- Updated
- Foreign relations
Singapore backs AUKUS subs as Keating rocks summit
Singapore has backed the Albanese government over the AUKUS deal, undercutting former prime minister Paul Keating’s claim Australia was at odds with the region.
- Live
- Markets Live
ASX to fall, profit taking knocks the wind out of Wall St
Shares are set to lower as selling gathered steam in New York; Bitcoin falls after record reset; GDP data pending; ANZ sells 16.5pc in AmBank via block trade. Follow updates here.
- Investigation
- Retail
We spent $1300 shopping at Cettire. Here’s what happened
It’s the buzziest stock on the ASX, thanks to “eye-watering” sales and wide margins. Customer reviews aren’t all so glowing. What’s behind the success?
- Live
- Need to Know
Trump eyes Super Tuesday sweep, Sinema won’t run again
The former president hopes to knock out his lone challenger, Nikki Haley. Taylor tells fans to vote. Michelle Obama isn’t running, really. Follow updates here.
- Updated
- Health insurance
Private hospitals sound alarm as premiums rise
More than a dozen private hospitals have closed since last year, with NIB boss Mark Fitzgibbon warning of a structural change in the provision of medical care.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Hospitals are the pain point in the private health sector
NIB boss Mark Fitzgibbon acknowledges private hospitals are under pressure. Tuesday’s rise in health insurance premiums will kick off a new battle.
Release the international report on tax leaks: former PwC boss
Ex-PwC Australia acting CEO Kristin Stubbins has piled pressure on the firm’s global leaders to provide details of foreign partners involved in the tax leaks scandal.
Breaking news on companies, politics and economics, in your inbox as it happens.
ASEAN SUMMIT
New measures will help business assess sovereign risk in SE Asia: PM
Anthony Albanese says it is no longer a “one size fits all” approach to investing in a region, parts of which have a history of political volatility and corruption.
- Analysis
- ASEAN
South-East Asia signals it won’t be picked off by China
A tick of approval from one of Asia’s most respected statesmen for AUKUS was just one positive sign from the ASEAN summit.
Taylor Swift is now a trade dispute
Disharmony within South-East Asia over a sweetheart deal for Taylor Swift to perform in Singapore has provided a sideshow to ASEAN summit.
PM pledges $2b green energy fund for SE Asia
The federal government will establish a $2 billion finance facility to help fund green energy and infrastructure investment in South-East Asia, to tap into spiralling demand for renewable power.
Woodside, HSBC, Seek sign up to young professionals in Asia program
The companies are first to sign up to a placement program for professionals under 40 between ASEAN countries, as recommended by Nicholas Moore.
Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.
Companies
KPMG knew AusNet contract was a ‘risk,’ Downer claims
The firm had flagged the agreement with the utilities group and should have discovered revenue was overstated, the contractor had alleged.
ACCC admits defeat on ANZ’s $4.9b takeover of Suncorp’s bank
The competition watchdog says it will not appeal a decision to unblock the deal after a tribunal found it would “not lead” to major changes in the market.
Till was paying senior managers as ‘contractors’ before fire sale
The once-promising start-up paid its founder and several of its executives “consulting fees” for years, accounts lodged with the corporate regulator show.
Australia’s most expensive ute importer says Bowen ‘kidding’ himself
The boss of Ateco Automotive, which distributes RAM utes, LDV and Renault, says the federal government is ignoring the demand side of the equation in its emissions plans.
Judge slams Chinese state-owned funds trying to seize Nature’s Care
In the NSW Supreme Court, James Stevenson became almost visibly angry after the two funds refused to accept they should be subject to his ruling.
Release the international report on tax leaks: ex PwC boss
Ex-PwC Australia acting CEO Kristin Stubbins has piled pressure on the firm’s global leaders to provide details of foreign partners involved in the tax leaks scandal.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
China’s big growth target won’t solve its six big problems
China’s GDP growth target for 2024 is probably unrealistic, but it’s the lack of concrete stimulus plans that should worry investors and economists.
