It’s Monday the 28^th of July 2025. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined the growing global clamour against Israel, effectively accusing the country of breaching international law by stopping food and medical supplies being provided to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees. However, at this stage, the government is not planning to follow France and recognise Palestinian statehood.

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News in brief

The decision to allow US beef imports into Australia continues to cause tension, with the PM and Trade Minister Don Farrell saying opposite things yesterday about discussions with Donald Trump. Farrell said Trump raised beef exports as an issue earlier in the year. Albanese says he didn’t.

ANZ’s new chief executive, Nuno Matos, has told staff he doesn’t want presentations of more than five pages, saying fewer slides shows “respect for everyone’s time”. He also wants every meeting to have a purpose and agenda shared ahead of time, clear desired outcomes, and action items and deadlines set at the end of the meeting.

It was a solid weekend for home auctions. The preliminary clearance rate rose to just under 75 per cent – near at a 12-month high. Again, Melbourne was the busiest market with a clearance rate of 76pc.

The rescue plan for Star Entertainment’s has another hurdle to overcome with the NSW casino regulator warning it will closely examine the finances and leadership of Bally’s Corporation before allowing it to take control.

A fusion energy start-up claims to have solved the millennia-old challenge of how to turn other metals into gold. In an academic paper published last week, Marathon Fusion proposes that neutrons released in fusion reactions could be used to produce gold through a process known as nuclear transmutation.

Fear-o-meter

The Australian housing market looks to be gathering some momentum, even before sellling season begins. Melbourne has been a laggard for more than two years. That has helped affordability in the city and now it is probably the hottest major market in the country.

Sydney is picking up pace as well, though not as much as Melbourne. The Emerald City didn’t fall anywhere near as much as the southern capital, so probably won’t rise as much either.

While Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane have slowed considerably, they are coming off very high growth rates. Auction clearance rates are solid across the capitals, at a time when prices are rising also.

This is all happening ahead of a likely interest rate cut next month, and before the full impact of two previous cuts this year fully hit the market. There is a lot of reason to be confident about the spring selling season.

Who's talking today?

On the outlook for earnings season, with a few stocks to keep an eye on.

 

"It's going to be another fairly muted year for earnings growth from the ASX on our reckoning. We're looking at a 1pc decline in earnings. That would be the third straight year falling earnings for the largest companies in the ASX. The top 20 account for about two thirds of all earnings on the ASX. So they're very much a bellwether for the broader market.

 

A big part of that is the mining companies coming off the highs of the post-COVID commodity boom. And the other large sector on the ASX, the banks, don't nearly have enough earnings power to account for that loss. So another fairly modest year, and we probably argue that the outlook isn't all that much more exciting either."

Greed-o-meter

Business insolvencies have plateaued at elevated levels, according to CreditorWatch's latest Business Risk Index. In FY25, 14,716 businesses became insolvent - a 33pc year-on-year increase. These sectors below were all above the national average for insolvencies across the last year.

Source: CreditorWatch Business Risk Index

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