Stock futures indicate sharp drop at open on Asian data

Dow and S&P index futures indicated a drop of about 1 percent at the open on Tuesday as a slowdown in Asian manufacturing added to doubts about the pace of an economic recovery.

Strong Aussie dollar an integral business tool, say small businesses

Two out of three Australian small businesses think that ‘business is good’, with some considering the strong Australian dollar an integral business tool, accor...

NZ Court Penalizes Qantas

A New Zealand court has ordered Australian airlines Qantas to pay fines worth NZ$6.5 million for fault of price fixing, records showed.

A man looks at the closing price of Japan's Nikkei share average displayed along with major indices outside a brokerage in Tokyo

Asian shares fall as commodities crash

Asian share markets fell on Thursday after a second big sell-off in commodities in less than a week cut investor appetite for riskier investments and boosted the U.S.

Investors continued to pour money into hedge funds in April – commodity strategies performed best

Hedge funds returned an average of 2.05% in April 2011 and the rate of net investor inflows was again above the 2010 average.

Lyxor Global Hedge Fund index was up +1.4% in April 2011, lifting year to date gains to 2.1%

The Lyxor Global Hedge Fund index, an investable index based on Lyxor's hedge fund platform which tracks the overall hedge fund universe, was up +1.4% in April, lifting year to date gains to 2.1%.

Health

PM Gillard Urged to Speak Out on Reported U.S. Charges against Assange

01:12 PM ET

Prime Minister Julia Gillard needs to clarify reports suggesting that American authorities appear to...

Retail

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (C) talks with Australia's treasurer Wayne Swan at the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Kyoto, Japan

Swan Criticises Wealthy Australians’ Too Much Say on Government Policies

01:23 PM ET

Treasurer Wayne Swan has spoken against very wealthy Australians for exerting too much influence on government policies.

Economy

Cattle feed on straw which have been declared safe by the Fukushima prefectural government, at a farm in the town of Miharu

Elders Explore New Cattle Export Markets

06:22 PM ET

Elders chief executive Malcolm Jackman said the Federal Government's month-long ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia in June had a ''significant impact'' ...