Skip to navigationSkip to contentSkip to footerHelp using this website - Accessibility statement
Advertisement

Expert Opinion & Analysis delivered to your inbox.

Sign up to our weekly newsletter.

Sign Up Now

Featured Opinion

The West must avoid populist backsliding on Ukraine in 2024

The West instinctively grasped what was at stake by backing the heroic Ukrainian resistance. The danger now is the message that would be sent by any weakening of Western will to stay the course.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Australia needs a formal national security strategy

The government has reached a point where it can no longer avoid open discussion of fundamental questions about unpreparedness for strategic trouble ahead.

Rory Medcalf

Geopolitical analyst

Rory Medcalf

Odds for 2024 point to another close Labor win in 2025

A growing number of Australian voters are looking for genuine leadership in both major parties, but find them wanting.

John Black

Election analyst

John Black

Future for house prices hinges on what the RBA does next

As we move into the new year, the bellwether markets of Melbourne and Sydney are falling.

Three lessons from my 50 years of forecasting

Confession: my crystal ball has been cracked countless times by purportedly unprecedented developments, writes Stephen Roach.

Stephen Roach

Asia watcher

Stephen Roach

Latest legal trial shows Trump still has to be defeated politically

Democrats need to realise that the pursuit of the former president through the courts only serves to fire up his never-say-never base.

The AFR View

Editorial

The AFR View

Why you should be sceptical of the market rally

Investors are ignoring geopolitical risks and have swallowed the “immaculate disinflation” thesis hook, line and sinker.

It’s time to turn the tables in the war with Hamas

From the start of this war, there has been an asymmetry: Israel has to answer every day for its mistakes and excesses. Hamas has never had to. Time to turn the tables.

Thomas Friedman

Contributor

Thomas Friedman
Advertisement

More From Today

Smartphone chips on display in Canada.

America’s top stockpicker is buying chips

Adam Benjamin’s fund is the top ranked mutual or ETF in the US and produced an 80 per cent total return in 2023. Here’s what he’s interested in.

  • Matthew A. Winkler

Yesterday

The new Porsche 911 Carrera T is a real looker in, gulp, Python Green.

The new Porsche 911 Carrera T is yours from $300,700

Calling all brand aficionados: this beautiful, well-engineered car is great to drive and still has that gorgeous flat-six sound. Get it while it lasts.

  • Tony Davis
Natalya mourns the death of her husband Hennadii Kovshyk, who was killed on the frontline in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine doesn’t need all its territory to defeat Putin

If Vladimir Putin decides to freeze the war, Ukraine should not pass up an opportunity to end the bloodshed.

  • Serge Schmemann
Forget a pink Cadillac, go for a red one. Side view of the 2024 Cadillac Lyriq Sport trim with front grille illuminated.

Five new EVs to look forward to in Australia in 2024

From the ginormous Cadillac Lyriq to Volvo’s cute, fully electric EX30, the new year looks exciting. Which car will you choose?

  • Tony Davis
Investors should be reviewing their bond allocations now that prevailing yields are much more attractive.

Five adjustments for a better performing portfolio in 2024

The No 1 task for investors embarking on a new year portfolio reset should be to check their allocation to Aussie bonds.

  • Kathleen Gallagher
Advertisement

This Month

 Experts say the chief risk to many forecasts is the US election cycle and the efforts the US government might make to stave off recession.

The best five assets to buy in 2024, and three to dump

With inflation remaining high and markets fluctuating wildly, active investors stand to gain the most.

  • Andrew Hobbs
Investors face a fascinating year ahead, with megatrends likely to continue to shape the way markets perform.

Top investors name 11 long-term stock picks

Healthcare, digitisation and resources are the big themes that dominate the list of stock picks from top fund managers. 

  • James Thomson
Donald Trump on the hustings in Iowa.

Prospect of a second Trump term demands preparation, not panic

A new season of Trump-presidency panic is upon us. And for good reason: Donald Trump could be re-elected in 2024.

  • Noah Feldman

How were so many economists so wrong about a US recession?

There is a reason that so many economists have been predicting a recession in the US — and it is not because they are out of touch.

  • Tyler Cowen
Last man standing: Stephen Bradbury.

Hedge fund parodies collide with reality in wild 2023

The strategies that worked best were as weird as the markets they tried to beat. Just ask Bradbury Capital whose cash strategy nearly pipped shares.

  • Jonathan Shapiro

Three traps to avoid as more apartments come on stream

As state governments get to grips with the housing affordability crisis, this is what buyers and investors should be watching in the new year.

  • Jimmy Thomson

These three steps would help you leave some of your super to charity

Policy settings need to be changed to help SMSFs – and other super fund members – be more active philanthropists.

  • Peter Burgess
Christian worshippers light candles at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally recognized by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ.

The historical truth at the heart of Christmas

It’s our last festival that has not lost its link to actual events of the past. Few can avoid reflecting on that.

  • David Frost
Link chairman Michael Carapiet was there when the group listed in 2015 and will be there when it delists early next year.

A rare look inside the course for CEOs, and nine more opinion reads

Here are 10 opinion pieces from the week.

Deliberately savour each bite and provide time for your interoceptive signals to function in the role they are designed to play.

How to listen to your hunger during the holidays

A neuroscientist explains how we eat with our eyes, gut and brain.

  • Alex Johnson
Advertisement
The reason the disease was hard to control was because it could be transmitted by people before they had symptoms (or when they had no noticeable ones).

The biggest threat from COVID was in our own homes

Many public spaces were never the threat they were deemed to be, according to a trove of data from seven million contacts in the UK.

  • F.D. Flam
The cost of US government borrowing has a big impact on the federal fiscal outlook, which isn’t healthy but looks less dire than it did two months ago.

A Christmas gift from the bond market

There’s no real reason for yields to have plunged since October, argues Paul Krugman: “My guess is that we’re mainly looking at market psychology.”

  • Paul Krugman
Among the S&P 500’s 10 best years since 2000, four came in periods during which the average strategist was projecting annual returns of under 5 per cent.

US stocks go high when strategists go low

Many of the strategists who are taking victory laps today for their bullish 2023 calls also failed to foresee the big drawdown of 2022.

  • Jonathan Levin
Sydney Opera House CEO Louise Herron and ABC deputy chair Peter Tonagh.

ABC chairman shortlist takes shape as clock ticks on Buttrose’s tenure

It is among the hardest jobs in Australian media. Here are some of the people tipped to oversee the public broadcaster’s board from next year.

  • Sam Buckingham-Jones
Vladimir Putin’s narrow escape might also be a narrow escape for markets.

What if Russia wins the war in Ukraine?

The west is toying with the idea of letting Vladimir Putin have Ukraine. Here’s what that might look like.

  • Simon Kuper
It’s apparently not a concern shared by the PM.

Albanese’s challenge is to reset the national conversation

Forget the Christmas switch-off. Even if people have been watching or listening, it’s hard to believe they have heard much of the government’s message.

  • Laura Tingle