Latest news with #NationalAustraliaBank
West Australian
6 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Number of businesses reporting labour shortage as a constraint still high relative to pre-COVID levels: NAB
The number of businesses reporting labour availability as a major headache to their operations fell again in the June quarter, but it still higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. National Australia Bank on Thursday said the share of businesses reporting significant constraints from labour, sales, premises and material was either unchanged or declined in the second quarter. While labour shortages were becoming less of an issue, the number of businesses reporting it as a significant challenge was still high relative to pre-COVID levels. The survey results comes as the Australian Bureau of Statistics the same day revealed the nation's jobless rate ticked up to 4.3 per cent in June, up from 4.1 per cent in May in a sign the employment market has cooled. In its latest survey, NAB said business conditions in the three months to the end of June eased to their lowest level since the third quarter of 2020. Falls in trading and employment components were the main drivers, while profitability remained weak. By industry, conditions fell most in finance and retail. There were notable gains in mining, as well as transport, business services and property. Conditions eased for businesses in NSW, while there were small falls recorded in Queensland and SA. Conditions nudged up in WA but remained in negative territory. Business confidence rose in the June quarter to hit the best reading recorded since late 2022. The lift was broad-based — with the biggest gains reported in mining, finance construction and transport. Wage costs were again the top issue impacting business confidence, followed by pressure on margins. NAB last week reported businesses were showing signs of a revival after a rocky start to 2025, with conditions in June rebounding sharply to its highest level in over a year.
AU Financial Review
6 days ago
- Business
- AU Financial Review
Why there's so much at stake for NAB and its CEO Andrew Irvine
National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Irvine is the second most experienced boss of a big four bank. He's also been in the job for just 15 months. The share price gains posted by NAB and Australia's other banks in recent times have been so stunning – NAB's stock has risen 54 per cent in the past two years, and Commonwealth Bank has dragged the ASX 200 bank index up almost 20 per cent in the past 12 months – that you can almost forget just how much change we've had at the top.
Zawya
7 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Asia shares struggle, dollar soars on lowered Fed rate cut bets
TOKYO: Asian stock markets were under pressure on Wednesday while the dollar climbed to its firmest against the yen since early April, after U.S. inflation suggested tariffs are pushing prices up, dampening expectations for Federal Reserve policy easing. U.S. Treasury yields ticked to the highest in more than a month, lifting the dollar against the yen in particular. However, tech shares remained resilient following a 4% rally in artificial-intelligence darling Nvidia overnight. Brent crude continued to hover around $69 per barrel. Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3% in June, in line with forecasts, but the largest gain since January. Economists attributed the rise in prices across goods such as coffee and home furnishings to the Trump administration's escalating import tariffs. The Fed has been keeping interest rates steady as it has waited for indications of the inflationary impact from tariffs, which Chair Jerome Powell had said he expected in the summer. "We know the revealed preference of Fed Chair Powell, along with a few of his colleagues, is to wait for these tariff impacts to come through, and those in that camp are seeing that view bolstered by this data," Taylor Nugent, senior economist at National Australia Bank, said in a podcast. As a result, markets saw "a fairly significant trimming of Fed expectations" for rate cuts, Nugent said. Traders currently price in 43 basis points of rate reductions for the rest of this year, with 56.5% odds of a quarter-point cut in September. Investors will now carefully monitor producer price data due later on Wednesday, looking for signs of whether inflationary pressures are also building on the factory floor. Australia's equity benchmark South Korea's KOSPI each lost around 0.6% as of 0127 GMT. Mainland Chinese blue chips slipped 0.1%. Japan's tech- and exporter-heavy Nikkei was flat after alternating between small gains and losses, supported by both Nvidia's fortunes and the weak yen. Taiwan's benchmark added 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.8%, adding to Tuesday's 1.6% tech-driven rally. U.S. S&P 500 futures eased 0.2%, after a 0.4% decline for the cash index overnight. Beyond the Fed and U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, the earnings season is another focal point for investors. Results from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup beat expectations, but were met with a mixed market response. Wells Fargo cut its 2025 net interest income guidance even as it beat second-quarter profit expectations. Bank earnings due on Wednesday include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose as high as 4.495% on Wednesday, the highest since June 11. The dollar stuck close to a multi-week high against major peers. The dollar index was little changed at 98.545 after rising as high as 98.699 on Tuesday for the first time since June 23. The U.S. currency was steady at 148.785 yen, and earlier rose to 149.04 for the first time since April 3, in the aftermath of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement. The euro edged up 0.1% to $1.1612, trying to pull away from Tuesday's three-week low of $1.1593. Cryptocurrency bitcoin added about 1% to $117,696, as it stabilised following its 6% pullback earlier this week from Monday's all-time high at $123,153.22. Gold added 0.3% to around $3,332. Brent crude futures fell 5 cents to $69.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 9 cents to $66.89 a barrel. Both contracts settled more than $1 lower in the previous session.
