Latest
CEO hails progress as AGL ups guidance again
The energy giant backed by software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes bumped the lower bound of its full-year guidance up by $80 million.
- 33 mins ago
- Ben Potter and Jemima Whyte
Petrol, strong jobs market stoking inflation: RBA
The central bank on Tuesday upgraded its near-term forecasts for headline inflation and pushed back the likelihood of interest rate relief until mid-2025.
- Ronald Mizen
Interest rates on hold but to stay higher for longer
The RBA says inflation will stay high for some time yet and it will keep a “vigilant” watch, while “not ruling anything in or out” on interest rates.
- Ronald Mizen
- Sponsored
- LDV
On the road to greener supply chains
Australia’s supply chains are not the most sustainable. But there are signs of change – including the electrification of transport.
Sponsored
by LDV
- Sponsored
- CBA
Australian business leads the way with sustainable financial solutions
With four out of five buildings projected to still be standing in 25 years, the imperative for green initiatives in real estate has never been clearer.
Sponsored
by CBA
‘True energy impact’: Di Pilla defies gloom, appoints Gillard to $2b fund
The ASX-listed HMC Capital is banking on plenty of investor interest to defy a gloomy market outlook on the transition to clean energy for its latest vehicle.
- Ben Potter
Opinion & Analysis
Why data monster Bullock has her eye on the budget
In an informal style, RBA governor Michele Bullock says it’s too early to declare victory over inflation as she avoids the markets’ frenzied guessing game on interest rates.
Columnist
RBA is still betting on Goldilocks. Investors shouldn’t follow suit
With the ASX 200 back near record levels, investors are betting Michele Bullock is right on a soft landing. But with uncertainty high, a more all-weather approach looks sensible.
Columnist
Labor dodges difficult debt decisions
Treasurer Tim Pallas has not delivered the “horror budget” he prepared the ground for, nor a clear path back from the state’s crippling debt levels.
BOSS Deputy editor
Qantas must atone for all old baggage
Readers’ letters on the Qantas settlement; franking credits for retirees; the Coalition push for nuclear power; and Israel’s closure of Al Jazeera.
Contributor
More From Today
- Opinion
- RBA
Why data monster Bullock has her eye on the budget
In an informal style, RBA governor Michele Bullock says it’s too early to declare victory over inflation as she avoids the markets’ frenzied guessing game on interest rates.
- 39 mins ago
- Jennifer Hewett
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
RBA is still betting on Goldilocks. Investors shouldn’t follow suit
With the ASX 200 back near record levels, investors are betting Michele Bullock is right on a soft landing. But with uncertainty high, a more all-weather approach looks sensible.
- 47 mins ago
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Victorian budget
Labor dodges difficult debt decisions
Treasurer Tim Pallas has not delivered the “horror budget” he prepared the ground for, nor a clear path back from the state’s crippling debt levels.
- 1 hr ago
- Patrick Durkin
Qantas must atone for all old baggage
Readers’ letters on the Qantas settlement; franking credits for retirees; the Coalition push for nuclear power; and Israel’s closure of Al Jazeera.
- 1 hr ago
- Opinion
- Interest rates
‘Vigilant’ RBA puts home loan borrowers on notice
Governor Michele Bullock has issued a fresh warning to mortgage holders, two years after the Reserve Bank of Australia began raising interest rates.
- Updated
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- Interest rates
Reforms rather than rate rises
Supply side deregulation to drive productivity is the other half of the policy armoury that should be deployed to help curb inflation and keep employment full.
- The Parrhesian
- Opinion
- Energy transition
Keeping coal but excluding gas is an irrational path to net zero
Including gas-generation in the back-up electricity mechanism will help avoid taxpayer funds being used for paradoxical cross-purposes.
- Steve Davies
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Ken Moelis on Trump, interest rates and Ozempic
The billionaire investment banker thinks Donald Trump has his nose in front in the US presidential race, and that could have ramifications for interest rates.
- James Thomson
Yesterday
- Opinion
- Letters to the Editor
Reinstate HECS discount to recover debt
Readers’ letters on the reduction in indexation rates for HECS debt; the crackdown on the big four accountancy firms and lobby groups making submissions to the government ahead of the budget.
- Opinion
- Monetary policy
Interest rates are the only tool for managing inflation
Economists are looking for other ways of braking inflation. But the impact of interest rates on housing costs is still the most reliable means.
- Luke Hartigan and Stella Huangfu
- Opinion
- China relations
It’s economically naive to cut China out of direct investment
There may be more “like-minded” investors out there for Australia’s resources sector, but will they be as competitive and efficient as China has proven to be?
- James Laurenceson
- Opinion
- Indigenous justice
The great success story of Indigenous enterprise is missing
Indigenous businesses have proven robust and resilient against all the odds – that should be included in the Closing the Gap reports as well.
- Michelle Evans and Cain Polidano
- Exclusive
- Interest rates
Philip Lowe warns rates could rise again
The former RBA governor says with data surprising on the strong side getting back to a 2.5 per cent inflation level sustainably is not yet guaranteed.
- Patrick Durkin and John Kehoe
This Month
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Moment of truth on inflation for Reserve Bank’s credibility
At stake here is whether the supposedly politically independent central bank can re-establish the low inflation foundations that supported three decades of unbroken economic growth until the interruption of the pandemic.
- The AFR View
Big government spending to widen budget deficits
Next week’s federal budget will be expansionary, not contractionary as some economists have called for, and will do less to contain inflation and interest rate pressures than Jim Chalmers’ previous surplus budgets.
- John Kehoe
- Exclusive
- Interest rates
RBA rate rise shock is being underestimated, history shows
It has raised interest rates almost every time in the last 25 years that it has faced the current high quarterly inflation figure immediately before a board meeting.
- John Kehoe
‘Made in Australia’ won’t trigger subsidy arms race, minister says
Industry subsidies used to be taboo in the trade world. But Tim Ayres, spruiking the government’s new industrial policy in Europe, says things have changed.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Analysis
- Australian economy
‘Made in Australia’ risks higher interest rates and a poorer future
The old rules of economics still apply and the consequences of Albanese’s big gamble could be widely felt.
- John Kehoe
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Make this the tipping point on domestic violence
A tighter judicial system, support for families forced to leave violent homes, long-term culture change, and more sophisticated use of data and prediction. Nothing can be left off the table in tackling terror at home.
- The AFR View
- Opinion
- AUKUS
How to make sure JAUKUS is a success
It’s a no-brainer to bring Japanese technology into AUKUS pillar 2. But it needs to take account of Tokyo’s inexperience and concerns about high-level military co-operation.
- Shingo Yamagami and Paul Maley
