This ship is carrying Australia’s energy future - at minus 253C
History will be made next week when Australia ships the world’s first cargo of liquid hydrogen, an event that will mark a milestone in a looming transformation of exports with one of the country’s most important partners amid the energy transition.
- Live
- Markets Live
ASX to fall, Wall St rally evaporates
Australian shares are set to drop at the open, with US stocks turning lower late amid a renewed tech sell-off. Oil turns lower after topping $US89 a barrel.
WA to keep hard borders indefinitely
West Australia was set to join the rest of Australia in early February - but Premier Mark McGowan has thrown the date out the window in order to increase booster rates instead.
Full opening of Australia’s borders could be months away
CEOs predict higher prices for most things; McGowan scraps WA’s early February reopening; full opening of Australia’s borders could be months away. Follow updates here.
‘Nearly certain’: Jeremy Grantham calls ‘super bubble’ in stocks
Jeremy Grantham, the famed investor who for decades has been calling market bubbles, said the historic collapse in stocks he predicted a year ago is underway.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The best and worst performing global fundies for 2021
The top-performing global equity fund managers in 2021 just happen to have outstanding long-term performance numbers thanks to their disciplined approach to investing.
- Exclusive
- Insolvency
Lex Greensill heads home to Bundaberg
The Greensill Capital founder is among the many Australians returning home to see family as the nation’s border restrictions ease.
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life & leisure
50 great ways to travel in Australia this year
With many of us not yet ready to forsake our shores for adventures abroad, here’s our guide to what’s new, refurbished or just plain hot across this country in 2022.
- Opinion
- Home entertainment
This Sony TV will floor you (and not only in a good way)
Sony A90J has allowed us to just sit back and enjoy the show for the first time in years and years.
This hot(ish) hatch is a wonderful all-rounder
The Skoda Octavia RS is bigger than its VW sister – but its move upmarket comes at a price.
This boss ‘runs the demons out’ with a 10kg weight vest
Leigh Rust is a solo runner who enjoys the punishment that comes from physically pushing himself. He also runs with a 10-kilo weight vest.
Ralph Lauren’s got a new yarn to spin
The company, which is outfitting the Australian Open for the second year running, is debuting a new, better-for-the-planet fabric that it says is a world first.
AFR Classics
- From The Archives
- Platinum Year
Dancing girls, juggling lead to a TV empire
AFR Classic | A fruit barrow was the unlikely start for budding media mogul Bruce Gordon, who helped kick off a television takeover wave, wrote Jefferson Penberthy on March 26, 1980.
- From The Archives
- Platinum Year
The home computer is dead, we said in 1985. Oops
AFR Classic | In 1985, David Noble debunked what became one of the biggest selling home items ever: the home computer.
- From The Archives
- Platinum Year
How Gerry Harvey started again after Alan Bond
AFR Classic | After Alan Bond booted Gerry Harvey and Ian Norman out of appliance retailer Norman Ross, Gerry had the idea to start up again under the banner of Harvey Norman, as Vickie Smiles reported on July 28, 1982.
- From The Archives
- Platinum Year
Democracy down at the council
AFR Classic | In December 1971, Max Suich talked to the mayor of Sydney’s Leichhardt, a man who thinks of himself as a modern Trotskyite.
- From The Archives
- Platinum Year
Mrs Rentoul calls out ‘parasitic group of professional board sitters’
AFR Classic | In 1964, Yvonne Rentoul complained to the AMP shareholder meeting that some 120 men in Australia each sat on between 6 and 15 boards. The men laughed.
Companies
- Analysis
- Mergers & acquisitions
How Newcrest was almost drawn into a $US20b megamerger
Australia’s biggest gold miner rediscovered its mojo during Peter Hay’s eight years as chairman, but the company was nearly lost into an American merger.
‘Perfect storm’: Ports grind to a halt as skills dry up
A shortage of skilled workers has sparked calls for the West Australia government to speed up preparations for reopening the border.
