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Eric Johnston is an associate editor of The Australian. He has more than 25 years experience as a finance journalist, including a former business editor of The Australian. He has been business editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and financial services editor with The Australian Financial Review. His work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

@ejohnno

Latest

AnalysisCompanies

Is Dan Murphy’s ready for the Jayne Hrdlicka experience?

The former Virgin Australia boss is known for her take-no-prisoners management style, but will this celebrity CEO have the freedom she needs to revive the liquor retailer?

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

James Hardie Industries NV fiber cement sheeting is stacked in the warehouse of the company's distribution center in Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., said third-quarter earnings fell 56 percent amid the worst housing slump since the Great Depression. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg News

James Hardie still lumbered with high-priced deal

A costly acquisition has exposed bigger tensions in the running of a company that left Australia years ago.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryEconomics

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos APRIL 07:Treasurer Jim Chalmers addresses the media in a press conference in Sydney. Photo by Gaye Gerard / NewsWire

Big banks and states have most to fear from loss of ‘AAA’

Australia is a member of this exclusive financial club. The US doesn’t make it and the UK is not even close. Being stripped will be felt right through the economy.

Eric Johnston

CourtsFinancial Services

NZ’s ‘extraordinary’ move delivers Aussie banks big legal win

A move impacting the nation’s biggest class action signals a much closer relationship between business and PM Chris Luxon.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryEconomics

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA- NewsWire Photos APRIL 23, 2025: The treasurers debate between Treasurer Jim Chalmers (pictured) for Labor and Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor for the Coalitiion. Picture: NewsWire/ David Crosling

Business forced to play long game over economic leadership

The Trump-induced trade crisis is another missed opportunity for much-needed economic reform and business leaders see nothing in Australia’s current leadership to give them confidence for change.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

The Lynas Rare Earths Ltd. processing plant in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, on Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. Lynas, the only key supplier of the critical minerals outside China, has won further financial backing from Washington to build a plant in the US. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Albanese’s woolly pricing signals on critical minerals

Just like the great wool stockpile of the 1990s, a mountain of government-owned rare earths can do more damage to a fragile market.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryMarkets

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos MARCH 15, 2024: General vision of the ASX on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Stock pickers come out second best in Trump’s wild ride

Hedge funds were torched, and long fund managers underwhelmed, adding to the pressure stock pickers find themselves under.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryTechnology

Musk flips the switch to Tesla rescue mission

Billionaire Elon Musk says he’ll have more time for Tesla and pushing for lower tariffs as he scrambles to move from MAGA waste slasher, back to a visionary tech boss. But is it too late?

Eric Johnston

CommentaryEconomics

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 21: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on April 21, 2025 in New York City. After another volatile week on Wall Street, the Dow closed down Monday at over 900 points. Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by SPENCER PLATT / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Pivot point as Macquarie calls time on stocks and bonds

If there was a moment of crisis for stocks and bonds, and a nod to the rise of dark markets, it must be now as Macquarie walks away from $285bn-plus under management on Wall Street.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryEconomics

Australian Treasury former secretary Dr Ken Henry at the first day of the Forest Economics Congress at Mona in November 2023. Photo: Mona/Jesse Hunniford

Behind Ken Henry’s plan to tap markets to save the forests

In order to survive, Australia’s timber industry needs to get bigger and much smarter, the former Treasury boss says.

Eric Johnston

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/eric-johnston/page/8