- Business confidence and conditions improve on the back of late 2011's rate cuts. The NAB Business Confidence Index has risen from +2.4 to +2.9 this month, while the number of businesses requiring credit rose from 49% to 64% in December. This means that two thirds of businesses are not asking for loans which is an 8-month high. It's not a complete turnaround, but it does signal the beginning of some return to confidence and this should start to build momentum within the economy. 

- Facebook is about to file for public listing allowing investors to get in on its reported $75 - 100 Billion. But lately new figures have been leaking out which suggest this figure may be a lot lower than expected, especially considering its 2011 revenue ended up at a measly $3.8 Billion. When compared to the exploding growth of Google over its first 7 years of operating, Facebook is left in its wake. (see graph below)

- Julia Gillard is expected today to announce, or reaffirm actually, her promise to use the mining profits tax to fund small business tax cuts. While the Opposition claims it's too expensive to implement, the Government assures that "new business tax arrangements to reward innovation will be the subject of extensive work by the Business Tax Working Group". So we should see some sort of real benefit by about the year 2030. 

- Did your business fork out for staff bonuses this Christmas? In Victoria a boss has shelled out $15 Million in bonuses across his 1800 staff! "A business is only as good as its people, and our people are fantastic", said the boss of the family-owned bus company Grenda.