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Markets
Bitcoin surges to record high on sustained ETF demand
The largest digital asset rose as much as 2.5 per cent to $US69,191.95 in US trading, then profit taking knocked the cryptocurrency back below $US63,000.
Gold rush prompts investors to snap up ASX miners
A two-day rally in the price of gold has sent buyers back to ASX gold miners that have until now lagged a surge in the price of the precious metal.
What happened overnight? A selling wave hit Wall Street
Telsa, Microsoft and Apple slumped, losing some of their magnificence. The retreat has at least temporarily interrupted the US market’s melt up.
Investors more optimistic on nickel after last year’s rout
Fund managers and strategists think the price of nickel has bottomed with Macquarie’s veteran metals expert making a major change to his forecasts.
Apple stock gloom deepens as pressure to show AI progress mounts
Apple has erased more than $450 billion in market value since its shares closed at a record in mid-December, and the slump isn’t over yet.
Opinion
Play hardball and make Meta pay fair share for news
Now Facebook’s owner has thrown the ball back into the government’s court and has to be “designated” in the interests of professional newsrooms and serious journalism.
Editorial
Trust Paul Keating to interrupt ASEAN’s polite summit rhetoric
Labor is confident it can sell greater engagement and business investment with South-East Asia, no matter what the former prime minister thinks of its approach to China.
Columnist
Rinse and repeat: no new ideas in Xi’s 2024 plan
Highly choreographed with few surprises, the annual meeting of China’s parliament has delivered a set of economic targets almost identical to last year despite rising challenges.
North Asia correspondent
What Beijing does next could hasten a global recession
China has encouraged what it terms the “new three” growth areas of electric vehicles, batteries and renewable energy. But this strategy poses two huge risks for global markets.
Columnist
Why WFH is likely to be bad for your health
Instead of offering a holy grail of flexibility and work-life balance, what if WFH might lead us to an early grave by actually increasing stress and decreasing our fitness?
Former deputy chief health officer
It’s time to clean up the consulting sector once and for all
We cannot allow the pendulum to swing back to the unacceptable status quo where greed, deceit and conflict of interests are allowed to thrive.
Labor Senator
Reports
Wealth: Turbocharging your retirement
This series of articles looks at the options for retirement income, the best asset mix heading into retirement, and what you need to know to retire overseas.
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by Australian Retirement TrustPolitics
Imports drop as households cut back
A sharp decline in overseas travel and a large fall in imports of consumer goods may have stopped the Australian economy from contracting in December.
Dutton changes gear on nuclear plans, PM dismissive
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s proposal for large nuclear power plants differs to the original plan, which would involve using small modular reactors.
Dutton’s frontbench reshuffle stymies NSW stoush
Luke Howarth is the opposition’s new shadow assistant treasurer, as Lindsay MP Melissa McIntosh and Andrew Bragg join the Coalition frontbench.
- Updated
- Health insurance
Private hospitals sound alarm as premiums rise
More than a dozen private hospitals have closed since last year, with NIB boss Mark Fitzgibbon warning of a structural change in the provision of medical care.
‘A difficult place for me’: Higgins back in WA for Reynolds mediation
Brittany Higgins and her former boss Linda Reynolds have come face-to-face in a Perth courtroom.
SPONSORED
World
China sets growth target of 5pc despite challenges
Premier Li Qiang announced the widely anticipated target as he delivered his first ‘work report’, or annual budget, outlining key policies and economic targets.
- Opinion
- AI
Why the dismal state of US politics is fuelling the AI boom
With political gridlock in Washington the norm, the sharemarket is betting that Nvidia is less likely to face anti-monopoly regulation.
Banks’ remote working battle is turning bitter
Wall Street lenders have taken a more aggressive approach to get staff back to the office, but UK rivals have also upset employees.
