It was a case of back to the future yesterday as Wall Street’s
bellwether Dow Jones Industrial Average resurfaced above the
11,000-point mark and value of a new-economy vanguard eclipsed the
Oracle of Omaha’s seemingly stodgy potpourri of old-economy businesses,
says Robert Guy in the Fin Review. The rise and rise of
internet search engine and new media contender Google, which now
exceeds the stockmarket value of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway,
reflects the optimism on Wall Street despite concerns about the
structural and cyclical economic issues likely to bear on the world’s
largest economy later in 2006 and into 2007.

Also in the AFR, the ACCC has
called for dramatic changes to the handling of business disputes over
access to major infrastructure, warning that companies have stepped up
their use of delaying tactics to avoid being subjected to regulatory
decisions.

Australia’s biggest coal producers are planning
to launch an industry-wide fund that would plough hundreds of millions
of dollars into developing clean coal technologies to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, reports The Australian. The talks are at a sensitive stage but, according to industry sources,
a voluntary industry fund could be up and running before the end of the
year.

And with cheaper office rents than Mumbai and cheaper accountants than
London, Australia could reverse the trend of jobs flooding overseas, reports The Age. Australia
is in a good position to benefit from the “third wave” of international
outsourcing at the highly skilled analytical end, a report commissioned
by the Federal Government has found.

On Wall Street, US stocks were mixed overnight as the Nasdaq
recovered from early weakness to end up (1.63 points at 2,320), but disappointing earnings
from Alcoa saw the Dow Jones log a small loss
for the session, and its first for the year. The Dow ended down 0.32 point at 11,011 – MarketWatch has a full report here.