Vittorio Hernandez

The Australian share market joined Wall Street and other Asian markets to close in the red today, as profit takers moved in following a solid 2013 for investors.

As if his Time Magazine Person of the Year award is not enough evidence, Vatican released on Thursday visitor data that confirmed Pope Francis is an extremely popular figure with the status of a celebrity or rock star.

The Australian share market is being sold off in early trade, after profit takers moved in on Wall Street on the first trading day of the 2014 year.

It was a strange old session on Wall Street and in Europe; however the end result should be weakness in global cyclicals in Asia today.

In US economic news, jobless claims fell for the second consecutive week down by 2,000 to 339,000 last week - suggesting labour market continued to steadily improve. The US Markit PMI lifted from 54.7 to 55.0 in December - the fastest pace in 11 months. Across the subindices a solid increase was recorded in output and employment. US ISM manufacturing factory activity eased marginally from 57.3 to 57.0 in December. US construction spending rose by 1% to a five year high.

Will talk show icon Oprah Winfrey soon walk the aisle? Rumours suggest wedding bells would soon peal for the highest-paid talk show host in the U.S. as she is set to marry her fiancé of 20 years plus.

Residents of the Australian state of Victoria are not impressed with the state's new FireReady app supposed to alert smartphone owners of perilous bushfires that are razing near their properties.

Companies have not learnt the lessons of the Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy movements that hit major global cities in 2011. One of the key points of these protests was the income inequality and wealth distribution between the wealthiest 1 per cent and the remaining 99 per cent.

There three Filipinas whose video crushing a puppy to death by stomping on it went viral in October 2013. These women appear to have clones in Victoria, Australia, who also stomped and threw on the wall on New Year's Day 22 rabbits.

Australian oil and gas firm Woodside Petroleum just lost a lucrative $2-billion supply deal on Thursday to sell 1.5 million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas yearly to a Japanese consortium due to a 2-year delay in Woodside's Browse project.

The Australian share market has started 2014 on the right note, closing higher by 0.3 per cent, following a 15 per cent annual gain in 2013.

The Abbott government, a few months in power, appears to be headed to break some more of its election promises in 2013. One of them is that it would fall short by 200,000 jobs of its election vow to create 1 million jobs over five years.

The Australian share market is trading higher on the first trading day of 2014, gaining half of one per cent in the early session albeit on low trading volumes.

If history is to be any sort of guide then January, and specifically today, should be a good one to be long on global indices and risk assets in general.

In US economic news, S&P Case Shiller composite house price index rose by 1% in October against expectations of a 0.8% rise. Compared to a year earlier house prices were up 13.6%.

Sex dolls could withstand high altitudes, deep freezing temperatures and high winds, according to an experiment made in mid-December by CNB.com, a California-based adult toy maker.

Due to the poor performance of the Apple stock in the 2013 fiscal year, the tech company's board removed almost $4 million in stock vesting restrictions on the pay package of Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Due to more Australian women having the perception that their private parts have abnormal appearance, labiaplasties have increased by 5-fold in the country Down Under since 2001.

An estimated 2 million Australians viewed the famous New Year fireworks display on Tuesday night at Sydney Harbour, exceeding the initial anticipated crowd of 1.6 million people.

Dr Brian J Morris, the author of the Australian study on the effect of circumcision on sexual gratification, said he is not a member of the Gilgal Society.

Australian stocks finished slightly weaker today, as investors elected to remain on the sidelines until the US Federal Reserve delivers the outcome of its two day policy meeting.

The All Ordinaries Index opened higher by 4 points but quickly fell away and by lunch time the All Ords had recovered lost ground. The volumes on the market have been light as investors prepare for what will be a long wait ahead of tomorrow's outcome from the Fed's 2 day policy meeting. By 6am AEDT tomorrow we will know the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting. Tomorrow could see trading volumes back to normal levels. So far today trading levels are around 60% of the average rate. Overni...

Trade in the US remains very cautious, and so quiet you can hear the wind blowing through the trader stalls as tomorrow morning's announcement from the FOMC inches closer.

In US economic news, consumer prices were flat in November but the core rate (excludes food and energy) rose by 0.2%, just ahead of forecasts of a 0.1% gain. The current account deficit narrowed from US$96.61 billion to a 4-year low of US$94.84 billion. Chain store sales were up 2.9% in the latest week on a year ago, compared with 2.6% in the previous week. And the NAHB housing market index rose from 54 to 58 in December.

Lawyers of South Korean tech giant Samsung should perhaps take a lesson or two from a New Zealand inventor who has the distinction of winning against Cupertino-based Apple in a legal battle.

Research at Flinders University in Australia puts in question the origin of a bird, the kiwi, which has stood as neighbour New Zealand's unofficial symbol. Trevor Worthy, a palaentologist born in New Zealand, based his study on fossilised remains on NZ's south island that suggest the kiwi did not come from a larger ancestor but from a winged creature that originated in Australia but migrated to New Zealand.

About 17,000 New Zealand customers of the ANZ Bank joined a class action suit against the lender over excessive bank fees. The legal action was initiated by Fair Play on Fees Group.

A new Apple TV ad titled Misunderstood has gone viral on Tube with almost 130,000 hits just 9 hours after it was posted. The 1-minute, 31-second commercial shows the company's latest device and feature, the iPhone 5S and AirPlay, without serving as distractions to the heart-warming story of a family who went on a Christmas winter holiday.

Canadian executive Tony Crist's secret is out. However, what is more interesting is not that he won $40 million lottery prize in May which even his family didn't know, but he is giving it all away to charity!