- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Strange timing for Suncorp’s bank sale
Selling its banking operations could deliver a windfall for Suncorp shareholders. But it is strange to sell in the worst banking cycle in more than a decade.
- Live
- Markets Live
ASX rallies; Imugene soars 30pc, Evolution dives 20pc
Australian shares are up 1.8pc; Dye & Durham cuts Link offer; Carsales to buy rest of Trader Interactive for $1.2b; Metcash announces new distribution centre; Suncorp reviews banking operations. Follow updates here.
Russia defaults on foreign debt for first time in 100 years
The default is a grim marker in the country’s rapid transformation into an economic, financial and political outcast.
- Opinion
- Energy
Let the market rule the energy capacity mechanism
Including coal and gas is politically tricky, but logically and economically easy. If fossil fuels can’t compete with other energy sources to provide electrons on demand, they won’t be used, writes Richard Holden.
- Live
- Need to Know
3pc wage offer ‘very generous’, NSW government insists
NSW teachers, nurses, transport workers prepare to strike; government in talks with unions over 3 per cent public servant wage rise offer. Follow updates here.
- Explainer
- Employment
Why we don’t have enough workers for jobs (in four graphs)
Australia has 400,000 jobs that just can’t be filled and workers are nowhere to be seen. Here are the five sectors hardest hit.
- Opinion
- Start-ups
‘Never waste a good crisis’: tips for tech survival
The co-founder of fast-growing start-up Mr Yum says a market correction has put countless tech companies in Australia in the toughest position they’ve ever faced, writes Adrian Osman.
Breaking news on companies, politics and economics, in your inbox as it happens.
Companies
Canada’s Dye & Durham cuts Link buyout offer by $700m
Link Group’s board is now weighing up the revised offer, which sliced the buyout price by 22 per cent to $4.30 a share.
Metcash wins market share as shoppers go local to IGA
The CEO of the supplier to IGA supermarkets says some suppliers are coming back a second time to ask for price rises as inflation jumps.
Evolution shares crunched on downgrade
Evolution’s four-year growth plan has been downgraded less than a year after launch and adds to recent bad news from gold miners St Barbara and Ramelius.
- Exclusive
- Gas crisis
Forrest LNG venture to seek government help, says Squadron’s new CEO
Andrew Forrest’s import project in NSW is looking for support to bring customers on board, says Eva Hanly, the chief of his private energy company.
- Opinion
- Monday fundie
Oaktree’s Makam calls out the credit market’s hidden risks
The message from the US veteran portfolio manager to Australian institutions piling into private debt is that the returns don’t always reflect the risks.
Generators increase supply after NEM restart but coal outages persist
Generators have lifted offers of supply after the National Electricity Market restarted, but coal outages continue to dent recovery from energy crunch.
ANZ stablecoin A$DC used to buy ‘tokenised’ carbon credit units
Private investor Victor Smorgon has used ANZ’s Australian dollar stablecoin to invest in a digital version of carbon credits created by start-up BetaCarbon.
Companies in the News
Search companies
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Markets
G7 aims to hurt Russia with price cap on oil exports
The idea of an oil price cap comes at a time when the high price of crude means Russia’s oil export revenue has not necessarily declined despite Western restrictions.
- Opinion
- Investing
Bad news is ‘good’: investors welcome weaker US economy
The market is betting the darkening outlook for US economic growth will bring an abrupt end to the Fed’s tightening cycle. But doubts remain, writes Karen Maley.
Wage inflation ‘flashing red’, says Bank for International Settlements
The international club of central banks has backed RBA boss Philip Lowe by warning of price spiral risks and calling for “front-loaded” interest rate hikes.
Energy crunch starkly illustrates Origin’s ‘tale of two businesses’
Origin is raking in cash at its Australia Pacific LNG export venture, but its utilities business is a drag amid the ongoing power crisis.
Slower property market curbs PEXA as Link deal rejig looms
The value of Link’s 43pc stake in electronic conveyancer PEXA, its most prized asset, has fallen substantially since January.
Opinion
Labor should back RBA’s ‘narrow path’ to lower inflation
As The Australian Financial Review has urged, the Labor government needs to more clearly back the central bank’s call for negotiated wage rises to be kept to around 3.5 per cent.
Editorial
A wage-price spiral is a ticket to revisiting the 1970s
Without price stability or productivity improvements, generous wage, fiscal, or monetary policies will represent nothing but false promises.
Columnist
Albanese’s trip to Europe no distraction from Asia-Pacific focus
Mindful of the chatter that he is already abroad too much, the prime minister will be at pains to extract the relevance of his European trip to Australia’s interests in Asia.
Historian
A clarifying moment for responsible investing and climate change
A subtle shift is taking place in the divestment versus engagement debate, as gas stocks soar and supply shortages call for a sensible transition.
Investigative journalist and columnist
Liberals look for love in all the wrong places
The party’s disastrous financial and political decline in Western Australia is just the most extreme example of its state-by-state fall from political grace.
Columnist
Why we shouldn’t expect work to fulfil our emotional needs
This quest for fulfilment primarily through our jobs has led to the language of family overtaking the world of work.
