THIS MORNING

In Australia, no major economic data is scheduled. In the US, the Markit "flash" services index is released with the National Activity index and Kansas City and Dallas Federal Reserve manufacturing indexes.

OVERNIGHT MARKETS

US Equities

US sharemarkets posted solid gains on Friday with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes at record highs. But restraining the gains were declines by key technology stocks with Microsoft down 1.5 per cent and Netflix down 2.1 per cent. The Dow Jones rose by 91 points or 0.5 per cent with the S&P 500 index up by 0.5 per cent and the Nasdaq lifted 11 points or 0.2 per cent. Over the week the Dow Jones rose by 1.0 per cent, the S&P 500 index was up by 1.2 per cent while the Nasdaq rose by 0.5 per cent.

US treasuries rose on Friday (yields lower) after the European Central Bank chief highlighted the difficult European economy and flagged that more stimulus may be required. US 2 year yields fell by 1 point to 0.505 per cent while US 10 year yields fell by 3 points to 2.31 per cent. Over the week US 2 year yields fell by less than 1 point while US 10 year yields fell by 2.5 points.

Major currencies were mixed against the greenback in the European and US sessions on Friday as traders dissected news from Europe and China. The Euro eased from highs near $US1.2555 to lows near $US1.2375, and was around $US1.2390 in late US trade. The Aussie dollar rose from lows near US86.00c to around US87.20c, and was near US86.65c in late US trade. The Japanese yen held between ¥117.38 per US dollar and ¥118.08 and was at ¥117.77 in late US trade.

World oil prices rose on Friday in response to the Chinese rate cut and speculation that OPEC may reduce production quotas on Thursday. Brent crude rose by $US1.03 or 1.3 per cent to $US80.36 a barrel while the US Nymex crude price rose by US66c or 0.9 per cent to $US76.51 a barrel. Over the week Brent crude rose by US95c or 1.2 per cent while US Nymex rose by US69c or 0.9 per cent.

Base metal prices rose by between 0.8-2.1 per cent on the London Metal Exchange on Friday with zinc leading the gains while copper lagged. Over the week metal prices rose up to 6.7 per cent with nickel leading the way but copper rose just 0.1 per cent. Gold rose on Friday in response to the Chinese rate cut and short covering. Comex gold futures rose by $US6.80 an ounce or 0.6 per cent to $US1,197.50 per ounce. Over the week gold rose by $US11.90 or 1.0 per cent. Iron ore eased by US20c to $US69.80 a tonne on Friday and fell by $US5.70 or 8.2 per cent over the week.

YESTERDAY'S MARKET 

Local Markets Update.

This news story is reprinted from www.businessspectator.com.au

Looking for Accounting Outsourcing Services

Payroll outsourcing is a business practice that involves contracting with a business service to handle all functions related to a company payroll. By outsourcing the service to another company makes it possible to manage the payroll process without requiring maintaining a large payroll department. Payroll service providers manage such diverse functions as the calculation of wages and salary, withholding of taxes, the distribution of withheld funds to the government agencies, and the direct deposit of net pay into the bank accounts of employees.

Few reasons why a company may choose to go with a payroll outsourcing option:-

a)      Payroll processing by hand is a time-consuming process. Outsourcing payroll can free up staff time to pursue more important value-added and revenue-generating activities.

b)      Direct costs of processing payroll can be greatly reduced by working with a payroll provider.

c)       Manual payroll is a headache in the best case and a nightmare in the worst case. Business owners who outsource payroll eliminate a tiresome source of personal pain.

d)      By outsourcing it is possible to restrict the payroll team to one or two individuals or may be no one required to handle it within the organization.

e)      No need for anyone to spend a majority of the workweek calculating hourly wages, taxes, and dealing with various types of withholding issues.

f)       A constant question for small business owners is whether they have the latest version of their payroll software and the most recent tax updates installed on their computer. Using the wrong tax updates can result in stiff penalties.

Payroll outsourcing also prevents an employer from having to deal with technology woes. Since the payroll is processed off-site, there is never a need to upgrade payroll software or spend time and money on program or hardware glitches or any of the system issues that can occur and slow down the payroll process. As a result, employees are consistently paid on time and remain happy.

While payroll outsourcing does mean incurring another business expense on a regular basis, even small businesses often find that using this type of service saves time and money each month. Most outsourcing vendors will offer several different payroll plans that are likely to be ideal for businesses of different sizes. In terms of convenience, keeping the payroll records up to date, and keeping the withholding accurate, going with a payroll outsourcing service just makes sense.

BBW Business Services offers this service. We offer tailor made solutions to fit your budget after understanding your requirement. For more details visit us at http://bbw-services.com