Australian Market Report: Australian shares fell today, with banks taking a breather from recent sharp gains while a series of profit warnings took a heavy toll on mining services firms. Investors were also cautiously awaiting comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for any hint of a sooner-than-expected reduction in bond-buying stimulus. Dr Bernanke will appear later on Wednesday before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. The S&P/ASX 200 index dropped 28.9 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5180.1, while the broader All Ordinaries fell 29.2 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 5190.1. More...
The Australian dollar regained ground on Tuesday as suspense grew over whether the US Federal Reserve chief would signal his intention to start tapering the bank's bond-buying program. The dollar rose to 98.28 US cents in late trade, from 97.93 US cents earlier. It had already gained 0.8 per cent on Monday, further recovering from a 11-month trough of 97.11 US cents set last week. More...
Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson has backed his department's budget forecasts, saying the government had no influence on the numbers, which were best professional estimates. "Treasury does not provide the government with a range of numbers," Dr Parkinson said. More...
Treasury 'surprised' by commodities slump Treasury secretary Martin Parkinson concedes his department has struggled to keep pace with a ‘‘tumultuous’’ decade for the Australian economy. More...
The central bank has given no clues whether more reductions are on the cards after low inflation allowed it to cut the cash rate to a record low at its May board meeting. The Reserve Bank of Australia said that inflation was expected to remain within its target range of two to three per cent for the next few years. "The board decided that some of that scope to ease policy should be used at this meeting,'' the RBA said in its May 7 board meeting minutes, released on Tuesday. More...
The corporate watchdog is under pressure to ditch proposals to crackdown on high frequency trading (HFT) activity on the stock market, with the Australian Securities Exchange saying the measures would not boost market confidence. In a submission to the corporate watchdog, the ASX said the proposal to target ‘small and flickering’ orders to restore market confidence was, based on ASIC's own analysis, not "a problem that needs a policy response at this time". More...
Glencore Xstrata's head of aluminum, Gary Fegel, is set to leave the company, three sources said, the first high-profile departure since commodity trading giant Glencore closed its purchase of miner Xstrata this month. More...
Boart axes 1000 jobs as downturn hits More...
More than $150 million has been wiped from the value of mining engineer Transfield Services as cost cutting in the mining sector sent its shares to a record low. The company has slashed its profit forecasts and fast-tracked additional cost saving measures, including job cuts, in response to weaker demand for its services. More...
Shares in Mutiny Gold have soared on news the company has doubled the exploration footprint at its Deflector gold project in the Murchison region. “Mutiny advises recent exploration activities have identified significant extensions to the mineralised host structure of the high-grade Deflector gold-copper deposit, more than doubling the previously known footprint,” the company said in a statement. More...
Norton Gold Fields has celebrated the official opening of its Enterprise open pit mine on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie. More...
Shares in Santos closed 1.6 per cent higher after the company said oil production started ahead of schedule at its $490 million Fletcher Finucane project off the West Australian coast. Santos expects to produce 15,000 barrels daily in the first year of production. More...
Leighton looks offshore to appease investors The nation's largest construction business has declared it will turn to Asia for growth, moving away from an "Australian-centric approach". More...
QBE avoids tornado fallout. The catastrophic Oklahoma tornado could have a damage bill of up to $US3 billion ($3.05 billion), raising the prospect of another wave of claims for insurance companies. But locally-listed QBE, which makes about a third of its profits in the United States, looks set to avoid most of the financial fallout from the tornado that destroyed entire neighbourhoods on Tuesday. More...
Ruralco blames hot weather for loss. Hot and dry conditions have burned agribusiness Ruralco's earnings, sparking a half-year loss only a year after it yielded a $10 million profit. Managing director John Maher said warmer weather had dried up the demand for agricultural chemicals and suppressed livestock prices. More...
Stockland is looking to raise $400 million through an institutional placement to reduce debt and expand its retail development program. It comes a week after the group unveiled its strategic direction for the coming years with a focus on its retail and residential operations. Under the terms of the deal, underwritten by UBS, Stockland will offer 103 million new securities representing 4.7 per cent of issued capital at $3.88 per security. That was a 2.5 per cent discount to its closing price of $3.98 on Tuesday. The placement will be conducted via a book build. More...
Tradies call for rescue after builder collapse. Tradies caught out by the collapse of National Buildplan Group have called for a financial ''rescue'' package and an investigation into the failure of the company. The call comes as administrators struggle to sort through the construction company's finances, with unsecured creditors including tradies, subcontractors and suppliers owed at least $18 million when National Buildplan entered administration in early April. More...
