State border reopenings on track for Xmas
Scott Morrison says no country does contact tracing better than Australia and the review into contact tracing will be given to the Biden administration’s transition team. A vaccine policy has been endorsed by national cabinet; states except WA to reopen by Christmas. Greg Hunt says it's 'extraordinary local clinical vaccine trials are on track to be rolled out by March. Watch live.
- Live
- Markets Live
ASX falls; Sohn: CSL is an 'undiscovered gem'; VGI tips Nintendo; Treasury 'so cheap'
The sharemarket is lower on weakness in BHP and banks. Live coverage of Sohn Hearts & Minds: Paradice's David Moberley sees 'significant' opportunity in CSL. Regal says Temple & Webster can double. VGI's Rob Luciano sees 'more than 100pc upside' from Nintendo. Tribeca is bullish on Treasury Wine. Milford likes Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Investors can learn from Bill and Gladys
Legendary investor Bill Ackman and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian have something in common - they were not afraid to do things no one else was doing during the COVID-19 crisis. There's a lesson there for investors.
Boris Johnson's top aide heads for Downing Street exit
Controversial high-profile aide Dominic Cummings has lost a power struggle that could reshape Johnson's premiership.
- Live
- US votes 2020
What Trump needs to get over the line
The calculus of Donald Trump's legal campaign to change the election result needs to flip at least three states. The President signs as order banning US investors buying into Chinese military-linked companies. Republicans say the White House should allow Joe Biden to get intelligence briefings. Follow live updates here.
Bill Ackman says 'go long': 2021 will be 'very very good year'
Bill Ackman told the Sohn Hearts and Minds event on Friday that the US is about to experience a grim winter in terms of the human toll of the coronavirus. But the economy is in great shape to anchor 2021 as a year of recovery.
AGL ramps up broadband offer as Telstra encroaches
The electricity and gas supplier will offer broadband services under its own brand in an expansion of its move into the telco space.
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
Directors count the cost of corporate failure
Many companies have been exposed for failing to meet community expectations, and some have paid the price for boards lacking key skills, writes Sally Patten.
- Opinion
- Executive education
Directors, the six questions you should be asking your CEO
Boards exist to hold CEOs and their leadership teams to account. They need to probe and question all aspects of a business, but the priority is strategy.
Director's job fraught with liabilities, risks and duties
Events of the past few years, including the Hayne royal commission, have been grim reminders of a director's weighty responsibilities.
Crisis of governance stands out in an ambiguous world
Boards have always had to work in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments, but the pandemic has magnified the operational issues.
- Opinion
- Executive education
Industry insight: what kind of leader will you become?
Directors need foresight to understand how actions now might play out well into the future, making the trade-off between risk and reward.
Companies
'Some might be better closing up': NAB firm on SME loans
CEO Ross McEwan says NAB won’t automatically extend loan deferral arrangements with SME borrowers, saying tough conversations may be needed.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The truth about Xero's accidental profit surge
Cloud-based accounting software company Xero surprised the market this week with a record half-year profit. But investors need to understand this was a pandemic-era aberration.
COVID-19 drives a dashcam boom
The car has become a safe haven in the pandemic and dashcam sales are through the roof as spending shifts from travel to hi-tech gizmos.
Goyder warns China breakdown threatens oil, gas and iron ore
Business heavyweights Richard Goyder and Michael Chaney have warned escalating trade tensions with China are a "tinderbox" which threaten key exports.
High risk workers lose under super stapling: CBUS
High risk workers could miss out on insurance coverage under proposed changes to the super system, as the government attacks Australian Super over 2050 net zero target.
Surgeries bounce back at Ramsay's Aussie hospitals in Q1
But the nation's largest private hospitals operator is still facing uncertain times around the globe due to second waves of COVID-19.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Packer’s team dumps on Crown to save one of its own
Saving a key Packer lieutenant in the casino inquiry was the goal of the billionaire's legal team, but its approach threw Crown executives under the bus.
Markets
Revealed: Australia's No.1 equity research team of 2020
Street Talk has its hands on the most important sell-side survey of the year.
Central bankers shy away from vaccine euphoria
The bosses of the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of England held to a simple theme: monetary policy is still being set in a climate of profound uncertainty.
What happened in markets overnight
Australian shares are set to open lower, following the lead of global equities, as grim US virus data checks optimism that a vaccine is near at hand.
Vaccine a necessary reality check for tech stocks
The vaccine-induced sell-off in tech stocks is a much needed reality check for valuations as investors begin to price in how COVID-19's winners will perform once normal activity resumes.
Hipages sizzles then slumps in bumpy first day
Hipages shares leapt more than 16 per cent on its first day of trade, before flattening around its issue price of $2.45.
Opinion
Where there's Joel Fitzgibbon, there's always fire
The rules established by Kevin Rudd to stop the leadership coups should comfort Anthony Albanese. That's unless the faceless men decide to ditch them.
Political editor
Telstra splits the difference
Andy Penn might have been stuck at home during COVID-19 but that hasn't stopped him from imagining a radically different structure and direction for Telstra.
Columnist
Only reform can water the shoots of recovery
Australia is sadly failing to get the most from costly fiscal and monetary policy stances if we do not remove structural obstacles to growth.
