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Alan Greenspan, former chair of the board of the governors of the Federal Reserve System, died on Monday at the age of 100 years old, according to a statement from his wife Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent.

”Alan passed away at our home this morning at the age of 100 from complications of Parkinson’s Disease,” Mitchell said in the statement.

“He was a giant of a man who helped shape the U.S. economy for decades under presidents of both parties, but was always honest in acknowledging his mistakes,” she continued. “To me he was my husband, who shaped my life from our very first date in 1984. “

Alan Greenspan Visits “The Daily Briefing” at Fox News Channel Studios on October 17, 2018 in New York City.  ( Steven Ferdman/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“He had ‘irrational exuberance’ for baseball, the Washington Commanders, tennis, golf and music, especially jazz. He will be remembered for his brilliance and his kindness,” Mitchell noted. “Being his life partner was the joy of my life.”

Fox Business Network’s Edward Lawrence contributed to this report

BIGBANG’s Daesung and KARA’s Hur Youngji have denied dating rumors. Recently, dating rumors between the two surfaced when they were spotted appearing close at MAMAMOO’s concert.

Where the Rumors Started

The speculation began after the two were photographed sitting near each other at the concert, with Daesung seated alongside Hur Youngji and Oh My Girl’s Hyojong among the attendees. A social media post sharing photos from the event quickly drew widespread attention, with fans noting the pair appeared close and cozy while looking at a phone together before the concert began.

The moment took on added significance for longtime fans given a previous on-air comment. Daesung has interacted with both idols on his YouTube show, however fans recalled that after Youngji’s appearance on the program, fellow BIGBANG member Taeyang had commented that the two would “hit it off.” Comments on the resurfaced video also playfully “shipped” the two together based on their interactions, with many online joking that the pair appeared to be on a “date.”

The Agency’s Response

In response to the rumors, a source from Daesung’s agency R&D Company clarified the nature of the relationship. “They became closer after ‘ZIP DAESUNG,’ and they went to watch MAMAMOO’s concert together. They are just close peers, and the dating rumors are not true,” the representative said.

A separate statement to CBS Nocut News offered a similarly direct denial, with a representative from Daesung’s agency describing the two as simply “close colleagues,” quickly shutting down speculation about a romantic relationship.

How They First Met

The connection between Daesung and Youngji traces back to her appearance on his variety program. Previously, Hur Youngji starred on an episode of Daesung’s YouTube program “ZIP DAESUNG,” which marked the beginning of their relationship as friends and colleagues in the industry.

Daesung’s Recent Activities

The dating speculation arrives during an especially active period for Daesung professionally. In April, BIGBANG took the stage at Coachella as a full group — G-DRAGON, Taeyang, and Daesung together — for the first time, a set that doubled as the opening signal for the group’s 20th-anniversary world tour.

Youngji’s Upcoming Projects

Heo Youngji, for her part, has also been keeping active on the variety front. She’s set to appear as a storyteller on the reality-based thriller talk show “The Psychopath I Met,” premiering July 12, giving her a notable new platform separate from her music career with KARA.

A History of Playful Speculation Involving Daesung and KARA

This isn’t the first time Daesung’s interactions with KARA members have generated fan speculation about a possible romance. His YouTube program previously featured a separate segment involving fellow KARA member Kang Jiyoung, during which the two participated in a playful blind-date format episode that similarly fueled fan theories and online discussion about potential chemistry between them, separate from the more recent rumors involving Youngji.

That pattern of fan speculation surrounding Daesung’s appearances with various KARA members reflects a broader, long-running fan interest in potential connections between BIGBANG and KARA, two groups whose members have appeared together on variety programming on multiple occasions over the years.

For Now, the Rumors Have Been Put to Rest

By the agency’s account, the two are just close colleagues who happened to catch a concert together, friends in tow. With both Daesung’s representatives and the broader official response framing the relationship strictly as a professional friendship, the latest round of dating speculation appears to have been resolved, at least for now, through the agency’s direct denial.

With Daesung continuing preparations for BIGBANG’s ongoing 20th-anniversary world tour and Youngji preparing for her upcoming role on “The Psychopath I Met,” both artists appear focused on their respective professional commitments in the weeks ahead. Given the pattern of recurring fan speculation surrounding Daesung’s variety show appearances with various KARA members, however, it remains likely that any future public appearances together will continue to draw attention and renewed rounds of dating chatter from fans, regardless of the most recent denial from his agency.

