Rates are up, prices are down, and the Bank of Mum and Dad is checking under the couch cushions. Here’s the week, without the corporate deodorant.

Business confidence is sinking, housing projects are getting harder to make stack up, unemployment is rising and the AI boom has a few awkward questions to answer. It's not a week for the naturally optimistic.

Rates rise, property slips, lenders tout 40-year mortgages and a new plan for face-to-face banking in regional Australia that looks suspiciously like window dressing.

You can almost hear the spreadsheets groaning as banks re-price mortgages and chase deposits. Brokers are finding it harder to refinance clients and Bitcoin enters the room.