Insights

Local market tipped to extend on Friday's heavy losses on soft offshore leads.

The escalation of sanctions on Russia could have far-reaching consequences across Europe, especially in countries that share strong investment, energy, trade and financial links.

Adopting international standards of data collection will give China's urban unemployment rate some much-needed rigour, and will go some way to better reflecting the true state of the country's job market.

The Prime Minister won't abandon the PPL scheme because he 'doesn't break promises'. But the prospect of his being able to deliver it in its current form is not high.

As barriers to entry fall across a wide range of industries, internal obstacles may become the biggest impediment for incumbents to compete. A cultural overhaul is needed.

Investors are set to push the local market lower amid continued geopolitical concerns, while the tense mood has the price of gold higher.

Private equity firm KKR has reportedly sweetened its bid for Treasury Wine, while Lend Lease appears keen to stay in the chase for Leighton's John Holland division.

Despite July's non-farm payrolls missing expectations, and a slight uptick in the unemployment rate, the Federal Reserve will find it difficult to justify keeping rates near zero for much longer.

The general insurer has taken a tumble after its latest earnings downgrade. So is it now in value?

All the attention on whether rates will move up or down next ignores the reality that they won't move in either direction for some time.

Poll-driven Canberra simply doesn't have the circuit-breaking capacity of Andrew Forrest's private enterprise. But Clive Palmer will be able to take up Forrest's message of government indigenous welfare failure and run with it.

Rewriting Obamacare laws on the fly is a violation of the constitutionally mandated separation of powers.

An artificially priced global asset market continues to challenge investors as structural headwinds cap asset price growth. Income will become a key driver of future returns.

Caltex is shifting away from its unpredictable refinery business and leveraging its earnings to marketing transport fuels, which should reduce volatility.

In this week's essential reading guide, Kohler sets his sights on the BCA, Bartholomeusz looks at board independence and Burgess examines Australia's bungled budgets.

Policymakers will keep a close eye on retail trade and employment figures, while earnings season will start to heat up with results from Rio Tinto, Cochlear and Transurban.