Shares of WiseTech Global plunged 18.44% on Monday, closing at $30.08, as Australian media reports that federal police are investigating company founder and Executive Chairman Richard White over serious trafficking-related allegations sent the logistics software giant to its lowest share price in years.

The Allegations at the Center of the Selloff

Shares of WiseTech Global fell on Monday on widespread media reports that the Australian Federal Police were investigating its executive chairman, Richard White, over claims he exploited a woman’s immigration status for sex and provided false information on a visa application. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. The news was first reported by the Australian Financial Review. The federal police told Reuters they will comment “at an appropriate time.” WiseTech did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The AFR article and others said the federal police launched an investigation into White, WiseTech’s billionaire founder, this year after a complaint from the former head of Kyckr, a separate company controlled by White. The complaint alleged White made up a reason to hire a woman once employed by WiseTech as a cleaner, and provided false information to the government to get her a visa, the AFR said.

A Multi-Year Low for the Stock

The scale of Monday’s decline pushed the stock to territory not seen in several years. WiseTech, which had already declined sharply from its 52-week high of $121.31, now trades at a multi-year low, sending shares to their lowest level since August 2021 and making WiseTech the worst-performing stock on the ASX 200 for the session.

A Founder Already Carrying Significant Baggage

The severity of the sell-off reflects more than just a single headline. White had only returned to WiseTech’s leadership in February 2026 as executive chairman — having previously stepped down as CEO in late 2024 amid separate sexual misconduct allegations — and the company was already carrying a notable governance discount in the market.

White’s continued prominence at WiseTech makes the latest allegations particularly material for shareholders. The company’s own website lists him as co-founder, Executive Chair and Chief Innovation Officer, maintaining significant influence over the company’s vision, culture and product strategy even after his earlier departure as CEO.

A Pattern of Governance Turmoil Throughout 2026

Monday’s news adds to what has already been a difficult year for WiseTech’s leadership and governance standing. The company previously placed its shares in a trading halt while the board initiated reviews of governance-related matters. Analysts warned at the time that volatility would remain elevated and that institutional confidence would depend heavily on the credibility of any governance reset.

Markets are not only reacting to one headline. They are asking whether WiseTech can finally move past the Richard White overhang, or whether founder risk remains a recurring drag on the stock.

A Brutal Year for the Stock Overall

Monday’s plunge extends what has already been one of the steepest declines among Australia’s large-cap technology names this year. WiseTech Global shares have tumbled sharply in 2026, with the decline representing one of the steepest reversals among Australia’s large-cap technology names, with WiseTech caught in a mix of company-specific challenges and broader sector headwinds. The stock has gone rapidly from index darling, up 65% through 2024, to a startling reversal in 2025 that has continued in similar fashion into 2026.

Sector-Wide Headwinds Compounding the Stock’s Troubles

WiseTech’s company-specific challenges have been amplified by sector-wide technology weakness, with the ASX 200 Info Tech Index down sharply over the past 12 months. The ASX Information Technology sector has faced persistent pressure throughout 2026, with the Reserve Bank of Australia having raised rates cumulatively by 75 basis points since January, compressing valuations for high-multiple growth names.

A Workforce Restructuring Adding to the Turmoil

Beyond the governance concerns, WiseTech has also been navigating significant operational changes that have added their own layer of complexity to the company’s narrative. Earlier this year, WiseTech announced plans to cut approximately 2,000 jobs over two years as it increases the use of artificial intelligence and automation across the business. While management framed the restructuring as a productivity enhancement and margin expansion opportunity, the scale of the cuts has raised questions about prior hiring decisions and potential cultural strain.

A Business That Has Continued Performing Despite the Turmoil

Despite the cascading governance and reputational concerns, WiseTech’s underlying financial performance has remained resilient throughout the upheaval. Despite the governance turmoil and collapsing share price, WiseTech’s underlying business has continued to deliver growth. The company posted first-half underlying net profit of $114.5 million in its 1H FY26 results and reaffirmed its full-year outlook, signaling management confidence in near-term revenue and margin trajectory.

WiseTech is best known for its CargoWise software platform, which has become deeply entrenched in the global logistics and customs software market, giving the company a sticky customer base and recurring revenue even amid the leadership controversy.

Analysts Remain Divided on the Stock’s Value

Despite the severity of Monday’s decline, Wall Street coverage of the stock remains notably split between bullish and cautious perspectives. Based on nine analysts giving stock ratings to WiseTech in the past three months, eight rate the stock a buy and one rates it a hold, with none recommending a sell. The average 12-month price target sits well above the current trading level, reflecting continued underlying confidence in the company’s business fundamentals among at least some segment of analyst coverage, even as the immediate market reaction to Monday’s news proved overwhelmingly negative.

