George Soros says Xi could be toppled
The billionaire investor believes China is the greatest threat to open societies and says it could suffer an economic crisis in the second quarter of this year.
- Live
- Markets Live
Boral to return $3b to shareholders; RBA ahead
Credit Corp hikes guidance, lifts profit 8pc. RBA tipped to end bond buying program, update interest rate guidance. Follow the latest here.
- Live
- Need to Know
Victoria records 34 new deaths, 30 in NSW
Non-urgent elective surgeries requiring an overnight stay will resume in NSW next week; Bali reopens on February 4; Morrison offers $800 in bonuses to aged care staff. Follow updates here.
Profits heading to record levels before ‘messy’ earnings season
By the end of financial 2022, Australian corporate profits will have surpassed their pre-COVID-19 levels, but watch for a slowdown in earnings growth.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Inside Regal’s merger with VGI
The joining of Phil King’s and Rob Luciano’s companies will be designed to ensure the founders stay focused on tricky markets.
PM promises $2b to commercialise ideas
The Morrison government will also promise up to $800 in incentive bonuses for aged care staff as it seeks to tackle challenges posed by COVID-19.
- Opinion
- BNPL
Caught up in the great buy now, pay later scam
Identity theft is something you always assume happens to other people. But it can just take one slip-up to find yourself trapped in a murky financial nightmare, writes Karen Maley.
Inside the biggest news, moves and projects in accounting and consulting. In your inbox every Wednesday morning.
START-UPS
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
Melbourne tech firm equals VC record with $US350m funding
Alok Kulkarni’s Cyara has cemented its spot in Aussie start-up legend, raising $US350 million ($500 million) from K1 and pressing pause on an IPO.
‘It’s a stock-pickers’ market:’ Top tech investors see long-term buys
Leading fund managers and VC and private equity investors say the tech sell-off will continue and will hit private valuations, but longer-term opportunities are emerging.
- Exclusive
- Funding
Big names back next big hope in property tech
Construction quote estimation and management platform Buildxact has raised $18.5 million from investors such as Regal, Thorney and Washington H. Soul Pattinson.
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
Tech star Octopus Deploy expands with first acquisition
Heavily backed Brisbane-based software deployment technology company Octopus Deploy has hit a coming-of-age milestone, buying Dist in its first-ever acquisition.
- Exclusive
- Venture capital
How Aussie start-up Continu helps Airbnb and Slack train their staff
US venture capital fund Five Elms has led a $19 million funding round from Melbourne-founded corporate learning platform Continu.
Companies
WA business leaders warn ‘brain drain’ risk on the rise
WA businesses are reconsidering investments following Premier Mark McGowan’s reopening backflip, as leaders such as Richard Goyder and Rob Scott plan to leave Perth.
Rail and road flooding intensifies supply chain crisis
Pacific National CEO Paul Scurrah has urged the federal government to strengthen the “umbilical cord of the country” after floods in South Australia washed away parts of the railway linking the eastern states with Perth.
Ansell shares tumble as medical glove demand softens
Margins are being crunched as freight costs jump and demand slows, while a factory shutdown in Malaysia added to the headaches.
Fantastic Furniture revisits plans for ASX listing
The value-based furniture chain with 82 outlets and a fast-growing online business has been a beneficiary of people spending more on their homes.
Lithium miners say price boom has further to run
Australian miners are enjoying record lithium prices which look set to rally further, but they are struggling to get more output into the market.
VGI Partners-Regal merger labelled ‘shotgun marriage’
Investor Phil King has tethered his own fortunes to embattled rival Rob Luciano in a merger that creates a $6 billion listed hedge fund.
Hyzon Motors targets Australian sales of hydrogen vehicles
Hyzon will expand its Australian manufacturing site more than five-fold, positioning the company to meet strong demand for hydrogen-powered vehicles.
Companies in the News
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Markets
Tesla surges 10.7pc after Credit Suisse says fundamentals ‘favourable’
Shares in Tesla rallied after Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy said he was ‘hard-pressed’ to find a stock that checked so many boxes.
ASX to rise, Wall St higher, oil tops $US91/barrel
Australian shares are poised to open higher with the RBA’s first policy meeting of the year on the agenda. Techs rally in New York. $A rebounds.
The 60/40 portfolio has worst loss since March 2020 on Fed shift
Both US equities and bond prices have fallen sharply this month as markets price in a faster pace of interest-rate tightening during 2022.
Inflation edges higher, but RBA looking at wages
Underlying inflation lifted 0.4 per cent in January to be 2.9 per cent higher through the year, according to the Melbourne Institute monthly inflation gauge.
RBA to end stimulus and retire its ultra-dovish bias
The RBA will terminate QE, upgrade inflation, and may bring forward its interest rate guidance with a “chance” of lift-off this year, economists say.
Opinion
Reckless borrowing from the future must stop
NSW’s Canberra-bashing is unhelpful when those charged with managing the public finances should be turning their minds to drying up COVID-19’s sea of budget red ink.
Editorial
Why Putin’s gamble on Ukraine borders on the insane
Russia cannot achieve its aims in Ukraine without a historic capitulation by the US. And the Russian leader has made it difficult for himself to retreat.
Contributor
How the Australian Open showcased real life in all its glory
It didn’t start well thanks to omicron and the Djokovic imbroglio, but this year’s tournament has turned into one of the country’s most spectacular Opens so far.
Columnist
The RBA must hold its nerve
Only those still living in the 1970s would want the central bank to prematurely choke off wages growth when there is no cause to.
