Insights

The battle for Warnnambool Cheese could foreground a year of M&A resurgence, while Vodafone and TPG seem most likely to make a play for AAPT.

Local market expected to follow global bourses higher on Fed speculation.

Local currency jumps overnight as Fed speculation sends US$ down sharply.

Sluggish US jobs data boosts investor expectations that Federal Reserve will maintain monetary stimulus.

This morning's US data release shows the employment rate is the lowest it's been since 2008, despite another 148,000 jobs created in September. It's easy to see why monetary policy will remain loose.

Commentators believe a buyback may be on the cards for BHP shareholders, while the Paul Zahra rumour mill is in overdrive.

The stage-managed and neatly packaged explanation of Paul Zahra's impending departure from the top job at David Jones doesn't pass the smell test.

Stronger than expected iron ore production, thanks in part to the earlier start-up of a new mine, helped lift BHP Billiton's quarterly output to a new peak, paving the way for an upgrade to the full-year forecast.

Vodafone's rough ride is set to continue, as accounting changes take their toll on customer numbers.

Global surfwear label Rip Curl has ridden a wave of improving retail trading conditions from America to Indonesia as well as the benefits from a restructure in 2012 to swing back to profitability, reporting an after-tax profit of $14.12 million for fiscal 2013.

Bega Cheese shareholders have signalled they will not stand in the way of the company's takeover of Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, as its chairman signalled his intention to pursue the bid amid rival proposals.

Share sale to set up camp

The country's biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank, has been paying banned financial planner Don Nguyen an income of tens of thousands of dollars a year since he was allowed to resign in 2009 amid an investigation that ultimately cost the bank tens of millions of dollars in compensation to his clients.

Australia's biggest salary packaging company, McMillan Shakespeare, says it will not know until next year the extent of the effect of the former government's attempt to tighten the rules on tax benefits for salary-sacrificed cars.

Brambles chairman Graham Kraehe insists its document-storage division Recall is ''anything but a sinking ship'', emphasising it will be a ''growth business'' once it is spun off later this year.

The search for a new chief executive to lead David Jones would likely disrupt the retailer's transformation into a successful omni-channel business and comes just as it enters a trading period responsible for nearly half its annual profit, analysts say.