POLITICS & POLICY

The scheduled deployment of U.S. Marines in Australia will commence next month, reports said, with the initial 10 percent of the announced number of troops set to be shipped to Darwin.

Despite sales of automobiles in China seen to lose its spark this year owing to economic cuts and rising fuel costs, domestic car manufacturer Chery announced on Wednesday it has reached an agreement with Indian-owned luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to create and set-up a joint venture project in China.

Australia, the world's largest shipper of the raw commodity iron ore, has earmarked an iron ore export projection of 473 million tonnes in the year to June 2012, up by nearly 3 per cent from an earlier forecast of 460 million tonnes, even as it forecast that prices of the raw commodity used to make steel will decline 8.5 per cent this year.

With rare earths getting more controversial, what with last week's gung ho complaint filing of economic leaders U.S., the European Union and Japan against China before the World Trade Organization (WTO) because of its supply restrictions of the precious metal, Canadian-based rare earths miner Pacific Wildcat Resources Corp. could just be in the nick of time as it announced of a potential second mine in Kenya this year.

The Australian stock market is off to a subdued trading Thursday as investors cautiously stay at the sidelines observing how China will try to ease its economic challenges that could have a direct impact Australia's economy.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar was sold back down through USD1.0500 overnight as another round of USD buying emerged.

Morning Report.US existing home sales continued the run of soft US housing market news this week. Sales fell by 0.9pct to a seasonally adjusted pace of 4.59 million units in February.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average headed towards a second consecutive loss as sagging energy stocks and the latest housing news weighed on investors. The blue-chip Dow slipped 27 points, or 0.2%, to 13143 in late trading. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index traded roughly flat at 1406, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 12 points, or 0.4%, to 3086.

In a recent report by the Associated Press, New York City statistician Justin Bassett had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. Why should companies require an 'acceptable' Facebook page from applicants today, when recruitment had worked fine without Facebook in the past?

In a recent report by the Associated Press, New York City statistician Justin Bassett had just finished answering a few character questions when the interviewer turned to her computer to search for his Facebook page. Why should companies require an 'acceptable' Facebook page from applicants today, when recruitment had worked fine without Facebook in the past?

The exodus of Kiwis for Australia has reached a new high, with departures accelerating to a record 53,000 last month, Businessdesk reports.

Government officials blasted at Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer for accusing specific groups of plotting to destroy the Australian economy.

The Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) of Malaysia has been ordered by a High Court Judge to render the details of the controversial temporary operating licence (TOL) it awarded to Australian miner Lynas Corp. in relation to its Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) rare earths facility in Gebeng, near Kuantan.

Chinese car aficionados who have been long eyeing that Daimler, Volkwagen and BMW, among a few, may very well decide to purchase that dream car now as Western automobile makers may likely reduce certain percentages off the selling price of their products in a bid to meet sales quotas amid the economic cuts and rising fuel costs in China.

Combined steel output by the world's various steel-making countries grew marginally in February, up by 1.9 per cent to 119 million tonnes compared from a year ago, the World Steel Association (WSA) said on Tuesday.

A slow, lackadaisical trading is anticipated on Wednesday's Australian stock market as a grueling impact of low commodity exports further hammered down potential export earnings in correlation with China's weakening demand.

The two Italian men who were kidnapped from the eastern Indian state of Orissa are still not released. Rebels say their demands must be met.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The AUD has opened this morning below USD1.0500 after reaching a level above USD1.0600 yesterday after the RBA's March meeting minutes were released.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEDT - Due to the change in daylight saving hours in the US - Wall street now closes at 7am AEDT)US housing starts fell 1.1pct to a seasonally adjusted rate of 698,000 units in February. However January starts were revised modestly higher. Building permits which lead starts, ticked up to 717k, suggesting that the fall in starts was just a temporary dip. The underlying trend is of very gradual improvement.

U.S. stocks fell as concerns about China's economic growth gave pause to a rally that pushed benchmarks to their highest levels in years. Stocks opened lower Tuesday and held losses in afternoon trading.

MARKET CLOSE (4.30pm AEDT)The Australian sharemarket completely wiped out the modest gains recorded yesterday, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) falling 0.4 pct or 15.6 pts to 4365.6. On Monday, the XAO rose by 16 pts.

Australia is getting spooked, after global mining, oil and gas company BHP Billiton revealed observing signs of a further weakening demand of iron ore from China, instantly kicking the Australian dollar to plummet against the U.S. dollar to below $1.0600.

The federal government has agreed to accommodate concessions on its Future of Financial Advice legislation, a move that is said was necessary to provide more breathing room for the proposal to win parliamentary approval.

Canada-based Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has put up a new team of mine-development specialists to facilitate the immediate production of its rare earths project at Southeast Alaska.

Bloggers charge it was a publicity stunt that resulted in the rare tiger's death.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard scored a victory Monday night as the Australian Senate approved her proposed minerals resource rent tax (MRRT) that will soon collect 30 percent tax from profits generated by the country's mining giants.

Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp. welcomed the creation of a Malaysian parliamentary select committee (PSC) to intervene on its beleaguered Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) facility, saying it is confident the committee will not be used as mileage to further harass the existence of its yet to be operational plant in Gebeng, Kuantan.

Another session of positive leads from overnight trades in the U.S. and partly from European markets will bode well for Tuesday's trading in Australia.The markets in the U.S. moved forward with Apple Inc. leading the way with shares selling $600 a piece in reaction to company announcements that cash dividends and a buy-back scheme will be the way to go forward spending its billions in cash coffers.

MORNING REPORT (7am AEDT - Due to the change in daylight saving hours in the US - Wall street now closes at 7am AEDT)The Midwest manufacturing index rose from 89.0 to 90.1 In January. The National Association of Home Builders sentiment index was unchanged at 28 in March - the highest level since June 2007.