With the Australian Federal Police having indicated they will comment on the investigation “at an appropriate time,” and with WiseTech yet to issue a public response to the allegations, the coming days are likely to bring further developments that could meaningfully shape investor sentiment toward the stock. Given the combination of a fresh and serious law enforcement investigation into the company’s most influential figure, a pre-existing governance discount, an ongoing workforce restructuring, and a challenging rate environment for growth stocks, market participants are reassessing whether WiseTech’s premium valuation can be restored without a decisive resolution to the founder-risk question that has now repeatedly weighed on the stock throughout 2026.

Brexit has stripped roughly 6 per cent from the size of the UK economy over the past decade, according to economists who have analysed internal Bank of England data covering the decisions, views and financial results of thousands of British firms since the 2016 referendum.

The study drew on the same intelligence the Bank uses to set interest rates, reconstructing how the UK might have grown had it voted to stay in the EU. Its conclusion is that about half the damage came from the sheer shock and uncertainty of the post-referendum years, with the remainder flowing from the higher trade barriers that followed Britain’s exit from the customs union and single market in 2021.

For the small and medium-sized firms that make up the bulk of the UK economy, the finding will feel less like an academic revision and more like a description of the past ten years: thinner margins, postponed investment and the steady accretion of paperwork at the EU border.

The research is co-authored by the British economist Nick Bloom, a professor at Stanford University, alongside economists at the Bank of England. Crucially, it is the first time the Bank’s granular information on the corporate sector has been deployed in this way.

That information comes from the Decision Maker Panel, a survey the Bank set up in 2016 with the express purpose of gauging the economic impact of Brexit. Normally used to help inform interest-rate decisions, it allowed the authors to track, year by year, how exposed individual firms were to different facets of Brexit, the impacts they reported, and the changes that showed up in their accounts.

The company-level data point to a 6 per cent hit over ten years. Set alongside five more traditional methods of analysis, the wider studies suggest a steeper average of around 8 per cent. The full paper, published through the National Bureau of Economic Research, sets out the economic impact of Brexit in detail, and carries the customary disclaimer that “the views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the Bank of England”.

Bloom argues that the UK was growing briskly in the years before the vote and could have at least partly matched the United States but for the disruption. The Bank’s company data, he says, offers important corroboration. His paper concludes that “in the case of Brexit, there was a substantial economic impact on the United Kingdom, but it arose gradually over the subsequent decade”.

The timing is notable. The Bank’s most senior figures have become markedly more forthcoming in recent months about the consequences of leaving the EU, a shift Business Matters has tracked as the governor warned the Brexit impact would stay negative for the foreseeable future.

Speaking to journalists, governor Andrew Bailey said that as a result of Brexit, “I think the level of activity and growth in the economy has been lower.” He went on: “And the reason for that is that if you reduce the size of the markets that we trade with, so we reduce our export markets, then that does tend to have a negative impact on growth,” adding that productivity and the size of the market had also been affected.

Bailey did, however, temper the verdict on the City. The impact on financial services, he said, was “not good”, but “nowhere near as detrimental as many people predicted at the time”.

Not everyone accepts the headline number. Some policy economists contend that it is inherently difficult to model how the UK would have fared without Brexit, and that such studies risk overstating the effect at a time of overlapping global shocks. Critics also argue the analysis does not fully capture the outperformance of US investment and technology, or the European energy crisis that struck four years ago.

The 6 per cent estimate sits within a familiar range. It is a touch above the 5 per cent blow calculated by Goldman Sachs, and it chimes with mounting evidence that smaller exporters have borne the brunt, as seen in the £27bn hit to UK exporters where the smallest firms have been squeezed hardest.

The latest version of the study has landed just ahead of the tenth anniversary of the referendum, and against a backdrop of cautious rapprochement. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he will meet his EU counterparts at a summit in July to agree deals on food and farm exports, as well as electricity and emissions trading, with further areas of cooperation and alignment expected to be on the table.

For Britain’s business owners, the political mood music matters less than what it eventually delivers at the border. A decade on from the vote, the lesson buried in the Bank’s own company data is a sobering one: the cost of Brexit did not arrive in a single dramatic shock, but accumulated quietly, firm by firm, year after year.

Jamie Young

Jamie is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, bringing over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting.
Jamie holds a degree in Business Administration and regularly participates in industry conferences and workshops.

When not reporting on the latest business developments, Jamie is passionate about mentoring up-and-coming journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.