Insights

Local market expected to begin weaker following falls on global bourses.

Miner battling to bring Qld gas sellers to the table for major alumina plant.

Miner says it will be comfortably repay debt without entering JVs or selling assets.

Major US markets broadly steady, manufacturing numbers top expectations.

Around $4 billion worth of floats hit the ASX this week, while Ingham Enterprises is rumoured to be weighing up a listing in 2014.

Larry Summers has argued that we are entering a period where the only way economies will be kept afloat is through debt-driven bubbles. Classical economists say debt shouldn't matter but history tells a different story.

Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne flipped the switch off on Gonski, then back on. The move leaves them both looking dodgy while the future of federal education funding is still murky.

The next wave of innovation promises to drive economic growth, but the private sector and governments will have to make important investments in infrastructure, training and education.

Edward Snowden hasn't just exposed the dirty laundry of our intelligence agencies, his revelations raise important questions about the future of an open internet.

Customer experience and thinking around the 'customer journey' may have traditionally been the purview of the marketing team but it's time the CIO stepped up to the plate.

In spite of structural changes and shifting user habits, traditional media companies have given investors decent returns, with TV and radio ad spend remaining buoyant.

Amatil finally gets its woman

Coca-Cola Amatil has plucked its new chief executive from outside the close-knit Coca-Cola family, tapping former GrainCorp boss Alison Watkins to help transform the bottler into a global manufacturer that will reap the bulk of its earnings outside Australia.

Alison Watkins was always going to quit as boss of GrainCorp this month regardless of Treasurer Joe Hockey's decision to block a takeover bid for the grains group by US food group Archer Daniels Midland.

Analysts have started to downgrade their recommendations for GrainCorp because of the failure to win government backing for the $3.4 billion takeover bid for the company and an expected earnings slump blamed on dry growing conditions.

Joe Hockey was well within his rights to place competition at the centre of national interest in his rejection of the Archer Daniels Midland bid for GrainCorp.