SunCable’s Australia-Asia Power Link project in the remote Northern Territory has received crucial approval from the Commonwealth government.

The company (owned by tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes) plans to build a 10 gigawatt, 12,400-hectare solar farm near Elliott and transport electricity to Darwin via an 800-kilometre overhead transmission line, then on to Singapore through a subsea cable.

The project was assessed and approved by Tanya Plibersek, minister for the environment and water, under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC).

It paves the way for the next phase of development to deliver industrial-scale electricity to customers.

For more, here’s the story by Lucia Stein:

Insurance Australia Group has reported a strong profit and massively increased its dividend.

Its annual net profit rose 7.9% to $898 million (a figure which takes into account IAG’s earnings and costs across all its divisions).

But when looking exclusively at its ‘insurance profit‘, that jumped 79.1% to $1.44 billion.

One reason why IAG’s insurance profit was so high was because it paid out less than it had budgeted for.

The company said its natural perils costs were $983 million (which was significantly below the $1.1 billion it had planned to pay out).

IAG will also pay its shareholders a final dividend of 17 cents per share (which is an 89% increase on last year).

The company’s many insurance brands include NRMA, RACV and CGU.

Australians are struggling to keep pace with the cost of living, with some essentials becoming increasingly out of reach.

The spotlight on the supermarket industry this year has seen the federal government commit to making the Food and Grocery Code mandatory.

This will see large supermarket chains fined for mistreating suppliers and was one of the recommendations made after an independent review by former Labor minister Craig Emerson.

The move was backed by the senate committee on supermarket prices, which handed down its report in May.

However, that committee fell short of deciding whether to allow the federal court to break up supermarket monopolies.

Another inquiry being led by the ACCC, which is focusing on competition in the industry and how items are priced, will release its final report next year.

For more, here’s the story by Claudia Wiliams:

Online retailers are battling higher distribution costs and bumping delivery charges as a result.

Shippit’s data shows the number of retailers offering free deliveries has dropped by 11% over five years, and the amount customers have to spend to get ‘free shipping’ has soared.

Brands that have upped shipping costs or thresholds recently include Chemist Warehouse, David Jones and The Iconic. Other retailers like Asos have also dumped their free returns policy.

For more, here’s the lastest story by Emilia Terzon:

Beijing’s attempts to ‘fire up’ its post-COVID economy have led to an oversupply of steel.

With China’s property prices falling for much of the past three years, and construction activity remaining sluggish, there are concerns Australia’s biggest trading partner will not require as much iron ore.

Federal Treasury analysis has revealed the budget will take a $3 billion hit over four years if prices continue to tumble. 

If you want to hear a simple explanation (and have three minutes to spare), here’s a report that I filmed for The Business:

A prolonged downturn in China’s property market will have significant flow-on effects for the Australian government’s finances and the local steel industry, economists have warned.

The Asian superpower’s real estate sector was seen as a pillar of economic growth until 2020 when China instituted some of the world’s harshest and longest COVID-19 lockdown measures.

Last year, Australia shipped $136 billion worth of iron ore overseas, with most of that going to the Chinese market, data from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) revealed.

But the prosperity Australia has enjoyed as a result of China’s insatiable appetite for iron ore may be under threat — if the price of the steel-making ingredient drops a lot further.

At the start of this week, iron ore fell to around $US90 per tonne (its lowest level since the year began).

But the good news is that prices have since rebounded to around $US96 per tonne (but is still down about 30% since January).

For more on this, here’s the story that I wrote with Lucia Stein:

Prices current around 7:20am AEST

Good morning! I’ll be here to guide you through the latest finance and economic news.

The Australian share market is set to open lower,  snapping its eight-day winning streak.

It comes after a cautious session on Wall Street, which fell after eight straight days of gains (so investors thought it was a good idea to take profits while they were still ahead)!

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 fell by around 0.2% each, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3%.

But the biggest winner overnight was gold, after its spot price climbed to a record high of $US2,531.60.

Gold was propped up by a weaker US dollar as markets are increasingly certain the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September.

Meanwhile, the lower greenback boosted the Australian dollar to 67.5 US cents.

This week is relatively quiet as there isn’t much market-moving economic data.

The big event will be the huge gathering of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, symposium at the end of the week.

The key speaker will be US Fed chairman Jerome Powell (and markets will be seeing whether he provides any clues on where American interest rates are headed in the months ahead).

Locally, several companies will announce their financial results today including Santos, Breville Group, Insurance Australia Group, Domino’s Pizza, WiseTech Global and Scentre Group.