Editorial
Even the pretence of a democratic Hong Kong is now dead
The demise of democracy in Hong Kong has been a long time coming. It was never going to survive the reach of China's iron fist, but few thought it would be crushed this quickly once Beijing moved.
China correspondent
Trump is trashing the Republican brand
The Republican Party still has elections to win. It cannot let Trump build his own image by refusing to concede, at the expense of their own credibility, writes John Bolton.
Contributor
SA in the fast lane when it comes to electric vehicles
Credit to the SA government for introducing an Australian-first road user charge for electric vehicle - a first step towards the system recommended by the Henry tax review and the Productivity Commission.
Editorial
Politics
China accuses Australia of 'gross interference'
China's Foreign Ministry has lashed out, accusing Australians of slander and saying the onus is on Canberra to fix the bilateral relationship.
- Opinion
- Rear Window
Baird wins musical chairs for Business Growth Fund
Josh Frydenberg is set to make Mike Baird the new BGF chairman, but where is Will Hodgman headed?
PM tells Biden the security risk is real
Australia is going all out to embrace the new leaders of Japan and the US to shore up regional stability.
‘Disturbing’ claims: new investigator for war-crimes accused
Special Forces soldiers accused of war crimes will be tried under Australian law, and not by international courts
Travel waitlist swells as thousands try to get home for Christmas
Friday's national cabinet meeting will address travel caps as 35,000 Australians stranded overseas wait to return home.
SPONSORED
World
US schools close again as infections surge
On Thursday public health officials announced 152,000 new coronavirus cases, a new daily record.
Be like the Germans: you could do wurst
A British journalist argues in a new book that despite many flaws, German politics has 'an emotional maturity' worth emulating.
Trump's challenge to the 2020 vote: A state-by-state guide
Donald Trump's team is focusing the challenge on six battleground states. He would need to move at least three of those into his column to retain the presidency.
Turkey's Erdogan adjusts to life after Trump
The autocrat had a rapport with the US President but now he must rebalance, even as a tanking economy drags him down. Ousting his son-in-law was just the first step.
Ford reveals electric Transit van that's '40pc cheaper to maintain'
Ford sees big potential for the $62,000 vehicle and views Joe Biden's election as another possible boost for plug-in vehicles.
Property
Grand Sydney house expected to break suburb record
Medieval Italy meets the inner west in this two-title offering that was built in 1889 to house a huge family with 14 children.
S&P adds to Unibail's woes with rating cut
The downgrade, and 'negative outlook', increases pressure on the French shopping mall operator after a failed equity raising and board expansion.
Shoppers return to Vicinity malls as Melbourne lockdown ends
Along with other mall owners including Westfield operator Scentre, Vicinity's stock rode higher this week on news of a breakthrough in a vaccine for the coronavirus.
On trend: Charter Hall rides the logistics boom
Charter Hall has emerged as a big winner from the pandemic as demand for industrial and logistics space soars.
- Opinion
- Property investment
Why the next wave of housing investors will be different
Housing investors who have been off the radar will return, writes Robert Harley. But things are going to be different.
Wealth
Cheapest borrowing rates and how to make the most of them
Borrowers can save thousands of dollars a year in repayments by switching loans. What's on offer and how to avoid the traps.
- Opinion
- Flat Chat
How states are untangling the strata law jungle
It’s time there was a nationwide template for strata law in Australia, where laws that match other jurisdictions are the rule rather than the exception.
- Opinion
- Sharemarket
BAE Systems 'oversold' in pandemic and Biden fears
The UK-listed company has sufficient liquidity to see it through the crisis, while concerns about governments slashing defence budgets look overdone.
Technology
- Opinion
- Telecommunications
At last, a reason to upgrade your phone to 5G
Over the next few years, 5G will have more spectrum thrown at it than any mobile phone technology we've ever seen.
- Opinion
- US votes 2020
TikTok's dance with Washington stuck in legal limbo
Will TikTok devotees in the US have to eventually make do without their daily dose of viral dance challenges? That remains unclear. But China’s tech companies have no more friends in Washington.
COVID-19 proves to be a tailwind for Nearmap
While some of Nearmap's customers have been affected, overall chief executive Rob Newman says the shift to remote working has benefited the company.
Work & Careers
How to fail and still make a billion dollars
The rise and fall of WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann should be a morality tale – but it's far from that.
Why Slack's CEO fears getting too big
Stewart Butterfield says as the software giant continues to grow, he worries 'busy work' will become a sort of invisible poisonous gas that strangles his workforce.
Life & Luxury
Ferrari's first plug-in hybrid convertible packs a powerful punch
The SF90 Spider matches its coupe counterpart’s power and comes with a formidable price tag. When you want to be seen in it, its roof retracts in 14 seconds.
How to eat red meat without harming your health
Experts warn it increases your risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, but there are ways to consume it safely.
Cancer can't wait: the hidden cost of the pandemic
A new report found fewer cancers were diagnosed and treated in 2020 compared with 2019, showing cancer services are not dispensable and future pandemic planning must take this into account.
How The Crown tackled Diana's style evolution
Amy Roberts has the seemingly enviable task of dressing characters for Netflix's hit series. Just don't tell her that.
Distilled genius on display at Australian spirits awards
A whole new level of logistical problems had to be overcome to judge this year's bumper crop of award entries on Zoom.
