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Will the RBA raise rates on Tuesday? Economists aren’t sure
Economists are divided over whether the RBA will spare borrowers from an 11th consecutive rate rise, amid conflicting evidence about the state of the economy.
- Opinion
- Federal budget
Business leaders bracing for a tax-the-rich budget
There are growing expectations that Jim Chalmers will be inspired by governments in the US and Canada as he grapples with how to pay for spending increases, writes Karen Maley.
Obama economist headlines Treasury jobs conference
Labour market economists will debate how to sustain low unemployment and lift real wages at a two-day Treasury conference starting on Monday.
- Exclusive
- ETFs
‘This is going to be huge’: ETF pioneer on the sector’s plans
Exchange-traded fund pioneer turned private equity player Graham Tuckwell says ETF 2.0 ‘will give investors more control of what’s in their tracker funds’.
- Opinion
- Byelection
Why Aston lances Liberals’ delusions
Liberals are still approaching politics like it is the early 2000s where voters got their news from nightly TV broadcasts, demography is their friend with dominant anglo boomers whose worlds were relatively small, warn Liberals Tim Wilson and Jason Falinski.
- Opinion
- NSW Election
The NSW election was no landslide for Labor
Despite hyperbole on the night, it’s clear that this was not a Labor landslide. Here’s three lessons from the data from pollster Michael Turner.
How Trump’s playboy persona came back to haunt him
A salacious indictment against the 45th president is the latest chapter in a life made for the tabloids.
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Edition
AFR Magazine, Fashion issue
Read all the stories in the April issue. Jayne Hrdlicka’s moment of truth | How the Zimmermanns built a fashion empire | The future of men’s suits
SMART INVESTOR
How to protect your portfolio from ‘greenwashing’
Australian investors who want their money managed ethically need to be alert for misleading and overzealous environmental and social claims.
- Opinion
- Flat Chat
Airbnb’s unfettered rise is a failure of regulation
The spread of short-term holiday letting across the country is exacerbating the residential real estate rent crisis.
How property investors can boost profits (besides just raising rents)
Keeping tenants happy with healthy, work-friendly or luxury features can be a winning strategy for long-term growth.
- Opinion
- Pension
Want bespoke retirement income? Here’s how to do it with an SMSF
Running an income stream from an SMSF can mean doing what suits you rather than ticking the boxes of a public fund.
When can we move into the property our super fund owns?
The answer to this depends on whether it’s a residential or commercial building.
Companies
Keolis Downer forced out of $2.1b South Australian trains contract
Bad news keeps coming for Downer, with its joint venture with French group Keolis given only a small consolation prize as a contract ends prematurely.
Sophie Black returns to Crikey as editor-in-chief
Her appointment comes four months after her predecessor went on leave following an alcohol-fuelled outburst and ahead of a legal dispute with Lachlan Murdoch.
Banking’s brave new world, a lithium moonshot, Tony Boyd’s last word
This week, we discuss how Fortress Australia will resist the global banking crisis, why the bid for lithium miner Liontown is the funnest takeover fight of the year, and bid farewell to the longest-serving Chanticleer columnist.
AMP hit with first strike over executive bonuses
The wealth giant’s chairman, Debra Hazelton, told shareholders that the collapse of the company’s share price had been “extremely disappointing”.
- Exclusive
- Australian Grand Prix
The Melbourne tech company behind race-winning strategies in Formula 1
The software ingests up to 50,000 different streams of telemetry data from the cars and drivers, and combines it with live weather reports, video feeds and track data, to model and predict the outcome of different race tactics.
Palmer says mansion deal backs his bid for $300b in damages
The WA government might eventually regret slugging a Clive Palmer company with $322,000 in stamp duty on a house purchase.
ANZ getting calls from Asian depositors
With Credit Suisse’s private bank closing and SVB’s collapse, there are plenty of deposits looking for a home in Asia.
Companies in the News
Search companies
View stories and data from an ASX listed company
Markets
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Worst default wave since global financial crisis
Rating agency Standard & Poor’s is forecasting that the US rate of business failures will double by the end of this year, writes Christopher Joye.
- Opinion
- Big four
The rising costs of never-too-small-to-fail banking
The latest round of bank failures has not been met by protests on the street, and the question of who ultimately pays for bank bailouts is a thorny one.
S&P 500 higher in broad rally, data bolsters peak bets
US shares rallied strongly to end the month after a key Federal Reserve price metric pointed to cooling inflation. Tesla rises 6.1pc. Apple up 1.5pc.
Goldman’s Kostin holds fast to S&P 500 ending year at 4000
The S&P 500 has historically posted an average three-month return of 8pc, when the Fed stops lifting rates. David Kostin is sceptical that will happen this time.
Fed-favoured inflation gauge rises by less than expected
Excluding food and energy, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge – the personal consumption expenditures price index – rose 0.3 per cent in February.
Opinion
Why Trump is certain to win in court of public opinion
The New York indictment is an extraordinary moment for the former president – and for American justice, writes Ed Luce.
Columnist
The rising costs of never-too-small-to-fail banking
The latest round of bank failures has not been met by protests on the street, and the question of who ultimately pays for bank bailouts is a thorny one.
Contributor
Australia needs a moment of truth on tax and budgets
National politics might be ready for a conversation on taxation and spending that could dwarf even that of the 1980s.
Columnist
Trump indictment to supercharge his White House campaign
The former president will get a bump in the polls from the criminal charges over hush money. Why? Because this is America.
United States correspondent
Worst default wave since global financial crisis
Rating agency Standard & Poor’s is forecasting that the US rate of business failures will double by the end of this year.
