Crypto News: Interest rates boost Aussie dollar

Good morning, it's Sunil here in Sydney with Monday's top news.

Today's must-reads:
• Elevated rates set to boost Aussie dollar
• BHP, Vale sign settlement over Brazil disaster
• Queensland elects center-right government

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock said it may take up to two years before inflation is under control, a sign that interest rates will stay elevated. Investors see scope for the local dollar to test this year's high against its counterpart from New Zealand, where borrowing costs are falling.

BHP and Vale signed a 170 billion-real (A$45 billion) settlement with Brazil over the deadly Mariana dam collapse in 2015 at an iron ore project. That removes a major legal overhang but BHP still faces a related class-action lawsuit in the UK involving as many as 620,000 people.

Victims and relatives of victims of the Mariana dam disaster in Brazil demonstrate outside the courts in London, England. Photographer: Peter Nicholls/Getty Images

Queensland became Australia's first mainland state to elect a center-right government in more than 18 months, breaking the Labor Party's hold on power ahead of a national vote due by May. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is now expected to move toward an election footing.

Aware Super and Delancey Real Estate teamed up to pour 1 billion pounds (A$2 billion) into UK property, targeting high-end London offices. Elsewhere, Blackstone is tapping banks to fund its proposed buyout of data center operator AirTrunk, sidelining private credit funds.

Asian stocks face a mixed start as the spotlight falls on Japan, where a rare electoral setback for the ruling coalition has created uncertainty for investors. In the US, big-tech earnings loom this week as well as more tests for its struggling bond market.

A tight US election is entering the last full week of campaigning. Vice President Kamala Harris sought to energize black voters in Philadelphia, while former President Donald Trump rallied in New York's iconic Madison Square Garden. Polls show the two candidates in a dead heat ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

Harris walks to the stage at the Church of Christian Compassion in Philadelphia. Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP

Israel is seeking to walk a fine line after sending more than 100 fighter planes to attack Iran. Officials believe the attack did significant strategic damage but want to allow Iran to continue dismissing it as unworthy of response.

China filed a diplomatic complaint and said it reserved the right to retaliate after the US approved about $2 billion of military sales to Taiwan. Meanwhile, the UK plans to step up naval activity in the Pacific to help check China's growing maritime reach.

Hydroelectric plants in China are crucial for the fate of the planet, Bloomberg Opinion's David Fickling writes. The sector as a whole could power Japan or Russia but climate change is coming for the water that fuels the plants, imperiling decarbonizing plans.

• Nothing major scheduled.

An inconspicuous Indian pharmaceutical company, Shreya Life Sciences, is selling top-end Dell servers optimized for artificial intelligence to Russia. Read today's Big Take about a lucrative trade in leading-edge technology that has the US and its European allies worried.

The H100, one of the most powerful AI chips designed by Nvidia, drives some of Dell's top-end servers shipped to Russia by Shreya, trade data shows. Photographer: Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg