughter of former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was haunted by her past and claimed to have been axed in a reality TV show in spite being discreet and with unquestionable talent.
Australians will pay an estimated $821 million extra per year for their private health insurance from today, 1 April, but it’s no April Fool’s Day joke.
After receiving thousands of hits on their sexy advertisement for a Gold Coast property in February, NEO Property has done it again with its latest promo video. The short film for 15 Queen Anne Court still features Australian real estate agents Ian Adams and Adrian Jenkins and once again stars the scantily clad Elle Polson.
The strong Australian dollar along with weak domestic demand, rising overseas competition and increasing cost of raw materials dragged the manufacturing sector back into the red in March according to the latest Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index.
What's moving the currency market? Here's the top headline from ForexCT's Market Insight Report 01/04/2011 delivered to you by the International Business Times AU.
FNArena has added another video to its Investors Education section on the website. Analysis by ATW's Jerry Simmons suggests silver is at key technical price levels. Simmons identifies key technical levels that will either limit silver's upside, or provide confirmation that new highs should be expected.Some of the key items in this video broadcast are:- Comprehensive analysis of the Silver market r...
- A Joint Survey by FNArena and AIA shows investors in Australia remain cautious short term- Average portfolios hold 19% in cash- Elevated house prices in Australia are also cited as a key area for concern Investors in Australia remain cautious about the outlook for the Australian share market. The inaugural Australian Investor Sentiment Survey for March, conducted via two separate surveys in the ...
By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 30 points or 0.3% while the S&P lost 0.2% to 1325 and the Nasdaq ticked up 0.2%.It ended not with a bang but with a whimper. The window displays all now look very pretty and there's tonight's jobs report to worry about, so on light volume Wall Street took a breather last night. The broad market S&P 500 index closed up 5.6% for the March quarter which marks the best ...
- Cricket Australia is proposing to list on the stock exchange- Analysts see the potential to invest at the bottom of the cycle- T20 and betting revenues could provide significant cashflow By Greg PeelSince Australia last won the Ashes in 2007 and lost several key players to retirement, our cricket fortunes in all forms of the game have been on a downward slide. Even before the announced resignati...
The Australian Dollar has risen for the 10th straight day and reached new highs overnight as commodities continue to rise and retail sales rose more than expected.
US initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000 last week.
Despite the flood of bad news in the quarter, it has turned out rather well as investors, especially in the US and Europe rediscovered risk and the joys of cheap money.Overseas the euro crisis hasn't gone away (and returned in strength with Portugal close to the brink of a bailout and Ireland needing billions of euros from its bailout package to help staunch the bleeding from some of its badl...
