Markets Live: BHP leads ASX higher
Shares edge higher as miners pick up their pace and banks trim losses, offsetting some earnings disappointments.
Latest Business News
Medibank Private's health scare
Australia's largest health insurer, Medibank Private, has given investors a pretty worrying prognosis: industry growth is weakening and it is losing market share. The treatment? It's time to look after customers.
Lendlease unveils double-digit growth
Global developer and infrastructure group Lendlease has unveiled a 13 per cent rise in net profit to $698.2 million, based on high residential settlements, the current construction boom and rising forward contracts.
Medibank customer pledge after bumper profit
Medibank Private's earnings have surged 46 per cent, below analysts' forecasts.
Bellamy's Australia triples full year profit
Organic infant formula maker Bellamy's Australia has more than tripled its full year profit to $38.3 million.
Watchdog defers decision in banks' stoush with Apple
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has not granted permission to three of the big banks to form a bloc in their negotiations with Apple over its digital payments service, but the decision is not final.
Diving commodities halve Woodside's first-half profit
But chief executive Peter Coleman said the oil and gas producer was in a "robust" position as oil price forecasts improve into 2017.
Moody's warns it may downgrade banks
One of the world's two major credit ratings agencies has revised its outlook on Australia's banks to negative, citing concerns about their profit growth.
The world's richest family just got richer again
The Walton family's wealth has soared this year, eclipsing the GDP of entire nations, as Wal-Mart's fortunes are improving.
SolarCity slashes CEO's pay to $US1
SolarCity, the solar panel company that Elon Musk's Tesla Motors plans to buy, is cutting the salary of its two co-founders to $US1 amid planned layoffs.
Santos plunges to $US1.1b loss
Santos has plunged to a net loss of $US1.1 billion for the first half, dragged down by a heavy write-down on its new liquefied natural gas project in Queensland that it flagged earlier this week.
IAG launches $300m buy-back as profit drops 14%
Insurance Australia Group will launch a $300 million off-market share buy-back after annual profit dropped 14 per cent.
Katsuyama's IEX already disruptive
Brad Katsuyama is getting a stock market revolution even before his Investors Exchange opens.
Fed rate hike bets too high, says Morgan
Morgan Stanley says investors are overestimating the chances of higher US interest rates this year.
We're moving part-time as the jobs market hollows out
An election-driven burst of part-time employment has pushed the unemployment rate down to 5.7 per cent, disguising a continuing slide in the number of Australians employed full-time.
8@eight: Oil rally to help buoy ASX
The ASX is poised to open higher today, with support to come from the materials and energy sector.
How Uber plans to put its own drivers out of business
The ride-sharing company will begin deploying self-driving cars in one US city this month.
'Amicable divorce' option for euro zone
Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said the euro area should split up if it can't undertake reforms.
Treasury Wine's $800m pot of gold
Treasury Wine Estates is sitting on an $800 million pot of gold in luxury wines which should lift profit margins further.
Potential rapid rise in US rates
Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan forecast that US rates will begin rising soon, perhaps rapidly.
Brent tops $US50 a barrel as US supply drops
Oil extended the longest winning streak in more than a year, as US crude inventories declined.
Supply to check iron ore advance
Michael Zhu, former global sales director at Vale, sees a tough 2017 for iron ore.
Gawker.com to shut down next week
Gawker Media Group said on Thursday that it would shut operations of online news and gossip website Gawker.com next week, ending a 14-year run.
Cash orders no compromise on public service pay
Govt orders public service bosses not to compromise with workforces in disputes over pay and conditions.
'South Australia was a wake-up call'
Shifting to a low-carbon energy future while maintaining competition and reliability will be a challenge for the new minister.
Oswal's $70m 'fantasy home' turned eyesore to be demolished
It was meant to be the 'Taj Mahal on the Swan River', now the six-bedroom mansion is being torn down.
Woolworths under pressure to stitch up hardware sale
Woolworths shareholders are impatient for Australia's biggest supermarket chain to conclude a deal to sell Home Timber & Hardware and its disastrous Masters Home Improvement chain.
Racketeering, wire fraud: Australian banks sued in US
'Rare smoking-gun evidence'' has led two US hedge funds and a derivative trader to sue Australia's big four banks and Macquarie Group in New York.
Payment fraud jumps to $469 million
Almost half a billion dollars in fraudulent transactions were charged to Australian bank accounts last year as digital deception continues to rise.
AMP drags on ASX
The busiest day of company profit season yet dominated the share price movements on the sharemarket on Thursday.