News without the noise
Business news from Australia and around the world: companies, deals, earnings, regulation and the people running them.
1805 articles · page 1 of 38
Two Federal Reserve presidents said Friday that interest rates need to rise further to tame inflation, with one urging another increase “soon” and the other predicting at least two more quarter-point hikes, days after the central bank left rates unchanged.
Britain's competition watchdog has opened an investigation into whether Meta is imposing 'exploitative' new terms that allow it to use news publishers' content for its own products, including artificial intelligence, without giving media organisations adequate choice.
ECB President Christine Lagarde has informed the Governing Council and European Council President António Costa that she will step down from her position on 7 February 2027, the central bank announced.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a Wall Street law firm with more than 90 years of history, is planning to wind down pending a vote by its partners. The firm's management committee has recommended an orderly wind-down after reviewing strategic alternatives. Palantir Technologies CFO David Glazer has invited aspiring lawyers who may have expected to be Weil summer associates to work at the technology company instead.
AI infrastructure startup Runware is building a factory in Romania to assemble modular data center pods on an assembly line. CEO Flaviu Fadulescu told TechCrunch the company plans to scale production to 30 megawatts of capacity per day by 2028, nearly a gigawatt per month. Runware says it has received $1 billion in committed interest for its Sonic pods since offering them to outside customers a month ago.
A study of 1,584 US data centers opened between 2000 and 2023 has found that the facilities create additional local jobs, but the gains take years to appear and are concentrated in transportation, professional services and real estate rather than in restaurants and shops.
Italian inflation jumped to 5.4% in October from a year earlier, up sharply from 4.2% in September, as energy, food and transport prices pushed the rate well above the European Central Bank's 2% target, statistics agency Istat said on Friday, even as official data showed the eurozone economy growing 0.4% in the third quarter, beating expectations despite the Middle East war.
AstraZeneca's net profit jumped 23% in the third quarter to $3.12 billion, driven by strong sales of its cancer treatments, as the British drugmaker announced a programme to save $1.5 billion a year to invest back into developing new medicines.
The High Court has upheld Ofcom's powers to demand safety data from social media platforms, dismissing a joint challenge by Meta, TikTok and X against the regulator's information notices under the UK's Online Safety Act.
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Micron will pay about 700 of its Taiwan production-line employees bonuses equivalent to five years' salary, according to Digitimes, covering roughly 17 percent of the more than 4,300 production staff at Micron Taiwan. The announcement comes as the company continues to face worker unrest over pay, with its Taoyuan union in a dispute with management over pay.
Coinbase reported third-quarter adjusted net income of $719 million, up 66 percent from a year earlier, as a rally in cryptocurrency prices lifted the value of its investment portfolio. Revenue of $1.20 billion fell short of the $1.233 billion analysts had expected, according to LSEG. The company is also pushing into artificial intelligence tools, tokenized assets and prediction markets to broaden its business beyond cryptocurrency.
Chevron and ExxonMobil reported sharply higher third-quarter profits on Friday, beating Wall Street expectations, as their United States refineries ran at full capacity to capitalise on high diesel fuel prices.
· 2 sourcesSouth Korean police have identified 80 Tesla drivers who allegedly used physical devices to activate the Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature on vehicles never cleared for it, according to reports. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has confiscated 21 of the bypass modules, and prosecutors are using the Motor Vehicle Management Act, which carries maximum penalties of two years in prison or fines of up to 20 million won (roughly $15,000).
France's economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter, adding to worries over the country's fortunes ahead of divisive presidential elections in April. Investors were already concerned about its debt and budget deficit, while a range of issues has raised fears of contagion across the European Union.
· 4 sourcesThe Queensland Land Court has ruled it could not agree with conservation groups’ primary grounds for refusing Whitehaven Coal’s proposed $1 billion Winchester South mine, which remains subject to state and federal approvals.
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Euro area inflation expectations for 2026 and 2027 were revised up in the European Central Bank's latest Survey of Professional Forecasters, which pointed to higher energy prices and their indirect effects as the main driver, while longer-term expectations stayed anchored at 2.0 per cent.
