Inflation spikes as ‘two-speed’ economy emerges
Petrol prices and an end to virus supports caused inflation to spike but the lift will be temporary as Sydney’s lockdown bites, and the Reserve Bank’s dovish outlook for interest rates is likely to stay.
- Live
- Need to Know
Financial aid to business, individuals boosted
More payments for locked down states; new commercial tenancy relief for Victorian businesses; Greater Sydney locked down for August, mobility toughened; support for business lifted to $100k. Follow updates here.
Qantas raises mandatory jabs for staff
Qantas is exploring a mandate that would require aviation workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine and is surveying staff about introducing the requirement.
- Opinion
- Inside China
China threatens its own future by stifling its tech giants
The tension between state control and the animal spirits of China’s private sector raises serious doubts about the economy’s ability to keep thriving.
- Live
- Markets Live
CPI inflation hits 3.8pc; KKR hikes Spark bid
CBA push out rate rise to May 2023; reports Rio faces UK investigation, Google EPS up 169pc, Apple lifts iPhone sales 50pc, Microsoft EPS up 49pc. US Fed meets.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The lesson from Big Tech’s profit boom
The combined $68 billion Apple, Microsoft and Google earned during the June quarter suggest they’ve emerged from the pandemic with even more power.
E-commerce Young Rich Listers in $101m split
A Young Rich Lister behind one of Australia’s most successful e-commerce businesses has bought out his co-founder, for what on some measures looks like a steal.
How to negotiate the new world of work. Expert advice in your inbox every Thursday.
Tokyo Olympics
Australian rowers win gold twice
Australia have smashed Great Britain’s Olympic dominance in the men’s coxless four, winning gold in Tokyo, while the women topped the podium in the same event in the previous race.
- Analysis
- Tokyo Olympics
Osaka defeat ignites harsh online comments by Japanese critics
The tennis champion took a drubbing on Japanese social media, with some questioning her identity or right to represent the country at all.
What’s on at the Olympics on Wednesday
Here’s what’s coming up today in Tokyo for Wednesday, July 28, 2021. All times AEST.
Macquarie Banker plays against home country for Australia
There are no Split loyalties for Croatia-born Goran Tomasevic as he fights for Australia against his birth country in the water polo pool.
Shock as Biles exits team final - hints she could quit Olympics
Gymnastics superstar Simone Biles dropped out of the team final after just one vault and tearfully suggested she might not be able to compete in the rest of the Olympic events.
Companies
Crypto-influencer Alex Saunders may be on the hook for millions
Nugget’s News founder, and trusted cryptocurrency influencer, Alex Saunders is facing allegations he misused tens of millions of dollars of cryptocurrency after raising from his paid subscribers.
Rex mulls legal options in Qantas dogfight
Regional Express is mulling legal options to fight what it believes is capacity dumping and predatory pricing from Qantas – allegations it denies.
Teething problems for Australia’s potash pioneer
Australia’s first sulphate of potash producer has struck problems at its outback salt lake and looks set to tap shareholders for funds.
Boutique Stanton Roads snaps up Grant Samuel team
Peter Brownie’s Stanton Road Partners has scooped up a team of bankers from Grant Samuel, in what looks like a case of Brownie putting the band back together.
Spark Infrastructure suitors raise offer
Spark Infrastructure has agreed to engage with its suitors on a potential $5 billion-plus takeover but hasn’t ruled out seeking rival bids.
Profits jump for lab giant ALS amid mining revival
The laboratory giant also says checks have ensured that it has eradicated faking in coal testing from the company.
Fred Bart departs space laser and weapons company EOS
The colourful Sydney businessman has resigned as chairman of ASX-listed Electro Optic Systems with immediate effect to focus on ‘his other business interests’.
Companies in the News
Westpac Banking Corporation
Crown Resorts
Oil Search
Commonwealth Bank
Updated: Jul 28, 2021 – 1.57pm. Data is 20 mins delayed.
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Markets
- Opinion
- Inside China
The China discount widens again
The scope of the CCP’s desire to control is wider than we thought: now add social stability to financial stability and control over personal data.
Wall Street is paying young bankers more than ever
As their staff quit to join tech firms and leave behind a brutal lifestyle, investment banks are trying to turn the tide with raises, bonuses and even holidays in the Caribbean.
Spaceship now manages more than $1b as micro-investing booms
CEO Andrew Moore says the growth of the passive platform to almost 200,000 active users reflects a changing appetite among younger investors.
Apple’s ‘drop the mic’ quarter puts $4t market cap on radar: Wedbush
Apple’s latest quarterly results easily surpassed analysts’ expectations, setting up a run towards a $4 trillion market cap, Wedbush said.
What happened in markets overnight
Australian shares are set to fall, following selling in Europe and the US. Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft reported quarterly results. US 10-year yield drops.
Opinion
China threatens its own future by stifling its tech giants
The tension between state control and the animal spirits of China’s private sector raises serious doubts about the economy’s ability to keep thriving.
Contributor
Why Xi Jinping is making investors very nervous
Shareholders fear being caught in the crosshairs as Beijing ramps up its regulatory crackdown and analysts warn Chinese companies are ‘simply not investable’.
Columnist
Small target strategy doesn’t add up to reform
Labor has decided attacking the aspirational class won’t get it back into power. But it means both sides of politics now share a mediocre policy middle ground.
Editorial
Will lockdown curb Sydney’s property boom?