Columnist
Tennis, like vaccinations, must be played by the rules
Just like trying to bend the rules over vaccination, antics that disrespect tennis officials in the name of putting on a show will only end up undermining the game.
Editorial
Putin is many things, but he is not irrational
Vladimir Putin is ruthless, a nationalist and an autocrat. But he is also a master tactician and strategist, writes Grant Wilson.
Contributor
Politics
NSW to resume non-urgent electives surgeries
Non-urgent elective surgeries requiring an overnight stay will resume in private and public country hospitals from next week.
- Exclusive
- Energy
Labor reversal over gas-fired power in the Hunter
Federal Labor has reversed its opposition to the taxpayer-funded construction of a gas-fired power station in NSW’s Hunter Valley.
Morrison offers $800 in bonuses to aged care staff
The planned bonuses will cover workers such as nurses, cleaners and kitchen staff in residential facilities and home care.
Perrottet accused of picking fight to shore up byelection prospects
Federal Liberals are furious at their NSW counterparts for fanning the flames in a row over COVID-19 support payments to businesses.
Inflation edges higher, but RBA looking at wages
Underlying inflation lifted 0.4 per cent in January to be 2.9 per cent higher through the year, according to the Melbourne Institute monthly inflation gauge.
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World
Boris Johnson squirms under ‘partygate’ blowtorch
The PM makes a diversionary dash to Ukraine, after enduring a fierce grilling from MPs over the first instalment of top bureaucrat Sue Gray’s report.
China bans Australian meatworks at centre of COVID-19 outbreak
The suspension applies to Teys Australia’s Naracoorte facility from January 29, and marks another step in the trade war.
Prosperity, travel and babies for the Year of the Tiger
Business expectations are on the up and up, the Lunar New Year shopping frenzy is under way, and family reunions are back on – even if numbers are limited in Singapore.
- Opinion
- Putin's Russia
Why Putin’s gamble on Ukraine borders on the insane
Russia cannot achieve its aims in Ukraine without a historic capitulation by the US. And the Russian leader has made it difficult for himself to retreat.
Duterte successor candidates adjust their China policies
The next Philippines president will come under tremendous pressure to adopt calibrated assertiveness on South China Sea disputes, but also a measure of geopolitical pragmatism in relations with China.
Property
Post-pandemic return to the office a threat to regional housing boom
House prices in the regions could fall once workers go back to the office due to that market’s greater volatility and relative lack of liquidity.
Allianz fund buys Sydney office for $630m on record-low yield
The record sale shows there is still demand for quality workplaces with long leases to blue-chip tenants despite the uncertainty cause by COVID-19.
Winarch makes $120m flipping Central Coast industrial site
Lake Macquarie-based property developer Winarch grossed more than $120 million in profits after selling 25 industrial lots in Warnervale on Sydney’s Central Coast within 21 days.
Cbus buys a ride with Dexus in $1.3b Jandakot airport play
Cbus’ move comes as the country’s biggest super funds push harder to add real assets – infrastructure and real estate – to their portfolios.
- Exclusive
- Industrial
Charter Hall co-founder snaps up Sydney logistics site
Aliro has paid $61 million for two adjoining industrial sites in Chipping Norton in western Sydney that are well suited to last-mile logistics development.
Wealth
- Opinion
- Investing
China’s 2022 growth should be ‘good enough’
While better growth from stimulus is positive for cyclical support for the global economy, it puts the country into yet another year of debt build-up.
Sydney private schooling costs approach $500k in pandemic hit
One in three parents say they are under financial pressure as a result of educating their children, and COVID-19 made matters worse.
- Opinion
- Sharemarket
PE ratios not as important as you think
The rise of intangible assets on balance sheets is one key reason many professional investors argue the commonly used valuation measure is no longer useful.
Technology
- Analysis
- Cryptocurrencies
Have NFTs jumped the shark?
Theft, falling crypto prices and an avalanche of scam projects are threatening to burst the NFT bubble before it is even fully inflated.
Hold or fold? What to expect from mobile phones in 2022
From folding Pixels and slotted Galaxy Ultras to notchless iPhones, the rumour mill has set some high expectations for new mobile phones this year.
WeChat is good for business, but not elections
Verified WeChat business accounts are among the very first things Chinese people check when they are deciding whether to trust a business.
Work & Careers
New year, new firm: Partners move to rival consulting, law firms
The summer has seen a flurry of promotions and professionals moving firm with new partners PwC, EY, KPMG and Ashurst.
BHP workers face sack as unions lose privacy challenge to jab policy
The mining union warns that hundreds of BHP workers could face the sack as the deadline for jabs passes and unions lost a privacy challenge to the miner’s vaccine mandate.
Life & Luxury
- Opinion
- Australian Open
How the Australian Open showcased real life in all its glory
It didn’t start well thanks to omicron and the Djokovic imbroglio, but this year’s tournament has turned into one of the country’s most spectacular Opens so far.
How this Uber executive finds clarity on the run
There is no form of exercise that requires less planning and less investment than running, says Dom Taylor, who grabs any moment he can to hit the road.
Emily in Paris: Solo show momentous for Aboriginal art
A small but powerful assemblage in France of work by the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye is a harbinger of the resurgent interest in Australia’s top Indigenous artists.
Is it better to exercise in the morning or evening?
A new study, which observed healthy lab mice jogging on tiny treadmills, mapped hundreds of disparities according to the time of day.
Hold or fold? What to expect from mobile phones in 2022
From folding Pixels and slotted Galaxy Ultras to notchless iPhones, the rumour mill has set some high expectations for new mobile phones this year.
