US-Iran ceasefire collapses; Qantas most punctual airline; housing market bounces
Published: July 12, 2026
US-Iran ceasefire collapses; Qantas most punctual airline; housing market bounces
News in brief
The national auction market has bounced, slightly, with the combined capitals preliminary auction clearance rate pushing back to 55 per cent, the highest early clearance rate in seven weeks. But the housing market isn’t anything to get too excited about given it has been under 50pc for the past three weeks.
Millions of Australians should hand over control of their home batteries to support the national grid at critical times if Australia is to avoid major cost blowouts in its multi-billion-dollar transition away from coal, according to the ACCC.
Tens of thousands of food delivery drivers and riders will see their pay jump by 25 per cent under a landmark decision by the Fair Work Commission that clears the way for higher minimum pay rates for Uber and DoorDash workers from August 10.
The world’s boom stock, Nvidia, has fallen more than ten per cent since its all-time high in May. In the past two months, Nvidia had lost $US1 trillion in market value, and while it gained over the weekend, investors are concerned about much tougher competition in the microchip market.
Fear-o-meter
Financial markets are in for a rocky week, with oil prices likely to come under upward pressure as a result of the fighting in the Middle East.
Futures trading suggests the local market will open higher, but that was before the latest outbreak. The Aussie dollar is likely to come under more pressure, as will gold prices.
It should have been different.
On Friday night, Australian time, investors piled into South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix after it debuted on Wall Street and finished up 13 per cent. It was among the mostly highly anticipated debuts all year.
That should have helped global equity markets, but the uncertainty in the Middle East is undermining the confidence.
Fear & Greed Q+A today
On the week ahead for the economy, including updates on consumer sentiment and business confidence, as well as Stephen's take on the latest forecasts for weakening growth with stubborn inflation:
"A bad thing about an economy is if you do get sluggish growth but inflation doesn't fall. We economists, the dismal scientists if you like, will tolerate weak growth if it leads to lower inflation. You'll sort of say that's the medicine the economy needs. It's not great when the economy weakens and unemployment goes up, but if there's a trade-off and we get lower inflation, we might have to take that.
But when you don't get that inflation rate falling back to target, you think, well, what are we having a weak economy for? That's the dilemma. [RBA Deputy Governor] Andrew Hauser has mentioned that the Reserve Bank's worst nightmare is that the economy slows down but inflation doesn't fall."
The ceasefire between the US and Iran appears to have collapsed after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, and a fresh wave of strikes by the United States.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps blamed US "aggression", and within hours of the US strikes, Iran said it had hit a US base in Jordan, while the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain were all responding to missiles and drones from Iran.
US Central Command said it has launched a third round of strikes after Iran "blatantly attacked" a Cyprus-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel was unable to continue and its crew ended up in a lifeboat.
It comes after incidents last week in which three commercial tankers were attacked, prompting an exchange of strikes with the US. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in a statement, said: "Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay."
Greed-o-meter
| Rank | Airline | Flights on time % | Cancellation rate % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qantas Airways | 87.16 | 1.59 |
| 2 | Avianca | 87.00 | 0.97 |
| 3 | IndiGo | 86.64 | 0.20 |
| 4 | SAS Scandinavian Airlines | 83.65 | 2.04 |
| 5 | Pegasus Airlines | 83.10 | 0.26 |
| 6 | Azul Airlines | 81.92 | 2.54 |
| 7 | LATAM Airlines Group | 81.73 | 1.34 |
| 8 | Delta Air Lines | 81.32 | 1.43 |
| 9 | China Southern Airlines | 80.89 | 0.31 |
| 10 | Alaska Airlines | 80.38 | 0.76 |
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Qantas has been named the world's most punctual major airline in June. It landed more than 87 per cent of its 22,617 flights on time (which is within 15 minutes of schedule). It's a big improvement on three years ago, when Qantas was ranked 106th. The airline's use of artificial intelligence and data has improved turnaround times, while its $15 billion fleet transformation is starting to yield results.
Listen to today's episode 🎧
Source: OAG, reported in The Australian
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