Punters say no rate rise; money men say it's on

MILLIONS of Australians stand to suffer if, as expected, the Reserve Bank lifts the official interest rate by quarter of a percentage point today.

Odds on for rate rise, but punters bet on no change

MILLIONS of Australians stand to suffer if, as expected, the Reserve Bank lifts interest rates by a further 0.25 points this afternoon. But for one big-spending punter the pain will be extreme.

ASX seeks compo for shake-up

THE Australian Securities Exchange will demand compensation from the Rudd Government as a result of a sweeping shake-up of market regulation which will see the exchange operator stripped of some of its powers to supervise brokers.

ASX to demand Rudd Government compo

THE Australian Securities Exchange will demand compensation from the Rudd Government as a result of a sweeping shake-up of market regulation that will strip the exchange operator of some of its powers to supervise brokers.

S&P500

IN THE United States the S&P 500 index recorded its first weekly drop in more than a month as concerns grew that the five-month-long rally had run ahead of the economic recovery.

Oil Has Long Way To Slide As China Demand Dries Up

BUY a barrel of oil - West Texas intermediate crude. It's a bargain at $US43.67. Or, if you buy it on the futures market, as low as $US43.39.

Another Tough Week On The Way

SKITTISH world trading is conspiring against an upturn in the Australian sharemarket today as the futures market points to a slide of about 1%.

Futures Trade Points To Rally In The Market

A SHADE of optimism may return to the Australian sharemarket today, even though world leaders failed to spell out their plan to resolve global financial market turmoil at the weekend.

No Short Answers To Market's Long-term Problem

The idea that short selling destroys wealth is an ignorant misconception. As a hedge fund manager, one of my roles is to educate investors in the use of strategies that are somewhat outside the norm. Without short selling and alternative asset products, an investor would become even more vulnerable to market direction.

Market Braces For More Pain

THE Australian financial market will round out its worst performance in nearly 30 years today as global equities markets become mired in bear market territory.

Ever-climbing Crude Oil Price Helps Propel Stocks For A Second Day

THE price of oil keeps creeping higher, reaching a record $US114.53 on the futures market, because investors are treating it as a financial instrument rather than a commodity.

Bears Claw Market As Inflation Fears Bite

A BEAR market rally prompted by the US Federal Reserve's intervention plan has been torpedoed as the rapidly rising oil price increases inflation fears.

Us Futures Fuel The Regional Hysteria

YESTERDAY's 7.1 per cent sharemarket slump here was part of a regional retreat that verged on the hysterical. It owed something to the fact that the US market was shut on Monday, with its futures market pointing to a 4 per cent, 500 point-plus loss.

Back In The Real Economy, A Lot Of Things Are Still Flying

ROBERT ELSTONE, who heads the Australian stock exchange and the futures exchange, has a particularly difficult and important job at the moment. He needs to ensure some kind of orderly trading in a panicked market. Yesterday's computer hardware glitch that halted trading in the futures market at a point when the equities market was in free-fall was quintessential bad timing.

Voluntary Carbon-trading Market A Step In Right Direction

THE opening of the Australian Climate Exchange isn't a breakthrough in the tortuous path towards carbon trading in this market, but it could represent a small step along that path.

Asx Plans Futures Market For Carbon Emissions

AUSTRALIAN investors won't have to wait until 2012 to know what the carbon emissions they produce will cost them.

Betting Heat Off Dragons

DRAGONS fans can rest easy with the club not weighed down by expectation and money as premiership favourites for 2007. Every year St George Illawarra are trotted out by the bookies in NRL pre-premiership markets as the team to beat. But 2007 will be different, with the Dragons only on the fourth line of betting at $11 in the first futures market published by TAB Sportsbet yesterday. The Bulldogs carry the unwanted load as favourites at $6 ahead of Melbourne at $6.50. Reigning premiers Brisbane ...

Takeover Talk Spurs Market

MARKET speculation of takeover activity in the mining sector combined with strengthening oil prices to send the Australian benchmark index up 0.7 per cent.

The Marriage Of Exchanges More Like A Licence To Print Monopoly Money

THE big investment banks have beaten a path to Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel's door in recent weeks to tell him that the Australian Stock Exchange is a share-trading monopolist that should not be allowed to unconditionally take over the the Sydney Futures Exchange and extend its reach to Australia's futures market.

This Marriage Was Not Made In Heaven

THE big investment banks have beaten a path to the door of Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel in recent weeks to tell him the Australian Stock Exchange is a share trading monopolist that should not be allowed unconditionally to take over the the Sydney Futures Exchange and extend its reach into Australia's futures market.