Daily FNArena News

A swap of businesses between AXA and Challenger, a cashed up Macquarie sniffing around, and much asset divestment opens the door for plenty of activity in this space.

Weekly musings from your editor. Banks are out, resources in. But that doesn’t necessarily mean all of them, does it?

Australian GDP came in stronger than expected for the March quarter and has caused some difference of opinion among economists with respect to the outlook for interest rates.

Write-downs in the US financial sector are not keeping pace with the increase in bad loans.

Higher fuel prices are acting as a further tax on households and this is bringing down demand, adding to the evidence of a weakening Australian economy.

The June policy statement was almost identical to May’s.

The cash rate remains at 7.25%.

New regulations are about to hit financial markets in the US and Australia, and in Australia the four pillars policy has been ratified. Good or bad?

While the “opportunistic” offer by Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments has been rejected by Just Group brokers see little reason to be in the stock given current tough operating conditions.

Barcays Capital’s monthly seasonal trends analysis shows Australian equities, commodities and the US dollar tend to struggle in June, while the euro is usually a winner.