Insights

The great Australian dream of owning your own home is no longer achievable for most young Australians.

Australia needs technologically capable and entrepreneurially inspired young people. If our future business leaders are going to succeed, they need to be willing to take risks, start businesses, to fail and try again.

Carbon is the mechanism that will drive substantial aid to enterprises, from schools and households to power plants, and many more.

Higher gold, oil and base metal prices should help the local sharemarket start the week on a positive note, while new car sales data is released.

A $1bn takeover play for Primo Smallgoods could be stewing, while Pacific Brands is closer to walking away from its Brand Collective division.

IT service level agreements play a crucial role in everyday tasks of IT support but hammering out an effective one is no mean feat.

Positive steps were taken on global growth and tax avoidance at the G20 summit, but Tony Abbott couldn't stop climate change taking centre stage.

More and more Australians are earning a crust working as freelancers, with some doing so well they shun full-time employment.

After years of brinkmanship in the Asia-Pacific region, China is finally showing some goodwill toward its neighbours.

Six months after deadly riots broke out in Vietnam, the country is still coming to terms with its fallout with China.

Tony Abbott needs to take leadership and articulate his own vision on China.

With the United States Federal Reserve having officially ended its quantitative easing program, thoughts naturally turn to the outlook for US interest rates. When will the Fed start raising the funds rate from current near-zero levels, and what will this do to share prices?

US markets again defied local nervousness on Friday, holding steady at the end of a week in which the ASX 200 fell 1.7%. The firm US lead, broadly solid economic releases and some strength in commodity prices should see a steady open to the Australian market this morning.

That oil prices fell to $US78 per barrel last week, the lowest since 2010, is highly significant. Moreover, there is a good chance that they will fall much further.

Recent surveys highlight lasting fears about the Australian economy, although leading indicators point to a turnaround.

In this week's essential reading guide, Kohler analyses Australia's super funds, Gottliebsen eyes an ASX growth opportunity and Bartholomeusz appraises Gail Kelly's legacy.