Clear air key for Australian Open players and crowds
An Australian-first air purification technology rolled out for the tennis tournament could be key to getting children back to school and workers in offices, scientists say.
Woodside, Santos celebrate a ‘momentous quarter’ of LNG prices
The two Australian gas exporters have scored success by tapping into soaring prices for gas in international markets that have persisted into 2022.
Battle over the carcass of Dixon Advisory begins
Current and former clients of the failed wealth manager will have to wait another six months before getting any resolution over complaints filed years ago.
- Exclusive
- Insolvency
Lex Greensill heads home to Bundaberg
The Greensill Capital founder is among the many Australians returning home to see family as the nation’s border restrictions ease.
CapVest’s $650m Virtus bid pips BGH Capital
Private equity firm CapVest has launched a competing $650 million bid for fertility services play Virtus Health, topping a bid from local suitor BGH Capital.
Companies in the News
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Markets
‘Nearly certain’: Jeremy Grantham calls ‘super bubble’ in stocks
Jeremy Grantham, the famed investor who for decades has been calling market bubbles, said the historic collapse in stocks he predicted a year ago is underway.
Robust jobs lift $A and hasten calls for RBA rate increases
The $A and bond yields rose after a healthy jobs report reinforced speculation of an early interest rate increase, with Westpac calling for lift-off in August.
Germany’s 10-year Bund yield turns positive for first time since 2019
Expectations that central banks will tighten policy to tame inflation hit price of eurozone’s benchmark bond.
Block hits the ASX but barely causes a ripple
The listing comes at a time when buy now, pay later and payment stocks such as Zip, EML Payments and Beforepay have fallen out of favour.
Jobless fall fuels rate rise push
The Reserve Bank is under more pressure to raise rates as early as this year after the jobless rate fell to 4.2 per cent in December, the equal-fourth lowest rate on record.
Opinion
Morrison’s jobs boom swamped by omicron wave
Scott Morrison would have wished he was fielding questions about Australia’s historically low unemployment rate. Instead, he was hounded about his management of COVID-19.
Economics editor
Australia’s clean hydrogen industry has started sailing into the future
The milestone shipment will prove the viability of the world’s first liquefied hydrogen energy supply chain right here at home.
Contributor
Perspective lost in the politics of the pandemic
Australia’s political debate is oblivious to how the nation has managed the once-in-a-century crisis better as well as just about any comparable nation.
Editorial
PM seeks the credit, so cops the blame
The inevitable result of putting himself front and centre of the COVID-19 response is that Scott Morrison is being blamed for things that aren’t his fault.
Columnist
China’s not challenging Australia’s interests in the Solomon Islands
The Chinese ambassador says Beijing is not treating the island region as a geopolitical arena - it’s simply helping to uphold law and order.
Contributor
50 years on, the Tent Embassy struggles remain urgent
Following this month’s fire on the steps of Old Parliament House, alt-right infiltration of the long-running protest site could cause Indigenous advancement to be pushed down the agenda.
Political reporter
Politics
CEOs predict higher prices for most things
Business leaders predict lingering supply chain problems, widespread price increases and subdued profits.
Full opening of Australia’s borders could be months away
The Morrison government said a decision to further open Australia’s borders would be based on health advice.
China offers olive branch on Pacific security
China’s acting ambassador to Australia says both countries can promote regional stability, as UK and Australian ministers hold talks focusing on Beijing’s belligerence.
Feds to help foot bill for schoolchildren’s virus tests
But easing isolation requirements is off the table for now following national cabinet.
Government denies requisitioning rapid tests, refers suppliers to ACCC
Greg Hunt said suppliers claiming the government had taken their rapid test orders were looking for excuses for failing to deliver.
SPONSORED
World
Boris Johnson accused of ‘blackmailing’ MPs to secure their votes
Government whips allegedly threatened to withhold funding from the electorates of dissenting Tory MPs, stoking fresh discontent with the embattled PM.
