Insights

Port Hedland may yet get a new outer harbour. Fortescue Metals is considering the development for its magnetite joint venture with Baosteel and Formosa.

Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh has confirmed the group will be well placed to deliver strong returns to shareholders in coming years after exceeding its cost-cutting targets.

AGL Energy's proposed bid for NSW power producer Macquarie Generation is to be closely examined by the competition watchdog, which has also started a review of a similar proposal by the smaller ERM Power.

When popular DJ Matt Tilley stepped back from the mike last week after 23 years with Southern Cross Austereo's Fox FM, you could say he was entitled to a little constructive criticism of a management that has been buffeted by all sorts of crises over the past year, including the royal prank call.

Woolworths and Coles are close to doing a deal with the competition regulator over their controversial petrol shopper docket schemes that could see a cap placed on steep discounting at supermarket-owned petrol stations while still preserving the popular budget-saving promotion for consumers.

Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh says he is still optimistic about long-term demand for the commodities Rio sells. He even thinks the group's wounded aluminium business will one day have its "day in the sun", possibly as China's transformation into a consumer-driven economy sucks electricity away from the Chinese aluminium smelters that are keeping prices low.

Previously secret Reserve Bank documents reveal neither of Joe Hockey's two predecessors as treasurer was ever asked to top up the bank's reserve fund by the $8.8 billion he said was needed.

The Reserve Bank has left the cash rate on hold at its final meeting of the year as it continued to stress the Australian dollar was "still uncomfortably high".

Australian companies remain heavily exposed to the risk of corruption due to their strong presence in bribery-prone countries, according to global corruption watchdog Transparency International.

Virgin Australia is free to complete its controversial $350 million capital raising after the Takeovers Panel rejected claims the issue of new shares would result in a big change to its ownership structure.

Google already runs much of the digital lives of consumers through email, internet searches and YouTube videos. Now it wants the corporations, too.

British savers have been withdrawing money from their bank accounts at the fastest rate for nearly 40 years, Bank of England figures show.

Bucking fears of a sharp brake on growth after the government shutdown in the US and earlier signs of distress in Europe and Asia, global manufacturing activity sped up in November, raising hopes for a broader global economic turnaround in the year ahead.

After nearly 10 years, it was time for a fresh look for e.g.etal's Flinders Lane space, writes Stephen Crafti.

GPT Group has maintained it will keep its minimum acceptance level at 50.1 per cent for its $4 billion tilt at the Commonwealth Property Office Fund (CPA), and has the capability of running the fund if Dexus becomes a hostile minority unitholder.

Greenfield land prices and sales in Melbourne's outlying suburbs are showing signs of life as developers and buyers become more active.