‘Shared challenges’: PM meets Biden at home
The pair exchanged gifts and discussed the rise of violence in American politics in a meeting that marked the first time Joe Biden had invited a foreign leader to his personal residence.
- Exclusive
- Franking credits
Bank investors face $1b franking credit hit
Hundreds of thousands of bank investors stand to lose tax credits under the prudential regulator’s plan to phase out hybrid securities.
Has the Fed overreacted to the US economy?
The Fed’s decision meets the theoretical economic rules but there is an intuitive question about whether such a large cut was needed right now given the state of the economy.
‘Big Short’ fundie Eisman put on leave for X post celebrating Gaza crisis
Neuberger Berman’s Steve Eisman was placed on a leave after he posted remarks on social media indicating he was “celebrating” the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza.
Killed Hezbollah commander was on US wanted list
Israel said the strike killed Ibrahim Akil, a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, as well as 10 other Hezbollah operatives.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Why work from home might get mugged by a slowing economy
A slowing economy and shift in technological advancements are set to change the battle over the future of work again.
Tax, not childcare fees, keeps women at home
The Productivity Commission and economists agree that fiddling with childcare subsidies will not increase women’s workforce participation.
The best of travel, fashion, cars and more, straight to your inbox every Saturday.
smart investor
Can I access my super to save my business?
Using your superannuation for anything other than its intended purpose – your retirement – can be a legal minefield.
Disputes over the remains of loved ones are on the rise
Fights over funeral arrangements and ashes are increasingly ending up in courts. What to know about your rights and responsibilities.
Want to invest like Warren Buffett? This bot may help
A chatbot-powered ETF promises to harness the brainpower of the investment world’s most illustrious minds.
- Opinion
- SMSFs
$1 trillion: Millennials drive SMSF ‘renaissance’
SMSFs are undergoing a renaissance thanks in part to interest from Millennials. But it’s not all good news because many operate without any expert guidance.
- Opinion
- Super Q&A
How to maximise pension payments if one spouse is younger
Keeping a younger spouse’s super in accumulation phase can have the benefit of improving the age pension entitlement of the other person.
weekend reads
How investors should play the first rate cut
Australian market participants are all-in on the immaculate soft landing narrative. But history says they need to tread carefully as interest rates come down.
Out in the cold: Why housing is just one problem for Labor
Unless Labor can dig its way out of its parliamentary quagmire, it faces the real possibility of ending up in minority government – or worse.
- Analysis
- Murdoch family case
Akin to Orwellian genius: Inside Murdochs’ Project Harmony
After a quarter-century of increasingly public bickering, today the only thing that can bring Rupert Murdoch’s family together is a court case.
The sad and lonely lives of the world’s richest kids
There’s a darker side to being super-wealthy, from Vladimir Putin’s two secret sons who “live in isolation” to $180,000-a-week clinics for depressed kids.
A new era of wholesale sabotage: weaponising everyday items
The attacks in Lebanon took the art of electronic sabotage to new heights. But the sense that ordinary devices can become deadly may be just beginning.
The best of travel, fashion, cars and more, straight to your inbox every Saturday.
Companies
- Exclusive
- Property investment
Republic Hotel goes into administration as financiers chase $90m
Financiers have given embattled hospitality group Virtical one month to pay $90 million in loans.
Myer investors grow impatient over new strategy as growth stalls
The mid-market department store was expected to outline its growth plans next month. That has been delayed as it considers buying up well-known fashion brands.
- Updated
- Mining
ASX-listed lithium giant Arcadium turns its back on Australia
The company had flagged aggressively expanding domestically. Now it says it may sell its Mt Cattlin operation and will prioritise its Canadian and Argentine assets.
Bitcoin is going mainstream. Can Australia join the party?
Twenty-thousand crypto believers descended on Singapore this week – and the companies they represented may surprise you.
The five pharma stocks exciting investors
Risky but with rewards, Australian pharmaceutical companies developing treatments for rare diseases are competing for investor attention.
