Today's News & Views

 

Copper higher, UBS sees turning point for prices

Ford Motor plans to launch a second line of aluminium-intensive trucks.

4:54 AM   ​Copper rose, recovering from a one-week low as metals investors covered short positions

Housing data signals US economy strengthening

Tight inventories and high prices will provide the incentives for builders to continue ramping up activity," said Greg Daco, head of US macroeconomics at Oxford Economics in New York.

4:17 AM   US housing starts in November rebounded from a seven-month low and permits surged to a five-month high.

European stocks pare gains, miners advance

Auto-related companies rose the most among industry groups, and miners had their biggest two-day jump in more than a month.

Camila Russo 3:59 AM   Investors pushed European stocks higher for a second day, though equities pared gains in the last hour of trading. Both BHP and Rio advanced.

Oil drops on ever rising US inventories

Crude supplies rose to 490.7 million barrels, leaving stockpiles more than 120 million barrels above the five-year seasonal average, government data showed.

Mark Shenk 3:42 AM   Oil tumbled after US crude inventories climbed to the highest level for this time of year since 1930.

Star Wars to break Australia's box office records

Stormtroopers attending the premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in Hollywood. The film is tipped to be huge at Australian box office sales as well.

Dominic White and Max Mason 12:46 AM   The hotly-anticipated movie is already shaping up to the second-largest, if not the largest, box office hit ever in Australia, according to cinema bosses.

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Small banks gouge customers too

Michael Pascoe

Michael Pascoe 12:15 AM   Small banks were presented with a choice. No prizes for guessing which option they chose.

Zero tax: Many public companies paying nothing

Thursday's list of tax paid by public companies will give the public a more transparent picture about who pays what.

Nassim Khadem 12:13 AM   About a quarter of the nation's 1300 public companies are paying no tax.

7-Eleven in talks over petrol price service

The competition watchdog says that fuel retailers use the real-time service to send price signals to one another.

Catie Low 12:12 AM   7-Eleven is in mediation with the competition watchdog over its subscription to a petrol price information sharing service.

Self-managed super makes its million

Australian Taxation Office statistics show self managed super funds now have an average balance of more than $1 million.

Sally Rose 12:12 AM   The average self managed super fund is now valued at more than $1 million.

Domino's taking a bigger slice

Elizabeth Knight.

Elizabeth Knight 12:12 AM   Addictive fast food and easy-to use ordering tech is the perfect profit mix.

CBA does referral deal with OnDeck

Cameron Poolman, CEO of OnDeck Australia, said it will be able to lend to CBA's young business customers and then refer them back to CBA once they're established.

Shaun Drummond 12:03 AM   Commonwealth Bank says it will refer selected small businesses from its 500,000 customer base that it can't lend to because they haven't met its requirements

Rio Tinto has its ion lithium

Rio Tinto is looking to the future with its interest in becoming a lithium miner.

Peter Ker 12:00 AM   Rio Tinto is keen to mine lithium for car and battery manufacturers ... eventually.

Lower $A and Bali volcano boost Aussie stay-cations

The lower dollar is encouraging Australians to take more domestic holidays.

Jamie Freed 10:30 PM   Domestic holiday overnight spending rose by 13 per cent in the September quarter, according to the latest national visitor survey from Tourism Research Australia.

The butterfly effect: how investments will react to the Fed

US Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates on Thursday

Vanessa Desloires 9:13 PM   Investors around the world are bracing for the interest rates decision coming out of the US Federal Reserve meeting on Thursday morning. Here's how it could affect you.

China snaps up Pacific Hydro

Chinese firm State Power Investment Corporation will buy Pacific Hydro from fund manager IFM Investors for about $3 billion.

Angela Macdonald-Smith 9:13 PM   In a deal thought to be worth more than $3 billion, the Chinese state-owned firm will buy Pacific Hydro

Jack Cowin's rising dough beats the reality show at Ten

Colin Kruger - CBD dinkus.

Colin Kruger, CBD 12:15 AM   Ten director Jack Cowin added more than $100 million to his net worth during the broadcaster's AGM on Wednesday thanks to his 26.6 per cent stake in Domino's Pizza which had a cracker of a day. His Domino's shares are now worth roughly $1.24 billion - meaning he can buy the Ten network twice over with plenty of cash to spare.

Canberrans to spend $49 million on Boxing Day

Bing Lee Fyshwick assistant manager Dean Boerkamp.

