Yesterday
- Opinion
- The AFR View
RBA can’t let up as inflation retreats
The fall in headline inflation is encouraging. But the final rounds of the war on sticky services inflation will be the hardest.
- The AFR View
Inflation eases but craft beer, French cheese still aren’t popular
The boss of Australia’s largest independent retailer says that while easing inflation will allay rate hike fears, premium products still aren’t selling.
- Gus McCubbing
Why the Future Fund can’t beat costs of privatisations
Readers’ letters on the fund and missed opportunities, the teals’ true colours on tax, financial relief for owner occupiers and why green energy won’t keep the lights on.
- Opinion
- Inflation
Falling inflation boosts Labor’s confidence
The drop in inflation is bolstering Labor’s belief that the economic narrative is turning in its favour and there will be no more interest rate rises.
- Jennifer Hewett
- Updated
- Inflation
Rate cut bets spark ASX rally as inflation cools
Money market traders are now fully pricing the first 0.25 of a percentage point cut to the 4.35 per cent cash rate in August.
- Updated
- John Kehoe
Global economy is heading towards ‘soft landing’, IMF says
The brighter outlook is due largely to the strength of the US economy where consumer spending has held strong and businesses have continued to invest.
- Alan Rappeport
January
Qantas searches for a path out of its mess
Readers’ letters on the World Coal Association’s new name, greenwashing’s evil twin, why success isn’t all about high income, and the Property Council’s ‘self-interested vision’.
Locals ‘traumatised’ as more heavy rain hits Queensland
Queensland’s south-east has again been saturated by heavy rainfall, causing flash flooding in areas still reeling from severe weather last month.
- Keira Jenkins
Retail sales plunge, Godfreys goes bust
Shoppers slashed retail spending in the run-up to Christmas by the most since the pandemic lockdowns, by cutting back on household goods, clothes and footwear.
- Updated
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Australian economy
How to get the truth from economic forecasting
Everybody wants to know if interest rates are going to come down this year. The best way to find out is by challenging economists’ assumptions.
- Cherelle Murphy
- Opinion
- Future Fund
Future Fund critics owe Costello an apology
The former Coalition treasurer had to fend off critics when he set the fund up, and is right to defend it now.
- Tom Switzer
‘Airfares are halved when three competitors fly a route’
Competition minister Andrew Leigh has presented new analysis showing just how significantly airfares fall when more airlines are competing.
- John Kehoe and Ayesha de Kretser
Earning good money is not something to be ashamed of
Readers’ letters on Labor’s approach to taxation, the Australian Open, Australia Day, Germany and green hydrogen, and dealing with banks and an enduring power of attorney.
New Future Fund boss; Bad news for Woolies; Deadly attack on US troops
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
Inflation tipped to fall to two-year low
The Reserve Bank will be watching services inflation closely when the consumer price index report drops this week.
- John Kehoe
‘No-brainer’: Dimon says rich should pay to fund tax cuts
Cutting taxes for lower-income Americans would improve their upward mobility, health and lives overall, and boost the economy, the billionaire banker said.
- Lyla Du
Fed’s preferred core price gauge cools to near three-year low
The so-called core personal consumption expenditures price index, which strips out food and energy components, increased 2.9pc in December from a year earlier.
- Augusta Saraiva
US economy shrugs off recession prediction with 3.3pc growth
Gross domestic product increased at a faster-than-expected 3.3 per cent annualised rate in the December quarter, capping a year of stellar economic growth.
- Lucia Mutikani
- Analysis
- Income tax
High earners pay for tax relief for average workers
People on higher incomes will run into tax bracket creep faster under Labor to shield average workers from a rise in their average tax rate for six years.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Labor makes bracket creep worse for middle Australia
Labor’s tax rejig may be politically popular in the short term. But it only intensifies a major structural problem in the economy.
- The AFR View