BUSINESS

With most of Europe and parts of Asia shut for May Day holidays, leads are coming from the US alone; and with China still observing Labour Day holidays, trade is likely to see positioning before the non-farm payrolls.

In US economic data, the ISM manufacturing index rose from 53.7 to 54.9 in April. The forward-looking new orders index and the employment sub index continued to expand at a healthy pace. US construction spending increased by 0.2% in March. Public construction hits its lowest levels since 2006. However this was offset by private residential construction lifting to the highest levels since May 2008.

Los Angeles Clippers Team Owner Donald Sterling was forced to sell his team after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver came down with the hardest punishment of lifetime ban from the NBA games and $2.5 million penalty over his racist remark that made the general public and netizens frenzy over the past few days.

Embattled Malaysia Airlines is expected to elicit more negative feedback from the relatives of the 239 people aboard the missing Boeing 777 jet with two new developments on Thursday.

After more than 50 days of searching the Indian Ocean and not finding any trace of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, is the embattled air carrier throwing in the towel?

It was another session where the early trend showed few signs of changing course after the opening bell sounded. With less than half an hour to trade the ASX 200 continued the plumb new lows for the session , the market finished within 10 points of the lowest levels of the day.

Twitter stocks continue to plummet for two consecutive days after the company's first quarter report on Tuesday revealed higher revenue of $250 million but lower user growth of 255 million compared with the analyst estimates of $241.47 million revenue and 257 million user growth.

Apple Inc. paid a total of $23.9 million in fees to underwriters from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG (DBK)

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground for the second time this week, with the mining and financials the biggest drags on trade. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.4 per cent and is trading below 5450.0pts.

The United States has started calculating costs now that the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has entered a new phase. Suffice to say, the global economic leader hinted nothing in this world could ever possibly be cost-free.

With roughly only 24 months to go, the International Olympic Committee is wondering if Rio de Janeiro will ever be able to complete its preparations in time for the 2016 Olympic Games. An IOC senior official has blasted the country's preparations for the global games as the worst ever that he has seen so far.

Businesspeople who uses Microsoft's OneDrive for their cloud storage can soon get more value for their money after software magnate Microsoft announced in a blog entry entitled "Thinking Outside the Box" that the company will increase of storage space of their corporate clients from 25GB to 1TB per user.

Currently, when materials are up, financials reverse and vice versa; for Australia today, it appears that the banks will be up, and materials down.

In US economic data, the economy grew at a 0.1% annual pace in the year to March, short of forecasts for a gain of 1.2%. The ADP survey showed that 220,000 private sector jobs were created in April, above forecasts for a gain of 210,000. Employment costs rose by 0.3% in the March quarter, below forecasts for a gain of 0.5%.

The New South Wales government announced on Wednesday the sale of the Newcastle Port, the world's biggest coal export terminal, for $1.62 billion to joint venture partners Hastings Fund Management and China Merchants.

The Australian share market finished only marginally higher on Wednesday, despite good gains offshore. US market sentiment was buoyed by earnings news with the Dow Jones Index up 0.5 per cent.

Apple Inc has issued $12 billion dollars in bonds in an effort to reward shareholders locked in a cheaper alternative than overseas cash subject to tax. Apple Inc has said in its recent Q2 FY 2014 earnings call on April 23 that out of $151 billion worth of cash and marketable securities, 88 per cent of the amount is being held offshore.

New Zealand exports reached record-breaking heights due to strong demand for the country's various agricultural products. While New Zealand continues to enjoy high demand of all things dairy in China, meat, fruits and wood are also surging.

There are no doubts over where the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 jet could have possibly crashed, even as a pilot and an Australian company claim the ill-fated Flight 370 with 239 people on board is in the Bay of Bengal.

Microsoft's Windows XP announced its Service Support has ended and users will no longer receive updates for the operating system. Microsoft Office 2003 shares the same fate.

When Atlassian Founders Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar have appeared in the upper strata of BRW Rich 2000, this pair of 34-year-old software makers becomes so admired in the start-up industry.

Apparently, for the 130 billion repurchase program and the seven-for-one stock split to take place, Apple will use 17 billion borrowed funds

Apple Inc. decreased in market share according to a report from Strategy Analytics

Despite a firmer start this morning and a strong lead from Wall Street, the Australian sharemarket commenced its descent after just 20 minutes of trade. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down for the second day and remains below 5500pts. Weakness from the consumer staples and financial industries are holding the market back most.

Too tired to drive your car on around busy metropolitan streets after a hectic day at work? How about just letting Google Self-Driving car take you home as you rest comfortably on your seat?

With Japan on holidays for Showa Day yesterday, the reverse in the ASX was rather strong, but not unexpected.

In US economic data, the Redbook chain store sales index was up 3.8% on a year ago, compared with a 3.7% annual gain in the previous week. Consumer confidence fell from 83.9 to 82.3 in April, short of forecasts near 83.0. And the CaseShiller home price index rose 0.8% in February to stand 12.9% on a year ago.

The fierce tornado that hit Arkansas killed more than a dozen people and left survivors in shock and others in despair. Below survivors recount their ordeal in-order to escape the devastation caused by the tornado.

On April 28, 2014 a massive tornado slammed the state of Arkansas. Mayflower and Vilonia were among the cities badly damaged.