Columnist
Labor’s two-faced approach to the gas industry
Amid a drift into resource protectionism and anti-gas climate wars, Australia risks threatening the resource security of our closest ally in Asia.
Editorial
Politics
- Exclusive
- Trade wars
UK free trade deal to be settled within weeks
UK Investment Minister Lord Johnson says Britain’s emerging network of free trade deals helps make London an attractive place for firms wanting a global HQ.
We have a lot of work to do, says Dutton after historic loss
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addresses Mary Doyle’s Melbourne victory; Austal executives charged with fraud on US navy projects. Follow live.
Liberals suffer morale-crushing loss in Aston
Peter Dutton has promised to listen to voters after the Liberal Party suffered a morale-crushing loss to Labor in the seat of Aston, becoming the first Opposition to lose a seat to the government in a federal byelection in 103 years.
Decaying tax base a major concern for Australia, Spender warns
The teal independent MP hosted a tax roundtable in Canberra, kick-starting a major project on proposals for structural reforms to the system.
- Exclusive
- Gas crisis
China, Japan united on Australian gas export fears
Asian LNG buyers are worried that the Albanese government’s multi-pronged attack on the gas industry will adversely affect their energy security.
SPONSORED
World
China fires up tech battle, targeting top US chipmaker
Beijing has launched a national security probe against top US chipmaker Micron in retaliation against Washington’s curbs on access to its semiconductors
- Analysis
- China relations
Macron heads to Beijing, as Europe wrestles with the China challenge
The hawks are getting louder in Europe. But the beleaguered Continent needs China’s business, and also hopes Beijing might help broker peace in Ukraine.
- Analysis
- US politics
Trump, Fox hit with back-to-back rebukes
Combined, Donald Trump’s criminal indictment and Fox News’s civil trial delivered a rare reckoning for two forces that have transformed politics.
- Opinion
- US politics
What the Trump mess doesn’t change for Ron DeSantis
The plausible line of attack against Donald Trump in a Republican primary has always been on competence and execution.
How Trump’s playboy persona came back to haunt him
A salacious indictment against the 45th president is the latest chapter in a life made for the tabloids.
Property
- Opinion
- Luxury property
How Wall Street became a fancy residential neighbourhood
The effort to repopulate downtown Manhattan has been a big success, but not for everyone.
Egg farm on Melbourne’s outskirts sold to Japanese telco for $45m
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp is emerging as a big player in the city’s housing market after buying its fourth site.
What the ultra-wealthy want in their luxury homes
Hand-loomed wall panels, private members’ clubs, magnesium pools, wine concierge, colour-synced lighting – this is how to feather a luxury nest in 2023.
- Updated
- Construction
1700 aspiring owners stranded as Porter Davis goes under
The collapse of the Melbourne-based builder adds to a wave of home builder collapses that have left 4500 projects across the country in the lurch since late 2021.
Salter Brothers adds Bowral beauty to country lodge portfolio
After purchasing Spicers Retreats from Graham and Jude Turner in December, the fund manager has added Bowral’s Milton Park House Hotel to its portfolio.
Wealth
How to protect your portfolio from ‘greenwashing’
Australian investors who want their money managed ethically need to be alert for misleading and overzealous environmental and social claims.
Banks battle for record savings drives bonus rates to near-decade high
Flagship accounts are attracting lucrative rates, but many languish near record lows.
How property investors can boost profits (besides just raising rents)
Keeping tenants happy with healthy, work-friendly or luxury features can be a winning strategy for long-term growth.
Technology
- Exclusive
- Australian Grand Prix
The Melbourne tech company that’s helping win F1 races
The software ingests up to 50,000 different streams of telemetry data from the cars and drivers, and combines it with live weather reports, video feeds and track data, to model and predict the outcome of different race tactics.
- Exclusive
- National security
Apps such as TikTok may need to secure user data in Australia
AFR Weekend can reveal that the government is considering adopting a similar approach to the proposal TikTok is trying to negotiate with US authorities, dubbed Project Texas.
F45 names Tom Dowd as CEO, Mark Wahlberg head of brand
The Australian fitness group has secured a $US90 million debt facility to help re-organise its finances and stem the widespread closure of struggling gyms.
Work & Careers
A woman should run Qantas, says Alan Joyce
Greater diversity among the leadership ranks and connecting Australia to the world with more “one-hop” long-haul flights by 2025 is the future for the flying kangaroo.
Labor to use ‘secure jobs’ objective to push for award wage rises
The Albanese government will argue higher minimum wages make jobs more secure, while employers warn the higher the wage rise the more likely workers will lose their job.
Life & Luxury
- Exclusive
- History
Australia’s museums contribute to 1.1 billion-object global database
The Australian Museum is part of study to combine more than a billion scientific objects in collections across 73 museums in 28 countries.
- Exclusive
- Dating in Sydney
Ellie Aitken, Mark Holowesko in fundie romance
Friends say the pair have known each other for years but grew close over the past year in the Bahamas, where the Sydney socialite has been travelling for work.
Oscar Piastri is back at an Australian GP in a far different role
Australia’s new FI hope Oscar Piastri has finished mid-field in the first practice session.
Like ‘Brokeback Mountain’ but in the suburbs of Melbourne
Of An Age is a sad, fractured, gay romance set in the suburbs of Melbourne in 1999.
How Australia’s youngest mayor became home affairs minister
Home Affairs minister Clare O’Neil was not earmarked for the sprawling portfolio until the high-profile Kristina Keneally failed in her attempt to move to the lower house.
