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The U.S. Open is in full swing, and ticket resellers are serving great deals—at least if you’re interested in catching players in early rounds before the competition really heats up.

Prices for the first rounds of the tournament, which began Monday and wraps up Sept. 12, are lower than last year’s. First-round tickets are currently going for $109, a 13% decrease, according to ticket-search site FanSnap.com. Even quarterfinals prices, at an average $247 per ticket, are 12% cheaper than in 2009.

Like other major sporting events, the U.S. Open is still recovering from consumers’ cutbacks during the recession. “Dema

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AUSTRALIAN businesses enjoyed a record profit surge in the latest quarter, with mining profits ballooning by nearly two-thirds, thanks to soaring commodities prices.

Profits across all industries leapt by 19 per cent to $68 billion in the three months to June, the Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Driving the increase was a 63 per cent explosion in miners’ earnings, which struck $25 billion after contract prices for iron ore and coal were upgraded sharply.

The jump in miners’ income also came as the industry mounted its fierce campaign against a ‘’super profits” tax designed to capture the windfall flowing to the sector.

The other big winners were in construction, where profits rose 30 per cent, and financial services, which grew by 29 per cent.

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It’s perhaps no surprise that Robert Eckert’s office looks more like a toy store than an executive suite. There’s a trove of Barbies on the floor near the door, a giant Winnie the Pooh nearby and a huge display of Hot Wheels and Masters of the Universe action figures. Behind his desk, there are even a few dolls in his likeness, including a “Bob Barbie” with gray hair, dress shirt and mini employee badge.

Yet even after a decade at the helm of the world’s largest toy company, Eckert, 56, says he still doesn’t know what children really want. Every winter, he tries to predict a best-selling “toy of the year”-and his record is hit or miss.

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Virgin Blue has begun a further overhaul of its international network which will see its fledging long-haul offshoot, V Australia, fly to Abu Dhabi in the Middle East but ditch loss-making flights to South Africa.The airline today posted a $21 million net profit for the year to June, compared with a loss of $160 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 13 per cent to $2.98 billion.Virgin Blue’s underlying pre-tax profit was $31 million, which was in line with market expectations. Shares in the airline were up as much as 2 cents, or 7.1 per cent, to 30 cents in early trading.However, Virgin Blue warned that trading conditions were still volatile and strong competition between airlines was continuing to put pressure on yields. U

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NEW YORK—U.S. stocks declined Friday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its second consecutive week of losses as concerns about economic growth weighed on investor sentiment.

The blue-chip index lost 57.59 points, or 0.56%, to finish at 10213.62, leaving it in negative territory for the week, month and year. The Dow remains down 2.1% for the year.

The Nasdaq Composite rose less than one point to 2179.76 while the Standard & Poor’s 500-share index slipped 3.94 points to 1071.69.

A weaker euro on Friday reminded investors of lingering sovereign-debt concerns and added to the week’s push-and-pull between encouraging corporate news and weaker-than-expected economic data. A

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The banks hope to recoup $1bn.

THE entire DFO operation of Toorak rich-listers David Goldberger and David Wieland will be sold piece by piece to repay the $1 billion in debt the company owes to the banks.

But insiders say that neither the founders nor any other investors, including Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Graeme Samuel, expect to recoup their investments of tens of millions of dollars after the 10 stores are sold.

The Sunday Age believes that the four banks, which have agreed to roll over and extend their funding to allow the Docklands South Wharf development to be completed, are hoping the sale will recoup most or all of the money they are owed.

They have only agreed to extend the finance because a fire sale of the assets all at once would probably reduce the price, forcing them to write down large sums from their accounts.

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The rebound in commodity prices and first production from newly commissioned projects is expected to underpin a 17.5 per cent increase in BHP Billiton’s June year profit to $US12.6 billion.

Despite the profit lift from $US10.72 billion in 2009, the expected result – based on the consensus of more than a dozen local and overseas analysts – will still fall short of the record $US15.3 billion profit BHP posted for the 2008 June year.

The record 2008 year had the benefit of pre-global financial crisis price craziness in commodities.

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By Kristina Peterson

NEW YORK—U.S. stocks advanced, as economic data took the edge off deflationary fears and earnings reports from Home Depot and Wal-Mart raised hopes that consumer spending was stabilizing.

On track to snap its five-day streak of declines, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently up 51 points. Investors who had flocked to bonds amid the recent flood of disappointing economic data on Tuesday headed into stocks as data suggested deflation may not be imminent.

“There’s been such a run to Treasurys and hiding under a rock because deflation was such a worry,” said Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Wealth Management. T

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TELSTRA faces a possible 9 per cent profit fall this financial year as it cuts margins in a ”transition year” to win back market share and arrest long-term downward trends in revenue and customers.

It revealed yesterday a 4.7 per cent fall in after-tax profit from $4 billion to $3.88 billion for the year to June 30, driven by a $504 million drop in revenue from its copper telephone lines.

The sharemarket punished the company for the weak financial result and for predicting a ”high single-digit” profit decline this year.

Telstra shares fell 31¢, or 9.5 per cent, to close at $2.94, their lowest in four months.

The company will focus on winning and retaining customers by improving service, cutting costs and lowering prices.

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Clockwise from top right: Thyra Zerhusen, David Herro, Susan Byrne, Warren Buffett. (Photograph by Mark Weiss, portrait illustrations by Keith Witmer.)

If the stock markets were a public beach, the red “high hazard” flags might still be flying over the lifeguard’s chair. Or at the very least, a strong yellow. The summer has been calmer than the spring, but not by much, not with the foundering euro and stubborn unemployment at home offering daily reminders that global economic waters are still choppy. And the stock market remains as riptide-prone as ever. Accor

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