Vittorio Hernandez

Australian shares are easing for just the second time in eight trading sessions following yesterday's 2.5 per cent surge. The ASX 200 Index is down by 0.3 per cent on light volume due to the holiday interrupted trading week.

The macadamia nut industry has resigned Korea Air Vice President Heather Cho to thank for because her air rage over being served the nuts in a plastic bag instead of a plate saw a large increase in demand for the controversial nut in South Korea.

With no sign of the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 after two days of surveillance, the search was widened on Tuesday in terms of a bigger area and more teams joining.

The main headline from overnight trade was Greece's failure to elect presidential nominee Stavros Dimas in its final attempt. After two failed attempts, yesterday was parliament's last chance to elect him as president before being forced into an early election. Having failed yet again, the country will be headed back to the polls as early as January 25. An election puts all sorts of doubt on the future of the bailout agreement given anti-austerity party Syriza is currently leading the poll...

In US economic data, the Dallas Federal Reserve manufacturing index eased from +10.5 to +4.1 in December.

More Australians are giving unwanted Christmas presents that is why for 2014, the number of such gifts rose to 20.3 million from 14.2 million in 2013.

A freak vehicular accident killed an 86-year-old Australian widower on Sunday when his car ran over him while he was visiting his wife's grave in Sydney.

Australian shares surged despite a substantial fall in market activity (volume). The ASX 200 Index extended earlier gains to finish 1.5 per cent firmer by close; finishing at intraday highs.

Australian shares are kicking off the holiday shortened trading week firmer, with the ASX 200 Index up 0.8 per cent. This is the first session of trade since last Wednesday and historically the next few weeks are usually quiet for local stocks.

Although the fate of the missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501 is still unknown, the fact that it has been gone with no contact for more than 24 hours is an indicator the jet possibly had the same fate of the still missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

In what seems to be a repeat of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, AirAsia Flight QZ8501 remains missing for around 24 hours as nations stepped up offers of help to search for the Singapore-bound jet with 162 people aboard.

US equities continued to drift higher on Friday despite most global markets being closed for Christmas and Boxing Day holidays. In fact, US equities went on to print fresh record highs again with investors happy to continue following the trend. Data was also limited in that time but there continued to be some commentary out of key emerging markets

In US economic data released on Christmas Eve, initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 280,000, their fourth straight week of declines, and below the forecast of 290,000.

Another air tragedy similar to the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight looms over the global aviation industry after an AirAsia plane with 162 people on board went missing on Sunday. The aircraft left a provincial Indonesia city for Singapore and flew over the Java Sea.

If the dream match between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr will finally happen on May 2, 2015, it would likely break at least two boxing records.

The Australian share market has ended a shortened Christmas Eve session (14:00 AEDT Close) around the best levels of the day following an indifferent start where local investors sniffed at the strong gains on Wall Street overnight. US stocks posted impressive improvements following figures revealed that the final estimate of economic growth for the September quarter showed a 5.0% annualised pace, well above estimates of 4.3%

The Australian share market has started the Christmas Eve session with a modest gains before trading lower. Local investors shrugged their shoulder after taking in the strong gains on Wall Street overnight.

At the start of 2015, there would be a new kid on the economic bloc as the newly former Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) officially starts to function. The EEU is Russian President Vladimir Putin's response to the western sanctions which has caused the rouble to depreciate by 50 percent since January.

Part of the hazards of trade of heads of state and other politicians is being booed by a disbelieving crowd like what happened recently to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott when he attended the memorial service for a former Labor prime minister

It was another stellar day for US equities with a much better than expected revised GDP reading triggering the gains. Q3 GDP came in at a whopping 5%, revised from a previous estimate of 3.9% and much better than an expected 4.3%. This was the biggest gain since 2003 and this was enough to keep investors encouraged. Equities extended gains on the news with the S&P and Dow at fresh record highs. The S&P hit 2087 and the Dow topped 18,000. The GDP reading also underpinned the greenback as it ralli...

Despite a 2010 expose by Today show that revealed some retailers, including retail giants Gap, Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom return used underwear on the shelves, another round of secret monitoring this 2014 caught three retails still engaged in the same unsanitary practice.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's unpopularity with Australian voters was recently proven by polls which forecast that he would not win in the 2016 election, while Opposition leader Bill Shorten has overtaken him as preferred PM.

In US economic data, the final estimate of economic growth for the September quarter showed a 5.0% annualised pace, above estimates of 4.3% and the fastest pace in 11 years. Chain store sales were up 5.3% in the latest week, up from 4.1% in the prior week. New home sales fell 1.6% to a 438,000 annual pace in November. Personal income rose by 0.4% in November with spending up 0.6%. Home prices rose 0.5% in October to be up 4.5% on the year.

Local shares continued to lose ground over the course of Tuesday afternoon. The four preceding sessions saw the ASX 200 rise by 290 points or 5.5%. Local participants shrugged off the positive tone that featured in US and European trade overnight, to the extent that the market ended at the lows of the day.

Former Philippine Senator Rene Saguisag asked the leaders of the Philippine House of Representatives to either suspend or remove Sarangani representative Manny Pacquiao for treating his work in Congress as just a hobby.

Relief appears nowhere for Australia's iron ore exporters as supply continues to exceed demand, prompting the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) to cut again its forecast of prices for the key-steelmaking ingredient in 2015.

On the eve of Christmas eve, local shares have taken a pause after 4 sessions of gains in which the ASX 200 has risen by 290 points or 5.5%. The index started the session with a loss of 8 points before trading at the lows of the morning as lunchtime loomed. Local participants looked through the generally positive that featured in US and European trade overnight. European shares were firmer in the latest session with the FTSEurofirst 300 index up by 0.4% and the German Dax up by 0.8%. Investors w...

Westpac announced on Tuesday that it would quit its remittance business on March 31, 2015. Among the Big 4 banks in Australia, it would be the last to leave the $24.5-billion remittance sector in the country.

It was another quiet night as the markets head into the Christmas break. The USD remains strong. The AUD did rise to USD 0.8170 during the day yesterday, but is back around the recent lows of USD 0.8115.