Tim Treadgold

A three-pronged global financial storm is brewing, and it’s a sure bet resources sales to China won’t bail WA out this time.

ANALYSIS: The recent state budget did little to convince voters the Barnett government is on the right track ahead of the 2017 election.

The return of gold mining as Western Australia’s fastest-growing industry is becoming more interesting, with a near-record price for the metal in Australian dollars triggering increased exploration and a pair of possible mine developments in the Wheatbelt.

A tough business environment is bringing an increasing number of corporate malfeasance cases to the fore.

The worst might be over for many of the state’s mining services businesses, as they seek to bounce back from the effects of the slowdown in resources project development.

How do you budget for an iron ore boom that no-one believes will survive more than a few months?

Businesses operating in WA’s cyclical resources sector need to deal prudently with debt, or trouble is just around the corner.

ANALYSIS: Worldwide demand for lithium is rising and more than 20 companies in WA are on board for the ride.

Spot the difference in these two statements: one in two households rely on pensions to make ends meet; and one in two reliant on public purse’.

TPG’s half-year profit statement suggests where a company is headquartered may be less important than the value for money of its offering.

ANALYSIS: WA potash hopefuls may have the backing of some high-profile local mining entrepreneurs, but startup costs and a worldwide product glut are major barriers. 

If money, careers and future investment in Western Australia were not being jeopardised, it would be amusing to watch some of Australian biggest companies adopt a management policy best described as ‘run and hide’.

ANALYSIS: It’s not often that hyperbole merges with reality when it comes to resources, but WA’s gold sector has just thrown conventional wisdom out the window.

Any complacency on behalf of Australia’s banks may be ratcheted down a notch as some concerning practices are investigated.

Perth’s importance as a national business centre may have faded during recent months, but it’s a different matter in the inner suburb of West Perth, where several small mining companies have sprung back to life.

South Australia’s push for renewable energy is an experiment worth watching for the other states.

ANALYSIS: CBH has served WA grain growers for more than 80 years, but debate is raging about whether now is the time to kill the co-op.

To most people it seems inconceivable that a bank would pay its customers to borrow money, but that scenario was played out, albeit briefly, in Denmark last year, when homebuyers were on the winning side of negative interest rates.

Some ill-advised business decisions are coming back to haunt some of well-known local resources players.

ANALYSIS: Rubbery figures and projections aside, WA’s iron ore miners are breathing a little easier thanks to improving prices and a favourable exchange rate.

Living life in reverse is an amusing fictional concept that involves being born old and growing young, but if you look at some of the forces at work in the economy today you might imagine that everything is running backwards – starting with the puzzle of negative interest rates.

Healthy employees bring obvious benefits to the workplace, but how their personal medical details are used may have unintended consequences.

It’s likely more nickel operations will need to be closed before there’s any improvement in prices for the steel-making commodity.

The technology bubble that has inflated share prices around the world hasn’t burst, but it has certainly lost a lot of air and credibility.

Global retailers provided a rare bright spot in an otherwise subdued sector over Christmas, and the dominance of the online model is set to grow.

The contrasting fortunes of the Bunnings and Masters hardware businesses reflect the broader performance of their relative corporate owners.

You probably wouldn’t believe it if someone told you that Perth-based retailing specialist Wesfarmers was bigger than global resources leader BHP Billiton, but that was the situation last week on the Australian Securities Exchange as the company led by Richard Goyder quietly slipped past the global mining giant.

Deflationary pressures are causing concern for central bankers worldwide.

If Woodside Petroleum is ever looking for a corporate slogan it could borrow a saying from the Dutch philosopher Erasmus: “in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king”.

Sports, politics and business do not share a lot in common but there is one feature that links all three – and that's how a single event can turn a winner into a loser in the blink of an eye.

The Dick Smith chain of technology and electrical goods shops is probably a poor example of the wider problems confronting retailing but its collapse this week is a reminder that the shake-out which has rattled the retail world over the past few years is far from over.

Canny investors would be well advised to plan for the worst and hope for the best as 2016 bears down on us.