AUKUS partners eye adding ‘like-minded’ Japan to counter China
The announcement from the AUKUS defence ministers came as Canada said it was considering joining AUKUS, as China becomes more aggressive in the Indo-Pacific region.
- Live
- Markets Live
ASX to rise as US Treasury yields hit highest since November
Shares to rise; Wall Street ends flat; investors embrace Elon Musk’s robotaxi, oil prices falls; Australian 10-year yields climb; Synlait names CFO. Follow updates here.
- Updated
- Competition
Retail chain wars erupt over supermarkets code
Woolworths says new regulations governing supplier relationships should be expanded to cover rivals Amazon, Costco and Chemist Warehouse.
- Live
- Need to Know
Vice Admiral David Johnston appointed next ADF chief
WATCH LIVE: Anthony Albanese announces changes to senior defence force personnel; Pat Conroy dismisses concerns that AUKUS’ projects are already delayed. Follow updates here.
IR laws thwart Australia’s housing targets: builders
Labor’s union-friendly industrial relations laws will cause Australia to fall short of national housing targets for four of the next five years, industry claims.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
‘Big Short’ hero’s new big idea is one Aussie investors can ride
Famed US investor Steve Eisman says that when things are good, markets trade on stories. But there’s one theme that stands out from the rest.
This Rich Lister sees a wave of distressed wine sales coming
The MD of Casella Family Brands, owner of Australia’s biggest-selling wine export brand Yellow Tail, says the under $10 per bottle segment is still shrinking.
- Driving With Tony Davis
- Motoring
Does Ford’s new Mustang Mach-E SUV live up to its name?
Do you read the AFR’s newsletters? We want your feedback.
tuesday tech
- Exclusive
- Funding
Blackbird nets $800m payday from Canva share sale
“I hate selling even one Canva share … but it’s time for some of our earlier funds to take some profits off the table.”
- Opinion
- Digital Life
Change your doorbell, change your life
Amazon’s latest battery-operated Ring doorbell has a new feature that can change the way you think about doorbells.
- Exclusive
- Funding
Start-up deals fall to six-year low as tech winter persists
Just 66 Australian companies raised funds from venture capital investors in the first quarter of this year, and total funding has dropped 45 per cent year-on-year.
Aussie MMA start-up quietly lists in the US after $9.9m raise
Manly-based Alta Group, which runs a mixed-martial-arts training platform, has debuted on the New York Stock Exchange after raising $US6.5 million.
Life360 shares soar on 5 million new tracking app users
The company has launched an ad business, making the number of users more important – even if they don’t pay.
Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.
Companies
Can one of our dirtiest coal plants reap a green bonanza?
Verdant Earth has lofty ambitions to turn the moribund Redbank into a major clean energy precinct using biomass. Environmentalists are still unhappy.
Former Tattarang chief Andrew Hagger pops up in Adgemis’ corner
The one-time National Australia Bank executive has been assisting the businessman with his pub empire as it struggles to lock in a much-needed refinancing.
Five things to know about the new Qantas flight reward scheme
The launch of Classic Plus will add 20 million reward seats a year.
- Updated
- Soft commodities
Bureau of Meteorology’s botched weather call crushes Elders’ earnings
Shares in the agribusiness major slumped some 24 per cent after it said it would miss forecasts. Farmers culled their herds ahead of a heatwave that never came.
Inland Rail now almost 20 per cent complete, says CEO
Construction of the 1600-kilometre rail link is progressing but the government-owned agency building it still doesn’t have a clear view on its ultimate cost and finish date.
- Updated
- Aviation
Qantas shakes up frequent flyer business but will take earnings hit
The overhaul of the airline’s loyalty division is part of a plan to reset the relationships with travellers. Some investors worry that it will affect margins,
Ansell strikes ‘attractive’ $974m Kimberly-Clark deal
The maker of medical gloves is raising up to $465 million in capital to expand into scientific laboratories and safety eyewear with the Kimtech and KleenGuard brands.
Companies in the News
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Markets
What happened overnight? US Treasury yields reached year highs
Markets’ focus was firmly on interest rates before the release of key data this week as Wall Street’s biggest bull raised his year-end forecast by 900 points.
Goldman Sachs is no longer the best way to make $1b
Jumping ship from Goldman to a PE-firm is paying off for Harvey Schwartz, he now out earns Goldman CEO David Solomon by $40 million. And that’s just the start.
Trump’s Fed chairman option opposes rate cuts this year
Kevin Hassett is a frontrunner to become Federal Reserve chairman if Donald Trump is elected. He says inflation remains sticky and isn’t being measured properly.
- Opinion
- Hedge funds
Short selling is no easy way to make money
Short sellers are an ever-present and divisive part of the market. But the path activist investors have chosen to make money is riddled with complexities, writes Jonathan Shapiro.
From Aware Super to Blackwattle, how Tim Riordan is making money
The former equities boss says strategic alignment is key when looking at stocks to buy, and is expecting more M&A, having already picked one of the year’s top takeover targets.
Opinion
JAUKUS shows Australia is seeking security in Asia
Ironically, turning AUKUS into JAUKUS would move the pact closer to satisfying the national strategic interest test formulated by its chief Australian critic, Paul Keating.
Editorial
Political brawls sweep the supermarket aisles
Supermarkets are once again an appealing target for politicians wanting to demonstrate their good intentions on helping consumers with cost-of-living pressures.
Columnist
Why we need a different conversation about national security
In a time of misinformation and cultivated mistrust, talking directly with Australians outside the Canberra security bubble is essential.
