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1821 articles · page 13 of 38
Oil prices stayed near their recent highs on Sunday, with Brent crude futures shedding $1.04 to $108.82 per barrel, as traders weighed a Ukrainian drone strike on a fuel export terminal in St. Petersburg and attacks on two tankers in the Persian Gulf.
· 2 sources
Wall Street's AI-led rebound continued on Tuesday, lifting the S&P 500 by 0.6 per cent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite by 1.2 per cent, as futures for the Australian sharemarket pointed to a 0.1 per cent gain at the open. Boeing and several other companies fell, while gains for influential AI stocks offset declines among most S&P 500 stocks.
· 13 sourcesSuncorp mortgage customers are being warned that their minimum monthly repayments could rise by hundreds of dollars, or in some cases more than $1,000, as their loans are transferred to ANZ Bank, because the two banks calculate minimum repayments differently. Suncorp emailed customers on October 13 advising that borrowers with extra payments or funds in redraw may see their minimum repayment increase when the changeover occurs in June next year.
Qantas has begun flying its first converted A321 freighters into Western Sydney International Airport, with pilots calling the new hub a smoother operation than Sydney Airport at Mascot, days before the terminal opens to passengers on Sunday.
Six artificial intelligence-linked companies have driven more than half of the S&P 500's gains since April, leaving the US stock market more dependent on a single cluster of technology firms than at any time since the dot-com era, according to an ABC News analysis. Experts quoted in the report warn the concentration, and the web of companies financing each other's AI spending, is creating new risks for the wider economy.
· 3 sourcesA new ASX study has revealed that 39 per cent of Australian adults hold shares, ETFs or other listed investments outside superannuation, one of the highest rates among developed markets. The surge in passive investing, with ETF assets under management reaching $388 billion, has sparked debate over whether the market is becoming more prone to bubbles and wild swings.
The Albanese government's proposed domestic gas reservation bill has sparked a backlash from major Asian energy investors, with Japan and South Korea warning that the failure to exempt contract extensions from the scheme undermines historical investment decisions and threatens long-standing trade relationships.
Character.AI has filed for bankruptcy, with Disney set to hire the majority of its workforce and acquire some assets in a stalking horse bid structured to separate the chatbot startup's legal liabilities from the entertainment giant, court filings show.
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India's food safety regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has issued notices to Nestle India and Hindustan Unilever over allegedly misleading nutritional and health claims on dietary supplements, as authorities intensify enforcement against questionable marketing practices.
· 2 sourcesMicrosoft has withdrawn from the planned AI datacentre in Loughton, Essex, over concerns about power supplies, dealing a significant setback to a project that the UK government had hailed as the country's largest sovereign AI datacentre. The move leaves Nscale, the British company developing the site, without its only publicly announced customer and threatens its planned stock market flotation.
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Nearly $52 million in leveraged bets tied to chip stocks and semiconductor funds were liquidated in 10 minutes on Saturday while U.S. markets were closed, leaving traders exposed to price moves driven entirely by crypto exchange activity rather than underlying share values.
Billionaire Fortescue chairman Andrew Forrest has called on the government to accelerate approvals for green energy projects, arguing the energy transition will not be delivered by talking alone. His comments come ahead of the Global Citizen NOW: Perth summit, which begins Monday at the Perth Convention Centre with a focus on clean energy, electrification and global development.
· 3 sourcesCondé Nast's UK arm saw pre-tax profits excluding exceptional items fall 36% to nearly £18m last year, as revenues in the country dropped 7% to £70.6m, newly filed accounts show. The decline comes shortly after the Newhouse family, which controls the luxury magazine publisher, ruled out a sale.
On Saturday, October 24, AWS will disconnect its European Sovereign Cloud from the AWS Global Network backbone for several hours to demonstrate that the region can operate independently. The test, which aligns with the EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework and Germany's BSI C3A criteria, is designed to prove that critical services remain functional without connectivity to the global infrastructure.
A new study from the thinktank E3G has found that the UK government’s proposed £15bn warm homes plan, focused on insulation and heat pumps, would deliver greater economic benefits than developing new North Sea oilfields such as Rosebank and Jackdaw. The plan would cut household energy bills by £1bn a year, boost the economy by £1.6bn annually and create around 50,000 jobs, according to the analysis. In comparison, the Rosebank oilfield would generate about 1,100 direct and indirect jobs, with tax revenues likely limited after accounting for industry reliefs and decommissioning costs.
A local downsizer paid $12.12 million for a five-bedroom Bronte home at auction on Saturday, $870,000 above the reserve price, in a result that defied the broader weak Sydney market. The property, at 160D Macpherson Street, features updated interiors, a north-facing aspect, beach views and a Caesarstone kitchen.
