Australia could face its first recession in almost 25 years unless authorities further stimulate the economy, Morgan Stanley said. The nation’s economy will expand just 1.9 percent in 2015, with 1.5 percentage points of that coming from higher exports, and unemployment will climb to 6.8 percent, Morgan Stanley economists led by Daniel Blake said in a research report today. They project the currency will fall to 76 U.S. cents by the end of next year from 87.37 cents at 11:10 a.m. in Sydney.

Iron-ore junior Pluton Resources is battling receivership after junior Chinese creditor Rizhao Port Group appointed receivers and managers, prompting fellow-listed Watpac to suspend an existing mining services contract at the Cockatoo Island project, Mining Weekly reported. Pluto told shareholders on Monday that the receivers and its solicitors had refused the company’s requests for details of the appointment.

Multiple major client losses have forced Sumo Visual Group, one of Australia’s biggest retail signage printers, into administration, only six months after making a big kit investment, ProPrint reported. The $30m-a-year 60-staff company with operations in Melbourne and Sydney entered voluntary administration on Tuesday under PPB Advisory. Sources close to the company say a big retail client recently jumped ship to a competitor while another switched out the vast majority of its work, and resulting cashflow issues led to the printer’s predicament.

Australian central bank officials said possible steps to cool the nation’s housing market wouldn’t necessarily be limited to investor lending curbs.

Plunging iron ore prices have dealt their first blow in Australia, sending fledgling miner Western Desert Resources Ltd into administration after it failed to reach a deal with bankers over its debt, Reuters reported. Western Desert was caught out by a move by the world's top four iron ore producers to flood the market with low-cost supply, outpacing Chinese demand growth for the steel-making ingredient and slashing iron ore prices by 38 percent this year.

Australia has stepped up scrutiny of the tax practices of multinationals suspected of using complex accounting arrangements to minimize their liabilities, The Wall Street Journal reported. Tony Abbott's conservative government Thursday ordered aggressive audits and detailed investigations into their accounting, aiming to set an example for other wealthy nations at a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers in Cairns later this month.

Qantas Airways Ltd reported its biggest ever financial loss on Thursday after writing a hefty A$2.6 billion (1.45 billion pounds) off the value of its fleet due to a company restructure, Reuters reported. Australia's national flag carrier attempted to reassure investors after a turbulent few years, saying the worst was now behind it and that it expected a return to underlying profit growth in the first half of the current financial year.

The boss of failed airline Air Australia has returned to the travel sector in a senior management role despite being banned by the corporate regulator over conduct that critics claimed wreaked "havoc" in the industry, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission last year disqualified Michael James from managing corporations for three years for failing to act with care and diligence in the lead-up to the spectacular collapse of the airline in February, 2012.

Australia’s jobless rate has climbed to its highest level in 12 years, underlining the challenges faced by an economy in transition following the end of a decade-long mining investment boom, the Financial Times reported today. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate unexpectedly jumped to 6.4 percent in July, from 6 per cent in June, reflecting an increase in the number of people looking for work and a small drop in the number of people employed.

An estimated 114 building and construction-related companies have gone to the wall in Canberra since the start of last year, leaving behind more than $80 million in debts, Australian Securities and Investments Commission data has revealed, The Canberra Times reported. With the downturn in the building, home improvement and renovation sector expected to worsen as public servants remain uncertain about their futures, ACT insolvency specialists say the snowballing "tsunami" of economic pain documented in wind-up notices on the ASIC website won’t end soon.