The chief executive of Yorkshire Water, Nicola Shaw, announced her resignation on Friday, a day after the firm received the poorest possible environmental rating from the Environment Agency. Shaw, who has led the company since 2022, will step down on 1 January and be replaced by Nicola Medalova, a former non-executive director of the company. Her departure follows revelations that she took £1.9m in undisclosed payments between 2023 and 2026, while the Environment Agency said the company was responsible for 260 pollution incidents last year, its highest total since 2011.
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BP on Friday reported a third-quarter underlying profit of $8.5bn, nearly quadruple the $2.2bn earned a year earlier, as soaring refining margins driven by Middle East conflict and global refinery disruptions boosted earnings. The result far exceeded analyst forecasts and triggered criticism from climate groups.
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The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled more than 600 points on Friday, deepening a sell-off that has wiped out hundreds of billions in market value as Wall Street confronts the mounting costs of the artificial intelligence build-out. Intel plunged up to 30%, Amazon dropped 7% in premarket trading and Alphabet shares continued to fall after their worst day since the company went public as Google in 2004.
· 8 sourcesThe amount Britons can earn from a side hustle without paying tax will rise to £3,000 next year, the chancellor has confirmed, in a move that could benefit up to 1.4 million people.
· 2 sourcesThe TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, has predicted a wave of union recognition deals in the private sector over the coming year as new rights for unions to access workplaces take effect. From Friday, as part of Labour's Employment Rights Act, unions will be able to enter workplaces or communicate with staff electronically, and from January employers will be obliged to inform workers of their right to join a union.
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A five-month investigation by the Guardian and Investigate Europe has documented evidence of exploitation, dangerous conditions and serious injuries among migrant workers on datacentre sites in Europe. The probe found evidence of debilitating injuries, unpaid wages and squalid living quarters while examining conditions in Belgium, Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands.
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The Bank of Japan held its policy rate at 1.25%, its highest since 1995, and for the first time since adopting a 2% inflation target in 2013 declared that underlying inflation is "generally consistent" with that target. The decision was split 8-1, with board member Hajime Takata dissenting in favour of a hike to 1.5%. The central bank also upgraded its inflation forecasts and flagged that price pressures could push inflation above target.
· 3 sourcesDavid Jones, Australia's oldest department store, is facing its gravest crisis in 188 years, with its chief executive reviewing the store portfolio and trading terms with suppliers amid reports the retailer is on the verge of collapse and searching for a financial saviour.
· 2 sourcesRaiz Invest grew funds under management by 20.2 per cent to $2.4 billion in the September quarter, adding $69 million in net customer inflows, up 27.8 per cent on the previous quarter, as a new generation of investors embraced its digital wealth platform.
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Intel shares were set to open about 25 percent lower on Friday after the chipmaker forecast a steep drop in fourth-quarter revenue and profit, with its CEO saying customers had signaled a PC slowdown based on memory prices and availability.
· 6 sourcesThe US Food and Drug Administration has issued an alert warning that electric hospital beds made by medical supplier Medline pose a fire hazard, after at least two people died and 16 others were seriously injured in reported incidents. The company has announced it is ending production of its homecare and long-term care beds and exiting the market.
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Microsoft on Thursday announced plans to raise $25 billion in bonds, leveraging its top-tier AAA credit rating, to support its expanding infrastructure as it works to meet demand from artificial intelligence labs Anthropic and OpenAI.
· 2 sourcesAlphabet, the parent company of Google, lost more than $500 billion in market value as its shares fell as much as 13 per cent on Thursday, the worst single-day performance for the Google parent company, after it reported slowing search revenue growth. In Australia, Coles shares plunged 10 per cent, wiping about $3 billion from its market value, after the supermarket chain said it expected flat first-half supermarket profits.
· 6 sourcesThe Wingecarribee Shire Council has confirmed an investigation into whether billionaire Annie Cannon-Brookes’ Burradoo Park Farm precinct, home to the award-winning Three Blue Ducks restaurant, complied with fast-tracked farm-gate planning laws. Dozens of residents have lodged objections citing traffic congestion, parking problems and safety risks near a rail line.
· 3 sourcesBodum USA is recalling 5.9 million French press coffee makers because the glass carafes can break unexpectedly, posing a burn risk. A notice posted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the company has received 70 reports of breakage, including 48 resulting in burns. The affected models were sold at Target, Walmart, Amazon, and other retailers between 1974 and October 2026.