SEC accuses Macquarie of inflating asset values, issues $117m fine
The US markets regulator said Macquarie’s asset management business had “no reasonable basis” to believe it could sell at the valuations it quoted.
Biden backs Australian critical minerals miner Ioneer in Nevada
Approving the new project will significantly increase domestic lithium supply amid a push toward greater self-reliance in the critical minerals supply chain.
Companies in the News
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Markets
S&P 500 slips in post-Fed meeting consolidation
US stocks struggled during the final session of their week as markets continue to adjust to the Fed’s pivot to rate cuts. Gold rallies, oil edges lower.
The market’s most ‘contrarian play’ is high-risk, high-reward
With fund managers’ allocation to commodities at a multi-year low, traders are weighing the chance to front-run a rebound, but that involves a big bet on China.
S&P 500 risks tilt to the upside, strategists say
For bullish market watchers, the outlook is clearer now that the US has started cutting interest rates: hang on for more record highs.
ASX closes at all-time high, Life360 leaps
Shares scale all-time high; UBS lifts NAB, Westpac price targets; Myer cuts dividend; Regis Healthcare and Kelsian nab contracts; Namoi Cotton backs Olam Agri bid; Follow updates here.
Bank of England holds fire on rate cuts after Fed’s bazooka round
Facing less pressure from its economy or jobs market, the BoE is expected to wait until November to unleash a second interest rate cut.
Opinion
Senate standoff shows politics and policy are a long way from perfect
The complexity of the housing challenge requires a level of cooperation between governments and politicians that feels a long way from the debate we are having.
Columnist
A week that put Australia’s reform challenges up in lights
A fractious political class distracted by populism, opportunism, and polarisation is failing to tackle key growth and productivity challenges.
Editorial
Rate cuts herald risky new regime
Financial markets have entered a dangerous new economic environment defined by unusually elevated uncertainty after the US Federal Reserve’s pivot this week.
Columnist
Australian rugby’s problems only look to be getting worse
The problems with Australian rugby extend far beyond the coaching box or those who wear the jersey.
International editor
Why ‘free’ childcare is bad for working parents
Further childcare subsidies will likely require an explicit new tax rise to fund it. Billions of dollars of more debt can’t be added to the national credit card.
Economics editor
Corporate Australia can’t let Albanese brush reform under the carpet
Business needs to get more on the front foot in calling out the policy and political class failure that most media coverage has normalised.
Editor-at-large
Reports
Executive Education - lifelong learning
This special report looks at lifelong learning, focusing on the impact and efficacy of leadership courses designed for top-tier managers and business leaders.
Politics
Sydney University boss Mark Scott admits he failed Jewish students
A fiery Senate hearing was told a leading university failed to ensure the safety of Jewish students, but university leaders denied that antisemitism was endemic on campuses.
Tax, not childcare fees, keeps women at home
The Productivity Commission and economists agree that fiddling with childcare subsidies will not increase women’s workforce participation.
- Exclusive
- Workplace
‘I would not recommend ASIC’: scathing assessment by staff
The results of a confidential cultural survey make for embarrassing reading on staff motivation, satisfaction and the regulator’s leadership team.
- Analysis
- Nuclear energy
Nuclear debate stalls as detail goes missing in action
The information vacuum includes the costings behind the Coalition’s nuclear vision and a realistic assessment from Labor about the problems in the way of 2030 climate targets.
How Australia crushed the COVID curve and lost the race
This country had one of the best-designed economic responses in the world, and one of the worst vaccine procurement processes.
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World
- Exclusive
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Egypt envoy backs rigour of security checks for Gazan refugees
Egypt’s ambassador says his country conducts thorough security checks on Palestinians crossing from Gaza.
Has the Fed overreacted to the US economy?
The Fed’s decision meets the theoretical economic rules but there is an intuitive question about whether such a large cut was needed right now given the state of the economy.
