Insights

The government's plan to channel funds from the significant investor visa program into sectors that are hungry for capital is a smart move.

There's no technical limit preventing more than 20% renewable energy in a power system, with experts saying Australia could reach 90% renewable electricity by 2040 by natural attrition of existing fossil fuel power stations.

A major part of Shinzo Abe's economic growth strategy involves increasing the participation of women in the workforce. The first port of call should be to reform its outdated labour market practices.

Andrew Robb's new scheme simply asks migrants to make a real investment in Australia.

Red tape isn't the only thing Abbott is cutting, property clouds on the horizon says Macquarie and shoes that tone your legs while you walk? The ACCC says no.

A dovish Federal Reserve is unlikely to act prematurely on rates, and continued modest inflation is likely to delay a rate rise until there is sufficient wage growth.

Wall Street closed lower following news of a shooting at the Canadian parliament in Ottawa, while oil prices fell on a sharp lift in US crude stockpiles.

As smartphones morph into powerful, multi-function computers moving closer to the centre of our lives, the possibilities are limitless.

There's a war for design talent between technology and advertising companies, with tech quickly gaining ground.

Centerbridge Partners looks to have gained a majority stake in Boart Longyear, while The Carlyle Group reportedly drops out of the race for Orica's $1bn non-mining chemicals division.

As gas costs continue to rise, new Japanese technology is providing Australia's coal industry a new chance to compete with LNG.

France's plan to press Germany for more fiscal stimulus isn't just informed by spurious logic -- it's also economic blackmail.

Fund manager John Abernethy says RBA deputy governor Guy Debelle was right to warn investors that there are a lot of negatives around that are already spilling from bond to equity markets.

"…rapidly declining markets, whilst always sobering, can also represent a signal to buy rather than sell and to remain calm while others panic."- Matthew Sherwood, Head of Investment Market Research, Perpetual

For a few months now, the RBA has commented in its statements that financial volatility was lower than could be justified. After some extreme movements in global financial markets since last Thursday night, I can assure you that this is no longer the case. It wasn't clear when, why or how it would end, but we all knew the preternaturally low levels of volatility would end at some stage.

Enough time has passed since the advent of "Abenomics" to justify a mid-term report card.