Retrenched BlueScope workers 'ripped off' by Government rescue fund (+video) Steel workers are bitterly disappointed a Government rescue fund designed to ease the blow of job losses in the industry has failed to create hundreds of positions it promised to deliver. More...
Wine sales to Britain break billion-pound mark More...
Rentals still strong for Thorn Group The Radio Rentals businesses posted record rentals and revenue for the 12 months to March 31. Thorn Group reported revenues of $203 million for the 12 months but net profit was flat at $28 million due to the cost of developing new products. More...
Small business warns unemployment will rise if the ACTU's wage claim succeeds Unions and the small business lobby are at loggerheads over a pay rise for the country's lowest paid workers. The Australian Council of Unions (ACTU) says a $30.00 per week increase in the minimum wage is necessary to prevent the country's lowest paid workers from falling further behind. More...
Tinkler mansion put up for sale More...
Le Neve Groves alleges signature forged in $33m share sale Former childcare multi-millionaire Le Neve Groves says she was so busy at work she took almost two weeks to start seriously investigating a mystery sale of $33 million of her own shares in 2008. More...
AGL fined $1.5m for door-knocking lies. A door-to-door salesman spruiking AGL's electricity and gas services in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg in late 2011 has cost the energy giant nearly $1.5 million in penalties for lying to consumers. More...
US private equity firm KKR is to sell its entire 12 per cent stake in Seven West Media. The decision to sell the stake, worth about $265 million, was announced after the close of the stock exchange on Tuesday. KKR - formerly called Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts - cut its ties to Seven after an almost seven-year partnership. More...
Seven West names TV boss as new CEO. Seven West Media has named TV boss Tim Worner as its new chief executive, replacing Don Voelte. The former Seven News Perth journalist will start in the new role on July 1, heading up a media company which comprises the Seven Television Network, More...
Opinion/Analysis - Michael Pascoe: The superannuation industry's peak body wants a 15 per cent tax applied to lump sum superannuation withdrawals, rising to 30 per cent for withdrawals over a certain, yet to be defined, limit. Yes, we are a long way from a stable and settled superannuation system, despite all the talk about needing “certainty”. More...
Opinion - Malcolm Maiden: China's State Grid powers up in Australia More...
U.S. Market Report: Stocks nudged higher Tuesday as investors looked ahead to comments due from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke tomorrow. Bernanke will discuss his outlook for the economy in testimony before Congress Wednesday. The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up between 0.3% and 0.4% after drifting along the breakeven line for much of the morning. More...
North/South Americas Market Report: North and South American markets are mixed today. The Bovespa is up 0.79% while the S&P 500 gains 0.35%. The IPC is off 1.35%. More...
European Market Report: European markets finished higher today with shares in London leading the region. The FTSE 100 is up 0.71% while France's CAC 40 is up 0.33% and Germany's DAX is up 0.19%. More...
Asian Market Report: Asian markets finished mixed as of the most recent closing prices. The Shanghai Composite gained 0.22% and the Nikkei 225 rose 0.13%. The Hang Seng lost 0.54%. More...
Commodities Report - Oil: Brent crude oil futures fell below $104 per barrel on Tuesday in New York, as investors worried that the U.S. Federal Reserve might scale back its bond buying program, which could push the dollar higher and hinder energy demand. More...
Commodities Report - Gold: Gold, down in seven of its last eight sessions extended earlier losses on Tuesday on a firm dollar, weak technical signals and speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve might rein in its stimulus programme. More...
Risk of vicious circle for gold as hedging returns The curse of hedging that blighted gold in the 1990s is making a comeback, and threatens to loom over the market like Banquo's ghost. More...
The U.S. Justice Department on Monday asked a federal judge to deny Standard & Poor's motion to dismiss a government lawsuit against the ratings agency, saying its statements on certain financial products were fraudulent and not mere "puffery". In a $5 billion suit, the U.S. government has accused S&P, owned by McGraw Hill Financial Inc, of issuing inflated ratings on faulty products to drum up business before the 2008 financial crisis, despite assurances that its judgments were objective. More...
Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said he has not decided whether the Fed’s next move should be to enlarge or shrink its bond buying program as he called for a fresh look at its eventual retreat from record asset purchases. “Because the outlook is uncertain, I cannot be sure which way -- up or down -- the next change will be,” Dudley said in prepared remarks for a speech today in New York. More...
Herbalife announced Tuesday that it has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers as its new auditor. KPMG resigned as Herbalife's independent auditor last month after discovering that one of its partners was providing illegal stock tips to a friend about the auditing firm's clients, including Herbalife (HLF). More...
