Insights

Calling quorums? Parliamentary privilege? This is just part of what our 12 new senators will learn during their two-day orientation program.

Wall Street remained subdued despite reassurance a rate hike is still a way off, while major currencies pushed higher against the US dollar.

The fraud scandal in Commonwealth Bank's financial planning division highlights how a systemic sales culture has taken root in the financial sector. ASIC needs to act, but the Coalition's weak response won't help matters.

International builders and one local player line up to bid for Leighton's John Holland business, while Healthscope sets out to raise billions ahead of the biggest float of the year.

In an environment where 'record highs' threaten to turn into 'record busts', a growing number of Australians are treating housing as an annuity which provides protected, low returns in times of volatility.

Glencore is just one of a line of contenders for Simandou North, though it would be most logical for Guinea to look at ways to develop the sought-after iron ore deposit in conjunction with its southern half.

An analysis of investment returns over the last 20 years shows residential property outperformed shares, and that gearing helped boost returns.

If you own fixed income securities, be aware of the differing tax rules.

New super insurance rules come into play tonight. Here's what you need to know.

The Australian sharemarket has capped off one of its best financial year performances since before the GFC.

Investors hunting for yield often ignore a number of key strategies that can mean the difference between good returns and very mediocre ones.

Local market falls in today's session as investors get portfolios ready for tax time.

Shares fall as airline blames soft consumer confidence, business sentiment.

The flexibility of wages in the UK combined with very low investment may explain why the Great Recession took a big toll on productivity, but not on jobs.

Australian aluminium smelters have been struggling since the aluminium price crashed while the dollar rose. But a new Coalition push neglects findings that aluminium smelting is likely to be better off with the current renewables target.

Our major banks are among the most cost-efficient and profitable in the world, but calls for increased competition in the sector could threaten the very stability that saw them emerge from the GFC unscathed.