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    Today

    New Ramsay Health Care boss Natalie Davis joins from Woolworths, where she runs its Australian supermarkets.

    Why Australia’s No.1 hospitals business poached a supermarkets boss

    Ramsay Health Care chairman David Thodey is trading in deep industry knowledge and expertise for a consultant’s mindset. Will it work?

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Mike Henry is back on the copper train, just weeks after being left at the altar by Anglo American.

    $3b deal shows how BHP dusted itself off and tried again

    Mike Henry was disappointed his $75 billion takeover bid for Anglo American failed. But his latest deal helps to show investors he has many other ways to play the copper bull story. 

    • James Thomson

    Investors are asking the wrong questions on interest rates

    From the RBA to the BoJ to the Fed, the market’s obsession with interest rates will go into overdrive this week. But it may be leading investors down the wrong path. 

    • James Thomson

    Yesterday

    Beware politicians looking to score points on mining decisions.

    When politics and miners mix, investors get hurt

    The last thing investors need in Australian mining is more shocks like the ban on uranium mining at Jabiluka. The industry is doing it hard enough.

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Car yards are full and dealers are worried they are in a race to the bottom on prices.

    Car yards are full and dealers worry they are racing to the bottom

    There’s been little economic data to offset expectations that the RBA needs to raise interest rates. A review of conditions at car dealerships caught our eye.

    • Updated
    • Anthony Macdonald
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    Mark Freeman says AFIC’s discount to NTA makes it a buying opportunity.

    CBA isn’t the only valuation puzzle for Australia’s biggest LIC

    AFIC has almost $1 billion tied up in CBA stock, and is watching its eye-watering valuation closely. But it’s not CEO Mark Freeman’s only worry.

    • James Thomson
    NIB Holdings CEO Mark Fitzgibbon has sympathy for private hospital operators.

    How to end the $22b private health war

    Many things have changed in the 22 years that Mark Fitzgibbon has spent at the helm of NIB. The tension between private health insurers and private hospitals isn’t one of them.  

    • Updated
    • James Thomson
    China’s spluttering economy has created a credit bubble that has Chinese officials worried.

    There’s a frightening new bubble building in China

    China’s property bubble has popped, its economy is spluttering and its sharemarket is all over the place. Now there’s a new problem to watch. 

    • James Thomson
    Macquarie’s re-thinking what its bankers can do in the coal sector.

    Macquarie has partly reversed its ban on banking coal deals

    Sentiment against part of the coal industry has softened, and Macquarie has read the tea leaves.

    • Anthony Macdonald

    This Month

    The growing power of the super sector raises some big questions.

    Three ‘grown-up’ questions investors must ask themselves

    It feels like a plethora of risks emerged during a wild week on world markets. One $24 trillion investor says it’s time for asset allocators to start asking hard questions. 

    • Updated
    • James Thomson
    ANZ boss Shayne Elliott needs the regulator to back up his assertions that the bank has done nothing wrong.

    ANZ boss Elliott makes big call on bonds scandal

    If Shayne Elliott is right, he’ll get out of this with a docked pay-packet. If not, the bank’s succession planning and strategy could be in ruins.

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Shemara Wikramanayake is confident in Macquarie’s outlook after a tough year.

    Macquarie investors will need patience as deal drought rolls on

    Macquarie is well-positioned to win from the big shifts in markets – but the deal drought will delay those gains, despite a spring in the step of some bankers.

    • James Thomson
    Global markets have hit a speed bump as concerns about AI build.

    Markets are being shaken by big tech and Trump. It could get ugly

    For two years, FOMO has built around artificial intelligence, the promise of a soft landing and belief in rate cuts. All of a sudden, different fears are driving stocks.  

    • James Thomson
    The big stockbrokers have all sorts of ways to get more trades, including corporate access and deals.

    What brokers, fund managers do when ‘mkt dead quiet’

    This week is unlisted companies week. Macquarie, UBS and Citi are all parading unlisted companies or investment themes – ostensibly, in the name of research.

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Banking analyst Jonathan Mott wants APRA to allow banks to hold less capital against loans to first home buyers.

    How to stop mortgages becoming just for the rich and old

    Jonathan Mott’s six ideas for how first home buyers could better access credit are not perfect, but they deserve attention from politicians and regulators.

    • James Thomson
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    Going hungry: there is a general reluctance in Australia to support new floats.

    Top Barrenjoey banker’s two fixes to restart IPOs

    Barrenjoey co-executive chairman Guy Fowler says rethinking prospectus forecasts and some other reforms could help revive the quiet IPO market.

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Elon Musk says the littany of real-world problems facing Tesla are simply noise compared to the promise of autonomy.

    Elon Musk is right. AI doubters should sell

    Tesla’s first wave of growth is under severe pressure from competition and politics. But the chief executive says none of that matters.

    • James Thomson
    Anthony Pratt (left) hosted the superannuation roundtable that also included RBA governor Michele Bullock, former prime minister Paul Keating, Macquarie’s Shemara Wikramanyake and financier Michael Milken.

    Rock stars happy to discuss fixes, but super isn’t the big problem

    Tinkering with super allocations is one thing, but it cannot replace our desire for bolder economic and tax reform. 

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Scheme of arrangements are sponsored by a target company’s board, which makes directors’ recommendations valuable.

    Takeovers risk turning into money grabs for directors

    Special exertion payments are legal, but we would argue they don’t befit a blue-chip company. Fund managers and governance experts also have concerns.

    • Anthony Macdonald
    Societe Generale strategist Albert Edwards says the ingredients for a retreat in tech stocks are there.

    This is what could spark the next market correction

    Scepticism about how AI investment will translate into earnings is starting to build. That’s a worry given how heavily the market is invested in tech.

    • Updated
    • James Thomson

    The Australian Financial Review Magazine

    About Time Watch Weekend

    BOSS Financial Review

    Renee Wootton was unsure if she would be able to complete her degree in aerospace engineering.

    Life & Leisure

    The north American ski town of Aspen is a foodie destination akin to Paris.

    Rich List

    The Warwick brothers’ blockchain-based game Illuvium is launching on Thursday.