Stephen Bartholomeusz
Stephen Bartholomeusz is one of Australia’s most respected business journalists. He was most recently co-founder and associate editor of the Business Spectator website and an associate editor and senior columnist at The Australian.
Opinion
Inside China
China’s $217 billion attempt to stimulate a sluggish economy
China has announced spending that will make its budget deficit the largest in 30 years. It’s the biggest attempt yet to lift a weak growth rate that is threatening Xi Jinping’s long-term ambitions.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Latest
Opinion
Energy
China’s slowdown and the looming glut of fossil fuels
The International Energy Agency predicts peak demand for oil, gas and coal within this decade. It would be grim news for major fossil fuel exporters like Australia.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Interest rates
The world’s most important interest rate sounds a warning
The yield on US 10-year government bonds briefly hit 5 per cent on Monday for the first time since 2007, a level that could threaten the prices of property and shares.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
AI
China-US AI tensions take another turn for the worse
After the US announced tighter restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductors to China last week, China has responded by introducing export controls on graphite, a critical material used in the batteries of electric vehicles.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Inside China
China may meet its growth targets, thanks to last year’s misery
China’s economy is showing modest momentum, but the baggage it will carry into next year and beyond threatens to thwart its ambition of toppling the US as the world’s largest economy.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Oil
The $93b deal that could redefine the future of oil
ExxonMobil is buying Pioneer Natural Resources, a major US shale oil and gas producer. Will that add to global emissions or could it, perhaps, even lower them?
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Inside China
Another Chinese property giant is teetering on the brink
Country Garden, China’s largest property developer with four times as many projects under way as embattled Evergrande, faces its moment of reckoning this week.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
World markets
Markets aren’t (yet) being moved by the threat of a broader Middle East conflict
With the conflict between Israel and Hamas about to escalate, investors appear more preoccupied with domestic issues than the prospect that the conflict could draw in other parties.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Trade wars
Is this the end of globalisation, or is world trade just changing shape?
It is too early to tell whether the ugly flare-up in the Middle East will add to the prospect of a “de-globalisation” of trade and geopolitics.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Oil
There’s an uneasy calm in the oil market
The potential for Iran to be drawn into the Hamas-Israel war and the pressure on the US and its allies to tighten Russian sanctions could spell turmoil for energy prices.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz
Opinion
Inside China
Is the world’s most indebted property developer about to topple?
Foreign creditors warn that without debt restructuring China Evergrande could collapse, with dire consequences for other distressed companies in China’s property sector.
- by Stephen Bartholomeusz