Tim Treadgold

Despite the old enemy’s comprehensive recent loss in the first Ashes cricket test, England’s rise as a sporting powerhouse has been rather annoying for Australians.

A move by the Indonesian government to boost activity in its nickel mining sector could have a positive spin-off for Australian miners.

It has been so long coming, and there have been so many false starts, that most people have missed what looks like the long-awaited fall in the value of the Australian dollar to less than US90 cents, and perhaps below US80 cents.

The public, and major banks, are disappointed with the service level, and service offering, of Australian icon Qantas.

Rated as the world’s fourth biggest pool of contestable cash, Australia’s $1.4 trillion superannuation sector was eventually going to struggle to find viable investments for its members, though not many people expected it take a risk with a plunge into publishing.

If low-cost means ever-lower service levels, then customers will probably look to buy elsewhere.

It might be playing with fire to own a pair of asbestos gloves these days, but Colin Barnett should borrow a pair before finalising a red-hot deal to sell the Kwinana Bulk Terminal to building mate

Investing in the share market is an inexact science, and biotech stocks can add a further layer of complexity to the formula.

It will probably take Gina Rinehart a few years to catch Bill Gates in the race to be the world’s richest person, but it is easy to see how she might overhaul the Microsoft founder’s swag of $75 billion.

Followers of Fortescue Metals Group and its mercurial chairman, Andrew Forrest, have been on a roller-coaster ride during the past five years; but if the current bout of optimism is well-founded, FMG could be heading back to its record price of $12 a share reached in 2008, and Mr Forrest heading for a $12 billion fortune.

Good news is hard to find in the resources sector, and even harder to find in the case of assets that are offered for sale but fail to attract an acceptable bid.

Amateur investors are continuing to buy shares in Australia's big four banks, which is easy to understand given the eye-catching profit of $6.3 billion reported earlier today by ANZ Banking Group.

Governments the world over seem to think they have some skin in the game when it comes to the business of business.

Karl Simich and his team at Sandfire Resources could be calling for the Dom Perignon in a few days if the local copper mining favourite achieves the once unthinkable and overtakes the stock market value of its potential predator, OZ Minerals.

Investors are betting the experts have got it wrong when it comes to forecasts for the price of iron ore.

It's hard to imagine anyone being unhappy with Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s remarkably generous $65 million donation to establish a system of educational scholarships to rival that created by Cecil Rhodes more than 100 years ago.

Colin Barnett will surely take a consultative approach when it comes to a review of state mining royalties.

When bank deposit rates are less than 3 per cent it’s hard to resist the siren call of an investment opportunity being spruiked at 20 per cent, which is why investors are rushing into residential property – and why many of them will get badly burned.

Low interest rates and banks’ enthusiasm to lend money are two factors driving the heating housing market.

You don't have to be in retail to know that times are tough for shopkeepers, their staff and their landlords, but what you might not know is that conditions are probably going to get worse before they get better.

Exotic and minor metals are never a natural fit for small mining companies, a fact discovered by shareholders in struggling lithium producer Galaxy Resources, and a threat that hovers over the head

Late storms are one way of looking at WA’s “winter of discontent”.

Western Australia's biggest home-grown company, Wesfarmers, is poised to deliver stellar returns to shareholders, or slump alarmingly.

There is nothing more boring than a conversation about the weather but, in the case of a United Nations climate change report scheduled for release next week, there are significant business factors

Gina Rinehart’s flagship $10 billion Roy Hill project should become an iron ore mine, but it might not turn out to be the goldmine she’s hoping for.

Unless some of the smartest people in the financial world are misreading their tea leaves, Australia’s new prime minister, Tony Abbott, has done more than win an election – he’s won the keys to a new era of solid economic growth.

Government-backed schemes to develop renewable power supplies are coming unstuck as the price of traditional energy sources falls.

The $10 billion tragedy of Western Australia’s failed magnetite iron ore processing experiment risks becoming something worse next year, as the price is pushed down by a flood of iron ore supply an

Global food markets don’t always behave as might be expected, particularly in China, where the government plays such a dominant role.

Australia's two biggest exports, iron ore and gas, are facing renewed price pressure, a situation which is starting to be reflected in the exchange rate and which could precede a big fall in the Au

Kevin Rudd’s ‘tax breaks for the Territory’ plan has a strong similarity to a proposal by Gina Rinehart that was ridiculed by Labor.

It’s not easy being an optimist these days, which is why an outbreak of confidence about Australia at investment bank Morgan Stanley is worth analysing – it just could change your plans for the fut