Facebook IPO coming after 2012. Swan rejects budget deficit forecast: Economy Roundup

Facebook board member Peter Thiel has said the company will not consider an IPO until at least 2012.

In an interview on the sidelines at the TechCrunch Disrupt event, he told Fox News that the company will not IPO “for a while” and is following an example from Google.

“I think we will follow the example of Google which is you do not go public until very, very late in the process,” he said.

Thiel also took the opportunity to attack the upcoming Hollywood film, “The Social Network”, arguing it was full of “many inaccuracies” and “petty lies”.

Treasurer Wayne Swan has rejected predictions from Access Economics that the budget will fall into deficit following a surplus in 2012-13.

The Access report states the deficit will reach $2 billion in 2013-14, saying that it does not believe commodity prices will remain at such high levels.

“But if the emerging economies take a temporary tumble, or if the world’s miners dig deep enough to start to catch up with the burgeoning demand of China and India and others, then the budget will look very little like it does today,” Access director Chris Richardson said in the Budget Monitor report.

“Access Economics tend to be professional pessimists about future growth in the region, in particular for China,” Swan told ABC Radio.

However, the opposition has taken advantage of the opportunity, with opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey saying that, “”If the government doesn’t pick up its game in relation to its own budget, Australians are facing higher interest rates and higher taxes”.

ASX admits merger talks

The Australian Securities Exchange has released a statement saying it has held discussions about a possible merger, but blames a surge in the company’s share price on unrelated matters.

The company said it was “conscientious”, in looking at competitive options, and that it had held “discussions with a small number of exchange groups regarding possible business combinations”.

It noted that its share price, which rose from $30.35 on Monday last week to $33.91 yesterday, had rose due to unrelated matters.

“For the first 12 weeks of the current financial year stock option trade activity has lifted (up 7%) and the futures market activity is showing signs of a strong recovery (up 36%),” the company said. “Exchange-traded markets are undergoing a period of profound structural change.”

Shares lower on weak Wall Street

The Australian share market has opened lower today following disappointing leads on Wall Street where investors are still concerned the Federal Reserve will use stimulus to prop up the economy.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 5.6 points or 0.12% to 4669.8 at 12.10 AEST, while the Australian dollar was at US96c.

Commonwealth Bank shares lost 0.1% to $52.80 while Westpac gained 0.3% to $24.03. ANZ rose 0.6% to $24.34 as NAB rose 0.5% to $26.13.

A judge in the US District Court in Chicago has allowed the Potash-BHP case to continue in a discovery process. Potash is alleging that BHP misrepresented key facts relating to its bid.

Meanwhile, Chinese steel mills have warned they will not accept additional costs from an increased Australian mining tax willingly.

“Chinese steelmakers will not be able to accept rising costs from the Australian iron ore mining tax as steel prices will see the ceiling, and downstream users, including auto and house appliance, won’t consume rising costs,” China Iron & Steel Association secretary general Shan Shanghua told Reuters.

A new report suggests Australian cities are unsuitable for a high-speed rail network.

“A high-speed Sydney-Melbourne railway with an average train speed of 250 kilometres an hour would mean a journey of three hours, which is the upper time limit for the train to be competitive with airlines,” the ‘A Profile of High-speed Railways’ report says.

“This analysis highlights that currently in Australia high-speed rail will not be viable,” it adds.

The document was given to Seven Network News due to a freedom of information request. The report shows a Sydney-Newcastle-Canberra link could compete with an airline, populations are still too low.

World in currency war

Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega has said the world is now embroiled in a “currency war” as governments struggle to maintain export competitiveness.

“We’re in the midst of an international currency war,” Mantega said. “This threatens us because it takes away our competitiveness.”

In America, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 48.2 points or 0.44% to 10.812.04.