Contributor
Politics
NATO summit turns to global threat from China and Russia
Anthony Albanese’s presence at the meeting is part of an intensifying effort to range as many nations as possible against Moscow and Beijing, officials said.
AFR readers support RBA governor on 3.5pc wage growth guidance
Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe is correct to say average wage rises should be at about 3.5 per cent, according to two in three surveyed readers of The Australian Financial Review.
Chalmers wants RBA board ‘diversity’
The Treasurer wants to shake up the business-dominated board to ensure its diversity is representative of industries, workers, geography and gender.
Census data to offer COVID-19 national snapshot
Tuesday’s release of 2021 census data will provide the first look at new data on long-term health conditions, Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh says.
Don’t touch 2-3pc inflation target, shadow treasurer warns
The Coalition’s Angus Taylor says the long-standing inflation target of 2-3 per cent should not be adjusted by the Albanese government’s review of the RBA.
SPONSORED
World
Sacked Barclays CEO turns £1m into a £600m start-up
One-time establishment banker Antony Jenkins is now looking to upend the finance industry – by using fintech to serve 1 billion people.
Leaders at G7 mock bare-chested horseback rider Putin
Before their first meeting of the three-day summit, British PM Boris Johnson asked if members’ jackets should come off – or if they should even disrobe further.
Russia strikes Kyiv as troops consolidate gains in the east
Before Sunday’s early morning attack, Kyiv had not faced any such Russian airstrikes since June 5.
Xi Jinping shores up power ahead of Hong Kong visit
China’s president is further cementing his power with a security reshuffle and another corruption crackdown ahead of the party congress later this year.
- Analysis
- Air travel
Fasten your seatbelts: chaos in Europe, US a warning to Aussie air travellers
Post-COVID-19 staff shortages and unrest are blighting airports and airlines on both sides of the Atlantic, turning many European and American air journeys into a wearying ordeal. Nor is Australia immune.
Property
Nervous vendors retreat from auctions
In Sydney, 28 per cent of scheduled auctions were withdrawn, the highest rate since April 2020.
Elanor mall fund to delist as stock flounders
The Elanor Retail Property Fund has traded below its offer price since listing in 2016 and remains at a substantial discount to the value of its net tangible assets.
Commercial rent collection falters in May as rising costs bite
The industrial real estate sector has been hit particularly hard as rising petrol prices forced up the cost of transport and the price of goods.
‘May have to defer rent’: avocado glut hits country’s biggest grower
After revenues plunged and the company sunk deep into the red, Simpsons Farms warned it may not be able to meet its lease obligations.
Rising fuel, fertiliser costs to crimp bumper farmland returns
Prime farmland delivered annual returns of 15 pc over the year to March, but increasing headwinds such as the rising cost of fuel could start to crimp them.
Wealth
- Analysis
- Home loans
How property lenders keep turning the screws on borrowers
Tougher income checks, closer scrutiny of spending, bigger deposits and tougher loan conditions are being used as rates further rise.
Record $15 trillion household wealth ‘as good as it gets’
Australian households increased their total affluence 1.2 per cent in the March quarter, and by 35 per cent since the start of the pandemic.
- Analysis
- Managed funds
The best managed funds for income investors
Using listed or unlisted funds for yield, and reviewing portfolio asset allocations to ensure sufficient diversification, is a better strategy than picking stocks.
Technology
- Exclusive
- Cryptocurrencies
‘Crypto winter’ forces Australian operator to cut staff by 40pc
Melbourne-based Banxa has been hit by the dramatic fall in cryptocurrency markets, and is making 100 staff redundant.
- Exclusive
- Funding
Millions pour in for Melbourne AI start-up that lets cameras ‘see’
Cameras are recording what is going on in all kinds of businesses, but Black.ai’s software turns these dumb recording devices into smart observers of activity.
The AI challenge must start in schools
Getting a hands-on experience with artificial intelligence will, hopefully, turn students on to a career in tech.
Work & Careers
From $64k to over $210k: here’s what EY pays its tax division
A former partner of the big four consulting firm said the rates were “disturbingly low”. But recruiters felt they were competitive and generally above market.
- Exclusive
- Employment
Why bother with uni when there are jobs for the taking?
There are signs school-leavers are choosing work over university as companies make attractive offers to get their share of the employment pool.
Life & Luxury
What does a $40,000 whisky taste like? Here’s my verdict
It’s delicious, but it costs more than a first-class, round-the-world Qantas flight for two. So, should you drink it – or flip it for a profit?
This exec cultivates a positive mindset by swinging a racquet
Viatris Australia country manager Sylvain Vigneault says Roger Federer “is an example of what can happen when you have the right attitude”.
This gym has it all – kinesis, TRX (and alcohol at 10am)
After a two-year delay and a budget blowout, the owners of this luxury fitness club say the pandemic only underscored the demand for health experiences.
Inaugural Perth to Rome touches down
The inaugural Qantas Sydney-Perth-Rome service touched down at Rome slightly ahead of schedule, in a fast flight time of 15 hours and 30 minutes.
Award-winning Brisbane house redefines working from home
A home on a residential block in Samford Valley includes an office studio that allows the owners to completely separate their professional and domestic lives.
