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Global sharemarket rally could push ASX 200 to new high
Hopes of rate cuts from major central banks in the first half of the year are continuing to buoy equity markets, making this week’s local inflation data pivotal for investor sentiment.
How Sun Cable could be a loser, yet a winner
Mike Cannon-Brookes’ company is set to lose the race to lay a 4000-kilometre cable to send solar energy out of the desert and under the oceans.
- Opinion
- Hobart
State polls position Albanese for a second term
Polling booths around the country show Labor’s support base is growing enough for another narrow federal win, writes John Black.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The $5b whack: why it’s time to come clean to Star’s shareholders
As the sheriff runs Star executives out of town again, things are starting to look like a corporate assassination and the sort of battle investors cannot win.
- Analysis
- Putin's Russia
‘I pretended to die’: Moscow attack survivors describe miraculous escapes
Russia’s worst terror attack in over a decade has brought a shudder across Europe, where memories of other music venues turned to slaughterhouses have resurfaced
- Analysis
- Royalty
What Princess Kate’s ‘preventative chemotherapy’ means
With metastatic cancer, chemotherapy is used to make people more comfortable. With earlier stages of cancer, like Princess Kate’s, it aims to increase the chances of cure, writes Jill Margo.
- Analysis
- Federal election
SA byelection could help Albanese avoid minority government
Anthony Albanese will redouble efforts to win the SA seat of Sturt to ward off replicating the unfolding mess in Tasmania.
Breaking news on companies, politics and economics, in your inbox as it happens.
GRAND PRIX
F1 shows bizoids how to drive to survive
Corporate types flocked bright and early to Albert Park’s Paddock Club, which by 2pm on Sunday was full to heaving for Melbourne’s Grand Prix.
Percat wins as Payne’s pain continues at Albert Park
Nick Percat has claimed his first Supercars win in four years in Melbourne as rookie Matt Payne’s nightmare weekend continued.
Good luck finding a table: How F1 gave Melbourne its mojo back
Melbourne’s premium hotels and restaurants are near or at capacity this weekend ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, which is enjoying a boom as women and young people stream in.
Potential and pressure for Australian F1 drivers
Oscar Piastri will join Daniel Ricciardo on the Melbourne grid this year, marking the first time since 2013 that two Australians have raced in the same grand prix.
How missing AFL’s top job drove the F1 Grand Prix CEO
Travis Auld, the former AFL chief financial officer-turned F1 GP chief executive, has big plans for the race to go more female and family friendly, to help attract record crowds.
WEEKEND READS
How our era of plenty could lead to human extinction
Our success in creating a more prosperous, informed, and secure world has, unexpectedly, generated a whole new set of planetary challenges.
Defining legacy: Brisbane’s messy path to the Olympics
It will be a long haul to transform the QEII stadium to Olympic standard. That’s just one of the hurdles for Queensland.
- Analysis
- Interest rates
The week the world’s central bankers started smiling
They faced widespread criticism and ridicule for failing to predict the worst inflationary outbreak in a generation but the tables are now turning.
United in grief Israelis and Palestinians find power in empathy
A Melbourne-based trauma psychologist says her work is more important than ever, amplifying the lived experience of those who choose respect over revenge.
CBA’s business bank boss explains why ‘saffers’ can be good CEOs
Mike Vacy-Lyle says his South African upbringing has instilled a can-do attitude and the confidence to take on any competition.
Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.
Companies
ASIC, APRA warn super funds on executive scrutiny
Regulators and lawyers have warned super funds they need to get their houses in order before tough new executive accountability laws come into force next year.
Virgin set to ditch troubled Max 10 for smaller Boeing plane
Virgin Australia is sticking with plans to streamline its fleet, opting for smaller Max 8s over shifting to an Airbus equivalent, and with it, fewer seats.
‘More than mining’: WA med-tech sector message to local investors
WA medical ventures no longer limited to interstate or overseas investors for viability, says OncoRes breast cancer tech innovator Katherine Giles.
