How to cook an economy First, bring to the boil, then ...

Steve Burrell considers the tricky challenge the next government faces in managing Easy Street. more

Wall Street jitters wipe out week's gains

THE Australian sharemarket closed in negative territory after significant losses on Wall Street overnight. more

US fallout scares off Australians

EUPHORIC one day, despondent the next, increasingly Janus-faced financial markets continued their wild ride into the weekend. more

Court tells watchdog to give files to shareholders

THE Federal Court has ordered the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to hand over documents and examination transcripts to a shareholder class action against Multiplex. more

Battered AGL breaks up Anthony's empire

THE troubled energy supplier AGL took its first step in dismantling the empire of its sacked chief executive Paul Anthony yesterday by selling its 33 per cent stake in a joint venture gas retailing business in Western Australia to its partner Alinta, now owned by a Babcock & Brown-led consortium. more

Gamble fails to come up to expectations

PUBLISHING and Broadcasting Ltd's Asian casino joint venture has come up at least $US130 million ($142 million) short in its latest capital raising in the US amid market pessimism about the gambling sector. more

Telecom NZ 'quietly confident' of Australian success

TELECOM New Zealand has predicted its Australian operations could double annual pre-tax earnings within the next two years to about $200 million as it reduces its reliance on reselling telephone services from Telstra's copper-wire network. more

Downer blames mining arm for poorer outlook

THE infrastructure services company Downer EDI's new regime of transparency got off to a rocky start yesterday, when it disclosed a profit downgrade only 2½ months after making a rosy forecast of double-digit profit growth. more

Chinese cheap labour drying up

CHINA'S seemingly bottomless pool of cheap peasant labour will soon be dry, according to research by China's leading labour market analyst. more

$US100 a barrel could be days away

AUSTRALIAN oil producers could receive $US100 a barrel within days after the Asia-Pacific benchmark TAPIS crude price reached $US96.95 a barrel yesterday. more

In China, it's Fortescue that the metal fans mob, as BHP and Rio look dated

CHINESE steel makers and officials are pinning their hopes on Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group to make up for Australia's relatively lethargic supply response to the Chinese iron ore boom. more

Being kept in the dark on Wall Street

It is time for sunlight on Wall Street. The securitisation markets came to be critical for the financing of America - everything from corporate loans to credit cards - and were amazingly profitable for the investment banks over the past decade. Only the banks seemed to understand what was going on, and their profit margins were high. more

Jobs slashed as car sales slump

OVER the past two years, North America's three biggest car companies promised that their plans to slash almost 80,000 jobs and close more than two dozen plants would be enough to transform them into leaner and nimbler competitors. more

Take a long, hard look at planning

At one time or another, all of us need some professional help with managing our finances, writes Simon Hoyle. more

Prince urged to abdicate as Citi slips

INVESTORS intensified calls for Citigroup to oust its chief executive, Charles Prince, on Thursday after an analyst's report pointed out the bank's weak capital position and its shares dropped more than 6 per cent. more

Simplification a dirty word to taxman

IT WAS Benjamin Franklin who said the only certainties in life were death and taxes. He clearly was not familiar with Australia's superannuation system. more

Air still going into China's bubble

BLOWING bubbles is fun, until you have to scrape the gum off your face. more

Big Foot, Yogi and a bearish gloom

Monday Apollo Minerals and Atticus Resources list on Wednesday. Hurray! more

Cartels can expect the full force of criminal penalties

What the cartel cronies Visy and Amcor did wrong was summarised in five sentences yesterday by the Federal Court judge Peter Heerey. "The cartel went on for almost five years," he said. "Had it not been accidentally exposed, it would probably still be flourishing. more

Paris a go-go with Lloyd Rees galore

It must drive 'em spare in the art auction business. No sooner has Christie's quietly put away its gavel and left, than the competition intensifies as yet more contenders bob up bearing chunky catalogues crammed with attractive paintings. more

Keep it in your pants

Flemington's big days out start in Melbourne today. Hooray. So what are you doing reading the business section? Get a life. more

Parramatta is the place to be

PARRAMATTA has been the main beneficiary of the buoyant national economy, with more businesses opting to relocate staff to what is now considered the second major business district in metropolitan Sydney. It has eclipsed North Sydney as the place to be. more

• Trusts should benefit from a Labor win
• American recession unlikely to burst boom in the west
• Blackstone set to move in on Japan
• US consumers losing confidence

Beyond the argy-bargy, a case for optimism

Don't let this week's furious disputation between the parties over climate change mislead you: following the Government's adoption of the report of the Prime Minister's task group, the differences between the two sides are small. more

Sitting in a sweet spot

It's a tough call. Is it better for Gail Kelly to be taking up the reins at Westpac at a time when the bank is in its sweet spot? more