Markets Live: Banks, miners lead gains 3:14pm: The bulls, it seems, are back, writes National Business editor Mark Hawthorne. Click here for the full story. 3:06pm: With less than an hour lefting in trading for the week, here's how the rest of the region is doing: Nikkei (Japan): +0.3% Shanghai: flat Taiwan: -0.1% South Korea: -0.4% Singapore: flat New Zealand: -0.2% 2:41pm: Airbus has studied alternatives to lithium-ion batteries for its next jet, the A350, and has time to adapt to any rule changes prompted by the problems that have grounded Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, its top executive said. Airbus plans to use lithium-ion batteries on the A350, similar to the technology incorporated in Boeing's 787 airliners, and so far has stood by the modern power packs. "We studied the integration of these batteries on the A350 very carefully," Airbus chief executive Fabrice Bregier. 2:26pm: For the Super Bowl watchers in the crowd, or just for those interesting in advertising. 2:14pm: The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) released figures today showing smartphone ownership increased by 104 per cent in 2012. More than half of the nation's adult population now own a smartphone. But despite Australia's rapid move into the digital space, consultancy firm Deloitte suggested the threat from cyber crime was sometimes overstated. ""I'm very, very cautious about talking about cyber (crime) and falling into the same trap that many have - jumping to the conclusion that the world is going to end, that cyber (crime) is the biggest threat to mankind,"" said Deloitte's technology lead partner, Robert Hillard. 2:02pm: Here's an interesting comment about US tax, if the US had the same income tax rules it did when the levy started 100 years ago this weekend, 86 per cent of households would be exempt from paying it. That figure, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, far outpaces the 47 per cent estimate for nonpayers cited in last year's presidential campaign. The first levy, adjusted for inflation, would only affect individuals with taxable incomes of more than $US69,574 a year -- and then with a bottom rate of just 1 per cent and a top marginal rate of 7 per cent. The original income tax, if still in place, would raise about $US45 billion, or 3 per cent of what today's individual income tax generates, said Bloomberg Government analyst Patrick Driessen, who generated the estimate by applying the 1913 brackets to today's income patterns. "These were really taxes on the rich," said Carolyn Jones, a law professor at the University of Iowa who studies the history of US taxation. Today's debate in Washington over the size of government and how to pay for it can be traced to the enactment of the Sixteenth Amendment, which permitted the tax. Its creation set the US on the path toward a larger central authority and cemented distributional politics, in which the government could fine-tune economic policy to steer tax breaks to favored groups and extract money from others. The amendment, ratified on February 3, 1913 in the waning days of the William Howard Taft administration, changed the Constitution for the first time in 43 years. The one-sentence statement gave Congress the "power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived." 1:44pm: Much of how we understand human interaction - business and otherwise - comes from the so-called "dismal science" of economics, writes Motley Fool's Scott Phillips. 1:36pm: NAB is the biggest move on the market today, responsible for a 5.73 point rise on the ASX200, following by BHP, which accounts for 4.76 points. Banks, miners and Wesfarmers finish out the top 10. While Origin Energy comes in as the biggest lagger of the day, but it is only pulling the market down 0.76 points. 1:14pm: Queensland farmers are facing losses of $100 million and urgently need government grants to get back on their feet, the Queensland Farmers" Federation says. It says crop farmers are facing severe losses, particularly around flood-stricken Bundaberg. The cotton industry has also been hit hard, and 50 per cent of farmers in the dairy and pork industries have been affected by the floods. 1:10pm: US residents now make up the largest wine market in the world, and Australian producers are helping to quench their thirst. Analyst Jon Fredrikson this week told a major industry gathering in th US that Americans consumed 13 per cent of all the wine produced globally. US production rose two per cent last year to help meet the demand, he told the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium on Wednesday. But bulk wine imports from Argentina, followed by Chile and Australia, also helped. New Zealand had boosted its planted acreage by almost a quarter and was expected to become a bigger player, especially with production of sauvignon blanc. Wine consumption is decreasing in France and Italy, so increasingly foreign producers are aiming for the US market. Overseas wines now account for 35 per cent of sales in the US 1:06pm: More news from offshore. Apple, JPMorgan, Toyota and Honda gave employees face masks, offered health tips and added office plants as pollution in Beijing hit hazardous levels for a 19th day this month. Beijing's city government recommended that its 20 million residents stay indoors for a second day as the local environmental monitoring center gave today's air quality the worst rating on its six-level scale. A US Embassy pollution monitor showed air quality in the Chinese capital reached hazardous levels for a fifth consecutive day. 12:59pm: Rumoured to be in the running for the job as leader of the SA Liberal party, Howard-era foreign minister Alexander Downer has joined the board of Lakes Oil as a nominee of Gina Rinehart-owned Hancock Prospecting only days after it bought a 18.6 per cent shares in the oil and gas explorer. Mr Downer is Ms Rinehart's second appointee to the board of Lakes Oil following an early appointment of climate change sceptic and mining geologist Professor Ian Plimer. 