The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and The Age each published an article on October 29, 2026, with the headline 'Aussie retail giants stumble ahead of Black Friday'.
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Rivian has expanded its $5.8 billion joint venture with Volkswagen Group to include licensing elements of its AI voice assistant technology, the company said Thursday in its third-quarter investor presentation. The licensing deal extends the scope of the partnership, which was originally focused on electrical architecture and software.
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eBay is cashing in on Gen Z’s appetite for secondhand clothing through Depop. Depop’s U.S. sales volume more than doubled year over year in the third quarter, and nearly 90% of its 7 million active buyers last year were under 34.
General Motors will pay $220 million to settle allegations that it illegally sold drivers' private driving and location data to data brokers, who passed the information to insurers. The agreement, announced Thursday, resolves a complaint from a coalition of US state attorneys general and requires GM to obtain drivers' express consent before collecting or sharing their driving and location data.
· 4 sourcesRivian's new R2 SUV outsold every other model the automaker makes in the third quarter, the company said Thursday, as revenue rose 38 percent from a year earlier and Rivian raised its 2026 delivery forecast for the second time this year.
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Australian shares are poised to open modestly higher after Alphabet’s record-setting drop of just over $US500 billion in market value dragged Wall Street lower, with Amazon and Intel shares falling in after-hours trade and European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde announcing her resignation.
· 14 sourcesMore than 100 jobs are under threat at a Scottish factory that manufactures safety equipment for the military, after its owner Gentex announced proposals to close the Stranraer plant and make changes at its Letchworth site as part of plans to centralise UK operations in Haydock, Merseyside.
· 2 sourcesHouse prices in some of Sydney and Melbourne's most prestigious suburbs have recorded double-digit annual falls, with Toorak down 25.2 per cent and Marsfield 22 per cent, while some other suburbs have seen price rises, according to the latest Domain House Price Reports.
· 6 sourcesChannel Seven has presented its Melbourne upfronts programming line-up, leaving questions over the futures of two of its biggest stars, Sonia Kruger and Chris Brown.
· 3 sourcesThe Transport Workers' Union has pushed for a pause on the introduction of driverless taxis in Australia until stronger rules are in place and proposed a 'human driver guarantee' requiring operators such as Waymo to assign most rides to human drivers.
· 3 sourcesBBC Sport understands that the SPFL’s next television rights tender includes the possibility of broadcasters bidding to show all matches live, including Saturday 3pm kick-offs, potentially ending the 3pm blackout in the UK. The SPFL said it was 'flexible about the number of games' in the deal, which is due to begin in the 2029-30 season.
New Zealand is experiencing the fourth-largest increase in fuel costs in the world on a per capita basis, new data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air shows. The global oil price shock this year has added US$468 billion (NZ$833b) to the world's fuel bill, with the United States, Canada and Australia ahead of New Zealand in total impact.
Court documents filed in a US lawsuit have revealed that employees of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, discussed a “whisper strategy” to discredit social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, whose book The Anxious Generation helped tip debate about online safety towards more stringent measures. Meeting minutes from early 2023 show staff discussing how to “get the academic community to disavow Haidt” and turn other academics against him.
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Amazon's third-quarter profit missed Wall Street's expectations on Thursday, while shares fell more than 7% in after-hours trading after closing down 4% during the regular session, even as its cloud unit grew at its fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2021. Revenue and earnings came in below analyst estimates, and the company's holiday-quarter operating income outlook was below analyst expectations as investors weighed the cost of its AI buildout.
· 11 sourcesChancellor John Healey's inaugural budget this week raised the tax on slot machines from 20% to 25%, a move he said would bring in nearly £150m a year, as the machines, which gamblers in Great Britain lost £2.7bn on last year, come under scrutiny over their prevalence on high streets and association with higher rates of problem gambling.
ServiceNow shares sank 25% on Thursday and headed for the worst day ever after its third-quarter results underwhelmed, reigniting concerns that new AI capabilities will upend traditional software business models.
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The Qatar Investment Authority is sticking to its commitment to invest $500bn in the US over the next decade, a target it should achieve even if the fund needs to draw on reserves to support Qatar’s economy.