Could an extended lockdown in Sydney, possibly one months more, derail the trajectory of ever-rising property prices, temporarily or otherwise and with potential spillover effects?
Columnist
Blame on all sides, but China’s hard line is not softening
China will not play ball with Biden, but is willing to keep the lines of communication open with the United States – something it will not do with Australia.
China correspondent
There’s nothing over the top about saving 50K lives
A more targeted strategy might have worked, but Australia’s border closures and lockdowns have achieved world-leading health and economic outcomes and produced net benefits overall.
Columnist
Politics
‘Hell of a wake-up call’: Abbott warns on China
The former Prime Minister says Australian business must cut its reliance on Chinese goods and raises the alarm on President Xi Jinping’s increasing aggression.
Berejiklian beats PM in poll – but Chant is the real winner
A new survey of NSW voters shows Scott Morrison bears the lockdown brunt as voters favour Premier Gladys Berejiklian. But they’re both beaten by Dr Kerry Chant.
‘We have nothing in the bank, it’s very scary’
Beauty salon owner Kayla Parry in Sydney’s eastern suburbs is just one of many small business owners who is struggling to survive in the extended lockdown.
Victoria to offer new round of business support after lockdown
Victoria is negotiating with the federal government about the extension of business support for firms caught by continued tight restrictions after the lifting of the state’s lockdown Tuesday midnight.
Tougher mask rules as SA comes out of lockdown
Face masks will be mandatory in indoor public places including retail outlets, and high school students over 12 years of age will have to wear them in the classroom.
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World
- Analysis
- China relations
Why Beijing’s latest crackdown should worry foreign investors
China is going after holding companies, usually based in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, that are designed to get around strict rules on foreign investors in key sectors, including education.
Britain’s COVID-19 wave eases
Hopes are rising that England has safely exited lockdown, as infections halve in a week. But hospitalisations and deaths are still climbing.
Six days in Suez: the inside story of the ship that broke global trade
How the Ever Given and its billion-dollar cargo blocked a global shipping route, stopped world trade – and eventually sailed free.
- Exclusive
- South-East Asian economy
Sri Mulyani’s bold plan to save Indonesia’s economy
‘We are focused on the pandemic but that doesn’t mean we are neglecting other areas. Indonesia needs more reform,’ says the country’s Finance Minister.
Hopes fade for early Biden-Xi meeting as tensions deepen
It’s unlikely a meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will take place any time soon.
Property
Anthony Albanese doubles his money on Sydney house
A day after Labor dumped its negative gearing policy, its leader scored his own property bonus as he sold his Marrickville investment home for $2.35 million.
Property boom drives record stamp duty receipts in NSW
But economists expect the surge to be short-lived, with the property market to slow and tax collections to fall as a result of the Greater Sydney lockdown.
Delta interrupts sale of luxury apartments atop David Jones
One-bedroom units are on offer for $1.9 million, four-bedders for $13.5 million at the audacious development carved out of Sydney’s famous department store.
Building costs to run ahead of inflation across Australia
Construction cost increases of 10 per cent or more are forecast to the end of 2023 in key markets, with material and labour shortages the main culprits.
Mirvac lands a Princes Park perch for upmarket apartments
It hopes to develop a prestige apartment building on the site in Melbourne’s inner north, in the mould of The Eastbourne and The Melburnian.
Wealth
- Opinion
- Inheritance
When greedy family members diminish quality of life
The attitude people have towards mum’s or dad’s money can get in the way of older Australians receiving the care they need in their last years.
How to profit from niche Australian REITs
Investors can’t get enough of Australian real estate investment trusts and property companies that own niche or alternative assets.
- Opinion
- Property downsizing
When downsizing is more about ‘right sizing’
What to take into account when it’s time to sell the family home.
Technology
Apple beats sales expectations on iPhone, services, China
Apple’s latest quarterly revenue blew through analysts expectations with the strongest sales growth coming from China.
Alphabet tops analysts’ estimates on rebound of digital ads
Google’s advertising business rebounded, buoyed by marketers spending more on search to convince consumers to travel and shop in stores again.
Microsoft posts sales, profit gain; shares drop on azure concern
Microsoft reported a 21 per cent lift in its fiscal fourth-quarter sales, though optimism was checked by concern about its cloud-computing business.
Work & Careers
Coles abandons enterprise bargaining for its stores
The Retail and Fast Food Workers’ Union has pledged to take the supermarket giant to the Federal Court to force it to the negotiating table.
Consultancy finds a special way to attract staff
In a tight job market, McGrathNicol is offering professionals the opportunity to gain skills in specialised areas such as cyber security and forensic accounting
Life & Luxury
The brilliant reasons your watch can’t be replaced by a phone
High-end and jewellery timepieces can bring something no mobile has achieved, a fact seemingly not lost amid increased personal wealth and spending power.
The pandemic pivot creates unique travel paths
The Louise moves on with new owners, Coral Expeditions grows more familiar with Western and South Australia, and summer ski jumping is televised from France.
Cult designer Phoebe Philo is back, and women everywhere are cheering
The former creative director of Celine, who amassed an adoring following designing clothes for “real life”, has long harboured ambitions to run her own label.
Why Rolex’s Oz head decided to run a watch shop instead
After a decade at the helm of the famed watchmaker’s antipodean arm, Patrick Boutellier did the unthinkable by leaving the dream job to run a store.
The company director who dances the samba
YSG’s Yasmine Ghoniem has been performing since she was four but discovered Latin dancing only a year ago. Then she fell in love with one of its styles.
