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Industry super roars to the lead

The S&P 500 has jumped to a three-week high, led by Apple, Amazon, Facebook and industrial shares on bets that the United States and China would strike a deal to end their trade war.

Oil prices have risen by more than two per cent, supported by hopes that crude demand may rise more quickly if talks between US and Chinese officials resolve the trade dispute between the world's two biggest economies.

Gold slipped as the US dollar rose and prospects of a US-China trade deal increased investors’ appetite for riskier assets such as stocks, while palladium notched a fresh all-time high on tight supply.

Proponents of a $400 million waste to energy facility to be built in East Rockingham are hoping to get construction under way within months after finalising a waste supply deal with utilities giant Suez.

The state government has hit a key milestone in the partial privatisation of Landgate, seeking a private sector operator to undertake automated land titling transactions.

Another day of gains for the Australian share market has traders wondering if the four-month downtrend is finally over.

Gold miners with Western Australian operations are providing a strong return to investors, making up 35 per cent of the top 20 performing stocks in the S&P/ASX 200 for the past three months.

Employers are expected to add more staff in the first three months of 2019 than at any time in the past four years in Western Australia, according to new research by recruitment firm Manpower Group.

Opponents continue to blast government changes to lobster licensing arrangements as it emerges that, despite the state potentially pocketing nearly $70 million annually from the moves, a cost benefit analysis of the major policy shift unveiled in December was not undertaken.

Former Youth Focus chief executive Fiona Kalaf has been appointed to the board of arts organisation Perth Festival.

Steven Lewis has been appointed chief executive at Southern Ports, effective January 14.

APN Outdoor has renewed its licensing rights to use specific Public Transport Authority assets for advertising purposes, in a revenue sharing arrangement for up to 10 years.

Technology minerals explorer Cauldron Energy is facing a new challenge after one of its major shareholders moved to oust director Nicholas Sage.

Western Australia exported its highest ever value of goods in a single month in November, as the nation posted another trade surplus.

The Australian share market is flat despite renewed optimism over US-China trade relations, with the big banks and supermarkets dragging in early trade.

Labor plans overhaul of job welfare

Oil prices have edged higher, rebounding further from 18-month lows reached in December, on support from OPEC production cuts and steadying equities markets.

Gold has risen again, just below a more than six-month peak hit in the last session, as the dollar slid on reduced chances of further rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, and as the United States and China resumed trade talks.

Amazon.com and Netflix have fuelled a second straight session of gains on Wall Street, as the resumption of US-China trade talks helped ease concerns that have pummelled the market in recent months.

The ASX has shaken off most of its losses from its dismal December, closing at its highest level in over a month.

Medicinal cannabis company Creso Pharma has announced it will expand into Sri Lanka, after it signed a binding letter of intent with Ceyoka Health, one of Sri Lanka’s largest pharmaceutical distribution companies.

Black Rock Mining has secured a third Chinese buyer for graphite from its Mahenge mine in Tanzania.

The final months of 2018 hit investors in Western Australian stocks hard, with the Business News index of 30 local ASX-listed companies falling 13.3 per cent.

Shares in Cervantes Corporation jumped on the ASX today after the company announced it had concluded drill testing at its Albury Heath project located 20 kilometres north-west of Meekatharra.

Fresh forecasts have delivered a mixed outlook for Perth residential property in 2019, with CoreLogic-Moody’s Analytics predicting another year of median house price declines, while Domain expects the Western Australian capital to be Australia’s best-performing city.

Western Australian grain growers have had one of their best ever years, with 16 million tonnes moving through cooperative handler CBH Group’s network, about 400,000 tonnes above August estimates.

Victoria-based gas turbine engineering services company The Environmental Group will acquire the energy division of RCR Tomlinson, less than two months after the latter entered into voluntary administration.

Australian hospital operator Healius Ltd has rejected an 'opportunistic' $2.02 billion takeover offer from its largest shareholder, Jangho Hong Kong Holdings.

The Australian share market has burst out the gate with heavyweight mining and banking stocks leading the way, while an oil price leap also has the energy sector surging.

Western Gas hatches new WA LNG project

Wall Street has surged to close at its highest level in two weeks after a strong jobs report and assurances from US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that the central bank would be patient and flexible in steering the course of interest rates.