1h agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 10:00pm
Market snapshot
ASX futures: flat at 8,807 pointsASX 200 (Tuesday close): -0.6% to 8,794 points
Australian dollar: -0.1% at 65.85 US cents Wall Street: Dow Jones (+0.4%), S&P 500 (+0.3%), Nasdaq (+0.4%)
Europe: FTSE (+0.2%), DAX (-0.4%), Stoxx 600 (+0.1%)Spot gold: -0.3% to $US3,626/ounce
Oil (Brent crude): +0.8% to $US66.54/barrel Iron ore: +1% to $US106.50/tonne Bitcoin: -0.5% to $US111,610
Prices current around 7:30am AEDT
6m agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 11:27pm
NAB to axe 410 jobs — a day after ANZ terminates 3,500 workers
NAB is the latest major bank to announce significant job cuts.
Australia’s second largest bank (by market value) will make more than 410 jobs redundant in its technology and enterprise operations division.
Instead, it will create 127 new roles in countries with lower wages, including Vietnam and India.
NAB’s announcement comes shortly after its rival ANZ revealed plans to slash 3,500 jobs.
The Finance Sector Union says NAB’s redundancies will affect 728 workers.
“Two banks in two days slashing jobs, it’s shameful,” said FSU national president Wendy Streets.
“This isn’t one rogue bank, it’s the whole sector driving the same agenda at the expense of workers and communities.
“It is a betrayal of 728 workers and their families. Profits in their billions, jobs in the bin, banks are showing open contempt for their own people.
“These cuts are destructive to the people who make the banks’ success possible.”
13m agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 11:21pm
ANZ’s massive job cuts are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’
ANZ expects to cut about 3,500 jobs over the next year, while the roles of 1,000 contractors will also be impacted.
Chief executive Nuno Matos says the restructure is aimed at simplifying the bank and reducing duplicate roles.
With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), analysts expect more mass layoffs in the banking sector over the next 12 months.
Wilson Asset Management’s lead portfolio manager Matthew Haupt says ANZ relies heavily on mortgage brokers, the cost of which squeezes its margins, and the jobs cuts are about finding saving elsewhere.
“They really need to lean into costs at the moment and that’s exactly what Nuno (Matos) is doing,” he said.
This mass sacking of workers is another public relations disaster for the bank, which is also facing an ASIC investigation for alleged misconduct in its bond trading division.
Loading…19m agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 11:14pm
Mega merger of Anglo American and Teck creates $80 billion copper giant
In news out late yesterday, mining giants Anglo American and Teck will merge to create a company worth around $US53 billion ($80 billion).
The focus is copper, with analysis from consultancy Wood Mackenzie suggesting the merged company will instantly become the world’s sixth biggest copper miner, almost on par with fifth placed Glencore.
The world’s biggest copper producer will remain “the Big Australian” BHP.
Copper production by company (Wood Mackenzie)
The deal will hand 62.4% control of the merged company to Anglo American shareholders, who will also receive a $US4.5 billion special dividend.
“The merger accelerates Anglo American’s strategy to focus on prioritising scale and high margin commodities and offers a geographically diversified pipeline of copper growth projects with strong returns,” said James Whiteside, research director at Wood Mackenzie.
“For Teck, the deal provides the highest copper exposure and least dilution among potential suitors while preserving strategic influence through enhanced board representation.”
Whiteside said the combined entity will benefit from Teck’s robust operational assets, including QB2 in Chile (60%).
Other key assets include Highland Valley Copper in Canada (90%) and Antamina in Peru (22.5%), one of the lowest-cost copper-zinc mines globally.
Wood Mackenzie noted that Teck’s project pipeline includes high-return developments such as San Nicolas in Mexico (50%) and Zafranal in Peru (80%). Deeper pipeline options include Galore Creek in Canada and Nueva Union in Chile. The company has formed joint venture agreements across all copper projects, reducing single-project exposure.
29m agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 11:04pm
Lachlan Mudoch’s strategy has seen Fox compete with streaming services without ‘wasting billions’, says investigative journalist
Journalist Paddy Manning has spent years investigating the Murdochs and their business dealings.
He says Lachlan Murdoch, the executive chairman of Fox and chair of News Corp, has already taken steps to modernise the company to keep it profitable.
