House byline
Business correspondent
Lachlan Grant is a house byline for InfoHandle’s Business desk.
Commonwealth Bank and Westpac lifted headline savings and term-deposit rates by 25 basis points in line with the Reserve Bank’s 4.60 percent cash target, giving savers a partial offset as variable mortgages reset the same day.
Woolworths’ logistics arm lifted metro fuel surcharges to 19.88 percent and regional levies above 50 percent, putting fresh pressure on grocery manufacturers already absorbing diesel inflation.
Wesfarmers said Bunnings lifted comparable sales 4.2 percent in the September quarter as rainy weekends pushed households toward indoor renovation projects.
Wesfarmers’ first-quarter trading update points to mid-single-digit comparable growth at Bunnings as rain-soaked eastern capitals kept homeowners inside aisles rather than on job sites.
Coles Group will spend an extra $300 million through FY28 to open about 45 infill supermarkets and renew 150 stores, even as it closes more standalone Liquorland sites than it opens.
Franchisees can keep weekly average prices on roadside boards after the regulator backed off a rule that would have forced daily resets at every site.
The Reserve Bank’s October Financial Stability Review pairs reassuring domestic mortgage data with warnings that China’s property slump and heavy sovereign borrowing overseas could still rattle funding markets here.
Lynas launched an all-share takeover of Meteoric Resources worth about $672 million, betting a Brazilian ionic-clay deposit can feed its push to rival Chinese rare-earth supply chains.
Cotality’s national home value index fell for a sixth straight month in September, extending a slide that analysts say is now tracking the steepest Australian housing downturn since the early 1980s.
The Reserve Bank’s board voted unanimously to add 25 basis points Tuesday, lifting the cash rate to 4.60 per cent and warning that Middle East energy shocks could keep inflation above target.
Metcash told investors wholesale earnings held firm in the September quarter even as diesel-linked delivery fees rose, leaving IGA operators to reset shelf prices on staples.
Penfolds distributor channels slowed after customs reconciled mid-autumn gift-box duties, pushing Treasury Wine to guide lower September container lifts from Shanghai bonded warehouses.
Jim Chalmers released the 2025-26 final outcome in Canberra, citing a roughly six-billion-dollar underlying deficit upgrade versus May while warning bond yields will still lift Commonwealth interest costs.
Finder’s September expert panel puts 37 of 41 economists and mortgage brokers on a 25 basis point hike to 4.60 per cent at Tuesday’s RBA board meeting, with 48 per cent expecting a second move before 2027.
Westpac's shift leaves all four major bank economics teams at 4.60% for the 28–29 September board, with markets near fully priced and CBA's first cut pushed out to August 2027.
With Coles already found to have misled shoppers on Down Down tickets, the ACCC’s parallel Federal Court case against Woolworths over Prices Dropped was-is pricing keeps supermarket discount mechanics under judicial scrutiny ahead of penalty hearings.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Wednesday monthly consumer price index held at 2.8 percent in the year to August, with trimmed-mean inflation still above the Reserve Bank’s comfort zone as the board prepares for its 28–29 September meeting after deputy governor Andrew Hauser’s neutral-rate remarks and a firmer ASX lead-in.
National Australia Bank said most mobile, internet and phone banking services were back online by late Wednesday after a mid-afternoon failure knocked out NAB Pay, NAB Connect and call-centre lines, leaving customers unable to check balances during the commute home.
Viva Energy confirmed convenience chief Jevan Bouzo will leave after OTR integration work shifted from acquisition mode to store-by-store consolidation, with group chief operating officer Jennifer Gray stepping in as interim retail CEO while Scott Wyatt keeps strategic accountability.
ANZ is the first major bank to pencil in back-to-back Reserve Bank hikes while Westpac, CBA and NAB align on a September move toward a 4.6 percent cash rate after Michele Bullock's parliamentary testimony.
Rio Tinto throttled Gudai-Darri crusher throughput after laser surveys found millimetre-level misalignment on coarse-ore feed conveyors, delaying a low-capital ramp toward 50 million tonnes while Pilbara maintenance crews re-shim transfer points.
Coles and dairy co-ops remain deadlocked over extended supplier payment terms as Christmas shelf resets approach, with processors warning that slower cash cycles could squeeze farm-gate collections before peak milk flows.
BHP kept full-year Pilbara iron ore guidance while warning that a haul-truck maintenance backlog will trim September load rates, forcing mine managers to shuffle workshop bays before cyclone-season stockpiles must be built.
Woolworths is freezing farmgate contract terms on its own-brand milk while eastAUSmilk campaigns for a shelf levy on two-litre bottles, setting up a September stand-off between processors and the last direct Farmers' Own suppliers.