Atlas Arteria investors fear board shake-up at AGM
Atlas Arteria shareholders say IFM Investors could use its near 25 per cent stake to force a second strike at the company’s annual general meeting in May.
Star CEO departs as embattled casino owner cleans out exec team
Staff were informed of the departures of CEO Robbie Cooke and other top execs on Friday afternoon after the market closed.
ASIC bans Dubber CEO from leaving Australia
The corporate watchdog has banned Dubber boss Stephen McGovern and lawyer Mark Madafferi from leaving Australia.
- Exclusive
- Supermarket wars
Rebel union splits with labour movement on Coles and Woolies break-up
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union says a Greens-led plan to break up firms abusing market power should be made law.
Companies in the News
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Markets
US rally stalls as strategists debate correction potential
Wall Street closed mixed with signs that some investors are starting to pocket profits from the stunning rally to start 2024.
Blowout Reddit debut raises hopes of revival in dormant IPO market
A steady, sustained rise in activity would breathe life into the market for initial public offerings, which has been largely shut down since 2021.
Trump Media merger wins investor approval
The deal clears a near-final hurdle for Trump Media & Technology Group and a potential windfall for the former president.
Rally in global stocks kick up a gear after surprise rate cut
The Swiss National Bank overnight has potentially started a much anticipated global rate easing cycle, sparking hope that its major central bank peers will soon follow suit.
Reddit IPO leaps on AI pitch, but not everyone believes the hype
The stock ended its first day of trading up 48 per cent, but investors say it’s more Snapchat than Meta, despite its deal to provide AI data to Google.
Opinion
A British friend with important lessons for Australia
The UK is a good strategic partner for us. It is also a public policy laboratory for what works – and what does not.
Columnist
Stage three tax cuts haven’t touched the impact of bracket creep
The top brackets will continue to inexorably sweep up a rising number of taxpayers with collateral damage to incentive and ambition.
It’s time to be honest about America’s commercial real estate hangover
Commercial real estate has tumbled into a debilitating pattern of “extend and pretend”: lenders have essentially rolled over troubled loans, hoping for a miraculous future Fed rescue.
Contributor
Penny Wong’s week of new foreign policy reality
The foreign minister is repairing relations with China while unsentimentally hedging against its military might. Eruptions from Paul Keating and Donald Trump are simply part of that reality.
Editorial
Green policy car crash complicates Labor’s election outlook
A series of competing and interlinked priorities are colliding in Labor’s Senate, where all eyes are turning to the next election.
Senior correspondent
The Wang-Wong doctrine: embrace and fight at the same time
China and Australia’s foreign ministers are both adept at the art of making frenemies. It’s working for now, but for how long?
Columnist
Reports
Women to Watch 2024
Meet the next generation of leaders across five key sectors of the economy.
Politics
Rockliff woos Lambie, independents amid Tassie election chaos
Denied a majority, Premier Jeremy Rockliff has begun wooing crossbenchers to try and cobble together a governing deal as Labor concedes.
- Exclusive
- Russia-Ukraine war
Australian firm teaching advanced trauma surgery to Ukrainian doctors
Drones are shaking up the nature of battlefield injuries by limiting rapid rescues of wounded soldiers, leading to a surge in amputations.
Borrowers can cope with higher interest rates: RBA
Borrowers and businesses are defying gloomy predictions and are servicing their debts, giving the Reserve Bank more cover to fight inflation.
‘Dangerous world’: AUKMIN talks call out Chinese coercion
Security in the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic regions are inseparable, Australian and British ministers say.
- Exclusive
- Supermarket wars
Rebel union splits with labour movement on Coles and Woolies break-up
The Retail and Fast Food Workers Union says a Greens-led plan to break up firms abusing market power should be made law.
