Property prices could fall by more than initially feared as the Reserve Bank ratchets up official interest rates to fight surging inflation. Even before Tuesday’s increase in the cash rate of 0.5 percentage points – in line with market expectations, to take the cash rate to 1.35 per cent – property watchers were already forecasting price falls of between 15 […]

When Labor leader Anthony Albanese couldn’t quote Australia’s unemployment rate in the first week of the election campaign, many said it didn’t matter: the Australian Bureau of Statistics figure was “meaningless”, “fudged”, “manipulated”, and didn’t count all those who had registered for JobSeeker. Unemployment queue at Centrelink.Credit:Janie Barrett The truth is the official measure of unemployment does what it says […]

Australians have likely just spent their way to a 50 basis point increase in interest rates this month, having gone on a mad splurge at the end of financial year sales in June. The consensus is that there is virtually no escaping a Reserve Bank decision to push rates up by half a percentage point when it delivers its verdict […]

A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended June 25th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims slipped to 231,000, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 233,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 228,000 from the […]

Some Australian Securities Exchange-listed companies fail in their reporting of climate change exposure or other “material” environmental social and governance (ESG) risks, new research finds. A report by KPMG Australia finds 25 per cent of more than 550 companies it sampled claim to have no material ESG or climate-related exposures, yet some peers in the same industries state they have […]

Large renewable energy developers will pressure government leaders to dump controversial plans to shore up the power grid by paying generators for being on standby, and are instead calling for a national target to spur big batteries and pumped hydro projects. As soaring wholesale electricity prices and blackout risks keep authorities on high alert across the eastern seaboard, Federal Energy […]