Investing in small caps need not be a volatile experience, you just need to focus on the right stocks, Mike Taylor writes.

Running a privately-owned business is hard work; and mostly rewarding. Investing in privately-owned businesses is also hard work and mostly rewarding.

Federal Reserve officials have signaled that they will probably raise interest rates in December, which will mark an end to seven years of near-zero borrowing.

The International Monetary Fund will add the yuan to its basket of currencies, an international stamp of approval of the strides China has made.

SleepDrops is targeting the US$800 million sleep medication market as part of global expansion plans.

The scale of the state's shareholdings raises doubts about how strong the recent recovery really is.

Things were looking up for Intueri Education Group shareholders at the start of this month.

Xero founder reaps benefits of stock market surge.

The top U.S. derivatives regulator took its biggest step yet to increase surveillance of high-speed and other forms of computer-driven trading.

The stock, which is listed on both sides of the Tasman, traded as high as $1.27 - a 16.5 per cent gain on the opening price - before closing up 11.9 per cent at $1.22 last night.

Things are booming at rest-home builder and operator Ryman Healtcare, with profits growing and a pipeline of new villages underway.

Wall St climbed overnight after earnings from Wal-Mart and Home Depot were better than expected.

A decades-long source of frustration for the deer industry - South Korea's special excise tax (SET) on deer velvet - is about to be removed, Deer Industry New Zealand said.

The New Zealand dollar was little changed against the greenback this afternoon as investors continue to weigh up whether the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates next month.

Negative impact on world markets following Paris terrorists attacks is tipped to be short-lived.

COMMENT: It is never comfortable to make the leap from real human tragedy to assessing economic and financial fallout, writes Liam Dann.

Difficult conditions for sheep meat overseas helped drive Alliance Group's pre-tax profit down by 55.1 per cent to $7.9 million in the year.