Perth-based conglomerate Wesfarmers will almost
double capital spending this year to $909 million as its looks to
capitalise on the mining boom by boosting coal exports and ammonium
nitrate output for explosives, reports The Australian. Wesfarmers posted a 9% rise in
underlying full-year profit to $618.3 million – slightly below market
expectations. The result was unmistakably strong but owed a lot
to the resources boom, says Elizabeth Knight in the SMH. But it’s too simple to suggest that this is a company that
flukes performance because it just happens to have the right assets
at the right time. It builds and churns investments and in between manages them
carefully.

When Telstra unveils its full-year results tomorrow, the first
thing analysts will do is look at its fixed-line revenue numbers,
and the second will be to check its mobiles division revenue and
margins, says Stephen Bartholomeusz in The Age. Both are expected to be under pressure.

The Fin Review reports that Qantas has put a $10 billion price tag
on critical upgrades of its aging aircraft fleet and revealed it has
cut almost 200 managers as part of a continuing review of operations. And the national carrier is looking at another wave of
significant changes as it accelerates its efficiency drive to further
reduce non-fuel unit costs by 5% annually and slashes
management by 15%, reports The Oz.

Also in the AFR, strong global competition and a firm
Australian dollar have helped limit the effect of rising oil prices on
local inflation. But why is inflation so benign? Oil is not as
important to consumer prices as many people imagine and the rising
world oil price is part of a wider “China” phenomenon helping push down
other prices at the same time, says David Bassanese.

On Wall Street, US stocks closed sharply higher overnight, after the
Federal Reserve put in place a widely expected 0.25%
rate hike in the federal funds rate and signalled that more increases are in
store. The Dow Jones closed up 78.74 points at 10,615 – MarketWatch has a full report here.