Insights

Diehard fibre fans aren't NBN Co's only problem. The company's fate is being written by economic zealots that need to be put back in the box.

China has a profound security interest in keeping North Korea afloat, and hence delaying unification for as long as possible.

Taiwan has been off the radar screen for almost 20 years now, but the potential for confrontation in the US-China relationship remains the unresolved challenge.

The government has quietly initiated a low key, unscheduled review into Australia's national appliance energy efficiency standards. Why fiddle with a policy delivering consumer savings and easy abatement?

The Chinese Communist Party has long stood for democracy -- just not the kind Hong Kong protesters are asking for.

Victorian voters will soon decide the fate of the Napthine government's push to legislate against builder-union cartels.

Several forces are causing huge market gyrations. When they are understood together, it's clear that we're in for a bumpy ride.

The UK government is introducing a capacity market to ensure supply - and it's set to have ramifications for the future of coal, gas and energy sector emissions.

Wall Street dived again, reversing the gains made on Wednesday, while oil prices plumbed depths not seen in more than two years.

The RBA's head of financial stability has added to the debate on macroprudential measures to reduce the 'risks building' in the property market.

The computing power of microchips may be doubling every 18 months but the capacity of the batteries on which our gadgets depend isn't keeping up. So what's the problem?

Talk of a secondary listing for Glencore on the ASX suggests a push to merge with Rio Tinto is still on the cards, while it's crunch time for PanAust's board as they weigh an offer from a state-owned Chinese conglomerate.

The former Fed chairman says the public still don't know what really happened during the 'Lehman-AIG' weekend in 2008.

Increasingly the health of the domestic economy is whatever you think it is -- literally.

"Like Chicken Little, we can't know with any certainty what the greatest risk will be in the future. That suggests a broad hedge against risk is prudent - especially when it's inexpensive. Risk management is not just for chickens"

We think it is important to understand call / conversion dates relative to final maturity dates when analysing ASX listed hybrids. The difference between these dates creates price cliffs that investors need to be aware of. If secondary market credit spreads widen relative to the contracted coupon credit margin from an issuer, investors will stop pricing to the call/conversion...