Violet Crumble back in Australian hands

• 27 mins ago

The iconic Violet Crumble chocolate bar is back in Australian hands after a fourth-generation family owned Adelaide business inked a deal with Swiss food and beverage giant Nestlé to acquire the brand.

US oil at highest since 2014, market overheating

• 36 mins ago

US oil prices have hit their highest since 2014 due to production cuts led by OPEC as well as healthy demand, although analysts caution that markets may be overheating.

Markets Live: A$ surges after retail sales jump

• Live
• 46 mins ago

Australian shares are lower although a much stronger-than-expected retail sales figure lifted the Australian dollar.

Dysfunctional leaders will be exposed by the next economic crisis

• COMMENT
• 1 hr ago

We shouldn't be so surprised the world economy is motoring again, despite the failings of our political leaders and systems - but we also know is that at some stage the cycle will turn

Vodafone pinged for failing to check identities of pre-paid customers

• 1 hr ago

Vodafone Hutchison Australia has been pinged by the regulator after failing to verify the identity of thousands of people buying pre-paid mobile phones.

Wall Street falls on China

• 1 hr ago

The three major US stock indices ended lower as investors worried that China will slow US government bond purchases.

Rio gets $638m offer for French aluminium smelter

Sanjeev Gupta's ​Liberty House has made a binding offer for miner Rio Tinto's aluminium smelter in Dunkirk, France.

'Worse than Liddell': Another coal-fired plant starts tripping

One of the nation's largest coal-fired power stations has had six failures of one of its units in the past three weeks, placing added strain on the power grid, and prompting a call for fossil-fuel plants to be set the same reliability standards being considered for renewable energy suppliers.

8@eight: Negative start in store for ASX

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Equity markets have seen limited moves, with small selling in European indices (the DAX fell 0.8%). In the US, the S&P; 500 may have traded somewhat lower and into 2736, but the buyers have defended the 5-day moving average at 2738, however, with an hour to go the index is lower by 0.2% and eyeing its first negative close of the year.

Buffett says bitcoin will 'almost certainly come to a bad ending'

Legendary investor Warren Buffett has weighed in on the bitcoin craze - while predicting a 'bad ending' for investors who get involved in cryptocurrencies..

Malcolm Turnbull's scare campaign that didn't scare anyone

• COMMENT

The choice here is between the credibility of the Prime Minister and Treasurer or their competence in assessing economic policy.

Ausgrid workers to strike on pay freezes

Ausgrid workers have voted to strike after more than three years of pay freezes.

Indigenous woman sacked after making racial discrimination complaint

The worker was described as going “walkabout”, told she was “quite pretty for an Aboriginal” and asked if she ever met a “real” Aboriginal person, she claimed.

A future without coal-fired power stations is inevitable

• COMMENT

Worried the electricity system won't keep up over summer? Worry about coal, seriously.

Best to be in NSW, where it's easiest to find a job

• ANALYSIS

It's the easiest time to find a job since the mining boom.

QBE appoints Vivek Bhatia as local CEO

Insurance giant QBE has appointed Vivek Bhatia as chief executive for Australia and New Zealand.

Markets Live: ASX pauses after gains

Australian shares snapped a five-session streak of gains, as investors paused after pushing shares to highs not seen in ten years in recent sessions.

ASX snaps five-session winning streak

Australian shares snapped a five-session streak of gains on Wednesday as investors paused after pushing shares to decade highs in recent sessions.

ASX winners and losers - a snapshot

The stand out listings traded on the ASX captured at key moments through the day, as indicated by the time stamp in the video.

Macquarie Group sues family of alleged US fraudsters

Macquarie Group is chasing $US40.7 million ($52 million) from an American family that ran a billion-dollar-plus cocoa trading business, after emails between staff allegedly revealed one of the biggest fraud cases in recent US history.

Pokies giant Aristocrat bets on free-to-play mobile gaming boom

Australian poker machine giant Aristocrat has become the world's second-largest provider of free-to-play online casino games.

NBN discounts criticised for ‘pricing out’ small telcos

Smaller providers have slammed the National Broadband Network's pricing discounts as giving the big four an unfair advantage.

Hotels are the hot tickets for investors

• ANALYSIS

The hotel sector is set for an even busier new year.

South Australia planning to build the world’s largest thermal solar plant

Following the success of the world’s largest battery, South Australia is aiming to build the world’s largest thermal solar plant.

Canva: Australia's latest tech 'unicorn'

Sydney-based Melanie Perkins has turned her graphic design start-up into a billion dollar business.

World Bank says global economy is set for a decade of gloom

The World Bank is just the latest in a long line of institutions to warn of a potential growth slowdown.

Wall Street rally rolls on

Financial and healthcare stocks lifted the markets, helping extend the winning streaks of the Nasdaq and S&P; 500 in the new year.

JPMorgan chief regrets calling bitcoin a 'fraud'

JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon regrets having called bitcoin a "fraud" but would still not be interested in the cryptocurrency, he said in an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday.

8@eight: ASX set to follow Wall St higher

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There just aren't any bears left in the room, or at least they aren't prepared to act in any meaningful way and this seems logical (at this juncture), as swimming against the tide and going against this steamroller is a low probability outcome