Reuters
7 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Asia shares struggle, dollar soars on lowered Fed rate cut bets
TOKYO, July 16 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets were under pressure on Wednesday while the dollar climbed to its firmest against the yen since early April, after U.S. inflation suggested tariffs are pushing prices up, dampening expectations for Federal Reserve policy easing. U.S. Treasury yields ticked to the highest in more than a month, lifting the dollar against the yen in particular. However, tech shares remained resilient following a 4% rally in artificial-intelligence darling Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab overnight. Brent crude continued to hover around $69 per barrel. Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3% in June, in line with forecasts, but the largest gain since January. Economists attributed the rise in prices across goods such as coffee and home furnishings to the Trump administration's escalating import tariffs. The Fed has been keeping interest rates steady as it has waited for indications of the inflationary impact from tariffs, which Chair Jerome Powell had said he expected in the summer. "We know the revealed preference of Fed Chair Powell, along with a few of his colleagues, is to wait for these tariff impacts to come through, and those in that camp are seeing that view bolstered by this data," Taylor Nugent, senior economist at National Australia Bank, said in a podcast. As a result, markets saw "a fairly significant trimming of Fed expectations" for rate cuts, Nugent said. Traders currently price in 43 basis points of rate reductions for the rest of this year, with 56.5% odds of a quarter-point cut in September. Investors will now carefully monitor producer price data due later on Wednesday, looking for signs of whether inflationary pressures are also building on the factory floor. Australia's equity benchmark (.AXJO), opens new tab South Korea's KOSPI (.KS11), opens new tab each lost around 0.6% as of 0127 GMT. Mainland Chinese blue chips (.CSI300), opens new tab slipped 0.1%. Japan's tech- and exporter-heavy Nikkei (.N225), opens new tab was flat after alternating between small gains and losses, supported by both Nvidia's fortunes and the weak yen. Taiwan's benchmark (.TWII), opens new tab added 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng (.HSI), opens new tab jumped 0.8%, adding to Tuesday's 1.6% tech-driven rally. U.S. S&P 500 futures eased 0.2%, after a 0.4% decline for the cash index (.SPX), opens new tab overnight. Beyond the Fed and U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, the earnings season is another focal point for investors. Results from JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab and Citigroup (C.N), opens new tab beat expectations, but were met with a mixed market response. Wells Fargo (WFC.N), opens new tab cut its 2025 net interest income guidance even as it beat second-quarter profit expectations. Bank earnings due on Wednesday include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose as high as 4.495% on Wednesday, the highest since June 11. The dollar stuck close to a multi-week high against major peers. The dollar index was little changed at 98.545 after rising as high as 98.699 on Tuesday for the first time since June 23. The U.S. currency was steady at 148.785 yen , and earlier rose to 149.04 for the first time since April 3, in the aftermath of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement. The euro edged up 0.1% to $1.1612, trying to pull away from Tuesday's three-week low of $1.1593. Cryptocurrency bitcoin added about 1% to $117,696, as it stabilised following its 6% pullback earlier this week from Monday's all-time high at $123,153.22. Gold added 0.3% to around $3,332. Brent crude futures fell 5 cents to $69.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 9 cents to $66.89 a barrel. Both contracts settled more than $1 lower in the previous session.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Asia shares struggle, dollar soars on lowered Fed rate cut bets
By Kevin Buckland TOKYO (Reuters) -Asian stock markets were under pressure on Wednesday while the dollar climbed to its firmest against the yen since early April, after U.S. inflation suggested tariffs are pushing prices up, dampening expectations for Federal Reserve policy easing. U.S. Treasury yields ticked to the highest in more than a month, lifting the dollar against the yen in particular. However, tech shares remained resilient following a 4% rally in artificial-intelligence darling Nvidia overnight. Brent crude continued to hover around $69 per barrel. Data on Tuesday showed U.S. consumer prices rose 0.3% in June, in line with forecasts, but the largest gain since January. Economists attributed the rise in prices across goods such as coffee and home furnishings to the Trump administration's escalating import tariffs. The Fed has been keeping interest rates steady as it has waited for indications of the inflationary impact from tariffs, which Chair Jerome Powell had said he expected in the summer. "We know the revealed preference of Fed Chair Powell, along with a few of his colleagues, is to wait for these tariff impacts to come through, and those in that camp are seeing that view bolstered by this data," Taylor Nugent, senior economist at National Australia Bank, said in a podcast. As a result, markets saw "a fairly significant trimming of Fed expectations" for rate cuts, Nugent said. Traders currently price in 43 basis points of rate reductions for the rest of this year, with 56.5% odds of a quarter-point cut in September. Investors will now carefully monitor producer price data due later on Wednesday, looking for signs of whether inflationary pressures are also building on the factory floor. Australia's equity benchmark South Korea's KOSPI each lost around 0.6% as of 0127 GMT. Mainland Chinese blue chips slipped 0.1%. Japan's tech- and exporter-heavy Nikkei was flat after alternating between small gains and losses, supported by both Nvidia's fortunes and the weak yen. Taiwan's benchmark added 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.8%, adding to Tuesday's 1.6% tech-driven rally. U.S. S&P 500 futures eased 0.2%, after a 0.4% decline for the cash index overnight. Beyond the Fed and U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs, the earnings season is another focal point for investors. Results from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup beat expectations, but were met with a mixed market response. Wells Fargo cut its 2025 net interest income guidance even as it beat second-quarter profit expectations. Bank earnings due on Wednesday include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose as high as 4.495% on Wednesday, the highest since June 11. The dollar stuck close to a multi-week high against major peers. The dollar index was little changed at 98.545 after rising as high as 98.699 on Tuesday for the first time since June 23. The U.S. currency was steady at 148.785 yen, and earlier rose to 149.04 for the first time since April 3, in the aftermath of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement. The euro edged up 0.1% to $1.1612, trying to pull away from Tuesday's three-week low of $1.1593. Cryptocurrency bitcoin added about 1% to $117,696, as it stabilised following its 6% pullback earlier this week from Monday's all-time high at $123,153.22. Gold added 0.3% to around $3,332. Brent crude futures fell 5 cents to $69.16 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 9 cents to $66.89 a barrel. Both contracts settled more than $1 lower in the previous session. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
