Later today we should see evidence to back all that talk about our strong terms of trade and rising national income. For over three years now the Reserve Bank’s commodity price index has been telling the story of soaring prices and rising volumes and returns; with various federal and state governments and a host of companies in and servicing the resources sector feeding off the boom. Now later today we will see the May trade figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The optimists are forecasting the first surplus in around six years or more, and the cautious are saying a much smaller deficit, perhaps so tiny in the scheme of things to be not very meaningful. And, after the dramatic improvement in April, and with a further improvement in June, we could get a sharply lower current account deficit for the June quarter and one better than expected ...

NEW YORK - The Dow sank into a bear market on Wednesday as US stocks fell on growing concerns about the toll that record oil prices are taking on the economy and corporate profits. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 166.75 points, or 1.46 per cent, to 11,215.51. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 23.39 points, or 1.82 per cent, to close at 1,261.52, while the Nasdaq Composite Index slid 53.51 points, or 2.32 per cent, to 2,251.46. LONDON - UK stocks shed 1 per cent, extending the previous session’s sharp losses as miners fell on weaker coal prices and Marks & Spencer slumped after a profit warning, though drugmakers rose. The FTSE 100 closed at 5,426.3 points, down 53.6 or 0.98 per cent. FRANKFURT - The DAX index ended at 6,305.42 points, down 10.52 or 0.17 per cent. PARIS - The CAC-40 index closed at 4,296.48 points, down 44.73 or 1.03 per cent. TOKYO ...