Insights

A quarter of the Abbott government's first term will be spent waiting for the budget and government spending audit. Surely some excesses can be cut sooner?

Telstra's management reshuffle prompts great speculation about David Thodey's successor, while commentators predict the end of rate cuts.

Unwieldy state tentacles are strangling Europe's economic advancement, with government still responsible for over 45 per cent of GDP. If the region wants to grow, it must downsize.

Commonwealth Property Office Fund has increased pressure on suitor DEXUS Property to lift its offer after reporting a rise in asset values, driven by an improved leasing outlook.

Plenty left in the tank for Lowys

Dissident shareholders Perpetual and Mark Carnegie have launched a bold plan to unlock a 45-year cross shareholding between Brickworks and Soul Pattinson that could redistribute billions of dollars of value to investors.

A surprise rise in third-quarter inflation has pushed the dollar to a 4½-month high and all but removed the odds of a near-term interest rate cut.

McAleese Transport has indicated that plans for a $155 million public float will be delayed until after Christmas, as it deals with the fallout from a fatal fuel-tanker crash early this month.

The sharemarket fell for the first time in seven trading sessions after a jump in China's money market rate.

Target's new chief executive, Stuart Machin, has moved to bolster the struggling retailer's senior management ranks, poaching an executive from the British store Marks & Spencer.

Disputes between customers and banks have fallen for the first time since the global financial crisis.

James Packer's plan to build a $400 million casino resort in Sri Lanka faces further delays after opposition by religious leaders and politicians in Sri Lanka forced the government to alter tax concessions granted to Crown Resort's consortium.

Sydney Airport's outspoken chairman, Max Moore-Wilton, has dismissed growing expectations the federal government will begin work on a second airport for the city within three years.

Treasury Wine Estates, the world's largest pure-play winemaker, has warned that consumer demand for wine in China has softened as a result of March's leadership change and a recent austerity drive pushed through by the communist government.

Unseasonably warm weather and the lingering effects of intense competition will weigh on the earnings of two of the country's largest energy utilities - AGL and Origin Energy - in the year ahead, with both forecasting flat earnings.

Telstra remains confident that it will be able to safeguard the value of its $11 billion agreement with the government during formal renegotiations with NBN Co.