· 3 sourcesTasmania's whisky industry, which rose from a 150-year ban to become a global award-winner, is confronting its most severe challenge yet as a worldwide downturn forces distillers to pause production and cut staff. Producers are calling for a federal excise overhaul while hoping the state's reputation for quality will see it through.
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Gold Fields has escalated its $38 billion pursuit of Australia's largest gold producer, with chief executive Mike Fraser spending the week meeting institutional investors across Perth, Sydney and Melbourne in an effort to build support for a tie-up that Northern Star Resources' board has rejected as 'highly opportunistic'.
· 4 sourcesBen Roberts-Smith, the former Australian SAS soldier, has announced a new brand in a slick Instagram video.
· 7 sourcesAssistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has conceded the government was aware from July that the Australian Taxation Office was considering banning credit card payments, months before the decision sparked a backlash that forced a government intervention. Mr Mulino told ABC's Insiders on Sunday that he and Treasurer Jim Chalmers knew of the ATO's preference to stop accepting credit cards in July and instructed the agency to engage with credit card companies and allow a transition period.
· 6 sourcesSimon Hickey, chief executive of Western Sydney International Airport, has spent his tenure navigating one crisis after another, from Australia's COVID-19 lockdowns to floods, bushfires and plagues. Now, with the terminal ready for its first passengers, a new profile traces the 'white-knuckle ride' of the man behind the nation's first major airport in half a century, 25 years after he watched the September 11 attacks from his New York office.
· 3 sourcesAn investigation by The Age has found that AI-generated images are being used to fraudulently claim thousands of green certificates under Victoria's flagship energy saving scheme, with rogue operators leaving households out of pocket and without warranties for hot water systems and air conditioners.
· 4 sources
Wall Street's largest banks, including Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley, are treating asset tokenization as a growth opportunity rather than a threat to their franchises, according to a report from CoinDesk.
Mercedes-AMG has revealed the 2028 AMG GT SUV, the first full-size SUV in the performance brand's 59-year history to be developed entirely in-house. The electric model matches the 1,150 horsepower output of the GT four-door coupe introduced earlier this year and is scheduled to reach the US next summer.
Nasdaq futures rose Monday, signaling that investors were already stepping back into artificial-intelligence stocks after last week's rout, when the index fell 4.5% for its worst weekly drop since June. The broader S&P 500 slipped 2%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average actually gained 0.7% as money rotated into healthcare, consumer staples and other sectors less tied to the AI boom. The sell-off accelerated after September's consumer price index came in hotter than expected at 3.7% year-over-year, reigniting concern that the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates elevated for longer.
· 3 sourcesSouth Korean Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-Il said Saturday that the country's semiconductor boom is expected to continue at least through next year, citing a persistent gap between supply and demand. His comments come after a week of sharp declines in chip stocks, driven by investor concerns over interest rate hikes and rising competition from Chinese firms.
Institutional investors are acquiring U.S. timberland at the rate of one million acres per year, according to Bank of America, as the asset class attracts attention as a long-term hedge against market volatility. However, flat timber prices and a sluggish housing economy have led some financial advisors to caution against expecting near-term profits.
Retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sarah Sharer Curley argues that strict bankruptcy laws are leaving student loan borrowers trapped in debt, even as personal bankruptcy filings in the United States reached more than half a million cases in 2025, a nearly 50 percent increase from three years prior. In her new book, "The Price of Forgiveness: Debt, Bankruptcy, and the Future of Fairness in America," Curley describes a legal system that she says too often denies Americans the second chance it promises.
SpaceX has moved decisively to become a major wireless carrier, acquiring billions of dollars in low-band spectrum and securing regulatory approval for thousands of new Starlink satellites. The company aims to build what it calls 'the world's most advanced mobile network,' directly challenging the three dominant U.S. telecom providers.
A plan to build what would be California's largest artificial intelligence datacenter on a barren plot in the Sonoran desert has become a long, bitter fight between a 66-year-old lawyer turned developer and the residents of Imperial, the small city near the Mexican border where the project would rise.
IHG Hotels & Resorts is investing in a wave of luxury hotel transformations across Australia, including converting Brisbane's former Hilton into an InterContinental and returning the ultra-luxury Regent brand to Melbourne, as it signs on as Official Hotel Partner for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
· 3 sourcesWestern Sydney International Airport has unveiled details of its international premium lounge, The Rayleigh Lounge, one week before the airport is scheduled to begin commercial operations. The 80-seat mezzanine-level facility is designed to attract premium travellers and will initially serve passengers flying with Singapore Airlines.
