Reserve Bank of Australia chief Philip Lowe’s expectation of further interest-rate rises ahead has prompted economists and money markets to narrow the odds of a recession in the $1.5 trillion economy, Bloomberg News reported. There is now a better than one-in-three chance of a slump over the next 12 months, a Bloomberg survey showed, up from one-in-four late last year when Lowe signaled a rate pause was in the offing. In the US, by contrast, recession probability has begun to come down.

U.S. subsidiaries of Australian coal mining company Allegiance Coal Ltd. filed for chapter 11 protection on Tuesday, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The chapter 11 filing includes the New Elk and Black Warrior coal mines located in Colorado and Alabama, respectively, according to papers filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., by Allegiance Coal USA Ltd. The Australian parent company said last week that it is switching away from the production of thermal coal because of a decline in prices for thermal coal delivered to Europe.

Tees Valley Lithium struck a preliminary deal to supply raw materials to the preferred buyer of collapsed UK battery startup Britishvolt Ltd., Bloomberg News reported. The early-stage lithium refiner signed a memorandum of understanding to supply toll-processed lithium to Recharge Industries, which has been selected as the preferred bidder for the majority of the insolvent battery firm’s business and assets. Tees Valley plans to produce the lithium at a refinery in the northeast of England that’s set to start operation in 2025.

The Reserve Bank of Australia delivered a ninth consecutive increase in interest rates and signaled more to come, suggesting global central banks are headed down different paths as their battle with inflation enters a new phase, the Wall Street Journal reported. The latest increase of 0.25 percentage point took Australia’s benchmark interest rate to 3.35% from 3.10% and marked the first time that the RBA had tightened policy at nine straight meetings of its board. Explaining the move, ​RBA ​Gov. Philip Lowe said inflation was at its highest level in more than three decades.

Australia outlined plans to arm its officials with more tools to police the volatile crypto sector, including additional manpower for the securities regulator in the wake of the global implosion of the FTX exchange, Bloomberg News reported. The Australian Securities & Investments Commission is expanding its digital-asset team and enforcement measures, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said in a statement Friday. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission is boosting efforts to curb scams after a spate of demands for crypto ransoms.

Relentlessly rising rents, eight consecutive interest rate hikes, surging living costs and devastating natural disasters over the past few years in Australia have inflamed what was already among the world's least affordable rental markets, Reuters reported. Every state capital city is experiencing a decline in rental affordability this year, according to the annual Rental Affordability Index report published by SGS Economics and Planning.

Australian employment surged by more than three times economists’ estimates in November and unemployment held at a 48-year low, bolstering the case for the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates further in 2023, Bloomberg News reported. Government bond yields rose after the economy added 64,000 roles, trumping a forecast 19,000 gain, official data showed Thursday. The participation rate climbed to 66.8%, matching a record, while unemployment stayed at 3.4%.

After winning over some of the biggest retirement plans in the US, private credit managers have found new fertile ground for their investment pitch: Australia’s $2.3 trillion pension industry, Bloomberg News reported. Four of the top-10 pensions Down Under -- Australian Retirement Trust, HostPlus, UniSuper and Colonial First State -- are making significant increases to their private credit allocations, according to recent statements and interviews with Bloomberg News. AustralianSuper, the nation’s largest, is midway into a three-year push to triple its allocation.

Australian retail sales declined for the first time this year in October, suggesting that households are finally beginning to feel the strain of faster inflation and rising interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. Sales dropped 0.2% from September, confounding economists’ estimates for a 0.5% gain, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday. No one predicted a decline, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia coming closest, forecasting no change.