COMMODITIES

It's not all about peanut butter

When visiting these countries, do not pass up on the beer.

The Australian sharemarket is making up for around half of yesterday's 0.36 per cent tumble following choppy global trade overnight. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.2 per cent, with only the energy, industrial and tech industries losing ground. Markets are closed in Hong Kong and South Korea for holidays today. Hong Kong has the region's second biggest market while South Korea is Asia's seventh largest.

English actor Jude Law made a gentleman's wager with the Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini in a short film for the luxury whisky Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

In view of the National Ice Cream Day on the third Sunday of July, an analyst from USA-based online food ordering company GrubHub revealed the most ordered flavors and toppings by Americans.

At least three people remain trapped when a gold mine in southern Honduras caved-in on Wednesday. Eight have been successfully rescued.

About 1,000 protesters blocked the entrance of the Lynas Advanced Materials facility in Gebeng, Kuantan, on Sunday as Malaysians push anew for the closure of the facility.

It seems there is really no more stopping an El Niño 2014 occurrence. Latest updates released by weather experts from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the U.S.' NOAA point to an El Niño becoming established in the Pacific Ocean by August.

It is without doubt that the "boy child" El Niño has definitely stirred the whole world. While most dread its potential impact, some however gladly await its arrival. El Niño induces droughts in some parts of the world, while it could drench other nations.

A transformer explosion that caused a fire in a coal mine in western Turkey on Wednesday killed at least 201 workers. The accident is considered one of the worst mining disasters in the country's history.

Another thinly traded rout in the US overnight has put most investors on notice as we approach US earnings season.

Aaron Thomas, a former contestant on MasterChef Australia, has been slapped with a lawsuit by the very own company he founded. Mining firm Oakmont Resources alleged the former CEO embezzled $7.57 million from company money to fund his lavish lifestyle.

The Canadian woman plans to buy nothing for one year.

Canada's Quebec have enough heavy rare earths minerals to spur the demand for electric cars in the future, a study made by the KPMG-SECOR commissioned by Matamec Explorations Inc. and Toyotsu Rare Earth Canada (TRECan) had revealed recently.

The Smarty Ring Bluetooth-enabled wearable gadget for easy smartphone alert checks and incoming call management is finally here! Move over, Samsung Galaxy Gear watch, Pebble Watch and Sony SmartWatch, here comes the latest wearable gadget designed to work in sync with one's smartphone. It is much sleeker, fashionable and easier to wear than the smart watches out there today. It can be worn even if you are dressed casually or dressed to the nines.

Vancouver has gotten crazy about 'Ugly Christmas Sweaters' and the retailers of the products love them.

Andrew Gardner, the Ontario entrepreneur who invented the magnetic Polar Pen, is apprehensive about losing about $100,000 due to a cease and desists order by Health Canada.

The Iranian government is considering giving crude price discounts to its former customers as long as Western sanctions against it can be eased in the future, said a senior oil official on Tuesday, in the hopes of seeing a return to their old market share, which had been lost to other Middle Eastern nations.

World cereal production will shoot up for 2013-14 as forecasted by FAO

The revolution in oil field technology kicked into gear. During that post-crash environment, directional drilling and fracking moved from niche activities by bold but quirky companies, into the North American oil development mainstream.

Gold up, markets down. The Dow lost 113 points overnight while gold tacked on about 10 bucks in the US session. Weird.

The New Zealand Post is issuing a stamp to celebrate the birth of Prince George of Cambridge. This is the first time in the state-owned service's 170-year history that it has featured commemorative issue to mark a Royal birth.

It was a challenging first half of the year for most commodities, with only two resources we track on our Periodic Table of Commodities Returns rising in value. Natural gas and oil rose 6.5 percent and 5 percent, respectively, while silver lost a third of its value and gold lost a quarter of its price from the beginning of the year.

Australian consumers have found themselves appalled at recent report uncovering taxpayers Down Under are paying 50 to 100 percent more than the U.S. buyers of the same technology products. The report by the parliamentary IT pricing inquiry committee enrages the tech consumers, who helped complete the report that began in 2012.

Australia is set to become the world's largest liquefied natural gas exporter. We have a remarkable network of pipeline infrastructure running up and down our east and west coast with tens of thousands of kilometres of pipes delivering enormous daily gas flows from five basins to different demand centres.

Construction of new government buildings in China will be taking a backseat in the next five years as part of latest measures to curb unnecessary spending and corruption in the whole country.

It's going to happen sooner than you think. You'll casually stroll to your post box, not expecting the shock inside.

In early Wednesday trading, Australian shares have suffered losses after the decline of Aussie currency. That combined with a decline in commodity prices has had a negative impact on shares linked to resources. Other global indexes also point to the red.

Despite intervention from the Indian government, gold prices continue to decline piggy-backed by the devaluation of the dollar.