Corporate and financial communication firms, Citadel PR and Magnus Investor Relations, have entered into an agreement to combine their businesses to form a significant independent national player.
US stocks have finished mostly higher but Apple's sell-off left the Nasdaq in the red and NYSE-traded Twitter's unintentional early earnings release held back overall gains.
Shares in local gold miners have dominated on the ASX today after the spot price for the precious metal jumped by over 2 per cent overnight to $US1,203.30 an ounce
People leaving the workforce now have got it much tougher than those who left a decade ago and will need to take a lot more risk in order to fund their retirement, the head of the Reserve Bank says.
US stocks have posted solid gains following a big jump in US existing-home sales and a mixed bag of earnings reports from Boeing, McDonald's and others.
US stocks have mostly fallen but the Nasdaq stayed in positive territory as Israel's Teva announced a $US40.1 billion ($A51.92 billion) cash-and-stock bid for generic drug maker Mylan.
The Australian dollar has been knocked almost one US cent lower amid a stronger greenback and signals from the head of the Reserve Bank that another rate cut is possible.