Vittorio Hernandez

The Sydney city government allowed on Wednesday retail outlets to remain open for business 24 hours a day beginning December 10 until 25. It is the first time that stores have been allowed to open the whole day across the city without a need by the retailers to apply for a special permit.

Australian shares are falling slightly for the fourth day with gains across US markets and a pause in energy sector selling helping to minimise losses. The ASX 200 Index is down 0.1 per cent with the mining industry the main drag. Plenty of monthly economic news in China this afternoon at 4.30pm AEDT (after the close of the Australian market) might keep investors a little cautious today.

The Australian Dollar is trading lower this morning, having given up gains made on the back of yesterday's good jobs data.

The Australian dollar hit a four-year low on Thursday at US82.15c but it recovered and closed at US83.20c. Reserved Bank of Australia (RBA) officials warn that the Aussie dollar could further depreciate to US75c.

A round of positive US economic data seems to have reinvigorated the greenback, with retail sales and unemployment claims both coming in ahead of estimates.

In US economic data, retail sales rose by 0.7% in November (well ahead of expectations of 0.4%). Excluding gasoline, sales lifted by 0.9%. The gains were broad-based and confirmed a lift in discretionary spending. Core retail sales (excluding automobiles, gasoline, building material and food services) lifted by 0.6%. US jobless claims fell by 3,000 to 294,000 in the past week. US import prices fell 1.5% in November driven by a 6.9% slide in oil prices. US business inventories rose 0.2% in Octobe...

Australian shares ended the day 0.4 per cent lower by the close with some better than expected employment numbers for November helping reduce the losses. The ASX 200 Index managed to remain above 5200pts despite dipping below the key level earlier in the day.

Australian shares are falling for the third straight with the ASX 200 Index down 0.6 per cent. The creation of close to three times as many jobs last month however is helping reduce the losses. At its worst levels, the local market was down by 1.35 per cent today.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott discussed the possible export of uranium to Ukraine with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in their bilateral talks in Melbourne on Thursday.

The AUD has not broken new ground. Having pushed down to 0.8265 after a lower-than-expected Chinese CPI print, it recovered to 0.8348 before pulling back to 0.8300 this morning.

Global markets continued to slide as oil slipped further and Greek bond yields spiked. Crude oil inventories released in the US showed a surplus of 1.5 million when the market was expecting a deficit of 2.6 million. This saw WTI slump over 4%, with oil prices trading at their lowest since mid-2009.

A 20-year-old Afghan, Abbas Alizada, is attracting social media attention because of his physical resemblance to 1970s Kung Fu actor Bruce Lee. But he is more than a lookalike because Alizada could also move like Lee who starred in the blockbuster 1970s movie Enter the Dragon.

While British MPs are debating on Friday the proposal by Liberal Democrat MP Julian Huppert to repeal the recent changes to the United Kingdom's porn laws, outside Parliament, hundreds of protesters will express their disagreement with the newly approved Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014.

Women workers of CTPartners Executive Search, a leading global executive search company based in New York City, filed discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOC).

The second half of Wednesday's session saw buyers make some pact on the market, taking advantage of prices that were discounted over the course of the morning. The ASX 200 bottomed out late this morning when it was down by 60 points. By the end of trade this deficit had been wound in and the index ended with a loss of 23 points or 0.45%

Fans are angry and shocked at Floyd Mayweather's paying tribute to rapper Earl Hayes hours after the boxer's friend gunned his wife Stephanie Moseley out of jealousy and then committed suicide.

An old woman will stand trial in August 2015 before the New South Wales Supreme Court over charges of performing genital mutilation on two young girls. The case, allowed by Chief Justice Tom Bathurst, could set a precedent and result in a landmark decision since it is a first in NSW and possibly in Australia.

Wednesday has seen sellers continue to dictate terms for the ASX 200. The market started the session with a gain of 5 points, although positive territory was a fleeting experience and within the first quarter hour the index was down by 40 points. As lunchtime neared the market showed little evidence of consolidation as it continued to make new lows. The weaker tone locally reflected a similar experience in the US and Europe overnight. European shares fell to a two-week low overnight, led down by...

ABC-CBN chose to ignore the social media storm created by the remarks of its news reader Korina Sanchez that Super Typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) would hopefully only batter Japan and spare the Philippines. The comment even spawned a hoax report that Japan has declared her a persona non grata.

A day after unintentionally elevating macadamia nuts as reason for air rage, a chastised Korean Air executive resigned from her post. Cho Hyun-ah quit her job as vice president responsible for cabin service on Tuesday.

The Australian Dollar has rallied off new lows as the USD and global equity markets weakened overnight.

Global jitters continued to rock sentiment, with Greece at the forefront of the issues. Greek banks were heavily sold off and led declines in European stocks.

In US economic data, wholesale inventories rose by 0.4% in October after an upwardly revised 0.4% gain in September (previously reported as a 0.3% rise). Wholesale sales lifted by 0.2% in October. An ISM industry report on the US manufacturing sector expected revenue to rise by 5.6% in 2015, with capital investment expected to lift by 3.7%.

Australian shares extended their losses this afternoon to finish near today's lows and posting the most significant falls since last Monday. The ASX 200 Index closed 1.7 per cent softer to 5282.7.

Australian shares are wiping out all of yesterday's gains with the ASX 200 Index down by 1 per cent. This should come as no surprise following a 4 per cent slump in the oil price, disappointing economic news in China and Japan on Monday, the worst performance for US shares since October overnight and a credit downgrade for Italy.

More pressure for the Australian Dollar as China, Australia's largest trade partner, showed a surprise fall in imports, pushing the trade surplus to a record USD 54.47 billion and oil prices continued to slide.

Gains from Friday's jobs numbers were short lived as renewed global growth concerns and declining oil prices came back to haunt global markets. Yesterday's disappointing Japan GDP and China trade balance set off the global growth alarm bells once again.

Floyd Mayweather won on Monday a lawsuit he filed against a New Orleans wine bar called The Wine Bistro, which profited by placing his name on a poster for the Super Bowl Takeover event on Feb 1, 2013. Also on the same poster was DJ Drama who would star the next day.

Like the fake news that Malia Obama is pregnant, Japan did not declare ABS-CBN news reader Korina Sanchez a "persona non grata" for saying on air that super typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) should spare the Philippines and hit Japan instead.