1. The thorns in Crown

The prevailing view is that the Crown casino business in Melbourne will keep its casino licence, but could the company and the city be in for a shock? Crown Resorts is facing a Royal Commission for bad behaviour, which could mean it loses its licence to operate a casino. This would be bad for the company, its share price and its 12,500 jobs, but the business community doesn’t expect such a damaging decision. However, the AFR says Commissioner Ray Finkelstein is no yes-man, so shareholders will have to worry and wait for his imminent decision. Crown’s share price is down 23% since the Royal Commission was called.

2. NSW lockdown until mid-September?

Business won’t believe this but the NSW Government has costed the possibility of Sydney’s lockdown going out to September. The government has requested financial modelling for a lockdown of Greater Sydney that extends until mid-September, due to the severity of the outbreak. Before today, it was thought September 3 would be the worst-case scenario for the lockdown, but this news could send Australia into recession again. And this could kill the Morrison Government’s re-election chances for next year.

3. Aussie stock market set to rise again

What happened to last week’s Delta strain spooking of the stock market, with shares expected to rise again today? Stocks actually rose last week after a bad start driven by virus concerns. A positive start for the share market is expected today after Wall Street hit record highs on Friday on strong company profits and reduced Delta strain concerns. Infection cases are on the rise overseas but so are vaccination rates, which means there’s a belief that lockdowns in the US and Europe are now over. Let’s pray they’re right and our vaccine supply surprises us ASAP.

4. New London bar offers up 'puptails' for dogs

A new bar has been launched in London that is selling drinks and food for both dogs and their owners. The After Bark bar opened last month and features drinks such as a Bloodhound Mary and a Barkarita on its menu.

5. US stocks end last week higher

Wall Street followed up last Monday's big falls with four consecutive days of gains, pushing all three major indexes higher on a weekly basis. The Dow Jones was up 1.08% for the week to 35,061.55, the S&P 500 rose by 1.96% to 4,411.79 and the Nasdaq surged 2.84% to 7.394.40.