Vittorio Hernandez

US economic data, jobless claims rose by 17,000 to 283,000 last week. US markit "flash" manufacturing fell by 57.5 to 56.2 October. Across the sub-indices, new orders growth eased markedly, with new export sales falling sharply. US FHFA home prices rose 0.5% in August to be up 4.8% over the year. The US leading indicators index rose by 0.8% in September - pointing to solid growth economic for the rest of the year.

Australian shares are treading water ahead of an update on China's manufacturing sector at 12.45pm AEDT. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.1 per cent, losing ground for the first time in almost two weeks.

The US markets snapped out of a four day losing streak overnight. The futures market Asia will likely follow suit, while the ASX should snap out of a seven day rally.

Fresh from its New York initial public offering (IPO) that raised a record $25 billion fresh capital, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) has partnered with an Australian software company. Its team up with Bigcommerce is expected to further rival its US competitor Amazon.

A male rear end was mistaken for a female front. It happened in a subreddit page where a female member posted the close-up shot of her husband's behind wearing a pair of grey underwear.

The star of the 2-minute video below may have been the 17-year-old Australian who left Sydney under the guise of going on a fishing trip, but the clip apparently include a previous viral photo star.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott may have won votes when as Opposition leader he promised to repeal the carbon tax pushed by then PM Julia Gillard. While he succeeded in repealing the measure after the coalition got the majority in the September 2013 federal election, Aussie voters now appear to get the short end of his electoral promise.

Indian migrants in Australia are looking forward to the visit Down Under of Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi in November. The PM will attend the G20 conference in Brisbane and address a joint session of the Australian Parliament in Canberra.

US economic data, the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.1% in September while the core index (excludes food and energy) also rose by 0.1%. Prices are up 1.7% on a year ago. The mortgage market index soared by 11.6% with the refinancing index up 23.3% in the latest week.

The feature of the second half of Wednesday's trade was the ASX 200 recovering from a flat spot in late morning trade to make new session highs over the afternoon. The gains of the day were the best improvement of the current winning streak which has lasted for seven sessions.

The positive tone for the Australian share market has extended into Wednesday following solid gains for Wall St overnight. US stocks recorded strong gains on Tuesday supported by healthy corporate results. The S&P 500 has now gained more than 6% since its session low last Wednesday. In Europe stock indices rose on speculation that the European Central Bank is considering buying corporate bonds to revive the region's economy. Reports suggested a plan could be approved by December and start ear...

With one month exactly to the anticipated bout between Manny Pacquiao and Chris Algieri at the Cotai Arena in Macau, HBO will premiere the 3-part pre-fight teaser on Nov 8.

Beheading, like what the Islamic State (IS) has done to two American and two British hostages in the past few weeks, causes instant death to the victim. However, in a slower and more painful way of killing, the IS has prescribed death by stoning to a female adulteress.

'Volatility is a natural part of markets, whereas highly accommodative monetary policy is not.' This was my statement on Monday about the effect of monetary policies on markets - it acts as a volatility depressor.

Penal history would likely be repeated after reports came out on Tuesday that Brazil has an inmate who could pass for a movie actor. However, Tiago Henrique Gomes da Rocha is not only the owner of a face and body to-die-for since at least 39 people have actually died from his fatal hands.

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said on Tuesday that there is a chance that China would waive its newly imposed coal tariff if Canberra and Beijing would soon ink a free trade agreement.

Jennifer Lawrence, the most famous celebrities among the Fappening nude leaks victims, scored a major victory against the hackers by having Google remove the images stolen from her iCloud account from the search engine's listings.

Australian shares faded this afternoon to end a touch lower for the first time in six days. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) fell by 0.1 per cent following the 0.9 per cent improvement on Monday. Better than expected Chinese economic news initially boosted markets and currencies at 1pm AEDT.

Pyotr Pavlensky, the Russian performance artists who caught global attention in 2013 by nailing his testicles to the Red Square's cobblestones in Moscow, is back with a vengeance and again without a stitch of clothing.

VKontakte, the Russian equivalent of Facebook, blocked the Web site of the Miss Hitler 2014 beauty pageant because of its push for violent actions on Jews.

Australian shares are higher for the sixth straight day with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 0.2 per cent at lunch. Despite the strong run local stocks remain 6 per cent below September highs and are treading water ahead of Chinese data this afternoon.

Corporate earnings optimism is certainly driving US market as we expected - Apple released its results and the initial reaction to its thumping results added 1.1% in after-hours trade. It was up 2.1% in the cash market.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Assistant Governor for Economic Forecasts Christopher Kent has supported a federal government initiative to further increase the retirement age in the country that would make the proposed retirement age the highest in the world.

Medibank Private, the largest health insurer in Australia, is targeting to raise $4.8 billion fresh capital with its initial public offering (IPO).

Just when netizens thought that the celebrity naked selfie leaks is over because of stricter rules by message boards and lack of A-list celebrities to hack her photos, a female California model was almost victimised by a hacker from Canada.

A study by Australian comparison Web site lifeinsurancefinder.com.au found that jobs in the trucking, postal and warehousing sectors were the most dangerous. The basis of the finding was 65 transport and storage workers were killed while on the job in the past 12 months.

European shares fell on Monday, trimming gains made in the previous session. German software maker SAP fell 5.8% after cutting its full-year profit outlook. The news hit the tech sector with the STOXX 600 Technology sector falling 2.4%. German sportswear firm Adidas rose 3.6% after the Wall Street Journal reported that an investor group was planning a bid to buy Adidas's Reebok unit. The FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 0.5%. The UK FTSE fell 0.7% and the German Dax lost 1.5%. And Australia's m...

Australian stocks maintained earlier gains to close higher for the fifth consecutive trading session. Gains in excess of 1 per cent for the miners, banks, industrials, consumer discretionary and property trusts pushed the market higher. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) improved by 0.9 per cent or 47.2pts to 5307.3.

Australian shares are improving for the fifth consecutive day, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 1 per cent or 55pts to 5314.5. All major industries are improving at lunch however global markets remain volatile and could easily change directions on news and data.