- Opinion
- Gender equality
Wall Street’s women are not waiting around for promotion
Those with the chops to make it to senior management in banking may not want to sit around and wait their turn.
Prabowo vows smooth transition, pushes privatisation
Indonesia’s putative president said he believed economic growth could reach 8 per cent annually within the next four or five years.
Property
- Exclusive
- Property investment
Soaring rents put 800,000 tenants at risk of being displaced
Vulnerable renters face the prospect of being displaced from their current suburbs by wealthier tenants as rents soar to new peaks, a new report shows.
Perth buyer takes developer to court to enforce sales contract
Paul Scanlan is suing Yolk Property Group to honour an off-the-plan contract to purchase a townhouse in North Fremantle, after it was cancelled in 2022.
Employers need to gear up on staff ebikes
Cycling accounts for about 1 per cent of Australian work commutes. New carbon accounting requirements and a bid to get staff back in the office could change that.
Labor’s signature housing plan a ‘trivial distraction’
Former Reserve Bank official Peter Tulip said Labor needed to focus on supply settings to get more Australians into homeownership.
The suburbs where prices jumped more than $240k in three months
Improving housing sentiment has fuelled strong rebound in house and unit values in the major capital cities.
Wealth
- Opinion
- SMSFs
How to prevent your super going to the wrong people
“Absolute discretion” can mean anything but when it comes to distributing superannuation death benefits.
Downsizers are selling homes at big discounts – to their kids
A nurse was struggling to find a first home, so her retired parents offered to sell her theirs at a heavy discount. Real estate agents say it’s a trend.
- Analysis
- Cars
The 20-year, multibillion inheritance feud dividing the Fiat dynasty
Gianni Agnelli’s daughter Margherita signed a document in 2004 that has spurred lawsuits and set her against her three eldest children.
Technology
Facebook, Instagram back up after global outage
A more than two-hour outage was caused by a technical issue and impacted hundreds of thousands of users globally.
Apple fined $3b by EU for using app store to thwart competition
The penalty, announced by the bloc’s antitrust regulator, is the culmination of a five-year investigation set in motion by one of Apple’s biggest rivals, Spotify.
TikTok dragged into Albanese’s Facebook fight
The government has told the video social network with 8.5 million Australian users to strike deals with media companies for the value of their content on its site.
Work & Careers
Not ‘one of the boys’: Fundies with a different leadership style
Up-and-coming and leading fund managers share their journeys through the wealth sector and impart their best lessons.
Calling the shots in investment banking
Women are underrepresented in client-facing roles, but banks are slowly moving to change the status quo.
Life & Luxury
Hiking is great for strategising about work, says this founder
Sydney-based ethical clothing brand founder Sophie Taylor loves hiking – in the Blue Mountains, New Zealand or on a high-altitude trek in Peru. But there’s one place on her ultimate wish list.
![Espagnole (Buste) [The Spanish Woman], 1922, by Henri Matisse. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of Julian and Josie Robertson.](http://web.archive.org./web/20240305212444/https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.3682%2C$multiply_3%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x_0%2C$y_39/t_crop_custom/c_scale%2Cw_220%2Cq_88%2Cf_auto/5ad35ebc1f92f38ae36e52b88d39e125016ba8bc)
How Auckland Art Gallery suddenly scored 15 modern masterpieces
One of America’s wealthiest investors has left $167m worth of famous artworks to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. The question on everyone’s lips: why New Zealand?
This genius drummer puts on a show - with no drum solos
Yussef Dayes is a virtuoso with the sticks, but at this Sydney show he preferred to blend in with the band on his progressive jazz jams.
The battle over the trillion-dollar weight-loss bonanza
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are making blockbuster drugs. Can they maintain their lead?
- Opinion
- Digital Life
Apple’s best MacBook (our favourite laptop) just got better
Apple has just upgraded its MacBook Air with new faster processors and some niche improvements that some users will appreciate.
