Business

Donald Trump’s backdown on threats against Iran — including that a ‘whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back’— have lit a fire under Australian stocks

Risk assets rocketed on Wednesday as traders cheered in relief at a potential deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

While the rest of the Australian share market is riding a wave of euphoria as a two-week ceasefire eases tensions in the Middle East, a subsequent fall in oil prices is now smashing energy stocks.

Australian borrowers could be spared a rate hike next month after New Zealand’s central bank left rates on hold, citing worries about an economic slowdown even with inflation above target.

Anthony Albanese’s temporary halving of petrol and diesel taxes has lifted a key consumer sentiment reading from its worst results since records began in 1973.

Since the US and Israel first attacked Iran, a third of fertiliser exports have been blocked from passing the Strait of Hormuz. Soaring prices are now sowing panic among the world’s farmers.

DroneShield says founder and chief executive Oleg Vornik and chair Peter James are stepping down and will not stand for re-election at the next annual general meeting.

Global markets reacted sharply after Donald Trump signalled a two-week pause on Iran strikes linked to negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz deal as equity futures jumped.

The market is underestimating a brewing economic downturn, the investment bank has warned.

New ‘payday super’ laws take effect on July 1. But there’s a few traps for workers who pay to retire on June 30 but also want to max out their nest egg contributions.

Guzman y Gomez has delivered a welcome surprise in the third quarter, analysts say, with Australian sales growing on the back of its tie-up with popular online food ordering platform Uber Eats.

Charlie Aitken thinks investors can create wealth for themselves over the next decade by buying up certain stocks.

Government borrowing costs around the globe are being pulled in opposite directions.

Australian investors have followed a positive lead from Wall Street overnight, pinned on hopes of an 11th-hour peace deal between the US and Iran.

Google researchers warn that Bitcoin’s $US1.4 trillion network needs urgent security upgrades to counter hacking threats.