Senate panel peels back Apple's offshore taxes Apple Inc's chief executive officer defended the company's tax record at a Tuesday Senate hearing where lawmakers said the maker of iPads, iPods and Mac computers kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries to avoid U.S. taxes. More...
U.S. court studies wiretaps in Rajat Gupta insider case More...
Ireland says it is not to blame for low Apple tax rate Ireland said it was not to blame for Apple Inc's low global tax payments after the US Senate said the company paid little or nothing on billions of dollars in profits stashed in Irish subsidiaries. In a 40-page memorandum released ahead of an appearance by Apple CEO Tim Cook before Congress on Tuesday, a Senate subcommittee identified three subsidiaries that have no "tax residency" either in Ireland, where they are incorporated, or in the United States, where those companies are managed. More...
Sprint Nextel Corp raised its buyout offer for wireless service provider Clearwire Corp to $3.40 per share, but the new bid was not high enough to impress some investors. Clearwire shares almost immediately traded around the new offer price, having consistently traded well above the old $2.97-per-share bid. More...
After five years under investigation for insider trading, Steven Cohen is considering proposing a deal to prosecutors that would shut his $15 billion hedge-fund firm to outside investors, according to a person familiar with his thinking. More...
Dimon keeps JPMorgan chairman title after bruising battle More...
Best Buy Co Inc reported lackluster sales in the first quarter and warned that efforts to entice shoppers could squeeze profits in the near term. The news overshadowed its better-than-expected, first-quarter profit and sent shares of the world's largest consumer electronics chain down 4 percent on Tuesday. More...
Home Depot Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly results and raised its sales and profit outlook for the year on Tuesday as the world's largest home improvement chain benefited from a nascent recovery in the U.S. housing market. The news pushed the retailer's shares up as much as 3.4 percent to an all-time high and gave fresh evidence that the U.S. housing market was improving after years of weakness. More...
Solar industry groups urge U.S., EU, China to avert trade war More...
EU Says Chinese FTA Possible, but Wants Market Opening The European Union is willing to deepen trade ties with China but wants to see concessions from Beijing first, More...
EU wants to exclude utilities from U.S. trade talks More...
Europe faces lost decade - Carney Mark Carney, the incoming Bank of England Governor, has warned that Europe could face a decade of stagnation unless it takes the kind of bold measures seen in Japan. In words that will underline his status as a monetary activist and fuel speculation that he will try to relaunch quantitative easing (QE) when he arrives in the UK, Mr Carney applauded Japan’s “bold policy experiment” to boost dramatically its own QE programme. More...
Burberry profits rise as Asian sales grow More...
Marks & Spencer profits fall after clothing struggles Marks & Spencer has suffered a 14pc drop in annual profits following a sharp decline in clothing sales over the last year. More...
Interflora wins trademark case against Marks & Spencer More...
Vodafone Group Plc plans to retain a a 2.1 billion-pound ($3.19 billion) dividend from U.S. venture Verizon Wireless rather than returning it to shareholders as it reported the first full-year revenue decline since 2005. Verizon will use the cash -- the third dividend since the partnership with Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) restarted payments in 2012 -- to pay for wireless spectrum and fund its business, the Newbury, England-based company said today. Revenue for the 12 months through March fell 4.2 percent to 44.4 billion pounds. More...
Carnival cruise firm's shares fall after discounts threaten profits. Shares in cruise company Carnival have fallen more than 7% after it issued a profit warning - its second in just three months. Carnival, which operates ships under brands such as P&O and Costa Cruises, said full year revenues, which were expected to be flat, would now fall 2-3%. It blamed the drop on a higher-than-expected rise in voyage cancellations. More...
Rupee falls to near six-month low on stock losses, importer demand More...
Essar Energy Plc on Tuesday signed a $1 billion financial cooperation agreement with the China Development Bank and PetroChina International Co. Ltd., according to a document seen by Reuters. More...
Japan April exports seen up but trade deficit to persist More...
Two executives at Japan's Denso Corp have agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to fix prices of electronic auto parts sold to Toyota and will cooperate with an ongoing criminal investigation, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. More...
Lanxess strike: South African miners shot with rubber bullets Ten South African miners have been injured after security guards fired rubber bullets at a crowd of striking workers, police say. Police spokesman Thulani Ngubane said the miners had been taken to hospital. More...
Opinion/Analysis - Larry Elliot: Will IMF repeat its anti-austerity call? George Osborne has been doing his utmost to get the IMF mission to change its view during talks over the past fortnight More...
Opinion/Analysis - Linda Yueh: China's ambitious plans for its huge reserves More...
Opinion - Paul R. La Monica: The market doesn't lie: Housing recovery is real More...