Economy

Retail Stores open 100hrs for Xmas shoppers

SOME stores are ending the holiday shopping season the same way they began it - with round-the-clock, marathon shopping hours.

Politicians, where's the money gone?

Jessica Irvine CALL it gallows humour. Asked this week if he would ever deliver a budget surplus, new Treasurer, Joe Hockey, joked: "Depends how long I live."

Dole blowout Dole queue jump sees payments hit

Natasha Bita National Social Editor NUMBER of people on the dole jumps 20 per cent in a year to over 800,000, forcing the Government to target family payments.

Kim Jong-un more ruthless than his father

MATT YOUNG KIM Jong-un has turned on North Korea's economic elite, executing some of the country's most powerful people. Could he be more ruthless and unforgiving than his late father?

Where Hockey can save $667B debt

Lanai Scarr and Lisa Cornish NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTERS EVERYTHING but raising the GST is on the table as the Coalition aims to tame its $667 billion debt bomb. Where the cuts will most likely be made.

Big guns called in to fire up Labor troops

By MALCOLM FARR National Political Editor FORMER Prime Minister Paul Keating gave Labor caucus a pep talk today to lift the morale of Opposition.

Economy Unemployment up to 5.8 per cent

AAP AUSTRALIA'S unemployment rate rose to 5.8 per cent in November, official figures show.

30th anniversary of major reform Who really saved the Aussie dollar?

By MALCOLM FARR National Political Editor THE Aussie dollar was first floated in 1983. But who thought of the idea, which would change our nation's economy forever?

Employment Jobless rate to stay below 6 per cent

AAP JOBS growth is still sluggish and the unemployment rate is expected to remain under six per cent for the coming months, economists report

Indonesia WTO agrees to 'historic' trade deal

COMMERCE ministers have ended days of tough negotiations by approving a WTO agreement on international trade they hailed as "historic".

Economics Why free trade deals are needed

Jessica Irvine FREE trade deals will hurt individual sectors of the economy, but Australia cannot afford to ignore the overall benefit, writes Jessica Irvine.

Economy US trade gap narrows on export rise

THE US foreign trade deficit narrowed to $US40.6 billion in October on a strong rise in exports, the US Commerce Department reported.

Economy GDP up 0.6% in September quarter

AAP AUSTRALIA'S economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the September quarter, according to official figures taking it to an annual rate of 2.3 per cent.

Markets FX Cross Rates

Market	AUD	USD	EUR	GBP	HKD	NZD	SGD
AUD	AUD	88.83	64.91	54.24	7.7423	1.09	1.2769
AUD	AUD	-0.24	-0.25	-0.23	0.01	0.0	0.01
USD	1.0063	USD	0.73	0.61	7.7911	N/A	1.2851
USD	-0.0	USD	0.0	0.0	-0.0	N/A	0.01
EUR	1.3698	1.37	EUR	0.858	10.6049	1.7612	1.7492
EUR	-0.02	0.0	EUR	-0.0	-0.1	-0.02	-0.01
GBP	1.5964	1.5864	1.1655	GBP	12.3595	2.0524	2.0388
GBP	-0.01	-0.01	0.01	GBP	-0.06	-0.01	0.0
HKD	0.1292	0.1284	0.943	N/A	HKD	0.1661	0.1649
HKD	-0.0	0.0	0.01	N/A	HKD	-0.0	0.0
NZD	0.7778	0.773	0.5679	0.4872	6.0215	NZD	0.9932
NZD	-0.0	0.0	0.01	0.0	0.01	NZD	0.01
SGD	N/A	0.7782	0.5717	0.4905	6.0632	1.0068	SGD
SGD	N/A	-0.0	0.0	-0.0	-0.03	-0.01	SGD