Blinken seeks to rally nervous Europeans before fresh Russia talks
Germany is reluctant to jeopardise its gas supplies, while France chafes at Moscow’s moves to cut Europe out of Russia’s dialogue with the US.
US Air Force chief sees Indo-Pacific investment shortfalls
The US Secretary of Air Force says he is only now identifying shortfalls in allied interoperability.
Putin won’t go to ‘full-blown’ war in Ukraine, Biden says
The US President says his Russian counterpart is looking to reassert his place in the new world order.
Beleaguered Biden concedes partial defeat on economic recovery plan
Facing sagging poll numbers and a stalled legislative agenda, the US President admitted he would likely have to pare back his “build back better” recovery package and instead settle for “big chunks” of his signature economic plan.
Property
New home sales show builders face a tough 2022
Even though the home-building boom is coming off its stimulus-induced high, activity is likely to remain high and that is creating risks for builders.
Southerners and shortages send land prices soaring in south-east Qld
In a classic case of low supply meeting high demand, agents and developers say there are now twice the number of buyers bidding for fewer major land parcels.
In these 220 suburbs, each house sells for more than $1m
Every house sold across 220 suburbs during 2021 settled at or above $1million as demand for freestanding homes continues to surge.
Lockdowns cloud pace of decline in home building
Third-quarter lockdowns in Victoria, NSW and ACT slowed housing rollout, as has the recent omicron wave. But with immigration likely to hit demand, that may be positive.
- Opinion
- Flat Chat
Building standards no guide to what is a well-constructed apartment
Australian building codes are the bare minimum and you should be demanding better.
Wealth
Why this 25-year-old invests in bonds instead of crypto
Millennial entrepreneur Gaby Rosenberg has been investing in bonds for about two years. Her goal is to use her portfolio gains to buy an investment property.
Can I pay an SMSF pension from an accumulation account?
John Wasiliev gives answers to a reader enjoying good investment earnings and wanting to withdraw as little as possible from his fund’s pension mode.
How to avoid ATO crackdown on SMSF early withdrawal scam
Tax specialists provide a checklist of strategies to ensure compliance as the tax office steps up surveillance.
Technology
- Analysis
- Mergers & acquisitions
Microsoft’s bet on Activision sets off content wars in gaming
If Microsoft pulls off its game-changing deal, the shockwaves it produces will reverberate loudly in the here and now.
- Explainer
- Cryptocurrencies
A billionaire meme feud over the future of the internet
A dispute over “web3” in the cryptocurrency industry was publicly exposed in a Twitter spat between Jack Dorsey and Marc Andreessen. Here’s what it’s all about.
Block hits the ASX but barely causes a ripple
The listing comes at a time when buy now, pay later and payment stocks such as Zip, EML Payments and Beforepay have fallen out of favour.
Work & Careers
Tug boat operator to scrap union deals in waterfront war
Towage company Smit Lamnalco joined Svitzer and Patrick Terminals in seeking to tear up an “unworkable” union deal and pay its workforce the industry minimum.
College of experts says minister is no expert on research grants
Stuart Robert’s inbox must be overflowing with letters of disapproval following his vetoing of six research grants.
Life & Luxury
How the pandemic helped transform this Italian family winery
The pandemic gave the winemakers in Victoria’s King Valley time to reflect on how best to tell the story of their Italian heritage through their wines.
Elvis Presley comes to Bendigo
An exclusive exhibition curated with the Graceland Archives is the latest star turn for gallery director Jessica Bridgfoot.
How Virgil Abloh’s death caused prices to spike from IKEA to Mercedes
With the death of the multi-talented designer and Louis Vuitton artistic director came the inevitable rush to own a piece of him – and there were many.
Why Gen Z fashion channels the 1990s
The icons and fashions of the fin de siecle are objects of fascination for those who didn’t experience them the first time around.
- Review
- Monetary policy
A fascinating page-turner made from an unlikely subject
The Lords of Easy Money is a fascinating and propulsive story about the Federal Reserve — yes, you read that right