12:57pm: Some world news. An explosion at the headquarters of Petroleos Mexicanos in Mexico City has left 14 people dead and 80 injured, said the company, known as Pemex. The blast took place at the so-called B2 building adjacent to the main Pemex tower, the state-owned oil producer said on its Twitter account. Mexico City-based newspaper El Universal reported on its website that 30 people remained trapped under the debris and at least 100 were injured. Earlier, Milenio TV said 3,500 people had been evacuated. Search parties were looking for more injured inside the building, Deputy Interior Minister Eduardo Sanchez said in an interview on the TV station. Rescue dogs were being used in the search. 12:48pm: The Aussie has been deflated by the weaker-than-expected China PMI result. ""Chinese manufacturing data was not a disastrous result but definitely weaker than what the market was looking for,"" said Jonathan Cavenagh, a currency strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Singapore. ""It would certainly take the shine off of Aussie dollar. We should see the Aussie test back through $1.04 at some stage today."" The Australian dollar has from $US1.0445 on the news to $1.0402, but has since recovered to $US1.0418. 12:42pm: A bit more on the China PMI. Ting Lu, chief China economist with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said the volatility of the index around the Lunar New Year holidays - which fell in January last year and are in February this - distort the readings. "We believe the Chinese economy and its related asset markets will remain in a sweet spot in the near-term," he wrote in a note to clients. The final reading of the HSBC China PMI is due in a few minutes. 12:34pm: A quick look at which companies are leading the ASX200 higher: Independence group: -7.05% Mesoblast: +6.35% Acrux: +4.35% Karoon Gas: +4.24% Coalspur: +4.24% Billabong: +3.74% Karoon Gas has jumped after announcing an oil find at its Kangaroo 1 well in Brazil. 12:16pm: Australian stocks have backed further off the day's highs following the release of the China PMI. At midday, the ASX200 were trading at 4917 but fell to 4911 upon the release of the data. The ASX200 topped out today at 4920 at 11.37am. 12:12pm: Some more on the first of the China PMIs - the second is due at 12.45pm. The reading of 50.4, down from 50.6 in December, compares with the 51 median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 33 economists and 50.6 in December. 12:07pm: The dollar has dropped by 4/10 of a cent, to $US1.0410, on the back of the disappointing Chinese manufacturing data. 12:06pm: China's manufacturing PMI has come in at 50.4, slightly down from 50.6 in Decemeber and lower than the expected 51. 12:00pm: National Australia Bank has extended its debt facilities with family owned winery Casella Wines, the owners of juggernaut label Yellow Tail, as the bank continues to talk with the company over future loan covenants it will accept in the face of the new economic landscape which includes a high Australian dollar and falling revenue. 11:48am: Unions are making a last-ditch plea to the consumer watchdog against a partnership between Qantas and Emirates airlines. Tony Sheldon, national secretary of the Transport Workers" Union (TWU), along with other union representatives will front an Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) conference on Friday. Mr Sheldon says he will reiterate that the partnership is a bad deal on many fronts. ""It's bad for consumers, it's bad for the travelling public, it's bad for the economy and it's bad for the Australian workforce,"" he told reporters outside the conference in Sydney. ""Shrinking Qantas and handing over our national routes is putting our economic future into the hands of a Middle East carrier in a volatile part of the world."" 11:36am: Australia's producer price index at the final stage of production rose 0.2 per cent in the December quarter, for an annual gain of 1.0 per cent. In the December quarter, at the intermediate stage, the PPI was up 0.6 per cent, while at the preliminary stage it rose 0.6 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today. Economists" forecasts had centred on a December quarter PPI rise of 0.3 per cent. 11:27am: Kathmandu shares got another boost this morning after the adventure wear retailer upgraded its profit forecast after a good Christmas and better-than-expected sales in the first half. It now expects net profit in the six months to December 31 to be between $NZ9.5 million and $NZ10.5 million ($7.69 million and $8.50 million), an increase of up to 75 per cent on its $NZ6 million net profit in the previous corresponding period.