Tim Treadgold

Andrew Forrest and Gina Rinehart will need to wait a while for their dairy investments to deliver a return, according to a recent analysis of the sector.

At first glance, the planned $600 million expansion of Perth’s Karrinyup Shopping Centre seems to run counter to the relentless march of internet retailing, especially as a fresh report predicts that 50 per cent of all retail sales will be made over the internet in less than 10 years.

As grim as the iron ore outlook appears for some of WA’s smaller miners, the state government, too, stands to lose out amid the sector’s upheaval.

It might be bold to suggest that Andrew Forrest consider a career change, but as his fortune shrinks and as his iron ore business struggles in a flooded market, there is a nickel deal to be done that could be a lot more fun than playing the role of fading star.

India looms as a possible economic saviour for Australia as Chinese growth plateaus.

You don’t need to listen too closely to hear the pips squeaking in Western Australia’s iron ore lemon after a week-long debate about the state’s most important industry, which appears to be heading for a crisis that will hit companies and governments in equal measure.

Tensions between WA’s major iron ore producers and their smaller competitors will be on show at a major conference this week.

It is a long time since Western Australia had its own finance industry and while shadow banking, the hottest game in the money world, could be just another fad that fades as quickly as it has grown, there is the potential for home-grown finance to make a return to Perth.

If other codes’ recent TV rights deals are anything to go by, the AFL could be in for a significant revenue growth.

If in doubt that we really are sailing in unchartered economic waters, consider one number; it’s a big number, but the estimated $US2 trillion invested around the world in government and corporate bonds that carry a negative interest rate paints a very disturbing picture.

Everything old seems to be new again in the resources sector, with a number of old projects being rebirthed under new management.

Following the money is always the best way to see what interests a rich man because it tells you two things – what he likes as an investment for future growth, and what he sees as having reached the limits of growth.

Yield hunters are ignoring warning signs from the ‘real’ economy, pushing share prices for some major stocks higher.

Rio Tinto’s strong profit reported earlier today will please investors in one of state’s biggest employers, though the big miner’s fresh round of job shedding is a warning shot across the bows of the Western Australian economy, with more warning shots likely to be fired over the next 12 days.

The problems for BHP Billiton’s management team didn't start with the South32 proposal, but that plan has brought things to a head.

Australia’s latest political crisis, the potential dumping next week of the prime minister, Tony Abbott, is masking a far greater threat to the country – a fresh outbreak of the GFC caused by the dramatic build-up of private and public debt.

Cost wins out above all other considerations in the search for efficiency, which is why a strengthening US dollar could pose challenges for Caterpillar.

Fortescue Metals Group surprised investors earlier today with a better-than-expected December quarter production report, but that should not stop speculation that it could be a key player in Western Australia’s deal of the decade.

As is the case with most wars, there’s never agreement on who fired the first shot; not that it really matters in a hot war or the currency front, which is rapidly engulfing the world and should soon involve action by Australia.

Successfully doing business in India involves navigating a labyrinthine world usually impenetrable to outsiders.

It might seem unimportant to know exactly why copper has been added to the list of sick commodities, but if it is more than a fright over excess supply and slack demand then we could be on the verge of a rerun of the GFC.

In theory, and it is a theory backed by some high-powered research, shares in Australian oil and gas companies such as Woodside Petroleum and Santos have much further to fall, a fact which prompts a question: why haven’t they already fallen further?

There’s cautious optimism things could start to head in the right direction next year after a shocker in 2014.

Apart from a few brilliant authors and composers, not much good has ever come out of Russia; and unless there is a sharp improvement in the outlook for that country it could drag the rest of the world, including Australia, into a crisis to rival that of 2008.

Small iron ore miners operating in a $70/t environment are struggling, but in a different way so are the majors battling to satisfy investor expectations.

Until a few weeks ago, Australia’s 20,000 investment advisers and their associates in stock broking firms and banks probably thought they had jobs for life; but that was before the Commonwealth Bank advisers’ scandal and the latest threat – internet-powered advice.

London may seem like an odd place to be picking over the entrails of the world’s resources industries, but the title of the Mines and Money conference says it all, really.

It is probably foolish to suggest that some of Australia’s richest people are making a mistake by investing in the latest banking fad – peer-to-peer lending.

The stubbornly high currency is widely expected to slide below US70 cents, with upside for some sectors and pain for others.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries may not be dead, but it is on life support – a status that contains a mixed message for Western Australia, as part of the state’s economy will benefit from potentially lower fuel prices while another part will likely be damaged.

The iron ore majors’ move to flood the market may see off their small rivals, but a bigger opponent looms large.

It’s not easy to feel sympathy for Perth’s super-rich as they watch their fortunes shrink, but the problems of Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest, Kerry Stokes, Angela Bennett and Stan Perron are a powerful pointer to the problems facing everyone in Western Australia.