SPONSORED
World
Moscow seeks to blame Kyiv for Islamic State attack on concert hall
Russian officials and state media have made little reference to IS’ claim, and Vladimir Putin did not mention it or Islamist terrorism in his first remarks.
- Updated
- Putin's Russia
Russia arrests suspected attackers as death toll tops 130
Eleven people, including four suspected gunmen, have been arrested in connection with a shooting rampage that killed 133 people in a concert hall near Moscow.
Russia and China veto US-led ceasefire resolution
Three of the UN Security Council’s 14 members voted against the resolution, which had called for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip.
UK’s new tax slug could force expat Aussies home
Australians living in the UK for more than four years will lose the benefits of negative gearing and franking credits on their property and shares.
China scrutinises PwC role in $118b Evergrande fraud case
Authorities are examining the role of PwC in China Evergrande Group’s accounting practices after the developer was accused of fraud.
Property
Where Australia’s top investment bankers live
Privacy, prestige and access to the best schools in Sydney mean these suburbs are where deal makers call home.
Singo sells famed Paddington complex for more than $30m
Annie Todd, the estranged wife of Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, will take ownership of The Bonython office complex in Paddington.
- Exclusive
- Retail property
Woolworths pays $51m for suburban mall in supermarket turf war
The supermarket giant’s property arm quietly snapped up the Niddrie Central mall in Melbourne’s north to maintain control of a key suburban site.
Mascot Towers sale set to proceed after threshold achieved
A minimum 75 per cent of unitholders in the Mascot Towers strata scheme have signed sales contract with purchaser Dowco Property Group.
We need land-less mortgages, Mirvac CEO Campbell Hanan says
Australia’s crippling housing affordability problem is shaking up postwar norms about ownership. It’s also prompting a rethink about financing.
Wealth
What to do with a big inheritance
Around $10 billion worth of shares, cash and property is bequeathed every month in Australia. Experts weight in on how to manage a windfall.
How investors get risk wrong
Contrary to popular wisdom, more volatile stocks do not outperform.
- Exclusive
- Governance
Australia’s highest-paid directors revealed
Women now account for more than 30 per cent of directors on ASX 200 companies – but they still don’t perform as well as their male colleagues in the money stakes.
Technology
US accuses Apple of exploiting smartphone market
The iPhone maker is being accused of violating antitrust laws by blocking rivals from accessing hardware and software features on its popular devices.
There’s an AI funding boom - but Australia’s being left out
Venture capitalists are going all-in trying to back big winners, rather than spreading their funds around.
- Exclusive
- Start-ups
$300m to ‘zero’: Blackbird-backed start-up stalls
VC backers of Baraja have written down their investment on the polarising LiDAR technology for autonomous vehicles to nil.
Work & Careers
How missing AFL’s top job drove the F1 Grand Prix CEO
Travis Auld, the former AFL chief financial officer-turned F1 GP chief executive, has big plans for the race to go more female and family friendly, to help attract record crowds.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Macquarie infrastructure bigwig retires
Grant Smith, who heads up Macquarie’s infrastructure and assets investment activities, is retiring after a hugely successful 28 years.
Life & Luxury
West Side Story makes a splash on Sydney Harbour
The new production proves Leonard Bernstein’s doubts over his legendary musical were misplaced.
CBA’s business bank boss explains why ‘saffers’ can be good CEOs
Mike Vacy-Lyle says his South African upbringing has instilled a can-do attitude and the confidence to take on any competition.
Restaurant cancellation fees are everywhere. Here’s why
Fine dining venues in Sydney and Melbourne are charging between $50 to nearly $200 a head for last-minute cancellations amid sustained cost pressures.
This week’s edits of lovely little luxuries: party food to fast feet
From the return of John Wilson and his simply fabulous catering to Veja French sneakers getting serious about running: we have inspired suggestions for you.
Roast chicken and a knockout sauce: a chef’s best Sunday lunch recipe
Any random assortment of people can sit down around a roast chook and instantly become a temporary family, says Dave Verheul of Embla.