Fresh Israel-Hezbollah strikes raise fears of regional war
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warns that Israel has “crossed all red lines”, as sonic booms from Israeli warplanes shake buildings in Beirut.
Harris and Oprah host star-studded rally as race tightens
Vice President Kamala Harris tried to convince less-motivated voters during a livestream with TV legend Oprah Winfrey.
A $12.5b luxury fashion merger turns ugly
Michael Kors was among those called to testify as US regulators try to block a blockbuster deal between the owners of Coach and his brand.
Property
James Packer’s former right-hand man snaps up Fairfax family retreat
Matthew “Ched” Csidei purchases another grand Southern Highlands mansion, and northern Victorian country estate Noorilim joins the prestige market.
Des Hasler sells luxurious oceanfront abode
The rugby league legend has found a buyer for his Collaroy beachfront, and Manly’s surfboard manufacturing Bennett family has sold its $19.5 million Bower Street pile.
- Exclusive
- Property market
NSW house prices to flatline this year, valuer general says
A strong first half has pushed values up in the NSW capital, but those gains are unlikely to be repeated.
- Exclusive
- Commercial real estate
The new high-tech Australian CBD shaping up to rival Singapore
3D printing, semiconductors and advanced packaging are all part of a high-tech mix envisaged for Bradfield city planned for Sydney’s west.
London’s mansions are struggling to sell
Rich buyers have been spooked by unanswered questions around higher tax regimes and plans to do away with preferential tax treatment for wealthy foreigners.
Wealth
- Opinion
- SMSFs
$1 trillion: Millennials drive SMSF ‘renaissance’
SMSFs are undergoing a renaissance thanks in part to interest from Millennials. But it’s not all good news because many operate without any expert guidance.
Three ways the ASX has changed and what investors can do next
Finding yield, good value and diversification on the ASX is getting harder. We asked experts what investors can do to overcome the challenges.
Can I access my super to save my business?
Using your superannuation for anything other than its intended purpose – your retirement – can be a legal minefield.
Technology
They have 31m followers - but you’ve never heard of these YouTube superstars
Bounce Patrol has more followers than Beyonce, operates out of a quiet Melbourne street, and is helping YouTube transform from the home of DIY videos to a major TV broadcaster.
How CrowdStrike’s outage became Australia’s big cyberattack rehearsal
Qantas chairman John Mullen got the “blue screen of death” while Telstra’s cyber chief Narelle Devine was in the pool sipping cocktails when she got the call that something was seriously wrong.
LinkedIn has (quietly) announced it scrapes your posts for AI
LinkedIn has quietly launched new policies outlining how it scrapes posts and personal data to train AI models. What you need to know (and how to turn it off).
Work & Careers
AFL more important to Khuda than data centres, Swans chairman suspects
Andrew Pridham is vice chairman of asset manager MA Financial and chairman of Sydney Swans. AirTrunk founder Robin Khuda texts him before games.
- Exclusive
- Disney
Disney chief goes retro for AFL finals to reel in streaming rivals
Disney’s Australian boss Kylie Watson-Wheeler is bringing her AFL obsession into her day job as the US giant takes on the dominant players in the local streaming wars.
Life & Luxury
How Donna Hay climbed the ladder to world stardom
Watching the cook perform her signature pasta twirl up close, one appreciates the elegantly simple approach to cooking which made her a household name.
- Driving With Tony Davis
- Motoring
The fastest car in the Mercedes-Benz line-up has arrived in Australia
The German maker’s exterior design director takes us on a close inspection of the new Mercedes-AMG GT.
Demi Moore gives performance of her life in shocking ‘The Substance’
There’s a self-referential note to the ’90s superstar’s role in Coralie Fargeat’s fable about ageism, making it doubly compelling.
‘We’re not Logos by the Sea’: How to make arts sponsorships work
Transfield’s exit from Sydney Biennale in 2014 started a torturous recent history for corporate support, but there are still successful exceptions.
People are splurging on their pets like never before
Americans are now spending more on their fur babies than they do on childcare, part of a trend across developed nations.