Geopolitical analyst
No hard data to back more costly supermarket regulation
The review represents a welcome move to contain any potential regulatory overreaction while also playing along with Labor’s political diversion to blame the two big supermarkets during the inflation outbreak.
Editorial
AI could stretch Australia’s electricity supply to the limits
It would be ironic if world-changing technology like AI ended up prolonging the life of coal-fired power.
Corporate advisor
Why it doesn’t pay to be a working-class professional
Social class is a bigger barrier to career progress than gender or ethnicity, a study by KPMG in Britain has shown.
Columnist
Politics
Insurers told to slash prices for households that reduce risks
Steps could include roof replacement, upgrading garage doors, boosting window protection, tying down sheds, and replacing flimsy hollow doors.
- Exclusive
- National security
Government poised to shake up spy, security chiefs
The Albanese government has the opportunity to reshape the leadership of the military and security agencies in coming months.
China lashes joint war games involving Australia
As AUKUS members prepare to open talks with Japan on joining the pact, China warned against “provocative” destabilisation in the South China Sea.
Australian households are world-leaders in interest rate pain: IMF
Variable-rate mortgages and high household debt make Australian consumers highly sensitive to interest rates, the IMF says, but house prices are still rising.
Floods prompt calls to revive dam wall plan
Residents in the Hawkesbury region experiencing their fifth major flood in two years are urging the government to reconsider a plan to raise Warragamba Dam.
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World
Trump’s Fed chairman option opposes rate cuts this year
Kevin Hassett is a frontrunner to become Federal Reserve chairman if Donald Trump is elected. He says inflation remains sticky and isn’t being measured properly.
Israel pulls troops from southern Gaza, eyes Rafah assault
Israel has withdrawn its troops from Khan Younis in southern Gaza to prepare for operations in Rafah, Hamas’ last stronghold, despite international warnings.
- Opinion
- China relations
Japan’s pivot away from peace reflects new world order
Japan’s tensions with China, North Korea and Russia have accelerated its move away from pacifism and into the fold of AUKUS and other regional alliances.
How Russia’s cheap, old bombs are changing the Ukraine war
Moscow is retrofitting “very scary, very lethal” Soviet-era weapons and launching them from beyond the reach of Ukraine’s air-defence systems.
Zelensky warns of dwindling air defence missiles
Kyiv is grappling with a slowdown in military assistance from the West and in particular from the United States.
Property
Loans for new homes fall 2.1pc as mortgage demand picks up
While confidence among home buyers is growing, demand for loans for new home building is going the other way.
Scape closes third joint venture with $1b student housing fund
The private developer of purpose-built student accommodation has paired again with funding partners APG and Ivanhoe Cambridge to develop 3000 new rooms.
Showdown in the bar as ‘insane’ auction for luxury $4.8m home drags on
In a sellers’ market, the buyer of a newly built waterfront property had to meet a price the selling developer wanted – but she made him work for it.
Sydney’s median house price to hit $2m, Perth $1m by 2027
Sustained housing shortage and strong demand from surging population would kickstart the next growth spurt, according to Oxford Economics.
Auction clearances bounce in fresh worry for RBA
Auction results show there’s little holding the market back. That will be on the RBA’s mind as it considers whether and when to move on rate cuts.
Wealth
- Updated
- Business of sport
History made as Winx foal becomes the most expensive filly in the world
Ingham’s family scion and Winx part-owner, Debbie Kepitis, outbid American thoroughbred tycoon, John Stewart, offering a staggering $10 million.
- Opinion
- Financial planning
Wall Street workers don’t understand how to prepare for retirement
Higher interest rates mean people need less money to retire, so if anything, finance industry employees should have revised their estimates down, not up.
Small caps are ripe for a comeback. Here’s how to pick winners
The life-changing capital gains on offer make the small-cap sector attractive to investors, but success stories are rare among the thousands of companies that bite the dust.
Technology
Woolworths partners with Tesco on $190m start-up investment fund
The global fund will be run from Sydney and counts retailer chains from Europe, Canada and South Africa among its investors.
IPO hopeful Lime avoids share bike graveyard
The company says Sydney and Melbourne are among its most profitable cities as it eyes resurrecting its aborted plans to go public.
GoCatch was shedding passengers before UberX arrived, court told
Ned Moorfield, the co-founder of failed start-up GoCatch, has been grilled under cross-examination during the second week of a damages case against Uber.
Work & Careers
The rise of the home husband
Changes in the structure of work make it more likely wives will go to the office and men will work from their abode.
Graduate jobs market comes off the boil
Australia’s graduate job market has been red-hot, but there are early signs that the number of roles has started to wane.
Life & Luxury
‘Hardest Geezer’ finishes 16,300km run across 16 countries in 352 days
Briton Russ Cook had hoped to jog the length of Africa in 240 days, the equivalent of more than a marathon every day. Sandstorms and robberies intervened.
- Opinion
- Digital Life
Change your doorbell, change your life
Amazon’s latest battery-operated Ring doorbell has a new feature that can change the way you think about doorbells.
- Analysis
- Science
Eclipse that ended a war and opened door to forecasting
In contrast to today, solar eclipses were feared as portents of calamity in ancient times. Then, superstition gave way to rational prediction.
Trout, lobster, tuna, nothing: A typical catch for this winemaker
Matt Fowles spends his spare time at Cape Bridgewater in Victoria, fishing for his family. “I only ever take what I need, and I use it all.”
How this power couple spend their weekends in Positano
From boat rides to ‘miraculous’ little restaurants and handmade sandals, follow in this pair’s footsteps.