· 3 sourcesNottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has dismissed a total of 15 staff for inappropriately accessing the medical records of the victims of the 2023 Nottingham attacks. The development comes as Health Secretary Yvette Cooper and NHS England launch a sweeping crackdown on patient data breaches following a series of similar scandals, including the recent case of a man mauled by a tiger in Yorkshire.
· 4 sources
Berkshire Hathaway shares closed Friday at their highest level since Warren Buffett's announcement at the May 2025 annual meeting that he would step down as CEO at the end of that year.
Bending Spoons, the Italian holding company that scoops up faded software names, has received a major vote of confidence from Berkshire Hathaway, which has now invested over $900 million in the firm including a $330 million stake disclosed this week. The news sent Bending Spoons' stock up 41%, leaving it with a market capitalisation of about $30 billion, as the company simultaneously confirmed significant job cuts at its latest acquisition, Airtable.
· 2 sourcesX-Bow Systems, a maker of 3D-printed solid rocket motors, has secured a deal with defense contractor Leidos to develop and build rocket boosters for the US Army's Low-Cost Containerized Munition (LCCM) project, the latest sign of the military's push to rebuild its defense industrial base around faster, cheaper manufacturing.
A south London bicycle shop has been forced to bar customers and send mechanics to work on the pavement after a putrid stench from a Thames Water sewer beneath the shop became unbearable.
· 2 sourcesThe UK government is drawing up plans to force employers in England to pay more to train workers over the age of 25 than youth apprentices, as part of an effort to reverse a sharp decline in young people entering apprenticeships. The Guardian understands ministers intend to overhaul the apprenticeship funding scheme, increasing the cost of training an older worker by 25% to encourage businesses to hire and train younger staff instead.
· 2 sourcesThe Reserve Bank's ban on credit card surcharging has sharpened debate among Australian consumers, with letters to the Sydney Morning Herald revealing stark disagreement over the benefits of the reform, the cost of banking, and the practicality of using cash.
More than a dozen NHS trusts in England have declined to use Palantir's federated data platform, with FOI responses showing 16 trusts and health boards do not use it. Some trusts said existing systems offer comparable or superior functionality, while others reported benefits. The Labour government now faces a decision on whether to exercise a break clause in its seven-year contract with the US technology company.
Amazon has acquired DuckLabs, the Amsterdam-based company behind the open-source analytical database DuckDB. Co-founders Hannes Mühleisen and Mark Raasveldt will continue to lead the team and the project's technical direction as part of AWS. The company has assured the community that DuckDB and its related tools will remain free and open-source under the MIT licence, with the DuckDB Foundation retaining oversight.
Residents of the Archway Heights tower block in Islington have lived under scaffolding for more than six years, originally erected for post-Grenfell cladding works. Tenants accuse landlord Places for People of leaving them in the dark as the structure attracts intruders and anti-social behaviour. The housing association says it cannot proceed until the Building Safety Regulator grants consent.
A woman from Greenacre has bought a two-bedroom semi in Croydon Park for $1.3 million at auction, $150,000 below the reserve price, after being the only registered bidder.
· 3 sourcesA two-bedroom, top-floor 1970s apartment in Melbourne's inner-north sold for $752,000 at auction on Saturday, pushed well above its $715,000 reserve as three bidders competed for the light-filled mid-century home. The sale marked the first weekend under new legislation requiring all vendors to make their reserves public at least seven days before auction day.
· 3 sourcesA heated annual general meeting at Marrickville FC, one of Australia's largest community football clubs, has exposed a deep rift between a faction of parents and coaches and the club's board over the club's commercial direction, including bonus performance payments for junior coaches and a joint venture involving the club president's company.
· 3 sourcesAustralia’s ambassador to the United States, Greg Moriarty, has told a US trade inquiry that Australia is not to blame for the long-term decline of the American lamb industry, arguing that domestic factors including drought, falling wool demand and the removal of US wool subsidies are the primary causes, not cheap Australian imports. His testimony comes as the Trump administration considers imposing new tariffs or restrictions on $1.6 billion of Australian sheep meat exports.
· 4 sourcesAustralian chickpea prices have surged towards $1,000 per tonne in some regions, a sharp rise from around $600 per tonne earlier in the year, driven by global supply chain disruption, below-average monsoon rains in India, and strong demand ahead of Ramadan.
· 2 sourcesConstruction has started on Bundaberg's first major hotel development in 20 years, a 4.5-star, three-storey property with 97 rooms located across from the city's airport, as the region grapples with an estimated shortfall of 800 beds per night.
· 2 sources