1. Biden signs new legislation concerning health, climate, and taxes
US President Joe Biden has signed a new bill called the Inflation Reduction Act, intended to reduce health costs in the US, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and raise taxes for corporations and investors in higher brackets.

“This bill is the biggest step forward on climate ever,” Mr Biden said upon signing the legislation in the White House.

“The bill, which Democrats named the Inflation Reduction Act, invests $US370 billion ($527 billion) in spending and tax credits in low-emission forms of energy to fight climate change. It extends federal health-insurance subsidies, allows the government to negotiate prescription drug prices for seniors on Medicare and is expected to reduce the federal budget deficit by about $US300 billion over 10 years,” the AFR reports.

“The legislation would increase taxes by about $US300 billion, largely by imposing new levies on big corporations. The law includes a new tax on certain corporate stock repurchases and a minimum tax on large firms that use deductions and other methods to reduce their tax bills.”

2. BlackRock makes $1bn+ battery investment in Australia
World’s largest asset manager BlackRock has announced plans to inject more than $1bn into an Australian battery project to establish 1 gigawatt of batteries across the country as the rising demand for renewables takes hold.

“The investment comes as a result of the acquisition by BlackRock Real Assets of Australian battery and renewable energy developer Akaysha Energy, which has nine projects proposed across the National Electricity Market,” the AFR reports.

“The most advanced, the $150 million Ulinda Park project in Queensland, is targeted for a final investment decision by the March quarter of 2023. It will involve a 150 megawatt battery, with two hours of storage at maximum output.”

“If you look further out, battery storage needs to be several terawatts by 2050 which creates a several trillion dollar investment opportunity, and Australia is one of the leading markets in the world for battery storage development,” said BlackRock co-head of climate infrastructure for Asia-Pacific Charlie Reid, citing estimates from the Australian Energy Market Operator of 50 GW of storage requirement in the National Electricity Market by 2050.

3. ACCC finds waste management company guilty of price fixing
Bingo Industries, a company with a monopoly in the waste management industry that was bought out last year by a Macquarie entity for $2.3bn, has pleaded guilty to price fixing for demolition waste services in Sydney in 2019.

An investigation from competition watchdog the ACCC began in December 2019 and released a statement on Tuesday that Bingo had pleaded guilty for criminal cartel offences.

“It is alleged that in mid-2019, Bingo agreed with its competitors Aussie Skips Bin Services and Aussie Skips Recycling to fix and increase prices for the supply of skip bins and the provision of waste processing services for building and demolition waste in Sydney,” the AFR reports.

“Bingo’s former managing director and chief executive Daniel Tartak has also been charged with two criminal cartel offences.

“The charges relate to alleged breaches of the cartel provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act and will be heard by the Federal Court. The maximum fine for each criminal cartel offence is $10 million or three times the total benefit which has been obtained - whichever is higher.”

4. New ANZ forecast predicts Sydney house prices to fall 14% this year
As a rising interest rate environment continues in Australia and across the globe, big four bank ANZ has forecast that Sydney house prices are set to fall up to 14% in 2022 alone, predicting a further 6% drop next year.

“ANZ’s revised housing outlook comes after the bank’s economists raised their forecast for the official cash rate to peak at 3.35 per cent by the end of the year. The revised forecasts follow ANZ’s June downgrade of a 5 per cent fall in prices nationwide this year and another 10 per cent next year,” the AFR reports.

5. ASX to continue rise
ASX futures were up 8 points or 0.11% to 7016 near 6.40am AEST, with the AUD -0.03% to 70.21 US cents.

On Wall St: Dow +0.7% S&P 500 +0.2% Nasdaq -0.2%.

In Europe: Stoxx 50 +0.4% FTSE +0.4% CAC +0.3% DAX +0.7%.

10-year yield: US 2.81% Australia 3.22%.