In particular, he points to Mr Murdoch’s investment in a free ad-supported streaming service, Tubi, which allows Fox to compete with the likes of Netflix without “wasting billions on the streaming wars”.
Mr Murdoch is the only one of his siblings who shares more conservative views of his father Rupert, and will likely continue that leaning when he takes over.
You can listen to more of his insights here:
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44m agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 10:49pm
Former PwC CEO rubbed out of tax industry for four years
Late last night, the Tax Practitioners Board “terminated the tax agent registration” of former PwC boss Tom Seymour.
This is a technical thing, but also a big deal.
It follows a long scandal and an investigation into “his conduct as a senior leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Australia”.
He is prohibited from applying for registration as a tax agent for a period of 4 years.
The TPB’s investigation revealed things we already knew from the long-running “tax leaks” scandal.
Here’s the summary:
“Mr Seymour was notified that PwC personnel who reported to him (including Peter-John Collins, a former PwC partner whose registration as a tax agent was previously terminated by the TPB) would be engaged in confidential consultation with Treasury during the period 2013 to 2017. At this time, Mr Seymour was a senior leader of PwC Australia who had responsibility for the supervision of the firm’s senior partners and overall responsibility for the culture, policies and procedures of PwC’s Tax and Legal services division.
“Following the investigation, the TPB found that Mr Seymour breached the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 as he failed to act with integrity and also failed to have in place adequate arrangements to manage conflicts of interest that arose in relation to activities undertaken by partners and employees within PwC’s Tax and Legal Services division.”
The key findings of the TPB included:
Mr Seymour failed to act with integrity by reason that he failed to recognise, or otherwise permitted, a business culture to develop and operate within the Tax and Legal Services division at PwC while he was the Managing Partner which resulted in the practice of sharing confidential information, or ‘intelligence’, being widespread within the division despite regular and repeated references from PwC partners to the information being ‘confidential’ and that it should not be disclosed, suggesting a broad cultural acceptance for this type of behaviour and conduct.Mr Seymour failed to have in place adequate arrangements to manage conflicts of interest in circumstances where information obtained by PwC partners engaged in confidential Treasury consultations was shared amongst other PwC partners and employees, both within Australia and overseas, for the purpose of assisting PwC to position itself ahead of its competitors, advance its position in the market and to expand its client base.
The decision was made in part because the Board found that “his conduct had caused damage to the reputation of the tax profession and a loss of confidence in the integrity of the broader tax system”.
Here’s TPB Chair Peter de Cure AM:
“Our investigation into Thomas Seymour uncovered a business culture of sharing of confidential information, often referred to as ‘intelligence’, within PwC that was widespread within the Tax and Legal Services division. Despite frequent reminders in internal emails that this information was ‘confidential’ and should not be further disclosed, the practice persisted. This points to a deeply embedded culture within PwC that routinely disregarded formal confidentiality obligations.
“Alarmingly, Mr Seymour who was in a privileged position allowed this culture to persist. Mr Seymour’s conduct has fallen short of the standards that the community would expect from a person in the profession. I want to assure the public the TPB is committed to upholding the highest standards of professional conduct in Australia’s tax profession and will continue to take strong action in cases of serious misconduct”.
46m agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 10:48pm
Copper giants Anglo American and Teck Resources agree to $80 billion merger
Two of the world’s major mining companies, UK-listed Anglo American and Canada’s Teck Resources, are planning to merge.
Assuming regulators in both countries allow the merger to proceed, it will be the second largest mining deal ever. The combined entity will be called ‘Anglo Teck’, which will become the world’s fifth largest copper miner (with a combined value of $80 billion).
Copper is an important metal, particularly in the energy and construction sectors. It’s also the preferred metal for electrical wiring due to its high conductivity and durability.
Demand for copper is expected so surge in the coming years as more electric vehicles (EVs) hit the road, and the artificial intelligence (AI) sector continues to boom.
Under the proposed deal, Anglo shareholders would own 62.4% of the new company, while Teck’s shareholders would hold 37.6%.
Anglo Teck will have a primary stock listing in London, but its headquarters will be in Canada.
