BUSINESS

Here is IG Markets Global Markets Overview: (From Market Analyst Ben Potter) In the US overnight, the major indices finished the session modestly higher after traders shrugged off a weaker start amid largely negative news flow. China raised interest rates by 25 basis points, European banks slumped on contagion fears following the Portuguese rating downgrade and the US Services ISM number came in lower than expected.

Australia has announced it would lift a ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia and resume trade with additional safeguards in place to address animal cruelty concerns.

Reports indicate Apple Inc. will be releasing a new MacBook Air model in the next few weeks and the new model will be significantly faster than the $999 currently available in the market.

Google Inc. is facing more patent litigation as it has increased its dominance in the industry, and could spend billions to buy patents or defend itself against litigation. The Palo Alto, California-based company owner of the world's most popular search engine, the most used operating system platform (Android) for smartphones, and potentially a social network (Google+) that could rival Facebook.

Now that Apple has released the gold master for the Mac Lion OS to developers, it is likely that the final product will soon be available for the general public. The Gold Master version is the final build of the OS before the official product release -- which in the case of the Lion will be available exclusively on the Mac App Store, the first OS to do so.

The campaign for carbon pricing have gathered new supporters as the push for the government policy has turned to popularity and gathering of numbers.

The Australian sharemarket is a little lower at lunch, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 0.2 pct or 9.7 pts to 4647.2. Almost all sectors are trading in the red with some modest gains from the miners helping to minimise losses.

Amid the cash rate calm and the now little cost difference between the average fixed term home loan interest rate and the average variable interest rate, deciding which type of loan to choose is even more difficult.

Virgin Australia (ASX: VBA) is collaborating with Renewable Oil Corporation (ROC), Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation (DYMTF) and Future Farm Industries Co-operative Research Centre (FFI CRC) to develop a sustainable aviation biofuel that also has benefits for the Australian farming community and the environment.

As the national broadband network overhauls Australia’s telecommunication industry, so is the largest telco in the country, Telstra Corporation, which announced on Wednesday consolidation on its services and reorganization on the firm’s leadership functions.

Spot gold edged down on Tuesday, under the weight of a stronger dollar as a short squeeze boosted the greenback, and a weak technical picture cast a shadow on gold's short-term outlook.

Hackers hit FoxNews.com's Twitter account to send fake messages that U.S. President Barack Obama had been shot dead at a restaurant in Iowa. Nokia Oyj has cut its smartphone prices in Europe by as much as 15 percent to boost sales. Zynga, maker of "FarmVille," "CityVille" and other games played on Facebook, is aiming to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering.

US factory orders rose by 0.8pct in May, just short of forecasts centred on a gain of 1.0pct. Orders for durable goods rose by 2.1pct.

By Greg PeelThe Dow lost 12 points or 0.1% while the S&P fell 0.1% to 1337 and the Nasdaq added 0.4%.In yesterday's Asian session, ratings agency Moody's warned that having examined Beijing's audit of Chinese local government debt exposures it had potentially found significant discrep...

By Greg PeelAs Australia's economic data have bounced around recently and global issues have created uncertainty, economists have to-ed and fro-ed with their expectations of the timing of another RBA rate rise.

Australia is seen to post modest gains on Wednesday's trading day. Here's a first look at the markets as it opens today:

Out of 39 countries with timely house price statistics for the year to Q1 2011

The Social Network, a film about Mark Zuckerberg's founding of Facebook and the resulting lawsuits, was a worldwide box-office hit last year. With Facebook's 700 million active users and other and the coming of its most serious rival yet, Google+, social networking sites are generating massive traffic. Another movie about a social network would certainly generate interest from audiences around the globe.

The prospect of rising interest rates and taxes, escalating global concerns and uncertainties, the appreciation of the Australian dollar and weak consumer sentiment has led to a decline in business conditions and sentiment in Australia.

The Australian Government plans to announce a price on pollution this weekend as the central element of a comprehensive policy to tackle climate change, cut pollution and drive the transformation of the Australian economy to a clean energy future.

Australia's mining boom strengthened the country's trade surplus that has hit a seven-month high to A$2.33 billion ($2.5 billion), from a revised A$1.62 billion surplus in April, the Bureau of Statistics said in a report in Sydney on Tuesday.

Australia's Lynas Corp. took in a new shareholder as Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has taken close to a 10 percent stake in the mining firm worth $324 million.

A joint research conducted by Australian and European experts suggested that banana cross-breeding will lead to improved production and make the crop more robust in deflecting pests and diseases.

By Greg PeelEuropean stock markets continued the upward push last night, responding to Friday's strength on Wall Street and the agreement by EU officials to rubber stamp the release of the E12bn tranche of funds for Greece on the weekend.

A spur of new orders for goods gave a glimmer of hope to Australia's services sector industry in June and possibly in the coming months.

The softness in the Australian labour market was underlined by yesterday's ANZ job ads survey for June.

No rate rise today, and possibly not in August.

Non-bank margins may be unviable as a result of the government's ban on exit fees, Aussie CEO Stephen Porges has claimed.

With thin market conditions last night due to the US Independence Day Holiday, the AUD is fairly unchanged this morning currently trading around USD1.0730.