David Ellery 9:30 PM   Canberrans are expected to shop 'til they drop on Boxing Day with record sales forecast for the post-Christmas period.

Domino's shares soar on profit upgrade, German deal

Domino's shares soared more than 11 per cent after the fast food chain upgraded profit guidance.

Sue Mitchell 7:49 PM   Domino's Pizza Enterprises has underlined its global growth ambitions by acquiring a major slice of Germany's largest pizza chain – sending its shares up 14 per cent.

Ten chairman says Foxtel should be allowed to take it over

Ten Network's chairman David Gordon is wary of piecemeal reform.

Dominic White and Max Mason 7:47 PM   Ten Network Holdings chairman David Gordon says Foxtel should be allowed to mount a full takeover of the free-to-air broadcaster if it wishes to, arguing that the cross-media ownership rules that would prevent such a deal are out of date.

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Alarm bells ring over Telstra's pricey offshore mobile phone play

Telstra chief executive Andy Penn told investors in October the company would spend up to $1.4 billion for a 40 per cent stake in the Philippines' third mobile network.

David Ramli 7:27 PM   A new report commissioned by Telstra investors warns the push into the Philippines could become an expensive mistake, burning through substantial amounts of cash.

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Phase out coal to save reef, Queenslanders say

Most respondents agreed Australia "needs to restrict coal mining because of the impact that it is having on our natural environment and biodiversity".

Amy Remeikis 1:00 AM   Queenslanders believe coal mining should be phased out to save the Great Barrier Reef, with concern over the impact mining is having on one of the world's greatest natural icons.

Packer talks to privatise Crown casinos

There have long been suggestions that James Packer may privatise Crown Resorts.

Jessica Gardner, Perry Williams, Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald 6:55 PM   James Packer has been courting cashed-up buy-out firms and sovereign wealth funds to see if he can raise part of the estimated $5 billion or more he would need to privatise his sprawling casino empire.

Australian researchers making vaccines cheaper for African babies

GlaxoSmithKline's Philip Leslie and the new vaccine vials which he hopes will make treatments against polio, influenza and gastro cheaper in the developing world.

Jared Lynch 6:40 PM   Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has partnered with university researchers in Melbourne to develop a new manufacturing method to make vaccines cheaper for families in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world.

Auswide Bank to lend $60m via MoneyPlace

Auswide Bank managing director Martin Barrett (centre right) has taken 20 per cent of Stuart Stoyan's (centre left) MoneyPlace.

Shaun Drummond 6:31 PM   Auswide Bank will offer $60 million in personal loans over five years via fledgling peer-to-peer lender MoneyPlace and has bought a 20 per cent stake in the start-up.

ARU signs $275 million TV deal

The ARU is set to reap more than $275 million for the new rugby broadcast deal.

Max Mason 6:24 PM   The Australian Rugby Union has secured a new broadcast rights deal worth more than $275 million.

Whitehaven Coal shares jump on earnings guidance

Whitehaven expects EBITDA for the first half to be between $100 million and $105 million.

Tess Ingram 6:23 PM   Shares in Whitehaven Coal have soared after the miner revealed its earnings for the first half could exceed $100 million.

Aussie braces for Fed impact

The Australian dollar is expected to land close to US71? if the Fed raises rates.

Stephen Cauchi 6:01 PM   Currency traders were nervously awaiting Thursday's interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve, with the Australian dollar expected to land close to US71¢ if the Fed raises rates.

Bennelong delivers top fund

Bennelong's Concentrated Equities Fund returned an impressive 29.5 per cent for the year ending November.

Stephen Cauchi 5:47 PM   Bennelong's Concentrated Equities Fund returned 13.5 per cent over the three months ending November, and an impressive 29.5 per cent for the year ending November.

LNG Ltd suffers market confidence crisis

Maurice Brand believes LNG Ltd can progress its US export project.

Angela Macdonald-Smith 5:46 PM   A crisis of investor confidence has engulfed aspiring US gas exporter Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd., wiping more than 20 per cent from the value of the former market darling this week alone.

Dallas Buyers Club loses second court bid

The Federal Court has rejected Dallas Buyers Club's latest request to access the details of customers who allegedly illegally downloaded copies of the film.

David Ramli 5:46 PM   iiNet customers who allegedly illegally downloaded a copy of the hit US movie Dallas Buyers Club can rest a little easier after a Federal Court judge rejected a second bid to get their contact details.