That's all from the business team today.
Thanks for being with us.
Wishing you all a very enjoyable and restful weekend.
See you the same time next week!
That's all from the business team today.
Thanks for being with us.
Wishing you all a very enjoyable and restful weekend.
See you the same time next week!
The S&P/ASX200 closed higher on Friday, gaining 68.80 points or 0.84 per cent to close at 8,295.10.
The ASX200 Index crossed above its 20-day moving average.
The top performing stocks in the index were Neuren Pharmaceuticals and Sigma Healthcare, up 14.72 per cent and 5.35 per cent respectively.
Markets have continued reacting to the Trump election win, and the impact his proposed tariffs will have on Australia. Much will depend on the severity of those tariffs.
Meanwhile, there was some cash rate relief overseas with Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell delivering Trump's yet to be formed administration a gift in the form of a 0.25 percentage point interest rate cut.
After the interest rate decision Powell said he was sticking around to serve out his term and the president-elect could not remove him as it was "not permitted under law".
Also at the top of Trump's agenda will be bringing back maximum pressure sanctions on Iran and reducing the volume of Iranian oil barrels on the market.
RBC Capital Markets head of global commodity strategy, Helima Croft, says these sanctions "mandate significant reductions of Iranian imports and essentially force foreign entities to choose between doing business with Tehran and accessing US capital markets".
The second day of the ACCC's inquiry into supermarkets is close to wrapping up.
It's been a long day of testimony by a Victorian grower, Peter Hall, and two industry representatives.
The inquiry's heard allegations about how the big two, Coles and Woolworths, have contracts with growers that leave them in the dark about pricing, supply and enforced discounts.
The situation was just summed up in this slide.
"The industry is going through a tough time at the moment," Lucy Gregg from AUSVEG said.
This is our last post for the day on the ACCC inquiry, if you'd like to keep watching you can do so here.
Many commentators believe that Donald Trump's win and threat of high tariffs on Australia's major trading partners will have a damaging impact on Australia.
I posted earlier about how NAB's senior economist Greg Burg says the impact on China will be slower growth, and that will undoubtedly, in his view, impact Australia.
But Capital Economics' Australia and New Zealand economist Abhijit Surya argues a new tariff war would have a negligible impact on domestic inflation in Australia, and that any drag on economic activity from weaker external demand will probably be modest.
He says the direct impact of US tariffs will be minimal, as less than 4 per cent of Australia's exports go to the United States.
"We suspect second-round effects for Asian economies, where more than 80 per cent of Australian exports go, will also be contained," he says in a research note.
"For one thing, we expect US tariffs to knock off less than 0.5%-pts from China's GDP growth in 2025, reflecting, among other things, domestic policy support and tariff evasion.
"What's more, China's travails need not spread across the region. To the contrary, we think Trump 2.0 could prove beneficial for countries like Vietnam and Indonesia."
He argues Australia will also likely be "shielded somewhat by inelastic demand for its high quality mineral exports".
ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott has had his bonus docked due to issues in the bank's markets business, according to the company's annual report.
The big bank boss was given a $1.3 million short term incentive, cutting his maximum bonus from $2.4 million last year.
"While the bank has a track record of prudently managing financial risk, we are still building capability in the management of non-financial risk," the company said in its annual report.
"This has been emphasised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) requiring ANZ to hold an additional operational risk capital overlay, due to concerns about our progress in this space, including issues within our markets business.
"As shareholders would expect, the Board has also taken these matters into account when assessing the performance of our Chief Executive Officer, Shayne Elliott, and the executive team this year."
The report noted that on average ANZ executives had their bonuses cut by 29 per cent due to the same issues.
Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, just hours after delivering Trump's yet to be formed administration a gift in the form of a 0.25 percentage point interest rate cut, declared he was sticking around to serve out his term and the president-elect could not remove him.
"Not permitted under law," Mr Powell told reporters at a press conference after the interest rate decision.
When asked if he would step down if asked by the incoming president, he replied with a terse: "No."
With a contract due to run until May 2026, there appears to be plenty of opportunity for an eventual showdown between the pair.
Read more in Ian Verrender's analysis of the potential for a showdown between two of the world's most powerful men.
Mark Willacy is an incredible journalist who has been through his fair share of hairy experiences during his career.
So, of course, within a couple of hours of being safely deposited back at Sydney Airport he has written up his account of what happened on Qantas flight QF520.
Not directly business-related, but well worth a read.
Despite the 2024 financial year being one of the best results for the Big Four banks, the impact of 13 interest rate rises since May 2022 has hit their margins.
PwC analysis finds that their cash earnings fell to $30.7 billion, down 5.4 per cent from the record high of $32.4 billion last financial year.
Return on Equity declined to 11.1 per cent, down 79 basis points from the prior year, reflecting the drop in earnings and elevated capital levels.
"Two and a half years since the first rate hike, major bank margins are only marginally higher than their record low of 1.75 per cent just prior to the tightening," says Sam Garland, banking and capital markets leader at PwC Australia.
But the fall in margins for the year was almost offset by credit growth.
Excluding the impact of acquisitions, lending grew 3.4 per cent for the year.
"This was a mixed story for the majors, who saw market share in mortgages fall slightly over the year but stronger-than-market growth in business lending," Ms Garland said.
Operating costs grew 6.5 per cent to a record high of $43.2 billion, weighing on the results. This was driven by general inflation and increased technology spend as banks continue to invest to modernise.
My colleague Millie Roberts is running the ABC News blog on today's emergency and ongoing disruptions at Sydney Airport.
She's just posted a handy timeline of events.
Five flights have been diverted from Sydney and will arrive later today, while there have been many other flight disruptions due to the closure of one of the two main runways.
Sydney Airport says departure delays are averaging about 45 minutes with 11 domestic departures cancelled.
Passengers can check the status of their flights on the airport's website.
You can follow more live updates on the Sydney Airport situation via that blog.
Magnamail is owned by Direct Group, which claims on its website it is "one of Australia's leading direct to consumer retailers".
It states that through online, print, television and digital publishing, it provides products and services to "the growing, high spending senior demographic (45+ age group) which is often neglected and not effectively reached by traditional retail and e-commerce players".
The ACCC alleges that hundreds of thousands of consumers were misled after being sent Magnamail's "attention-grabbing promotional materials", which included letters, envelopes, catalogues, and scratch cards, that promised them prizes they would never be eligible to win.
The ACCC mounted legal action after being contacted by many consumers who received this promotional material and complained about their experience.
As promised, more detail on this story here: