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Fortescue Metals Group, the third largest miner of iron ore in Australia is mulling a listing in Asia, and is trying to decide between Hong Kong or Shanghai as it seeks to widen its investor base in its key market China, and entrench its relationship with steel mills in that country according to Andrew Forrest the company chief executive.

Mr. Forrest made his comments in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

“We study the Shanghai market and Hong Kong market all the time. We’re keeping our iron in the fire there.

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Tags: Fortescue Metals Group, Hong Kong, Listing, Metals Group

are in Phoenix, Orlando and South Florida, which were hammered by the housing bust and where its average rents are the lowest.

Yet Equity’s properties there are faring well. The average rent for one of thepany’s 9,300 apartments in Phoenix rose from $837 last year to $925 this year.

Zell, whose net worth is roughly $5 billion, has publicly extolled the prospects for his apartment business over his office and retail operations.

Polo Ralph Lauren beats the street and raises outlook

Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) $149.24 -9.81 reported Q-2 earnings of 2.46/shr, 0.23 better than the consensus estimate of 2.23/shr.

Revenues rose 24.3% Y-Y to US$1.91-B vs the US$1.84-B consensus.

RL raised F-Y 2012 revenue growth guidance to high teens to low 20% rate from mid to high teens; Company also raises op. margin guidance. In Q-3, the co expects consolidated revenues to increase at a low-teens rate (consensus +13.8%).

Wholesale revs are expected to grow at a mid-single digit rate in the third quarter and retail sales are projected to increase by a high-teens rate.

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Tags: Lauren Beats, Outlook, Raises Outlook, Ralph Lauren Beats

Many small business owners in the United States are reluctant to hire more employees in the near term as economic uncertainty and sagging sales continue to put pressure on company balance sheets, the latest index on small business optimism from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) shows.

Of the 2,077 small businesses in NFIB’s membership surveyed, the number of companies planning to increase staff is down two percentage points to just nine percent, while 12 percent plan to reduce their workforce over the next three months. The report also shows employment has been reduced for the fifth month in a row with an average reduction of 0.1 workers per company.

“Small businesses seem to have the right number of employees,” said Holly Wade, senior policy analyst at the NFIB. “They’re breaking even.

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