BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has turned down a request by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang for cheaper iron ore prices.
According to The Australian, during a private meeting between the Chinese leadership and foreign business leaders, Li leaned over to Mackenzie and said “lower prices, lower prices.”
“I met him privately later and he kind of said it with a cheeky grin,” Mackenzie said, insisting it was a friendly quip.
“[The] Chinese are becoming more comfortable with the way in which they get their supply from world markets. And they are more accepting about the price-setting mechanism that happens through many of the things that my predecessor (Marius Kloppers) and others have introduced.”
Heather Ridout urges states to lease assets to super funds to pay for infrastructure
Australian Super chairman and Reserve Bank Board member Heather Ridout has urged states and the federal government to follow the NSW model in leasing assets to superannuation funds in order to pay for new infrastructure.
“The model in NSW where the government makes an asset available and uses the returns on that asset to reinvest is a good one. We need leadership at the state government level and also the federal level,” Ridout said during a speech in Sydney.
“Industry funds are ideally placed to invest in infrastructure because of our relatively passive investor base compared to retail funds.”
US consumer credit grows, fails to meet analysts’ forecasts
The US Federal Reserve has released new figures showing US consumer credit grew during June, albeit by less than the amount anticipated by analysts.
The figures show total consumer instalment credit grew by $US13.8 billion to $US2.7 trillion, which was less than the $US15 billion rise tipped by analysts.
However, revolving facilities including credit cards fell by $2.7 billion, with the loss made up for in non-revolving credit, including car and student loans, which grew by $US16.5 billion.
Overnight
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down to 15470.67. The Aussie dollar is down to US 89.97 cents.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
