BUSINESS

Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd continues beefing up its fleet of Airbus A330s as it announced on Wednesday the scheduled delivery of two more aircrafts by 2012, which the airline said would be deployed to serve its Australian service routes.

The Australian sharemarket is off by 0.2pct or 10.8pts to 4666.1 being led lower by weakness in both our largest banks and miners.

The Aussie opens sharply lower today at 0.9710 as risk appetite took a nosedive overnight. In the absence of any market-moving economic data, European sovereign debt concerns continued to occupy the minds of investors during local trade on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks steepened their decline Tuesday after the Federal Reserve downgraded its U.S. economic projections in the minutes of its latest meeting, citing worse than expected growth.

The Commerce Department upwardly revised its estimate of September quarter growth from 2pct to 2.5pct.

The Australian share market dived more than one per cent on Tuesday as uncertainty over European sovereign debt troubled investors on a day with few economic indicators to provide direction.

Local stocks were heavily sold off in afternoon trade, as worries about Eurozone debt contagion and weakness in the Asian region unsettled investors

Fairfax Media is recalibrating its corporate structure to arrest the media company’s continuing profit slide in the print division and to keep abreast with the shifting norms in the media business operations.

Sigma Pharmaceuticals (ASX: SIP) says it has now reached formal agreement with Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd group of companies on the terms and conditions of the sale and the ongoing relationship between them. On August 16, 2010, Sigma announced that it had agreed in principle to sell its pharmaceuticals division to Aspen for A$900 million.

Metcash Ltd (ASX: MTS), the country's largest wholesale and distribution company, today openly defied the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission by announcing its plan to pursue its attempted takeover of Franklins.

Qantas Airways Ltd is set to fly again some of its Airbus A380s as it announced on Tuesday that a London-bound aircraft is scheduled to take off from Sydney on November 27, Saturday.

Local stocks have followed US and European markets lower in early trade, with investors concerned other Eurozone countries may join Ireland in requiring a financial bailout.

Australian tennis star Mark Philippoussis is facing bankruptcy notice following the reported default on his $1.2 million mortgage for his Williamstown townhouse near the Port Philip Bay in Victoria.

A growing field of analysts and industry insiders is warning that new capacity shortages are looming beyond 2011, although supply and demand in the container shipping industry appears in balance for next year.

Retail and financial services company Thorn Group Ltd (ASX: TGA) has reported a 38 per cent lift in net profit for the six months to September 30, 2010 to $11 million (2009: $8M).

One in four Australians dealt with financial trouble in the last 12 months, according to new research released today by Citibank.

U.S. stocks fell Monday as bank shares were hurt by worries about a broad insider trading probe and energy shares took a hit from falling oil prices.

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index improved from -0.52 to -0.28 in October. A zero value indicates the national economy is expanding at historical trends.

Four of the unions at the desalination plant at Wonthaggi, in southeast Victoria have urged their co-workers on strike to return to work today.

The Australian stock market has closed higher on a day when trade was dominated by the public float of Queensland freight railways, QR National.

A sound fiscal policy and a lean budget plan could help the federal government in effectively curbing runaway public consumption instead of over-reliance on tweaking Australia’s interest rates.

A new survey has established an emerging reality that soon-to-be retiring Australians were clueless on most of the superannuation terms currently in use and may be ill-prepared for imminent retirement.

Australian wireless broadband services provider BigAir Group Ltd (ASX: BGL) says it intends to make an off-market takeover bid for rival Clever Communications Australia Ltd (ASX: CVA).

Official figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today show a property boom in Tasmania's Central Highlands.

Australia's largest coal hauler and transporter QR National stabilised at $2.55 per share at its mid-day introductory debut at the Australian stock exchange and so far raised some $4.6 billion for the Queensland government.

The Pike Coal Mining rescue team in New Zealand are preparing to send a robot to assess the situation of the 29 miners trapped underground for the last three days.

Gas and oil explorer Bow Energy (ASX: BOW) says this year's exploration has positioned it as the holder of one of the largest uncommitted 3P gas reserves in Queensland.

Local stocks have kick-started the trading week on a healthy note, with investor sentiment boosted by more clarity surrounding the Ireland bailout package and China's decision to tighten monetary policy.

Shopping mall landlord Westfield Group (ASX:WDC) today announced an agreement to sell a 50 per cent interest in the retail component of Westfield Stratford City for GBP 871.5 million ($A1.41 billion) to a new joint venture comprising APG of The Netherlands and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB).