Live: ASX to follow Wall Street higher as US reimposes naval blockade on Iran

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Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 7:34am

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 7:34am

Market snapshot

By David Chau

ASX futures: +0.5% to 8,814 points

ASX 200 (Tuesday close): flat to 8,809 points

Australian dollar: +0.8% to 69.7 US cents

Wall Street: Dow Jones (flat), S&P 500 (+0.4%), Nasdaq Composite (+0.9%)

Europe: Stoxx 600 (+0.2%), FTSE (+0.3%)

Spot gold: +1.3% to $US4,050/ounce

Brent crude futures: +2.8% to $US85.62/barrel

WTI futures: +2.4% to $US80.02/barrel

Iron ore: -0.1% to $US99.30/tonne

Bitcoin: +3.7% to $US64,449

Prices current at around 7:25am AEST

Key Event

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 8:44am

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 8:44am

Large superannuation funds and SMSFs may have to pay compensation to investors

By David Chau

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino is looking to revamp funding for the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR), saying that large superannuation funds and people with self-managed super funds may be asked to chip in.

With more investors losing money through First Guardian and Shield investment funds, along with other high-profile cases, the CSLR was facing "huge pressure", far beyond what was originally anticipated when the scheme was established, Mr Mulino said.

Currently, the CSLR is funded by a levy on financial advisers. The Assistant Treasurer wants to widen the funding base.

He is considering a three-tier "waterfall model" where future shortfalls would be allocated based on a sector's alleged connection to the underlying losses.

There is now more than a $170 million shortfall in the amount required to fund victims making claims under CSLR.

The scheme was introduced after the banking royal commission and was designed to assist victims of financial misconduct when all other avenues for compensation have been exhausted.

For more, here's the story by Nassim Khadem:

Key Event

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 8:31am

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 8:31am

Telstra compensation process puts onus on customers, consumer body says

By David Chau

Telstra is accepting compensation claims from consumers and small businesses affected by last week's outage.

Under Australian Consumer Law services that cost less than $100,000 are generally covered by consumer guarantees, including a requirement that they be provided with due care and skill.

Businesses will need to provide evidence to support their claims.

However, Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) chief executive Carol Bennett said Telstra's process put too much responsibility on affected customers.

"I think it's wrong to put the burden of proof back on consumers and we're going down that route again," she said.

"This needs to be proactive. It needs to be real and it needs to be automatic."

For more, here's the story by Lin Lin:

Key Event

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 8:11am

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 8:11am

What would Australia's economy look like under One Nation?

By David Chau

In recent days, One Nation's treasury spokesman Barnaby Joyce has talked about the Reserve Bank and how he thinks it should behave.

And Pauline Hanson has said that she takes policy advice from Gina Rinehart, the mining billionaire, whom she considers a friend.

According to the policies on its website, One Nation wants three new coal-fired power plants built, to embrace nuclear power, ban offshore wind farms, to withdraw Australia from the Paris Agreement, and to abolish the Department of Climate Change.

It also wants to withdraw Australia from the UN Refugee Convention, cap visas at 130,000 a year to slash immigration, and deport more than 70,000 people estimated to be living in Australia unlawfully.

Last week, Liberal leader Angus Taylor made his strongest condemnation of One Nation to date, complaining that a One Nation government would lead to "eternity of pain".

"Their top four financial commitments alone could cost the budget in the order of a trillion dollars over a decade," he argued.

The four One Nation policies included in his modelling were One Nation's plan to increase defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, introduce income splitting for families, index income tax brackets to inflation, and pursue zero net migration.

For more, here's the latest column by Gareth Hutchens:

Key Event

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 7:55am

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 7:55am

The Iran war seems to be getting away from Donald Trump, says geopolitical strategist

By David Chau

The price of crude oil jumped by more than 10% yesterday on the back worsening hostilities in the Middle East and Donald Trump's since-abandoned claim that he'll charge a 20% fee for the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude futures had risen by another 2.2% to $US85.10 per barrel by 7:55am AEST.

Oil prices should climb higher as it seems the prospect of resolving the war is slipping away from the President Trump, according to a former diplomat and chief strategist of consultancy firm Geopolitical Strategy, Michael Feller.

"It's not just him who's dictating the terms. Iran has, in the parlance of international relations, escalation dominance here," he told The Business.

You can listen to his full interview with Kirsten Aiken here:

Key Event

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 7:47am

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 7:47am

Australia's highest-paid executive lives in the US and earns 500 times more than the average full-time worker

By David Chau

Australia's highest-paid executive in the last financial year was Life360 co-founder Chris Hulls, who took home almost $48 million last year.

That works out to be almost 500 times the full-time average wage.

Mr Hulls, who lives in the United States, is now Life360's executive chairman, having led the company for almost two decades and helping it achieve record results in 2025.

Aside from Mr Hulls, other US-based chief executives that topped the list included ResMed CEO Mick Farrell and News Corporation CEO Robert Thomson.

On average, CEOs of Australia's 100 largest publicly-listed companies earned about $6 million, which is 55 times more than the average wage earner in FY2025.

For more, here's the story by Nassim Khadem:

Key Event

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 7:34am

Wed 15 Jul 2026 at 7:34am

ASX to follow Wall Street higher despite rising Middle East hostilities

By David Chau

Good morning, and welcome to the ABC's finance blog. I'll be guiding you through the latest market action for the next few hours.

The Australian share market is on track to start its day about 0.5% higher, according to ASX futures.

It will probably follow a positive lead from Wall Street, which received a boost from softer-than-expected US inflation data  overnight — despite rising hostilities in the Middle East.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 52,509 points, while the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, to 7,544 points and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9%, to 26,107 points.

Middle East escalation

US forces carried out attacks for a fourth night in a row after Tehran said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz,

The US airstrikes occurred shortly before it reimposed a naval blockade on Iran's ports and coastal areas.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has abandoned his demand that ships pay a 20% protection fee on their cargo to cross the Strait of Hormuz under US military protection.

Mr Trump said the Gulf states would invest in the US as repayment instead.

This led to a sharp rise in oil prices, with Brent crude futures up by another 2.9% to $US85.72 per barrel.

Renewed attacks since last week have increased doubts that a memorandum of understanding signed last month would lead to a permanent halt in the war, which has disrupted global energy supplies and stoked inflation fears globally.

Inflation surprise

In the United States, the Consumer Price Index rose 3.5% in the year to June, which was much lower than the market's expectations for a 3.8% rise.

These new figures from the US Labor Department showed inflation cooled more than analysts expected. It was largely due to lower petrol prices amid last month's signs of progress in US-Iran peace negotiations — which have since fallen apart.

As a result, financial markets were pricing in an 83% likelihood that the US Federal Reserve will keep interest rates on hold at the conclusion of its July policy meeting, up from 58.3% on Monday.

Though markets expect at least one 25-basis-point rate hike before the end of the year, according to CME's FedWatch tool.

Anyway, please grab a coffee, tea or whatever you normally have in the morning, and I'll have more updates for you shortly!

- with reporting by Reuters