Last year, Anglo faced a $75 billion takeover bid from BHP, which it ultimately rejected. (Essentially, it was because BHP’s offer wasn’t high enough, and the mining giant only wanted to buy Anglo’s copper mines).
Teck rejected a $34 billion takeover offer from Glencore back in 2023. However, it ended up selling its steelmaking coal business to Glencore for $10.5 billion.
Investors were clearly excited about the proposed merger as shares of Anglo and Teck jumped 8% and 11% respectively.
For those who are interested, the largest mining deal in history was the $137 billion ($US90b) merger between Glencore and Xstrata back in 2013.
1h agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 10:30pm
Murdochs resolve succession saga but family’s hold on empire is vulnerable
Rupert Murdoch’s family has always been close. But if you really want to trace the extent of filial and sibling affection, you have to follow the money.
In a family that is so awkward about talking to each other that they sometimes use newspaper articles to communicate, cash is the great social lubricant.
The last great family split two decades ago, over Rupert’s desire to give Grace and Chloe, his two daughters with third wife Wendi Deng, equal standing in the Murdoch Family Trust, was settled with a little compromise and $US900 million ($1.36 billion) in cash and shares to be split between the six children.
It didn’t heal all the wounds but it kept them talking to each other, after a fashion.
So where does this week’s rapprochement between Rupert and his unhappy older children, Prudence, Elisabeth and James, leave the family and the empire?
For more, here’s an analysis piece by Neil Chenoweth:
1h agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 10:17pm
Positive signs for Australian economy as business conditions improve, says NAB chief economist
There have been further signs the Australian economy is picking up again, according to NAB’s latest business survey.
Business conditions have risen back to around their long-run average level.
Oh the other hand, business confidence fell slightly in August. But that came after four consecutive months of improving sentiment.
NAB’s chief economist Sally Auld appeared on The Business last night and talked about which industries are faring better than others.
Loading…1h agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 10:02pm
Home-buying dream of Australians pushed further away by RBA rate cuts, making life ‘more difficult’
While most Australians with a mortgage have been benefiting from the Reserve Bank cutting rates this year, not everyone is celebrating.
Savers are worse off because the rates banks offer on savings have been falling too.
Canstar’s data insights director, Sally Tindall, says while many lenders were offering ongoing savings rates at around 5.5% a few months ago, now there is just one.
“But there are plenty of catches that come with this account,” she said.
“Firstly, you’ve got to meet the monthly terms and conditions. Secondly, you’ve got to be between 18 to 29 years of age.
“A competitive rate at this point in time would be 4.5 per cent and above, but you probably in most cases need to meet monthly terms and conditions in order to get that rate on an ongoing basis.”
Meeting all the conditions can be incredibly confusing.
In fact, an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) report found that in the first six months of 2023, 71%, on average, did not receive bonus interest in any given month.
For more, here’s the story by Emily Stewart:
1h agoTue 9 Sep 2025 at 10:00pm
Wall Street’s new records unlikely to provide major boost to ASX
Good morning, and welcome to the ABC’s finance blog. I’ll be your guide for the next few hours.
It looks like the local share market will have a fairly uninspiring start to the day, with ASX futures trading flat.
The Australian dollar is trading at 65.85 US cents, which is practically flat.
Oil prices rose after Israel launched an air strike on Hamas’s political leaders in Qatar’s capital, Doha (who were reportedly meeting to discuss the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal).
Another Wall Street record
Meanwhile, it was another record-breaking session on US markets with the Dow Jones (up 0.4%), S&P 500 (up 0.3%) and Nasdaq Composite (up 0.4%) close at their highest levels ever.
The optimism on Wall Street seems to be driven by another case of: “bad news (for the economy) equals good news (for the stock market”.
It turns out the US jobs market is in much worse shape than initially thought.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published some revised data that showed the total number of workers hired in the 12 months to March was much less than expected.
In fact, it was 911,000 fewer workers than the BLS initially stated.
This was the largest downward revision of the US job numbers since at least 2002, and it shows the American labour market was already slowing down during Joe Biden’s presidency (even before Donald Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs).
As a result, markets are pricing in a 100% chance of the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its board meeting later this month.
The question is not whether the Fed will slash rates, but by how much it will reduce them.
There are an increasing number of economists predicting it might be a 0.5 percentage point cut (double the usual)!
